Interesting Things Blog Technology The rise of a Fintech influencer : Matthew Najar

The rise of a Fintech influencer : Matthew Najar

Get to know Matthew Najar and some of his thoughts? Governments in major economies are encouraging financial technology (fintech) innovation with regulatory and advisory initiatives designed to accelerate the availability of online payment solutions and other financial services for businesses. The initiatives generally aim to attract innovative fintech companies and help them operate in the regulated financial sector, while ensuring adequate financial protection for customers.

Matthew Najar believes without new FinTech initiatives, we will stall: “FinTech, blockchain certainly included, is critical for our generation to solve inherent financial system issues and progress forward”.

The U.K., traditionally a major financial-services centre, has actively encouraged new competition in banking, reducing barriers to entry such as banks’ capital requirements. As a result, several new digital banks are already offering Internet-based banking services, including online payment solutions, without establishing brick-and-mortar locations. Another ongoing U.K. initiative designed to enable competition and fintech innovation is the implementation of an open banking standard by 2018, including an open application programming interface (API) that enables development of new applications to access information in customers’ existing accounts at one or more banks. For example, customers might be able to manage all their bank accounts from a single app.

The initiatives are taking place against a backdrop of rapid fintech growth. There are thousands of fintech start-ups worldwide, and many have attracted substantial venture funding; a report from KPMG and CB Insights found that global fintech funding reached $19.1 billion in 2015. Several countries are planning or have already implemented licensing or regulatory changes that enable technology firms to offer broader banking services. In the U.S., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which regulates national banks, said in December 2016 that it planned to make a special-purpose national bank charter available to fintechs. The charter would enable start-ups that currently offer other financial services, including B2B payments and other online payment solutions, to begin offering at least one of three regulated banking activities: receiving deposits, paying checks, or lending money.

What are the different types of Cryptocurrency wallets? There are several types of wallets that provide different ways to store and access your digital currency. Wallets can be broken down into three distinct categories – software, hardware, and paper. Software wallets can be a desktop, mobile or online. Desktop: wallets are downloaded and installed on a PC or laptop. They are only accessible from the single computer in which they are downloaded. Desktop wallets offer one of the highest levels of security however if your computer is hacked or gets a virus there is the possibility that you may lose all your funds.

The U.S., which is home to some of the world’s biggest fintech companies, is also kicking off innovation initiatives similar in concept to those already up and running in other countries. The OCC plans to establish an Office of Innovation in 2017 to help the agency ensure that financial institutions operate in a regulatory framework that is responsive to financial innovation; its roles will include an outreach and technical assistance program for banks and nonbanks developing financial services. In addition, a bill to introduce a regulatory sandbox was introduced in the U.S. Congress in 2016, with the goal of passing enabling legislation in 2017.

Technically speaking, cryptocurrencies are transactions or entries targeted in a restricted database. Specific conditions must be met to modify these transactions. Created with cryptography, transactions are protected with mathematics, not with people. Transactions are published in a database, but it is a special type of database that is shared is a peer-to-peer network.

There’s a need for one to be more than cautious when looking to invest in any ICO. Knowing when to or not to invest in an ICO is not about science; rather, it’s about paying close attention to those details that most people seem to overlook while only focusing on the promised returns. Conduct a background check on the team behind the project and analyze their ability to deliver on their promise. In addition, you should also look at the viability of the idea behind the ICO, poke holes in the project’s white paper and seek answers where necessary. That will ensure that no stone is left unturned and, if by the end of it you still have doubts about the project, you’re better of passing than chance it investing in that ICO.

Little pigs eat a lot, but big ones get eaten. This is especially true of market profits when trading cryptocurrencies. Wise traders never run in the direction of massive profits; nope, they don’t! They would rather stay put and gather small but sure profits from regular trades. Consider investing less of your portfolio in a market that is less liquid. Such high trades require more tolerance, while the stop loss and profit target points will be allocated further from the buying level.

You can short crypto, or long crypto. You can go long in crypto, meaning you are betting on crypto going up (for example by buying crypto). Or you can short crypto, meaning you are betting on it going down (for example by short selling crypto). Meanwhile, if you have the skills, you can do both depending on the price action (you can even use short positions as a hedge). With that said, in the US, in many states, there are very few options for shorting crypto. If you are new to crypto, you should consider just going long. If you would go short, you can mimic a 1x short by selling and going to cash!