Tag Archives: News

Bitcoin isn’t for everyone, but Jean-Claude Trichet – the European Central Bank’s former president – appears to have a serious aversion towards the cryptocurrency.Trichet: BTC Is Not a CurrencyAt a recent summit, Trichet took a nasty stab at bitcoin, saying that it wasn’t even a currency and that crypto would not amount to much in the future. He said:I am strongly against bitcoin, and I think we are a little complacent. The [crypto]currency itself is not real, with the characteristics that a...

Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency has been slated for a 2020 release, but according to top executive Kevin Weil, it will be decades before the currency is fully ready.Libra May Take Longer – Much Longer – Than Originally ThoughtAs vice president of product at Facebook’s Calibra digital wallet unit, Weil explained that while the currency itself may be ready relatively soon, the wallet system that’s backing it up will take much longer. He comments that the system is quite complicated, and...

FCA-regulated payment platform Wirex, has announced a new offering for its customers, called the Wirex Visa Travelcard. Making the announcement at the Fintech Festival held in Singapore, the London-based financial services company said that it hopes the card would give its users the much-needed ease required for them to initiate and settle different kinds of transactions using both digital currency and fiat. The travel card is powered by VISA and is accessible and usable for all of the...

Photo: ShutterstockJapanese business and financial services company SBI Holdings Inc. has announced its decision to form a capital and business alliance with Fukushima Bank, to achieve several goals including increasing profitability for financial institutions in general, as well as improving local customer assets and productivity of related companies. The alliance will also see Fukushima Bank incorporating MoneyTap payment app, which is powered by Ripple.The general goal of improving...

In what has come as a shock to many pundits in investment circles, electronic scooter firm Voi Technology has reportedly raised about $85 Million in another funding round which has included several premier investment partners such as Vostok New Ventures. Previous investors Balderton Capital, Creandum and Raine Ventures were included in this round as well.Although the firm hasn’t reached any profitability overall, it expects to achieve this in the next few years. Fredrik Hjelm, Voi’s...

M-DAQ, a Singapore-based FinTech startup has added a new feather to its cap by receiving backing from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation. The Korean tech giant’s investment wing has recently joined other investors in M-DAQ’s pre-series D round.As per the Bloomberg report, the FinTech startup’s valuation has doubled to S$500 million, post the Samsung backing. Its previous valuations stood at S$250 million in November 2015.However, the exact amount invested by Samsung hasn’t been disclosed...

By pretty much any standard, Craig Wright easily became the most controversial person in crypto over the years. For a long time now, Wright has been at the center of a suit brought against him by the Kleiman estate, representing Dave Kleiman, Wright’s former business partner.Wright has also proclaimed himself as the real Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of Bitcoin, and has even gone ahead to bring legal action against people who have refuted this claim. A few months ago and in his usual fashion,...

Photo: Unsplash2018 was generally not the best year for some of the world’s richest people. Even with all of the effort put in by the mega-rich, the cumulative worth of these billionaires lost more than a pound last year. Regardless, the five years which led up to 2018 is easily commendable as both the total number and wealth all increased. A new report from Swiss multinational investment bank and financial services company UBS Group AG, has shown that there are now 2,101...

In what seems like a preference for institutional investment, Saudi Arabia’s State Oil Company Aramco in its prospectus has indicated offering of less than 1% of the shares on offer to individuals reports show. According to the prospectus, the initial public offering which is expected to begin on November 17 and close on December 4 has specifically indicated that “up to 0.5%” of the shares on offer will be available for purchase by individuals.Furthermore, the number of shares sold and their...

In the People’s Republic of China, there is a newspaper that everyone knows and respects – Xinhua. Founded on 7 November 1931 with headquarters in Beijing, nowadays – it serves as the central spot for press-conferences and information exchanges between the big officials and the society. “Bitcoin: the first Successful Application of Blockchain Technology” – such a message, millions of Chinese people are looking at today. Matthew Graham of Sino Global Capital was the one who set the alert on...