Get to know Matthew Najar and some of his accomplishments? Governments in major economies are encouraging financial technology (fintech) innovation with regulatory and advisory initiatives designed to accelerate the availability of online payment solutions and other financial services for businesses. The initiatives generally aim to attract innovative fintech companies and help them operate in the regulated financial sector, while ensuring adequate financial protection for customers.
Matthew Najar believes without new FinTech initiatives, we will stall: “FinTech, blockchain certainly included, is critical for our generation to solve inherent financial system issues and progress forward”.
One U.K. innovation is the “regulatory sandbox,” which allows firms to test new financial services in a live environment with real customers, without first obtaining full authorization to offer the services commercially. The FCA accepts applicant firms based on criteria such as innovativeness, suitability for the U.K. market, and market readiness; it issues a limited, tailored authorization for the purposes of sandbox testing. The first batch of applicants, accepted in 2016, includes an international online payments solution and a retail payments system based on blockchain technology.
The initiatives are taking place against a backdrop of rapid fintech growth. There are thousands of fintech start-ups worldwide, and many have attracted substantial venture funding; a report from KPMG and CB Insights found that global fintech funding reached $19.1 billion in 2015. Several countries are planning or have already implemented licensing or regulatory changes that enable technology firms to offer broader banking services. In the U.S., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which regulates national banks, said in December 2016 that it planned to make a special-purpose national bank charter available to fintechs. The charter would enable start-ups that currently offer other financial services, including B2B payments and other online payment solutions, to begin offering at least one of three regulated banking activities: receiving deposits, paying checks, or lending money.
Hardware: wallets differ from software wallets in that they store a user’s private keys on a hardware device like a USB. Although hardware wallets make transactions online, they are stored offline which delivers increased security. Hardware wallets can be compatible with several web interfaces and can support different currencies; it just depends on which one you decide to use. What’s more, making a transaction is easy. Users simply plug in their device to any internet-enabled computer or device, enter a pin, send currency and confirm. Hardware wallets make it possible to easily transact while also keeping your money offline and away from danger.
Though many experts agree that the OCC’s move could encourage innovation, some warned that implementing inadequate regulation might weaken consumer protection and even harm small businesses by allowing practices such as predatory lending. The EU has also begun an effort to encourage fintech innovation across Europe, establishing a Financial Technology Task Force in 2016.
Technically speaking, cryptocurrencies are transactions or entries targeted in a restricted database. Specific conditions must be met to modify these transactions. Created with cryptography, transactions are protected with mathematics, not with people. Transactions are published in a database, but it is a special type of database that is shared is a peer-to-peer network.
There’s a need for one to be more than cautious when looking to invest in any ICO. Knowing when to or not to invest in an ICO is not about science; rather, it’s about paying close attention to those details that most people seem to overlook while only focusing on the promised returns. Conduct a background check on the team behind the project and analyze their ability to deliver on their promise. In addition, you should also look at the viability of the idea behind the ICO, poke holes in the project’s white paper and seek answers where necessary. That will ensure that no stone is left unturned and, if by the end of it you still have doubts about the project, you’re better of passing than chance it investing in that ICO.
The prices of most altcoins depend on the current market price of Bitcoin. It is vital to understand that Bitcoin is relative to fiat currencies and is quite volatile. The simpler version of this is that when the value of Bitcoin goes up, the value of altcoins goes down and vice versa. The market is normally foggy when the Bitcoin price is volatile and, as you would imagine, this prevents most traders from gaining a clear understanding of what goes on in the market. At this point, it is advisable to either have close targets for our trades or simply not trade at all.
You can short crypto, or long crypto. You can go long in crypto, meaning you are betting on crypto going up (for example by buying crypto). Or you can short crypto, meaning you are betting on it going down (for example by short selling crypto). Meanwhile, if you have the skills, you can do both depending on the price action (you can even use short positions as a hedge). With that said, in the US, in many states, there are very few options for shorting crypto. If you are new to crypto, you should consider just going long. If you would go short, you can mimic a 1x short by selling and going to cash!