Cryptocurrency Bitcoin hits yearly high as it soars above $5,000 April 2, 2019 Bitcoin soared to its highest level of the year this morning, rising as much as 22 per cent to trade at $5,080 (£3,892). The cryptocurrency has enjoyed a strong period of trading recently, posting its largest quarterly price gain since late 2017. Read more: Bitcoin makes biggest quarterly price gain since the end of 2017 [...]
Bitcoin makes biggest quarterly price gain since the end of 2017 April 1, 2019 Crypto traders will be hoping Bitcoin can emulate the first quarter of 2017 in the coming months, after it posted its biggest quarterly price gain since late 2017. Investors in the original cryptocurrency saw its price plummet last year after record highs of almost $20,000 (£15,886) per coin in December 2017. Read more: Bitcoin critic warns [...]
Chief executive of bitcoin exchange Mt Gox sentenced by Japanese court March 15, 2019 The former chief executive of defunct bitcoin exchange MT Gox has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail by a Japanese court after being found of guilty of falsifying electronic records. Mark Karpeles was on trial for a number of charges but was found innocent of the more serious allegations of embezzlement and aggravated breach [...]
Five fintech trends to watch in 2019 March 6, 2019 | City Talk There’s no shortage of stories on how tech breakthroughs will transform financial services, from changing the way we interact with our personal finances to threatening entire banking institutions with disruption. It can be difficult to predict exactly what this landscape will look like in the next few years, but most seem to agree that the [...]
Why ‘Continual Learning’ is ready to disrupt investment February 19, 2019 | City Talk ‘The only source of knowledge is experience’ – this quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, could be used to frustrate ambitious young analysts. The lesson? Grey hair will prevail. There simply is no substitute for experience in the investment business. Correct? Well, perhaps not any more. A new technology might be about to give grey hair [...]
Blockchain oil firm taps former JP Morgan director as new chief February 13, 2019 A firm that wants to reinvent commodities trading by using blockchain technology has hired a former energy trader from JP Morgan and Mercuria as its next chief executive. Vakt, which aims to eliminate paper-based trading and secure audit processes by putting it on the blockchain, has been backed by major oil firms such as Shell, Chevron [...]
Blockchain startup Chainalysis targets London with $30m raise from Accel February 12, 2019 Crypto compliance startup Chainalysis has raised $30m (£23.3m) from venture capital giant Accel to open an office in London's Soho. The US firm's series B round was supported by existing investor Benchmark, which upped its stake in the company after funding Chainalysis' $16m series A last year. Chainalysis said it will use the proceeds from the round to open [...]
What do you want to know about big data & AI in investment management? February 7, 2019 | City Talk A technological advance can impact — even transform — the global economy let alone a particular sector. The steam engine in the first industrial revolution, electricity in the second, and internet technology in the third fundamentally changed human history. Today, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) have the same transformative potential. When it comes to [...]
Central banks moving ‘cautiously’ towards digital currencies January 8, 2019 Around 70 per cent of central banks are researching how to use digital currencies, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), however they are “proceeding cautiously” with plans. Almost a quarter of the 63 survey participants have or will soon have the authority to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the research found. [...]
Ethereum hard fork: Just a temporary distraction from the crypto gloom January 7, 2019 | City Talk Ethereum has started 2019 on strong form. Its native Ether cryptocurrency gained 10 per cent in the first week of January, and has doubled in value since bottoming out at $75 in mid-December. It has usurped Ripple to reclaim the latter’s title as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. Traders are snapping up the currency ahead of next [...]