The boss of MasterCard in the UK and Ireland believes cash will be practically extinct in the next five years across Britain and Ireland and will seem as antediluvian as carrying a pouch full of gold.

Speaking to Business Insider during Money2020 Europe in Copenhagen last week, Mark Barnett CEO of MasterCard UK and Ireland claimed cash in 30 years will seem as old fashioned as the horse and cart.

Barnett says:

http://cointelegraph.com/news/mastercard-boss-cash-will-be-extinct-in-uk-ireland-within-5-years

The United Kingdom Government has this week revealed three new initiatives through a keynote speech at the 2016 Innovate Finance Global Summit held in Guildhall London with a purpose to retain the UK crown as the global FinTech Capital of the world.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury Harriett Baldwin announced that the UK will:

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/uk-gov-gives-fintech-industry-new-boost-to-retain-global-capital-status

 

Bitcoin is no longer just a currency of the internet as it can now be spent at any brick and mortar shop, filling station, restaurant or any other business premises that offers Visa and MasterCard as a payment option. This is on top of the added benefit of withdrawing the cash equivalent of your Bitcoin account from any ATM. E-coin is at the forefront of this and has plans to keep it that way for the foreseeable future and will be announcing more developments in the coming weeks ahead.

There are a number of companies out there offering these debit cards and I cannot fault any of them other than they aren’t innovating and improving on the ease of use that e-coin is offering to their customers.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/e-coin-leads-the-way-on-innovation-of-bitcoin-debit-cards

Bitcoin Marketing Team is a specialist Bitcoin marketing, advertising and communications company based in Dublin, Ireland ran by Jamie McCormick who has brought his nearly decade of experience in the online video games industry with McCormick Advanced Marcomm into the digital currency arena.

Since leaving the games publishing industry in 2014 it seemed like a logical idea for someone with his expertise in the games industry and marketing technology design to delve into the crypto-currency sphere which was starting to penetrate into the mainstream around this time.

Having managed and analysed over €10,000,000 worth of advertising over 7 years, they have extensive experience negotiating, integrating, managing and optimising advertising campaigns across major providers including Google, Facebook, Twitter, among other leading international advertising and affiliate networks.

They work with bitcoin budgets of all sizes to generate traffic and leads to your website. All advertising campaigns are tracked with their proprietary Chrysalis marketing middleware platform, giving full transparency on every click, and advanced after conversion behavioural analysis.

I have personally known Jamie for quite some time now and would say he is a great supporter of the Bitcoin landscape travelling all over Ireland, North and South to sponsor and attend meet-ups, trying out newly installed ATMs, checking out the latest businesses and products using and accepting the digital currency and writing impartial reviews on his website BitcoinsInIreland about these experiences.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/inside-bitcoin-marketing-team-an-interview-with-jamie-mccormick

Berlin, February 2, 2016 – CryptoWoo is a decentralized payment plugin for WooCommerce that gives merchants full control over the checkout process, customer data and their private keys. It enables merchants to seamlessly accept Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin at their WordPress based webshop.

With decentralization and consumer privacy at the heart of its business model, CryptoWoo makes itself stand apart from the rest of the platforms in the industry.

The main plugin uses the Block.io API and wallet service. Communication between the plugin and the API is secured via 4,072 bit SSL keys. All data stored at Block.io is encrypted and with multi-signature wallets built on top of hierarchical deterministic wallets (HD wallets). This makes it impossible to move coins without the merchant's signature. The HD Wallet Add-on for CryptoWoo reduces external influence even further. It allows the sales revenue to go directly into a cold storage wallet without any involvement of third parties.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/cryptowoo-a-seamless-and-secure-cryptocurrency-payment-solution

The past twelve months have been an exciting time for the Blockchain with practically every major bank in the world looking into its possible applications. The topic was a central point of the World Economic Forum in Davos, who identified the Blockchain as one of the core technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The theme is now making its way to London, UK on the 27-28 of April at Grange City Hotel for the European Blockchain Congress.

The event is being described as a dedicated Business-to-Business (B2B) Congress to assess the uses of the Distributed Ledger. The conference will be addressing the problems facing mainstream adoption of the Distributed Ledger, identifying the key issues facing financial institutions moving towards this innovative technology, and will provide a forum to share ideas about collaboration, competition, culture and common standards that financial institutions need to truly explore the Blockchain.

Key session topics range from the opportunities Blockchain presents, which forms of Distributed Ledger are required, how regulation changes will affect early adoption and how investors are viewing the technology.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/european-blockchain-congress-debuts-in-london-uk

The war on cash has been a favorite pet project of the economic central planners for quite some time now. They want to eliminate hand-to-hand payments so that governments can control, document and tax everything. The governments hate paper cash as it is so hard to track and the light in the darkness for them to rectify this is Bitcoin and its distributed ledger but they want control of it first.

Although you won’t hear anything about this in the mainstream press the wheels are already in motion to eliminate the paper cash system and among other tell-tell signs that this is the case was in December of 2015 one of the world’s largest and oldest bank note printers De La Rue announced it is cutting banknote capacity by a massive 25%. They are also eliminating 300 jobs and closing 50% of their production line.

Over the last few years Spain banned cash transactions over €2,500, Italy made cash transactions over €1,000 illegal; Russia banned cash transactions over $10,000; France made cash transactions over €1,000 illegal and in the United Kingdom banks now charge businesses for depositing amounts over £1,000.

Central banks see moving to digital currencies as a way to eliminate underground economies and believe it could prevent another banking crisis as negative interest rates if they were to become too strong could trigger a bank run. So if there is no paper money to withdraw and store under our mattresses it means there couldn’t be one.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/the-war-on-cash-bitcoin-blockchain-banks-decentralisation

It has now been over two years now since I and thousands of others around the world pre-ordered the Viper ASIC Scrypt miners from the Manchester, UK based Alpha Technology. No-one has yet received a miner, refund or an update of the fraud investigation from Greater Manchester Police.

This is something that is baffling many in the industry as they still haven’t even a finished product to ship on a promise gave in May 2014 that they would begin dispatching the miners in July 2014 by the director Mohammed Akram.

“As we will not be spending more time on non-essential components, and as a result also require less final manufacturing and testing time, we will still be shipping in July; even with the increased hash rates”

This date has moved continuously throughout 2014/15 and now into 2016 with sporadic updates from the company claiming a new issue needs resolved each time.

Hopes of a refund were lifted for many of us in February of last year with word that the Manchester based ASIC Company may be facing a possible police investigation following information being reviewed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) which found sufficient viable lines of inquiry.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/116105/alpha-technology-2-years-no-viper-refund-or-prosecution

The Westminster Business Forum took place at the Royal Society London on Wednesday 13th of January past. The topic of the forum was the future of FinTech in the UK - competition, regulation and opportunities for growth, with a focus on the future of the FinTech sector in the UK, and the opportunities it presents for the future development and delivery of financial services.

This conference brought together policymakers and regulators with a wide range of stakeholders - including banks, business lenders, payment service providers, technology providers, economic and other experts, business groups and consumer bodies.

On the agenda was assessing the next steps arising from the Government Office for Science’s recently published review into the future of FinTech, and an opportunity to consider the Financial Conduct Authority’s recently launched Project Innovate.

There was an impressive line-up of keynote speakers including Katharine Braddick, Director of Financial Services (International and EU), HM Treasury and Bob Ferguson, Head of Department, Project Innovate, Financial Conduct Authority. Giles Andrews, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Zopa.

Eileen Burbidge, Partner, Passion Capital and UK Government’s Special Envoy for FinTech; Richard Carter, Chief Executive, Nostrum Group;  Tony Craddock, Director General, Emerging Payments Association; Imran Gulamhuseinwala, Partner, FinTech-Strategy, Ernst & Young; Angus McLean, Partner and Head of International FinTech Team, Simmons & Simmons; Jeff Salway, Member, Financial Services Consumer Panel; Eddy Travia, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Coinsilium; Professor Patrick Wolfe, Deputy Director of the Alan Turing Institute and many more.

I was fortunate enough to catch up with Richard Carter Chief Executive of the Nostrum Group which is a provider of automated loan management software and processing to the lending industry after he spoke at the forum for an interview.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/116064/the-future-of-fintech-in-the-uk-interview-with-richard-carter-of-nostrum-group

2015 was the first time in the United Kingdom that contactless transactions accounted for one in ten card payments according to the UK Cards Association. Stockholm, Sweden which was the first European country to introduce bank notes in 1661 is looking like the frontrunner in getting rid of them in 2016.

Non-cash payments’ share of total value of consumer payments in the Netherlands is 85% and in Africa they seem to have leapfrogged the traditional banking system with mobile payments like M-Pesa,  so what role will digital currencies play in the future of the global cashless society we are entering into?

When the retail banking system first introduced computers to their business model in the late 1950s few bankers and consultants foresaw how their recently adopted computers and telecommunications equipment would revolutionise the way consumers exchanged money.

By the early 1960s a John Diebold and his consulting company Diebold Group had developed several networked computer systems for commercial banks in response to costly and cumbersome paper checks which were growing at an astounding rate during this period.

Diebold wrote in business journals at the time of an impending "transaction overload," cautioning that "the 'cashless society' is no longer an option but a necessity."

It was this that led to the warning to banks from George Mitchell, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in 1966 of the increasing costs of processing paper checks and urging the banking industry to consider how "the computer can drastically change money and its use."

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/116052/bitcoin-the-50-year-vision-for-a-cashless-society

I think 2016 should be a good year for buy low, spend high indiemax...

Bitcoin debit cards have serious potential at being a massive player in bringing in new adopters to the digital currency ecosystem. Of all the new protocols and products that has entered the market over the last twelfth months, it is the one that I have witnessed most naysayers and those on the fence take most notice off.

Consumers and merchants alike seem to be creatures of comfort when it comes to ways to pay and receive payment for their products and an old familiar name like Visa or MasterCard attached to a debit card gives them a seemingly false sense of security to use and accept it.

I remember when CoinKite first released their debit card that could only be used at their terminals. I ordered one immediately and thought it great to show off to people even though I would have to wait a year or so later for a merchant in my province to have a terminal to use it at.

The difference these Visa, MasterCard and Discovery Bitcoin debit cards bring to the ecosystem is you can spend your digital currency anywhere now from your local grocery store, fuel station or even the big name supermarkets like Asda, Marks & Spencer’s and Tesco, the options are the same for purchasing as with your RBS, NatWest or any other UK bank issued card.

Other benefits they bring to the arena is the ability to shop online on any website worldwide or to take your sterling or euros equivalent out at any ATM, some of these debit cards have low fees and cash withdrawals are instant, you just type in your four digit code like with your other cards.

The largest issuers of these Bitcoin debit cards are Xapo, E-Coin and ANX although there are many other companies and exchanges offering this option now and I have yet to hear any issues or complaints from anyone using any brand of them.

Topping up and using your card funds is as simple as depositing your digital currency into your wallet and spending it in-store, online or withdrawing your pounds at the exchange rate equivalent at the time of the transaction.

Apart from the spending and withdrawal benefits these cards bring to those that use them, the biggest benefit I have found is using the high volatility of Bitcoins price to enhance your purchasing power.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/116028/bitcoin-debit-cards-help-uk-consumers-buy-low-spend-high

It is less than ninety days to go until Money20/20 Europe takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark for the first time, so what are we to expect from the world's largest payments & financial services innovation event which takes place in Las Vegas every year when it makes its European debut this April.

The event is expected to be Europe’s largest FinTech event with an expected 3000+ attendees, 400+ speakers, 150+ sponsors and 100+ media partners including CoinTelegraph UK coming from 50+ countries around the world.

Money20/20 stands apart from other events with its unparalleled senior audience comprising of luminaries and visionaries, the people who built the ecosystem and those who are disrupting, challenging and changing it.

The featured speakers announced for this event is just as mind blowing as their Vegas spectacular which was held in October of last year and will go ahead there in the same month this year.

Lined up for Europe so far are CEOs, Founders and Chairmen from companies such as CommerzBank, FinTech Circle, Experian, Yandex Money, Verifone, Visa Europe, iZettle, Amazon, TransferWise, Adyen, BBVA Nets and Sequoia Capital to name but a few.

There is also no shortage of speakers from the digital currency industry included with names such as

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/116016/money2020-is-set-to-take-europe-by-storm-this-april

When I first came across Bitcoin around four years ago, I was already interested in maintaining my personal right to privacy online although it was only through following the road of the digital currency that led me to an interest in encryption and how to use it and really maintain my right to a private life.

As most people know when you are online nothing is private, you have your internet service provider (ISP) monitoring everything you do and storing it on a database, your IP address is like your home phone number and can pinpoint your location and then you have the likes of Facebook connecting it all together for marketing purposes at the very least and playing with people’s emotions at the worst.

How many of you have been looking up a flight on an app like EasyJet for example only to google your local news afterwards and have advertisements for what you just looked at in the App pop up at you on your local news source website?

Then you have all the government spy agencies were someone who you don’t know is monitoring what you’re looking up, listening to your personal phone calls to your wife or kids, reading your text messages, checking out your photos stored on devices, what music you listen to, media programmes you watch, who you associate with and every other personal detail they can access about you, using it to build a psychological profile of us individually and storing it on a database.

They then use reverse psychology in the mainstream media using phrases like “if you’ve nothing to hide, then you shouldn’t be bothered” and “this is essential to protect us from terrorism”.

Firstly the vast majority of the population have nothing to hide except their right to a private life which has slowly been eroded under the guise of false flags; and secondly I don’t see this mass surveillance stopping 15 year old boys hacking major corporations or bomb attacks going off in major cities, so what is its real purpose?

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/116010/bitcoin-privacy-the-road-to-encryption

The largest of the non-profits in the digital currency world, the Bitcoin Foundation has been making a lot of negative headlines over the last few years with some justified and others that just seem to be personal attacks. The question that now lingers is there a future for it or any of the many non-profits scattered across the globe in the digital currency industry anymore.

As a founder of a non-profit association myself back in 2014 I personally have experienced and seen the important role these organisations play in education, advocacy and adoption of Bitcoin to mainstream society, businesses and corporations.

Bitcoin is still fairly new to the majority, many may have heard of it but very few still understand it at all.

As I am sure it is the same with all non-profits around the world when there are positive news headlines in the mainstream press, there are individuals, businesses and corporations who have looked into it and want to understand the inner workings more.

They are interested in the protocol and its future possibilities, are eager to either invest in the digital currency, the potential of its public ledger or just simply learn how to accept it for their business from consumers.

From experience the first point of call for education, help and advice on these matters are the non-profits.

Speaking to other founders of non-profits playing an active part in the industry in their areas I have heard the same negative points made from them all, that it is a payless, thankless job.

So why do they continue going and what is their objective?

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/115996/is-there-a-future-for-non-profits-in-the-digital-currency-ecosystem

Hi Ketariz, If you check out all the Irish newspapers articles on this today and reports from the courts one of them was a Bitcoin trader. How else would he have been converting €100,000s of Bitcoin he was receiving as payment?

A 34 year old Irish Bitcoin trader and his accomplish have been sentenced today 21st December at a Dublin court for running an online drug dealing operation on the Dark Web after they were placed under surveillance when Gardaí received confidential information about a computer IP address.

This lead the operation to follow the suspects’ car which tracked him to a business address and to the obtaining of a search warrant where Gardaí found both Mannion and O’ Connor on the premises along with a holdall containing the drugs, a vacuum packing machine, weighing scales, envelopes and labels for posting. 

Neil Mannion of Mount Drummond Avenue, Harold’s Cross, Dublin and Richard O’Connor of Clonskeagh Road, Clonskeagh, Dublin had both pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of LSD, amphetamine and cannabis resin worth €143,000 with intent to sell or supply at Bank House Business Centre, South Circular Road on November 5th 2014.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/115927/irish-bitcoin-trader-sentenced-for-online-drug-dealing-on-deep-web-

Cheers egghead, glad you liked it!

Another development happening in the digital currency industry beginning in January 2016 has combined the forces of the University College Cork and Zhejiang University China who have linked together with the International Street State bank for research and development to study crypto-currencies and future investor technologies.

State Street Corporation is the second oldest financial institution in the United States founded in 1872 with offices in twenty nine countries and its headquarters in Boston. Divided into three divisions which consist of a custodian bank with assets of $28 trillion, investment management services totalling $2.45 trillion and investment research and trading services.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/115905/irish-college-chinese-university-link-with-state-street-bank-to-study-crypto-currencies-

The price is at new highs for 2015, transactions and trading volume are at record levels for bitcoin but what the psychological driving force has been behind this new found adoption is a fascinating question no one has the answers too. Well that’s all about the change thanks to a global bitcoin adoption survey project being carried out by the Bitcoin Embassy in Amsterdam.

The driving force behind this is Sanne Kiljan a 23 year old bitcoin enthusiast from the south of Holland, my favourite country after Ireland of course. He is undertaking this research project as his thesis as part of his graduation for his Bachelor of Psychology degree at the University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

On top of his degree Mr. Kiljan also runs a business called Yooth with two other partners which is focused on using psychological methods and theory to maximize team potential in start-up and scale-up companies.

Sanne isn’t a newcomer to the bitcoin world having first come across it in 2011, dismissing it, then studying it very seriously, buying his first bitcoins and becoming involved from 2012 by having work experience at one of the leading bitcoin companies in the Netherlands, Bitonic.

It was during this time that he discovered how little is really known about potential customers, their attitude and beliefs towards and about bitcoin and has led him on a quest to find out what really goes on inside the heads of current and potential future users of the digital currency.

http://cointelegraph.uk/news/115886/call-to-partake-in-global-bitcoin-adoption-research-project