This weekly summary from our 8 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 Waiting for Godot… Bitcoin’s halving
Waiting for Godot is a critically-acclaimed play written in 1948 by Irish writer Samuel Beckett. In the play. the two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait for the arrival of someone named Godot. While they wait, they are visited by a messenger boy that tells them the person they are waiting for is not arriving today, but is sure to arrive tomorrow. Godot never comes. That’s the point. The crypto community has been waiting for a variety of Godots, since its inception. Now it’s waiting for the next Bitcoin halving in 8 days, 8 hours and 19 minutes and 25 seconds, expected to happen on 12 May 2020 07:41:00 UTC. Godot is the expectation of someone or something to come, that can make things better. A waste of time, in which we are in idle time without doing anything, in hopes that something good will happen, something over which we usually have no control.
Editor note: Each halving is different and this one comes as the world is in lockdown. Nobody can figure out how any asset class behaves in these strange times, least of all one as new as Bitcoin. Chill & HODL
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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 Will Stash stay on Craig`s list as a market leader?
The closing of the Motif and the $112million funding of Stash, have sparked interesting conversations. It is clear that there was affection in the market for Motif. Maybe towards the founder or because they started with an innovation that didn’t catch on (Motifs never became a household name) or because they persisted for nearly 10 years or because maybe their timing kept being wrong. Too many pivots whose timing didn’t work out, like launching an offering for advisors and an institutional offering with structured products around 2017. See more in my post from 2 weeks ago, Digitization in the brokerage business is shrewd – Motif investing is closing
Craig Iskowitz weaved a rich coverage of Motif`s story on May 1st with lots of data and back flashes on how Motif was perceived along its journey. 13 Roboadvisors That Might Become Victims of the COVID19 Crisis is a great read for anyone in wealth management. In the last part, he shares a robo-advisor ranking in an effort to start thinking about who will not survive in these markets. The Ezra Group divided 38 providers into to three groups: Market Leaders, Up & Coming, and Watch List.
Editor note: Is the Motif demise only down to bad execution & bad luck? There was also a possible conceptual flaw which was not creating enough financial incentives for the Motif creators. They were paying as if the creators were posting cat videos, not building uniquely valuable financial products.
Alan Scott Managing Director EMEA at 24 Exchange @Alan_SmartMoney wrote Stablecoin News for week ending Tuesday 5 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 Trading Through Turbulent Times: Opportunities For Payments’ Fintechs & Investors
For many fintech companies and new financial technologies (hello Bitcoin), COVID-19 is proving to be their first real stress test. If they can survive the next 12 to 24 months, it’s a strong signal these aren’t the tech upstarts or flash-in-the-pan ideas that many had pegged them as.
Editor note: As Warren Buffet likes to say “only when the tide goes out can we see who has been swimming naked. Conversely, this is a great time for some ventures to turn crisis into opportunity.
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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 Enough of COVID adversity- how about enjoying some insurance innovation diversity?
Enough for now on COVID-19- let’s consider what can the insurance industry expect as the world slowly pivots back to normalcy, whatever that will be? The insurance industry is a five trillion USD business, and while aspects of the industry remain in flux as of this date, insurance does carry on as a foundation of business, ownership, contracts, transportation, life, etc. Insurance has been undergoing innovation focus for some years so in anticipation of what’s next, let’s take a look at one organization’s view of that very thing- ideas that are made to influence insurance change- the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA).
Editor note: Pat looks to the post lockdown future of Insurance by analysing the portfolio of a leading Insurtech Accelerator.
Thursday Christian Dreyer @x3er, our Swiss based CFA who focusses on how XBRL changes our world wrote XBRL: EU ESG consultation, Pandemic reports and Energy.
Editor note: This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the XBRL market.
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Friday Sheldon Freedman, Fintech lawyer at Hassans International Law Firm
wrote: Security Token news for Week ending 8 May 2020
Editor note: This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the Security Token market.
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Source: https://dailyfintech.com/2020/05/08/this-week-in-fintech-ending-8-may-2020/
