Pulse: Technology


EconVue Spotlight: Blockchain, ICO Special Edition

We have been following FinTech for a while now, but recently stories about blockchain and cryptocurrencies have been appearing everywhere. ICO's, or Initial Coin Offerings are beginning to look like a gold rush. Beyond the hype, driven by exponential returns for the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum, what are the constraints on further growth?

The ICO Explosion: A Primer

If you’ve been following recent news headlines, you may have noticed an uptick in the number of articles discussing blockchain technology, and more specifically, the emergence of a new venture funding model based on that technology: the token sale. But first, a brief explanation of blockchains.

Chicago's FinTech Fizzle?

Start with Crain's Chicago Business reporter Lynne Marek's excellent macro overview of Chicago tech leaders' failure to pull together a coordinated FinTech hub, "Chicago should be a FinTech hub. So why isn't it?" In terms of venture money, Chicago falls way short, as Marek and her colleague Joe Cahill point out.

Truth and Payments

The FinTech revolution is not lost. Its outlines may be obscured by the fog of events, but, as this week's links show, it's still moving forward.

Editor's Note: The next issue of FinTech Rising will be published on June 29, ahead of the July 4 holidays in the United States.

Rebuilding "truth"

FinTech Favorites

This week's report focuses on some of my long-time favorite sources of banking and FinTech news and insight. I follow the industry through reports from media organizations and industry experts I respect and trust. I started thinking about my sources and methods after reading Ron Shevlin's post "FinTech influencer lists have jumped the shark."

"Mystical Millennials"

"The Mystical Millennials are overly romanticized," said Vic Pascucci, managing partner at VC firm Lightbank. Panelists at Morningstar's New York FinTech Forum, agreed that FinTech services are overly focused on Millennials, with a tendency to focus on FinTech products over consumer experience.

Recent research bears them out.

Digital Feds

"Digital currency is inevitable," I told a federal reserve researcher recently.

"You mean fiat currency? Issued by the Fed?" She was a bit taken aback by my certainty.

"Yes, it's inevitable. I'm not saying when or how or what, but that's where the market is moving."

Digital Fuel

It's data. As The Economist newspaper put it in last week's briefing, "data are to this century what oil was to the last one: a driver of growth and change."

Regulatory Riddles

Financial regulators leave a lot to speculation in their public speeches. They leave clues and indicators but, knowing market participants are eager for early policy indications, they are careful not to say much.

Data Plays

Data and analytics are the tactical drivers of FinTech, the heart and muscle moving the digital transformation of financial services. The strategic brains of the business lie in the prenatal business logic that will create new financial pathways.

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