~chris-skinner-s-blo | Bookmarks (174)

On my LinkedIn stream, I’ve been getting more and more alerts about malpractices at Stripe. That surprises me as they are the poster child of fintech, so I investigated and found that most of my feed was being filled by one Brad Harrington, a young self-employed entrepreneur who graduated from the University of Michigan in... The post #Stripe’s policy: by raising risk, you become...

Things we’re reading today include: Crypto scams cost Britons nearly £200m in the past year Metro ex-CEO claims watchdog ‘too busy’ to supervise London can lure Brexit-fleeing banks back to UK – but the City must move quickly Political support leading to increasing fallout for crypto Trump Family Turns to Bitcoin Mining How Trump’s family... The post Things worth reading: 2nd April 2025 appeared...

Things we’re reading today include … Bank Issues April Fool’s Day Fraud Warning Meet the UK and Ireland’s fastest-growing fintechs by revenue | Sifted The Prudential Regulation Authority proposes raising FSCS deposit protection limit to £110,000 | Bank of England Former Barclays chief Jenkins weighs sale of fintech 10X How to use Russia’s central bank... The post Things worth reading: 1st April 2025 appeared...

Building on my recent blogs about Don Tramp’s love of crypto, he has now allegedly launched a joint meme coin with Vlamadir Punit, a Ruskian. The meme coin is called Pump, a reference to Punit and Tramp. Little was known about the background to the coin until it was launched this morning but, in a... The post The rise and fall of the meme...

I got hauled up for being a Musk hater the other day which, to be clear, I am not. It’s purely that he is the richest man in the world and the most powerful, even more powerful than Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, so the media hate him. As we are fed daily media updates... The post Doing a Musk, Part Two: Integrating X...

Things we’re reading today include … Zilch Declared Fastest Growing Fintech In UK Monzo, Starling, Zilch: The fintech IPOs that could boost London JPMorgan people lament “noisy” office, Revolut staff flaunt working by the beach The use and abuse of investment bank bonuses China’s 4 top state-owned banks to raise US$72 billion from stock sales... The post Things worth reading: 31st March 2025 appeared...

This week’s main blog discussions include … Bank IT outages … let’s talk about the bank systems Jenga I’ve been talking a lot about bank IT outages lately, as you can hear here on the BBC! Tech Life – Surviving digital banking outages – BBC Sounds Why? Because they are becoming more and more common and... The post The Finanser’s Week: 24th March – 31st...

I just downloaded the Chainalysis annual cryptocrime report and, as usual, it is fascinating. Ask almost any politician or banker about cryptocurrencies and they’ll say they all encourage crime except Donald Trump, but that’s because he is supposedly a criminal. Here is a synopsis of the report taken from their introduction: According to our metrics... The post How much crypto is crime? appeared first...

Things we’re reading today include … Trump’s top officials ‘have passwords leaked’ Jack Dorsey’s fintech venture lays off nearly 1,000 over email How Gen Z and Millennials Are Reshaping the Fintech Industry Bank payday outages ‘will absolutely happen again’ Japan to limit cash withdrawals and bank transfers for elderly people to stop scammers Farage attacks... The post Things worth reading: 28th March 2025 appeared...

I’ve seen a number of companies die over they years. Sometimes it’s a statement from the CEO showing arrogance but, more often, from a mistake in strategy. After all, it’s easy to make a comment and miss the mark; it’s even easier to make a strategic movement and miss the mark. Therefore, the recent dumping... The post How to kill a company by doing...

Things we’re reading today include … Stablecoin surge: Reserve-backed cryptocurrencies are on the rise | World Economic Forum What we know about Trump family’s plan to sell a new cryptocurrency Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account – The White House Orange finally peels open mobile-only bank TrueLayer integrates with Starling Bank for Open... The post Things worth reading: 27th March 2025 appeared...

I’ve been talking a lot about bank IT outages lately, as you can hear here on the BBC! Tech Life – Surviving digital banking outages – BBC Sounds Why? Because they are becoming more and more common and frequent: Big bank systems crashed for over 800 hours in last two years due to IT outages More... The post Bank IT outages … let’s talk about...

Things we’re reading today include: Investor makes a stand against digital banking Globalisation may have run its course in current form, says HSBC chair Ant Group reduces AI costs 20% with Chinese chips Solaris Investor SBI Completes Ownership Process Bailey warns tariffs and ageing population are threat to Britain Top 500 Banking Brands | Brand... The post Things worth reading: 26th March 2025 appeared...

It’s funny that I’m blogging so much about trust and identity, but that seems to be the theme of the year. So when I saw the new release of the Financial Conduct Authority’s five-year vision I was struck by the Chair’s opening page, which is all about trust. Ashley Alder writes: “When financial services are strong... The post The FCA’s five year vision appeared first...

Cryptoassets, smart contracts, stablecoins, tokenisation and the two different types of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) – retail CBDCs and wholesale CBDCs. The world of finance and technology is quite confusing. Add onto this AI, APIs, BNPL, blockchain (Layer 1 and Layer 2), DLT [distributed-ledger technology], machine learning and more, and you get the idea.... The post The quagmire of fintech terminologies appeared first...

Things we’re reading today include … America’s rich scramble to open Swiss bank accounts over Trump fears Alibaba-affiliate Ant uses Chinese, U.S. chips to cut AI costs Fintech can be a powerhouse helping to drive the UK’s economic growth Interim SEC chief cast sole vote against suing Musk How banks can boost productivity through simplification... The post Things worth reading: 25th March 2025 appeared...

Been having lots of conversations about digital identities and digital wallets lately. It is a theme that has been bubbling for years, yet seem to now be coming to a head. From the EU Digital Wallet and Identity program to India’s Aadhaar and UPI to Brazil’s Pix, there’s definitely something afoot. The core of the... The post A digital identity scheme for Europe …...

Things we’re reading today include … Why Is Everyone Investing in Indian Fintech? Will London take New York’s fintech crown? Analysis-Klarna IPO filing spurs hope of British fintech listings These fintech companies are hiring in 2025 after a turbulent year | TechCrunch ‘The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto’ Review: Cryptocurrency’s Ghostly Creator – WSJ $250 Million Bitcoin... The post Things worth reading: 24th March 2025 appeared...

The main blog discussions this week include … Is the use of cash a fundamental human right? We are moving rapidly to a world without cash. In fact, the phrase war on cash was coined (coins?) by the card companies years ago. The aim was to get everyone moving to cards, not cash. It’s now... The post The Finanser’s Week: 17th March – 23rd...

There have been many headlines over the years, with recent ones talking about saving septillion years using quantum computing and mapping a fruit fly’s brain that previously would have taken thousands of years using AI. No wonder businesses are keen on AI. So it’s weird that, according to Microsoft, half of UK businesses have no idea... The post How much will AI save your business?...

Things we’re reading today include: Revolut Hiring Hundreds to Become a Fully-Fledged UK Bank – Bloomberg Trump: US Will ‘Dominate Crypto’ OCC Opens Doors for Banks to Embrace Blockchain, Crypto Banking 500 2025: Challenger banks among the fastest growing bank brands in the world White paper: How AI is propelling innovation in financial services –... The post Things worth reading: 21st March 2025 appeared...

I just got an interesting report from Visa produced in late 2024. It is focused upon consumers, and their approach to cross-border payments. The research shows that the cross-border payment market is experiencing explosive growth, fuelled by a surge in international travel, ecommerce, and remittances. Consumers are spending more regularly cross-border than ever before and... The post Consumer cross-border payments are exploding, but banks...

Things we’re reading today include … Less than a quarter of Europe’s fintech unicorns are profitable | Sifted UK FinTechs bleed millions as fraud surges, research reveals Monzo develops backup bank to cover outages Six Ways to Lose All Your Crypto – WSJ Bank Branch Closures Accelerate UK High Street Decline, PwC Says Nearly 100... The post Things worth reading: 20th March 2025 appeared...

On the Finanser, we often talk about Stripe, as their valuation is the highest of all fintechs. In case you missed it, their peak valuation was in 2021 at $95 billion; it then nearly halved but, over the past year, has bounced back to a valuation today of $91 billion. Interestingly, according to their annual newsletter,... The post Stripe versus Adyen: which one is doing...