What are central banks – and governments – going to do about cryptocurrencies? I was in New York last week to better understand what central bankers are thinking about - and doing - with respect to “Digital Fiat Currency”. The workshop was part of an ITU Focus Group...
Business evolution—whether it’s automotive, bioscience, or in the payments industry—proceeds along a predictable path of incremental improvements and optimization. Until it doesn’t and a step function takes effect. Last year was sleepy compared to what we can expect...
I'm back from two days at Consensus 2016 in NYC, and reporting as promised into my investigation of the Five Big Questions. 1. Bitcoin technology: will the problems (versions, processing time, scalability) be resolved? Yes. My belief that we are all writing this off...
I'm headed to New York next week for the CoinDesk Consensus conference..."Making Blockchain Real". I'm going because I'm trying to get my head around some big questions. I normally have a sense, even with new things, of the path forward. Not in this case! Here are the...
Given the high rate of press releases and articles on fintech applications of blockchain technology - and the growing number of financial institutions expressing interest in its potential - I’ve been considering this high signal to noise ratio. A few thoughts: Hype...
As the Internet of Things (IoT) gains momentum, people are starting to speculate about how it will be monetized and where payments will fit in this world of the future. Some think what’s needed is already what their company does best. How fortunate for them! Others...
We’ve been working with bitcoin at Glenbrook for a few years now, teaching about it in our boot camps, and holding one-day workshops on math-based currencies and blockchain technology. I have one conclusion. The focus of the evolution of digital money is shifting....
One of the truly interesting presentations at this year’s Money2020 was the speech by Ben Lawsky, superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services. Lawsky’s remarks focused on his department’s BitLicense proposal and demonstrated the struggle Lawsky and...
Wikipedia says, “Bitcoin is a software-based online payment system.” But what sort of payment system is it? We get this question all the time when we talk about Bitcoin in our workshops. At Glenbrook we like to start each Payments Boot Camp talking about payments...
I’m just back from Boston and the marathon known as Sibos 2014. In a post earlier this week, I shared a couple of observations from the show floor and the conference sessions. Now that the conference has closed, I’m thinking about the themes that spoke to me. And,...
