The end of the summer means a couple of things aside from cooler weather. One of those things is the fall conference season in fintech. Are you going anywhere good? This time of year also means lots of news in the industry so I thought I’d review some of the news I found particularly interesting. … Read more
2018 is a tough year to hold cryptocurrencies. Most are down more than 80% from the all-time highs of late 2017. It reminds me of the 2014 bear market that I bought into where Bitcoin dropped almost 80% after I bought my first one. If you still believe in the cryptocurrency you bought, then hold … Read more
The mantra in marketplace lending is to build, buy or partner. When people say this they are talking about fintech firms and banks and how they should work together. One side left out of this equation is fintech platforms getting into lending for their own customers like Amazon, Paypal, or EBay. All are or soon … Read more
A New Bank and Fintech Partnership The Litecoin Foundation, along with crypto payment processor and Litecoin partner TokenPay, acquire 9.9% each of German Bank WEG Bank AG. Let’s look at why and why this is a big deal. By way of disclosure, I’m long Litecoin (LTC) and bullish on it for the future. Over the last … Read more
Lendit is one of my favorite events of the year. More of my fintech writing clients come to Lendit than any other show and it’s the only show I go to every year where I don’t speak and still go anyway. It’s that good and it’s worth it. If you’re interested in my writing work, … Read more
Bitcoin, altcoin, and cryptocurrency investors in the US are in a difficult place on how to stay tax compliant. There are many different professional opinions on tax compliance. Other than taxing Bitcoin and cryptos like property as an asset instead of as a currency, there has been no additional guidance so far from the IRS … Read more
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies reached a state of frenzy and mania in 2017. I’m sure you noticed….. People have been asking me more often not just about Bitcoin but about Litecoin, Ripple, smaller coins, sillier coins, and scammier coins. It made me think. How can people really assess all the altcoin (alternative coins to Bitcoin) options … Read more
The year in fintech had 2 dominant themes. It was an amazing year of growth, innovation, adoption, and acceptance for fintech all across the world. Big Theme #1: Bitcoin 2016 was the year where the world discovered Blockchain technology, the technology underpinning Bitcoin. Investments and potential uses for the new technology went rampant in 2016 … Read more
Unlike EthLend, which is lending agnostic, Wish Finance is specifically for lending to small and medium-sized businesses, otherwise known as the SME market. Wish is based in Singapore. The white paper explaining their program is found right here: Wish Finance White Paper. Wish also has a separate pdf file giving an overview of their business. … Read more
Where We Were The first generation of Blockchain Lending was lending in Bitcoin. For Americans, Interest earned has always been taxable and loss of principal has always been deductible when accounted for correctly and filed on the right forms. I wrote a piece on this subject back … Read more