[2014-05-04] Finextra Future Money provokes strong views on fintech innovation

Finextra Future Money provokes strong views on fintech innovation

http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=26027

The area of fintech with the firmest grip on the zeitgeist is bitcoin. IBM's Richard Brown says that the emergence of crypto-currencies is similar to the rise of the Web and the graphical browser because it destroys islands and creates an open network. By removing the need for intermediaries such as banks, it will revolutionise how we pay and have a huge impact on costs.

Regulators are certainly now beginning to take the matter seriously. Ven Currency founder Stan Stalnaker informed delegates that at a recent meeting with US watchdogs he was told that FinCen and Treasury experts expect bitcoin to be one of the world's top 20 currencies within 20 years.

In a later panel, investor Udayan Goyal made the boldest prediction of the day: that crypto-currencies will kill Swift within three years. To back up his claim, Goyal used the example of Fidor Bank, which now uses Ripple to move money between three countries without even touching Swift.