The payments sector of the FinTech ecosystem heats up this month. Recent developments in the largest and most mature FinTech sector include release of the final report of the U.S. Faster Payments Task Force, major consolidation among worldwide payments processors, and reports of high growth in person-to-person (P2P) payments.

"When you think of FinTech, do you think of it more as a product or a service?" It was a question asked by a member of the audience at the Incubate Illinois FinTech panel sponsored Wednesday by the Chicago law firm Freeborn & Peters. It occurred to me that I take it for granted professionals in finance and technology understand what FinTech means.

Senator Mitch McConnell is the most effective Senate Majority Leader since Lyndon Johnson. A tactical maestro, McConnell faces the seeming impossible task of uniting the Republican party’s divergent conservative and moderate wings to pass health reform legislation. Growing numbers of Republican senators have indicated they cannot vote for the legislation as currently drafted.

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?

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.

Here is my recent presentation to the International Conference of Commercial Bank Economists (ICCBE) in Paris this week. 

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.

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"

Co-authored with Kurt Waltenbaugh.

In the western suburbs outside Minneapolis, two men lead average lives. Surveying them as part of the general population, no health system, insurer or policy maker would notice anything that might be alarming. Yet, when it comes to the healthcare costs they will incur over the next few years, they are ticking time bombs waiting to go off.

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."