Paul Schulte, Advisor, Banking and Financial Services
August 22nd, 2019
Paul Schulte is the Founder and Managing Editor of Shulte Research based in Singapore. Paul's roles[...]
Vitalik “non-giver of ETH” Buterin just gave away $300,000 on Twitter
DecryptMedia | By | Dec 19, 2018
Embracing the OG hacker ethic, the renowned “non-giver of ETH” funded several startups. “YOLO,” he wrote, in a tweet heard ’round the world.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Responding to the needs of struggling devs, Ethereum founder Vitalik “Non-giver of ETH” Buterin just ponied up $300,000 worth of ETH to fund a few startups.
“I was excited and the most anxious I had ever been in my life. Nobody has sent me that much no-strings-attached, magical Internet money before,” Mikerah Quintyne-Collins said in an interview today.
The 20-year old student at the University of Toronto was among the recipients of Buterin’s largess last night—to the tune of $100,000—during a discussion on Twitter about the viability of the platform that Vitalik helped created.
See: Prices Aside, Crypto’s Tech Stack Is Steadily Improving
Buterin doesn’t normally give ETH—hence the Twitter moniker. That’s partly a response to so-called sockpuppet scams, by which bot/scammer-accounts masquerading as celebrities (such as Elon Musk) ask for small crypto-offerings on the false promise that they’ll grant the donor a massive return. The high-profile Buterin, in particular, who’s estimated to be worth around $36 million, is an obvious target for such things and often has people flagrantly pretending to be him.
But this time it really was him. And the $100,000 was just one of three donations to Ethereum-based startups.
One good deed begets another
The Giver of ETH surfaced during a Twitter debate between Buterin, Spankchain’s Ameen Soleimani, and Mythos Capital’s Ryan Sean Adams over the need for a broader, more financially viable Ethereum-scaling strategy. Adams said that Ethereum, tended as it is by a disparate, barely coordinated collective of developers, is “lacking basic operational leadership to get shit down [sic].”
So when Preston Van Loon, a developer with Prysmatic Labs — a firm working on Ethereum scaling solutions — mentioned that his team was
“still working full time for other jobs” and that a full-time role would require “significant pay cuts,” Buterin immediately sent 1000 ETH (around $100,000) to Van Loon.
This is, after all one of the advantages of digital currency: you can send it instantly and with almost no friction.
Next on Buterin’s Christmas list was Quintyne-Collins, who tweeted that $100,000 would motivate her to “quite literally drop out” of the University of Toronto, where she studies Computer Science and works on Ethereum’s Serenity protocol as a side-gig.
Shortly after Buterin sent her 1,000 ETH, she changed her Twitter profile to read, in part: “Dropping out of @UofT to save Crypto.”
The next beneficiary was Paul Hauner, of Sigma Prime—a firm developing an Ethereum 2.0 client called Lighthouse.
See: Ethereum Foundation Announces Millions in Grants for Scaling Research
Scores of people piled into the thread, asking for money for everything from startup ideas to caring for a sick child. Buterin, however, concentrated on sprinkling his magic ETH on projects of merit. And, no sucker, he asked that the recipients put their public keys on a site where he could “verify you’re not an evil hacker working for @northkoreadprk gov trying to *increase* the world’s centralization.”)
A life changed forever
We spoke to the newly enriched Quintyne-Collins, and asked—will she actually drop out of University? “I will be notifying my uni this Friday after my probability exam,” she said. After which she will endure one last semester, quit, then begin “ramping up my self-learning goals that I have set for myself since high school.” She added: “And work on ETH 2.0, obviously.
Continue to the full article --> here
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McKinsey & Company | By Philip B, Reet C., Olivier D., Tobias L., and Marc N | March 2020 The challenges are immediate, with long-term implications for global, regional, and local economies—and for the payments industry itself. Here’s what to expect. Any projection of industry performance rests on assumptions about overall economic activity. The outlook largely depends on the spread of the virus, the public-health response, and the effectiveness of the fiscal, monetary, and broader public response. A relatively optimistic scenario, taking into account these variables, assumes that the virus will be contained after an economic lockdown of two to three months in Europe and the United States. Under this scenario, global GDP would decline in 2020 by 1.5 percent, which we estimate would result in, at most, a decline in payments revenues of around $165 billion, some 8 percent lower than they were in 2019. See: All businesses seeing 30% drop in revenue due to pandemic will be eligible for 75% wage subsidies: Trudeau Cross-border consumer-to-business transactions are likely to drop. One-quarter of the total decline in revenues in our analysis is driven by cross-border payments, led by a 25 to 30 percent decline in cross-border C2B transactions. This ...
Read More
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Read More
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Read More
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Read More
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Read More
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Read More
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Read More
McKinsey & Company | By Philip B, Reet C., Olivier D., Tobias L., and Marc N | March 2020 The challenges are immediate, with long-term implications for global, regional, and local economies—and for the payments industry itself. Here’s what to expect. Any projection of industry performance rests on assumptions about overall economic activity. The outlook largely depends on the spread of the virus, the public-health response, and the effectiveness of the fiscal, monetary, and broader public response. A relatively optimistic scenario, taking into account these variables, assumes that the virus will be contained after an economic lockdown of two to three months in Europe and the United States. Under this scenario, global GDP would decline in 2020 by 1.5 percent, which we estimate would result in, at most, a decline in payments revenues of around $165 billion, some 8 percent lower than they were in 2019. See: All businesses seeing 30% drop in revenue due to pandemic will be eligible for 75% wage subsidies: Trudeau Cross-border consumer-to-business transactions are likely to drop. One-quarter of the total decline in revenues in our analysis is driven by cross-border payments, led by a 25 to 30 percent decline in cross-border C2B transactions. This ...
Read More
Read More
FintechZoom | Jung Min-seo | April 1, 2020 What’s the cybersecurity risk panorama for fintechs in 2020? Accenture’s perception offers some readability The tempo of digital transformation throughout the monetary panorama continues to quicken. In such an atmosphere the digital or cyber risk proposition evolves quickly, making it important to take care of the best requirements of know-how and preparedness, and hold updated with the impression of cyber tendencies. In response to Accenture’s 2019 Ninth Annual Price of Cybercrime report, monetary providers incurred the best cybercrime prices amongst all industries studied in 2018. See: On this analysis, Accenture explains: “As industries evolve and disrupt the present atmosphere, threats are dramatically increasing whereas turning into extra advanced. This requires extra safety innovation to guard firm ecosystems. The following value to our organisations and economies is substantial – and rising.” See: Smart Cities Offer Promises and Concerns Over Privacy Throughout all industries, Accenture discovered that data theft is the most costly and quickest rising consequence of cybercrime. Nonetheless, it famous that there are a number of drivers behind the evolving world cybersecurity risk for all sectors: Evolving targets: knowledge is now not the one goal in response to Accenture. Moderately, corporations worldwide ...
Read More
Read More
Fintech Magazine | By Matt High | March 31, 2020 We take a closer look at the eight innovative virtual banks that are digitally disrupting Hong Kong's financial services industry using technologies like AI, machine learning and Big Data With a national GDP of $341.4bn, Hong Kong is a rapidly growing economy and a centre of innovation and digital transformation. The special administrative region's history is rooted in the financial sector due to its low taxation, legislation that favours free trade and a currency pegged to the US Dollar. Despite the financial sector in Hong Kong being dominated by incumbents, it is seeing a rapid rise in fintechs, digital banks and new propositions that are driven by the latest technologies. The rise of virtual banking Last year the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced that eight virtual banks had been selected to receive licenses to operate in the country. Below we look in more detail at those virtual banks. Ant SME: A subsidiary of Ant Financial, the virtual bank is reportedly going to target the Hong Kong SME market, and is dedicated to providing inclusive banking solutions to smaller businesses in the nation’s economy. Insight Fintech: A joint venture between smartphone ...
Read More
Read More
Nasdaq Markets | Brian Withers | March 31, 2020 Amid the market volatility, two financial services companies held investor presentations in the past several weeks. Digital payments ecosystem Square (NYSE: SQ) and financial services company American Express (NYSE: AXP) provided updates on the current market situation, and, more importantly, their long-term growth plans. Both companies play in the financial services sector, but they are at different points in their growth cycles and appeal to different kinds of investors. Let's dive into the details and make a determination as to which is a better buy today. See: Growth in Canadian FinTechs Having Impact on Canada’s Banking Landscape The companies at a glance American Express was founded more than 150 years before Square, but it is only three times Square's size in market capitalization. For dividend and value-minded investors, the financial stalwart boasts almost a 2% yield and incredible bottom-line profits. But Square is growing faster and has more growth opportunity. The case for Square Square's stock has gotten slashed recently as small shops are suffering under shelter-in-place and closure orders for non-essential businesses. In its investor day meeting, company management indicated payment transactions have declined in March, lowered its guidance for the ...
Read More
Read More
CBC News | Kathleen Harris | March 30, 2020 PM warns of 'serious consequences' for companies that abuse the system Businesses and non-profit organizations seeing a drop of at least 30 per cent in revenue due to COVID-19 will qualify for the government's 75 per cent wage subsidy program, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today — adding that "serious consequences" await those who abuse the system. During the daily media briefing outside his residence at Rideau Cottage, Trudeau said the number of people a business employs will not determine its eligibility. Charities and companies big and small will qualify, he said. For those companies experiencing a decrease in revenues of at least 30 per cent, the government will cover up to 75 per cent of a salary on the first $58,700, which could mean payments of up to $847 a week. The prime minister also encouraged businesses to top up their employees wages with the remaining 25 per cent of their salaries. Trudeau said the wage subsidies will be retroactive to March 15, 2020. "We are trusting you to do the right thing," he said. "If you have the means to pay the remaining 25 per cent that is not covered by the subsidy, ...
Read More
Read More
Electronic Frontier Foundation | Lindsay Oliver |March 19, 2020 A greater portion of the world’s work, organizing, and care-giving is moving onto digital platforms and tools that facilitate connection and productivity: video conferencing, messaging apps, healthcare and educational platforms, and more. It’s important to be aware of the ways these tools may impact your digital privacy and security during the COVID-19 crisis. Here are a few things you should know in order to make informed decisions about what works best for you and your communities, and ways you can use security and privacy best practices to protect yourself and others. Free Slacks EFF has written a lot about Slack’s data retention issues when it comes to free versions of the software. With so many mutual aid networks and organizing groups coalescing on Slack to support our communities, it’s important that users are aware that the company retains their messages if they're using a free plan—and they can't automatically delete them. By default, Slack retains all the messages in a workspace or channel (including direct messages) for as long as the workspace exists. See: 58 Must-Read Remote Work Resources | 50 Great Remote Working Resources If you are using a paid ...
Read More
Read More
Linkedin | Richard Turrin | March 29, 2020 Neobanks are caught in the middle of a coronavirus induced "flight to quality" that they may not be able to fight. Investors are moving capital away from risk and toward the safety of larger incumbents. Preliminary figures from the Federal reserve show large cash movements into the larger incumbent banks, perhaps based on the belief that they are "too big to fail" and provide a haven for cash. Neobanks are trying to gain deposits and user trust in what is now a very different market than when they launched, and their response to these changes in upcoming months will be critical. For the record, I like neobanks and think that they have had a profoundly positive influence in making banking services better for everyone. See: NorthOne announces Series A round of $21M USD That said, their position as newcomers, heavy dependence on investor support, high valuations, and lack of profits puts some in the same category as WeWork. A cautionary comparison and perhaps an overstatement, but amid a financial crisis apropos. It’s now harder to see how ease of use will attract investors who are suddenly more worried about trust and safety. Let's look at how neobanks ...
Read More
Read More
TechCrunch | Steve O'Hear | March 24, 2020 It all started with a tweet from 11:FS co-founder Simon Taylor. If the U.K. government could be persuaded to provide financial support to the self-employed during the Coronavirus crisis, as it has already pledged for full-time employees, then Open Banking technology could be used to self-certify lost income, and therefore overcome one of the main hurdles of administering potential compensation. The founders of two other London-based fintechs, Fronted and Credit Kudos, were first to accept the challenge, and soon they were joined by dozens of other volunteers from the wider U.K. fintech community with the aim of turning around a working prototype of “Covid Credit” in just 48 hours. See: Fintechs getting a boost from coronavirus outbreak “Like many, we saw a challenge for non-salaried workers who are currently ineligible for government relief,” says Fronted’s Jamie Campbell. “By using Open Banking, we have been able to quickly develop a simple process that allows non-salaried workers to generate a proof statement which details their past income and the impact of COVID-19”. The Covid Credit team’s hypothesis is that evidencing and validating the income of a sole trader is significantly harder than a salaried ...
Read More
Read More
ADB Institute | March 25, 2020 Policy makers and researchers recently met at ADBI for a workshop examining green infrastructure investment, policy challenges, and economic implications in Asia. Marco Schletz from the United Nations Environment Program Technical University of Denmark Partnership was among the experts featured at the event. Afterwards, Schletz sat down with Asia’s Developing Future to discuss how blockchain and tokenized securities could revolutionize green finance and inclusive development in the region. The views in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). Read the transcript bit.ly/2QIe9TH Policy makers and researchers recently met at ADBI for a workshop examining green infrastructure investment, policy challenges, and economic implications in Asia. Marco Schletz from the United Nations Environment Program Technical University of Denmark Partnership was among the experts featured at the event. Afterwards, Schletz sat down with Asia’s Developing Future to discuss how blockchain and tokenized securities could revolutionize green finance and inclusive development in the region. See: Blockchain and Tokenized Securities: The Potential for Green Finance Marco Schletz from the United Nations Environment Program Technical University of Denmark Partnership Blockchain is an innovative data structure that is used to verify ...
Read More
Read More
Harvard Business Review | Marco Iansiti and Greg Richards | March 26, 2020 As workplaces mandate that employees work from home, universities shift fully to online teaching, restaurants transition to online ordering and delivery, and automakers shut down their plants, we’re seeing the most rapid organizational transformation in the history of the modern firm. Yes, companies have dealt with financial crises like the 2008 Great Recession or the dot-com bust of the early 2000s. And many have endured wars and terrorist attacks, election surprises, and previous health crises. But never before have established and evolved economies faced this kind of shock. And nothing quite compares to the physical-digital divide Covid-19 is revealing and how it affects the nature of work. In some ways, you can trace what’s happening today to a huge digital transformation that’s already well underway. Firms have been moving to an increasingly digital core based on software, data, and digital networks for years, requiring a fundamentally new operating architecture. From Ant Financial to Facebook, the new digital firm gains its competitive advantage in three ways: by producing more at a lower unit cost (scale), by achieving a greater production variety (scope), and by pushing for improvement and innovation (learning) ...
Read More
Read More
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Neobanks Can’t Fight the COVID-19 “Flight to Quality”
