From Spar Nord announcing a new fintech collaboration with Rocket Labs in Aalborg to the central bank in Norway considering blockchain for real time clearing and settlement for domestic payments among other things, it is clear that fintech is making solid progress in the Nordic banking industry. These developments are in lockstep with the rest of the financial world, as …

Music, tech, politicians, finance – they all want the same thing:  the hearts and minds of millennials.  In the rapidly developing fintech world, millennials are often a driving force working behind the scenes and pushing traditional financial institutions to veer away from the cumbersome, expensive, in-person interactions of old. By Morgan M. Davis The app economy especially is “largely driven …

A common claim that comes at the crossroads of technology and finance is that eventually most people will be replaced by machines.  It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”.  But is it that simple? By Andrew Woodman Inevitably, the topic of robots vs humans came up during a panel discussion in an event hosted by the Hong Kong Computer …

Banks are kicking the tires on blockchain technology, but implementation is some time away – especially since banks need to learn to collaborate extensively to make it work. By Rubert G. Walker Blockchain is a type of “distributed ledger”, that is, a database maintained collaboratively by several participants.  The computers update transactions using a “consensus mechanism” after which the modifications …

For many startups looking to raise venture capital, it looks like traditional equity is no longer enough.  More and more startups are looking at convertible notes or other debt alternatives. By Andrew Woodman Earlier this week, CB insights noted a 700% increase in the dollars raised through convertible notes – that’s basically loans that convert into equity at later rounds …

Investing in startups is not an easy job. As an investor, you are not only betting on a specific startup and team, but often on a market that doesn’t exist yet. Even the best team in the world is doomed to fail if it undertakes the wrong market.  The opposite is not always true. One of the biggest mistakes venture …

After a turbulent year that saw markets riled, commodities plunge, and currencies wither against the dollar, many expected the American dollar to come back out as the top currency in 2015. Instead, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin is being heralded as the best performing currency.  Does this mean everyone is poised to get on board with bitcoin?  Not yet. On the face …