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Apr 15 2021

Leading UK Fintech Firms Now Working with PwC to Streamline Digital Financial Services with AI, Data Analytics

Ten of the United Kingdom’s leading Fintech companies are now working with Big Four auditing firm PwC in order to showcase how the future of banking will focus on both collaboration and innovation, along with greater personalization.

After 3 years of ongoing development, the 10 Fintechs have managed to contribute to the company’s “Tysl” ecosystem which includes various solutions related to software, automation, AI, data management and analytics.

These solutions aim to make it easier or more convenient for clients to open new bank accounts, obtain specialized financing services, move house and digitally sign official documents.

By leveraging an API-powered approach, which lets software apps communicate with each other, Tysl has enabled these firms to work cooperatively and innovate together with PwC to create a banking tech proposition that helps organizations with significantly enhancing performance across several different measures.

This includes dealing with complex customer or user experience journeys like advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Know Your Customer (KYC), Credit Decisioning, and in life account and loan servicing across several key areas such as mortgages, savings and corporate lending.

By leveraging Tysl, PwC can effectively develop all-digital solutions through an innovative, affordable, and user-centric online lending platform. This can help the company’s customers with enhancing their customer-facing business operations and improve products and services in order to meet the speed and multi-channel expectations required by companies today.

James Morgan, Lead Partner on Tysl stated:

“Banking is changing, people expect more and require personalised digital interactions. Based on the needs and expectations of tomorrow’s customers, we have developed our Tysl platform. This is helping our clients reach new customers, upsell and grow topline revenue by delivering enhanced capabilities whilst significantly reducing the costs of servicing the client from onboarding to in life servicing.”

The companies or businesses that are now integrated with the Tysl platform include:

Mambu – is a software-as-a-service or SaaS financial services platform supporting innovation in banking, lending, and – a Cloud-native alternative to more traditional core banking systems.

Yoti – is a global identity platform that makes it more seamless and safer for banking clients to prove who they are via ID verification and biometrics

Kompli Global – created a remote due diligence solution that harnesses artificial intelligence and “human expertise” to provide intelligence on organizations and their workers.

DueDil – is an insights provider assisting financial services organizations and insurers with a better understanding of their client base to handle digital or online onboarding, manage compliance, risk, and in-life monitoring.

Just Move In – provides a home setup experience for people moving home that arranges essential services including council tax, insurance, and broadband.

SignNow – is a legally binding eSignature application, allows users to create and complete legally binding electronic signatures on any device.

Codat – connects the tools and services that small businesses need for their operations to their financial service providers and takes care of the “heavy lifting” of those integrations.

Flexys – is a specialist tech firm focused on enhancing the value and performance of debt management and collection systems with a low-code, Cloud-native platform.

Saltedge – develops PSD2-powered solutions that are used by Fintech firms, banking institutions, and other financial institutions across the globe. The company provides connectivity to over 2500 banks across Europe for data aggregation and payment initiation capabilities – through a single API.

Credit Kudos -an open banking credit reference agency that uses real-time financial behavior to “measure creditworthiness” and “affordability” to assist lenders when unwriting consumer and commercial loans.

Lendingmetrics – Auto Decision Platform (ADP) is a decision engine environment that may be applied across “unlimited” brands, products or lending journeys under a single license and offers a comprehensive (no-code) editor, helping non-technical staff to make real-time changes to credit risk logic

Gazeal – enables the seller of a property to provide key details required to meet the estate agent’s Consumer Protection Regulations requirements, and, as a Licensed Provider of the Law Society, all of the requirements of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme. By using Gazeal’s reservation service, it will “almost” completely eliminate abortive transactions.

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: AI, AIM, alternative, api, Apps, artificial-intelligence, artifiical intelligence, automation, Bank, Banking, Banks, brands, broadband, business, Businesses, codat, commercial, company, compliance, connectivity, consumer protection, credit kudos, CRM, data, data analytics, debt, digital, digital financial services, diligence, duedil, Environment, Europe, financial services, fintech, fintech adoption, flexys, Future, Global, identity, innovation, Institutions, insurance, intelligence, james morgan, Journeys, just move in, know your customer, kompli capital, Law, lending, lendingmetrics, linkedin, mambu, more, Mortgages, online lending, open banking, other, partner, payment, payment initiation, pricewaterhousecoopers, Products, pwc, revenue, risk, SaaS, satledge, signnow, small businesses, Society, Software, software development, tax, tech, Transactions, tysl, uk, united-kingdom, user experience, verification, work, yoti

Apr 15 2021

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction: BTC/USD Pauses Above $62,000 Support As Bulls Prepare For The Next Round Of Upside Momentum

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction – April 16, 2021
Bitcoin price now fluctuates between $62,000 and $65,000 as bulls struggle to break above the $65,000 resistance. For the past three days, the BTC/USD price has been in a downwards correction above the $62,000 support. Bitcoin will attain a new high above $70,000 if the bulls clear the resistance at $65,000.

Resistance Levels: $65,000, $70,000, $75,000
Support Levels: $50,000, $45,000, $40,000

BTC/USD – Daily Chart

It is no longer news that buyers have overcome the $60,000 ad $61,825 resistance levels after one month of price struggle. The breakout above the resistance levels propels the price to rally to $65,000 high. Nonetheless, for the past three days, buyers are still struggling to overcome the new resistance level at $65,000. After its initial fall to $61,306 low, BTC price resumed fluctuation between $62,000 and $64,000. Buyers have not been able to retest the $65,000 resistance as price consolidates above the $62,000 support. On the upside, if buyers breach the $65,000 resistance, Bitcoin will rally above the $70,000 psychological price level. On the other hand, if sellers break the $62,000 support, the king coin will decline to $60,000 low.

Europe’s Second Largest Insurance Firm, AXA Begins Acceptance of Bitcoin as Payment
AXA has become Switzerland’s first all-line insurer to offer its customers to pay their bills with Bitcoin. Bitcoin payments will be accepted for nearly all AXA products, except for life insurance due to regulatory barriers to the latter. This new policy arrangement has been facilitated through a partnership with the established cryptocurrency broker Bitcoin Suisse. The accelerated digital transformation of the global economy during the coronavirus pandemic has been the main reason for the adoption of Bitcoin as a means of payment. Another reason is that market research conducted by AXA showed that a third of respondents aged between 18 and 55 are interested in Bitcoin. According to AXA Switzerland, “the acceptance of Bitcoin payments is AXA’s response to growing demand from its customers for alternative payment solutions, with new technologies playing an ever greater role.”

BTC/USD – 4 Hour Chart

Bitcoin price is consolidating above the $62,000 support as it prepares for the next round of upside momentum. According to the Fibonacci tool indicator, Bitcoin will rise to the next psychological price level. Meanwhile, on April 14 uptrend; a retraced candle body tested the 50% Fibonacci retracement level. The retracement implies that Bitcoin will rise to level 2.0 Fibonacci extension or the high of $70,057.50.

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction: BTC/USD Pauses Above $62,000 Support As Bulls Prepare For The Next Round Of Upside Momentum

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: Adoption, alternative, analysis, bitcoin, Bitcoin Payments, breach, btc, btc price, BTC/USD, coronavirus, correction, cryptocurrency, data, digital, digital transformation, economy, Global, Global economy, insurance, market, news, opinion, other, pandemic, partnership, payment, payment solutions, payments, Price Prediction, Products, Rally, research, Switzerland, upside

Apr 14 2021

You can already invest in hundreds of ETFs with exposure to Bitcoin

Numerous U.S.-traded exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are loading up on shares in the world’s top crypto firms.

According to ETF.com, hundreds of funds have invested in publicly-listed companies that are holding BTC on their balance sheets. As of this writing 88 ETFs hold MicroStrategy shares, while 144 ETFs hold Square, and 222 ETFs hold Tesla. Sixteen ETFs have direct exposure to Bitcoin mining stocks.

Almost 200 ETFs hold shares in BlackRock, which recently profited $360,457 after starting to “dabble a bit” in crypto.

Top-performing ETFs with crypto exposure

Nine funds are exposed to both crypto mining stocks and firms with BTC on their balance sheets. 

As a share of its overall portfolio, the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK) has the greatest exposure to crypto. Seven of BLOK’s top 10 allocations are in leading crypto firms, including Galaxy Digital, Marathon Digital, Voyager Digital, Hut 8 Mining, Hive Blockchain, Riot Blockchain, and Argo Blockchain. These stocks represent one-third of BLOK’s capital.

The fund describes its investments as targeting “transformational data sharing technologies.”

BLOK is among the top-performing ETFs of 2021 so far, gaining 71.7% since the start of the year. So far in 2021 it’s recorded the eighth-highest returns among all ETFs — and it ranks second if you exclude leveraged and inverse products. Among ETFs, BLOK is the single-largest hodler of both MicroStrategy and Marathon’s stock.

The Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (BLCN) is the only other crypto-exposed ETF that ranks among the top 100 ETFs by YTD performance when excluding inverse and leveraged funds, coming in at 82nd with a YTD gain of 23.15%.

BLCN currently holds $5.63 million worth of Marathon stock, $5.4m in Microstrategy, and $5.24 million in Square.

Largest holders by total value of assets

When measured by total value of assets, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) is the ETF with the heaviest allocations to crypto-exposed firms. The VTI currently represents $2.77 billion worth of Tesla, $478 million of Square, $29.4 million of Microstrategy, and $11.38 million of Riot Blockchain. VTI also owns $516 million worth of Blackwater. 

The iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT) is the second-largest fund by overall exposure to crypto, holding $450 million worth of Tesla, $4.4 million of Microstrategy, $3.86 million of Marathon, and $3.12 million in Riot.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is yet to issue a verdict on seven applications for Bitcoin ETFs, including Fidelity Investments, Skybridge Capital, WisdomTree, Morgan Stanley and NYDIG, VanEck, and Valkyrie Digital Assets.

The Purpose Bitcoin ETF began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in mid-February, and has accumulated roughly $1 billion worth of BTC since inception. Canada’s Ninepoint Partners and CI have also announced plans to convert their Bitcoin funds into ETFs.

You can already invest in hundreds of ETFs with exposure to Bitcoin

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: 2021, bitcoin, Bitcoin ET, bitcoin etf, Bitcoin mining stocks, BlackRock, blockchain, btc, crypto, crypto mining, data, digital, digital assets, economy, ETF, ETFs, exchange, exchange traded funds, fund, Hive Blockchain, Hut 8, Investments, market, Microstrategy, mining, MORGAN STANLEY, NASDAQ, other, portfolio, Products, returns, Riot Blockchain, S&P, securities, Securities and Exchange Commission, shares, Skybridge Capital, square, stock, Stocks, tesla, Toronto, trading, u.s., VanEck

Apr 13 2021

Toddler hodler: 3-year-old Bitcoin educator interviews Michael Saylor

Three year old Lily Knight, “the world’s youngest Bitcoin educator,” interviewed billionaire MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor for her YouTube channel in a video that dropped April 13.

In the interview, Lily noted that Saylor’s accumulation of more than $2 billion worth of Bitcoin since August 2020 had been a “ballsy move.”

The toddler and unconfirmed “hodler” became something of a vial sensation in the crypto space in mid February after she (aided by her parents) published a video explaining Bitcoin’s dynamics using Skittles candy.

The video caught the attention of Saylor and fellow crypto billionaire Tyler Winklevoss and both retweeted the video. Winklevoss added that “Lily, a 3-year-old, understands Bitcoin better than most central bankers.”

Lily’s father noted in a Reddit thread that the “ridiculous idea” to interview Saylor had come after he reached out to thank the corporate world’s biggest Bitcoin cheerleader for retweeting the video. Saylor was responsive to the idea. Her father revealed that the video required a lot of editing, as he had to “plead and bribe” Lily to sit still, as they pre-recorded the questions for the MicroStrategy founder to answer later:

“We recorded her side of the interview and then zoomed with him and played her questions, pausing after each one for him to answer. I wish we could do it live, but she’s so unpredictable at this age .. she just might break out into a Frozen song or something lol Maybe when she’s a little older.”

I don’t normally get nervous speaking about #Bitcoin, but it is almost impossible to get an invite to appear on the @LilyKnightShow. https://t.co/FVL9lWTTce

— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) April 12, 2021

The first question Lily asked was: “When did you first buy Bitcoin? What convinced you to buy?”. Saylor said that he’d been searching for new treasury strategies to preserve shareholder value in March 2020, due to a “gnawing suspicion that the money was broken”. Saylor added that:

“I went on a mad quest to find a solution. And I was delighted to discover Bitcoin, a store of value over long periods of time. So once I discovered Bitcoin and understood all of its characteristics as a digital monitoring network, I started buying it and I haven’t stopped.”

The young “crypto educator” said that, “A lot of people are confused by Bitcoin” and asked Saylor “What do you think is the biggest misconception?”. The billionaire said people often characterize Bitcoin as purely an investment idea or speculative asset, however, he describes it as the “world’s first monitoring network”:

“Bitcoin is the world’s first digital monitoring network, and it’s a technology. And when you start thinking of it as a better technology for money, then you realize that it’s not just a trade. It’s actually a way to think about the world.”

This may have gone over Lily’s head.

She finished up by asking: “What’s next for you?” with Saylor responding that that he’s looking forward to doing everything he can to spread Bitcoin to billions of people and also to educate the world on the benefits of Bitcoin”

“And when I get some free time, I’m going to buy myself some more Bitcoin,” he added.

Toddler hodler: 3-year-old Bitcoin educator interviews Michael Saylor

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: 2020, bitcoin, Central Bankers, crypto, digital, founder, Future, going, interview, investment, Lily Knight, Michael Saylor, Microstrategy, money, more, parents, Reddit, said, Space, Technology, trade, Tyler Winklevoss, video, winklevoss, world, world's youngest crypo educator, youtube

Apr 13 2021

Goldman Sachs Opens Office in Birmingham UK

In a significant endorsement of the city, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has opened an office in Birmingham, UK – a community that has been promoting itself as an alternative to super pricey London.

Goldman Sachs stated that Birmingham offers access to a deep talent pool, excellent academic institutions, and a growing technology sector. The easy proximity to London is said to be an advantage as well. Goldman said that engineering will be the first division to build out in Birmingham and they expect to have a headcount of several hundred across a number of divisions over time. Beyond its investment banking business, Goldman also operates its digital bank Marcus in the UK.

In a report from last year, the regional representatives said that Fintechs already employed about 24,000 people in Birmingham.

Neil Rami, Chief Executive of West Midlands Growth Company, the official investment promotion agency that helped to secure the investment, on the significance of the bank’s major new presence among the West Midlands’ Business Professional and Financial Services (BPFS) sector commented on the news:

“Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s most prestigious investment banking institutions, renowned for its laser-focus on recruiting the best and brightest talent and the pre-eminence of its data-driven, customer-centric technologies. We are delighted that Goldman Sachs has chosen Birmingham as the home of its major new presence, where it will harness the region’s entrepreneurial talent to develop its mission-critical digital expertise, creating hundreds of jobs. As the investment banking landscape continues to innovate in the face of rapid Fintech transformation, the West Midlands Growth Company put forward a compelling appraisal of the region’s digital engineering workforce, academic facilities and long-standing influence in the field of banking and finance. The region boasts the largest and most high-value Financial & Professional Services sector outside the capital and is super-charging the UK’s innovative potential through SuperTech; the UK’s first and only dedicated professional services-tech accelerator.”

Rami added that the area is already home to other financial services firms such as HSBC’s UK headquarters and Deutsche Bank. He said that the West Midlands is successfully recasting typically London-centric banking structures, offering a premium but far more cost-effective base for innovative businesses.

“This is just the beginning of a surge in momentum in foreign investment here, with the 2022 Commonwealth Games and Coventry’s City of Culture status opening up new international avenues to strengthen trade and investment flows into the region. We look forward to supporting Goldman Sachs’ long and prosperous journey here in the West Midlands,” said Rami

Richard Gnodde, CEO for Goldman Sachs International, stated:

“Establishing a new office in Birmingham will diversify our UK footprint and give us access to a broad and deep talent pool in the local area. We see tremendous opportunity to enhance our UK presence and continue delivering for our global clients.”

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: accelerator, alternative, Bank, Banking, birmingham, business, Businesses, ceo, Community, company, Culture, Deutsche Bank, digital, digital bank, diversify, Engineering, finance, financial services, fintech, Games, General News, Global, goldman-sachs, Institutions, international, investment, Jobs, London, more, neil rami, news, other, report, richard gnodde, said, Technology, trade, uk, united-kingdom, us, west midlands growth company, Yahoo

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