This weekly summary from our 7 experts, brings you insights based on their experience as investors, entrepreneurs & executives.
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Your Editor is Bernard Lunn. He is also the CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy and occasional opinion columnist.
Monday Ilias Hatzis our Greece-based crypto entrepreneur (Founder & CEO at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG and Weekly Columnist at Daily Fintech) @iliashatzis wrote The Rise of Staking
At the end of last month, Tezos (XTZ) became the largest staking network, in terms of assets locked in, according to Staking Rewards. The total amount equaled to $1.81 billion. A couple of weeks after Bitcoin’s halving, the network hash rate is trending down and inefficient mining hardware was taken offline. While proof-of-work remains popular with Bitcoin (BTC), interest in proof-of-stake protocols has been picking up speed. As Ethereum prepares to shift to a PoS blockchain, interest in staking crypto is growing. Staking isn’t just a way to earn crypto. Is staking the answer to cryptocurrency’s mining problems?
Editor note: The transition to Ethereum 2 with Proof Of Stake is complex and will take time. If it works it will be a game-changer.
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Tuesday Efi Pylarinou @efipm our Swiss-based Fintech Adviser, founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory and a Fintech/Blockchain influencer – No.3 influencer in the finance sector by Refinitiv Global Social Media 2019 wrote The next generation of re-bundling with embedded finance is on its way
The rebundling of scattered digital financial services is underway at different stages in the various subsectors. Rob advisors adding consumer banking services, digital lending platforms adding investment offerings, mobile-only banks adding insurance and investment services, and on and on. Embedded finance (sorry Ron Shevlin for using this buzz word), platformification of banking, or creating an Asian Internet of Finance Western edition; in one form or another these trends are unstoppable. By now, they are the normal.
So what does the next generation of re-bundling look like and has it started already?
Editor note: This is required reading for any senior exec in a bank wanting to transform their enterprise to digital.
Alan Scott Managing Director EMEA at 24 Exchange @Alan_SmartMoney wrote Stablecoin News for week ending Tuesday 26 May 2020
This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the Stablecoin market.
Wednesday Jessica Ellerm @jessicaellerm, our Australia-based Fintech entrepreneur and thought leader specializing in Small Business and the Gig Economy & CEO/Co-Founder of Zuper, a new superannuation startup in Australia wrote Australia’s Largest Bank Leaves Fintech Startups For Dead With Benefits Finder App
In the second quarter of this year, the UN estimates the COVID-19 pandemic will wipe out 6.7% of all working hours, globally. That’s the equivalent of 195 million jobs.
We’re already seeing surges in unemployment rates in many countries – the US unemployment rate rose to 14.7% in April, just shy of predictions of 16%. No matter where we live, images of individuals queuing up outside welfare offices (if they exist) has become a common sight on our evening news bulletins.
Editor note:This is a story showing elephants can dance, that big incumbents can beat small upstarts on agility in meeting new consumer needs.
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Thursday Patrick Kelahan @insuranceeleph1, our US based Insurtech expert (a CX, engineering & insurance professional, working with Insurers, Attorneys & Owners who also serves the insurance and Fintech world as the ‘Insurance Elephant’) wrote Can’t know the pandemic fund players without a scorecard
It’s getting more and more difficult to keep track of economic responses to COVID-19 without a scorecard; new or updated grant, loans, fund discussions and press releases fill the news each day. And why shouldn’t that be the way? It’s a multi-trillion (fill in currency of choice here) issue for economies with current and future ramifications. This column has discussed COVID-19’s effects in depth since February; let’s consider a response score card as this week’s effort. And for those who are patient to the end- some bonus business interruption content!
Editor note: Pat offers a fascinating analysis of both public and private sector insurance based responses to this pandemic. We hope one of the private sector ones will respond well to the next pandemic, taking this out of the realm of politics.
Thursday Christian Dreyer @x3er, our Swiss based CFA who focusses on how XBRL changes our world wrote XBRL: EBA framework changes, reporting season in Estonia and Spain
Editor note: This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the XBRL market.
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Friday Bernard Lunn @LunnBernard, CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy wrote If Security Tokens are taking a nap, buy $OSTK now
In our last post on Security Tokens we asked if Security Tokens are taking a refreshing nap or in a coma at death’s door?
If you believe that Security Tokens are taking a refreshing nap, you have a simple way to profit from that belief – you buy the stock of a publicly traded company called Overstock (symbol = OSTK) that owns tZero which could disrupt Wall Street.
You don’t need anybody’s permission, there are no gatekeepers (such as a VC fund) to go through, you simply use any low cost online broker. Nor do you need a lot of money. If all you can afford to invest is $100, that is OK.
All you need is insight, courage and a bit of luck aka the standard rules of investing.
In this post we look at 5 strikes for $OSTK and 6 strikes against $OSTK.
Editor note: There is a lot that is broken in Wall Street that that tZero could fix. In the movies the David upstart always beats the incumbent Goliath but this movie does not have a script writer who can ensure the good guys win.
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Source: https://dailyfintech.com/this-week-in-fintech-ending-28-may-2020/
