Blockchain, Bitcoin, Fintech… it’s a brave new world

If one technology or concept has driven attention at Fintech 2016, it’s certainly the Blockchain Technology, upon which the Bitcoin crypto-currency is based. This technology was the topic of the Wednesday’s lunch which was immediately followed by a discussion with a panel of high-level international experts.

Fintech Montreal 2016 was presented last Tuesday and Wednesday, on the 20th and 21st of September, at the Palais des Congrès and as expected the Who’s Who in the world of finance in Québec was attending. The program was well structured including of course, a « Startups » moment, just as every event worth attending does. God knows, Fintechs are worth the detour since they rock the Finance & Banks processes big time, invading a field which used to be exclusive to some, proposing simple, fluid and mobile enhanced solutions, in short, much more efficient; just think of the new “Mobile Money” paradigm and Mobile Banking!

In short, according to all these experts, the Blockchain Technology will revolutionize the field of Banks and Finance in the next few years and this revolution, although still pretty much invisible to the majority, has already started.

Why and how?  Let’s see!

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Disruptions in Banking and Financing on the horizon, brace for impact

Major disruptions in Banking and Financing on the horizon; thanks to new technologies from Big Data Analytics to Mobile Apps that are reshaping this sector at a fast pace, resulting in new ways for companies and customers & consumers to interact, to manage their money and to conduct transactions.

Global investment in Fintech ventures hit $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2016, and about half the funding went to projects in Asia, primarily in China. “The reason funding is taking off now is that the four platforms – Mobility, Big Data (IoT) and Analytics, Blockchain Technology (Bitcoin) and Machine Learning (AI) – are in their infancy,” said Catherine Wood, CEO of ARK Investment Management (US) at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in 2016.

The fact is that Banking and Financial Services is one of the largest industries that is still not fully digitalized. In this field of activities, the technological revolution has just begun.

So let’s see what we’re up to and what major disruptions we may foresee.

Overview of upcoming disruptions in Banking and Financing

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