Financial institutions and entrepreneurs have a historically complicated relationship. Entrepreneurs need ways to fund their companies and keep business moving, meaning they lean on banks for everything from business loans to checking accounts. And banks need entrepreneurs, too — without small businesses fueling the economy, there isn’t much banks can do. This (sometimes reluctant) co-dependent […]
Fintech


Enterprise App Design: Does iOS Fare with Android in terms of Security?
More enterprises are investing in mobile applications on platforms preferably iOS. The 2016 enterprise mobile apps report brought out by Adobe reinforces the growing need for enterprises to invest in mobile apps. With Apple constituting a major share of the world smartphone market, iOS tend to be the most preferred platform in enterprise app development. […]

Most People Are Dead Wrong About Bitcoin and Criminals
It seems that these days, cryptocurrency can’t catch a break in the news cycle. In early April, the Securities and Exchange Commission urged a federal judge to freeze $27 million that was allegedly garnered through the illegal sale of shares in LongFin — a company whose stock shot from $5 to $142 after announcing it was acquiring […]

Are AI and Big Data the Economic Levelers We’ve Been Looking for?
For all of the “isms” supposedly being felled by enlightened Americans, the U.S. economy remains stunningly unfair. Take racism. On one hand, interracial marriages have grown fivefold in the 50 years since Loving v. Virginia, which legalized the practice. On the other, the average median household wealth of African-Americans declined by 75 percent between 1983 […]

Thinking About Borrowing Money? Here’s What You Need to Know
Some people love debt, while others hate it. People in the former category tend to use loans for everything. Those in the latter category avoid it at all costs. Both extremes can create problems. If you’re thinking about borrowing money, the smart approach lies somewhere in between. The Do’s and Don’ts of Borrowing Money When […]

Crypto Feels Like the Wild West — But Really, Big Tech Holds the Puppet Strings
rtFor evidence of big tech’s evolution from AV club geeks to big guys on campus, look no further than the influence of companies like Amazon and Google. They’ve crept into every corner of contemporary life; they possess outsized amounts of power and exercise imperial control over the digital landscape — and it looks like taking […]

What Will Cryptocurrency Be Like in 10 Years?
Investors, pundits, and enthusiasts can’t stop speculating about cryptocurrency, and more often than not, their predictions center on price. But simply musing over the market performance of a specific coin ignores the larger potential of cryptocurrency. This space is about more than price fluctuations — it’s a digital financial revolution that’s poised to transform the world. Cryptocurrency […]

3 Insurance Technology Trends That Will Rule The Roost in 2019
We’re sure you’ll agree when we say: traditionally, the insurance industry worldwide has been dominated by massive national brands and legacy product lines and age-old technology. The change is already here and more changes are expected to disrupt the global insurance industry. The rapid evolution of insurance technology or insurtech that’s making waves in the […]

4 Ways to Enter the Blockchain Industry
Blockchain is, in essence, an encrypted peer-to-peer distributed databases. It’s powered by countless computers located disparately around the world. The system is a growing, ordered collection of records called blocks, each with a timestamp that’s linked to a previous block. The technology uses cryptography to make sure that users can only edit their own blocks. […]

How Can Cryptocurrency Change Retail Payments?
Cryptocurrency made a poor first impression with the public when it launched, thanks to an association with criminal activity and security loopholes that were not the fault of the blockchain technology on which it runs. Widespread application possibilities got lost among the sensationalism in the news, which included constant stories harping on the radical fluctuations in the value […]

Robo-Advisors Are Coming. So What’s Stopping Them?
As technology continues its seemingly endless evolution, robots are taking over customer service and back-end data analysis. Combining those functions to create robo-advisors makes perfect sense. Unconvinced? Look at the financial sector. Experts who weighed in as part of Financial Planning’s survey believe that wealth management firms will continue to invest in robo-advisors and financial mobile app development as the […]

Cryptocurrency Fraud Is the Exception, Not the Rule
Cryptocurrency and blockchain are revolutionary technologies, but being so far ahead of the curve comes with consequences. With few precedents to learn from and regulatory frameworks still in their infancy, the crypto space has attracted its share of shrewd opportunists whose scams — such as the infamous pump-and-dump schemes — have grabbed international headlines. Tech giants like Facebook and […]

The US Is at Risk of Becoming a Second-Tier Financial Hub If Regulators Don’t Embrace Crypto
Among fintech enthusiasts, cryptocurrency is often the life of the party — and regulation is the elephant in the room. For a while now, we’ve heard whispers about the need for crypto-specific regulations in the community, and after appointing the first-ever senior advisor for digital assets and innovation back in June, it’s clear the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission […]

Lutron lights up Amazon Echo’s life
Lutron Electronics has added its Caséta Wireless system to the growing list of devices that support Amazon Alexa range, which includes the Echo, Dot, Tap, and Fire TV. The Caséta Wireless system features various connected LED lights that can change color or brightness on demand. The integration of Alexa allows users to change the lights […]

ICYMI from F2 Capital: Tesla gets some blame, Apple goes AR, Dimon slams Bitcoin
It’s been a busy week in emerging tech, with a lot of big news. Here’s a quick recap of what you might have missed. Apple debuts ARKit This past week, Apple introduced ARKit, a new framework that allows you to easily create unparalleled augmented reality experiences for iPhone and iPad. Some believe this (along with Google’s release […]

Coworking spaces and IoT — what could possibly go wrong?
The IoT and coworking spaces have a lot in common. Both need to strike a careful balance between forging accessible yet secure connections to engage with and protect their growing communities. It’s a tough call. Lucas Seyhun, co-founder at The Farm Coworking, said: “While we work with some of New York’s leading technical startups, we […]

Why China’s own ‘Bay Area’ matters now for your company
Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of spending significant time on the ground in China for ReadWrite and ReadWrite Labs. While here in China, I’m continuously discovering new opportunities that exist and even more reasons for foreign startups and corporations to consider getting started in China. However entering a new market can […]

AI and Blockchain Tech Are The Future of Successful Trading
In the past five years, the global financial industry has experienced major disruptions thanks to innovative technologies in AI, Machine Learning, and Blockchain. The rate at which supercomputers are taking over the financial sector is leaving no doubt that the future of finance will largely depend on computer scientists and big data experts rather than […]

The future of tokenization and blockchain is not just ICOs
Blockchain business case variety seems secondary in the conversation around blockchain hype. Tokenization on a blockchain system has received attention around the world with the increasing prevalence of ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). For those who continue to see “ICO”, but have no firm understanding of the definition, here’s an over simplified version. An ICO is […]

[INFOGRAPHIC] The history of Ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) creates much debate in the crpytocurrency world about whether or not the overtaking of Bitcoin is possible. Since its inception in 2014, ETH radiates an aurora of trust and hope about being the golden standard for cryptocurrency. This reputation results from not only as a result of the technology that supports it, but also […]

Life In An All-Business App Store
Atlassian gets B2B developer kudos

Why Managing Bots Matters
Sorting your good bots from your bad

This New Open Source Project Is 100X Faster than Spark SQL In Petabyte-Scale Production
Alluxio is getting attention from Baidu and other data giants because of its in-memory speed at profound scale.

Is There An App Divide?
Developers in lower-income markets shut out from the big opportunities

Zapier Introduces Multi-Step Zaps
Easy automation for synching your apps

IoT Security Concerns Show An Industry Struggling To Keep Up
With more connections comes more risk

IBM Launches A Cloud Data And Analytics Marketplace For Developers
IBM adds to their Cloud Data Services

Facebook Is Shutting Down Parse
Developers must look elsewhere.

Staging Servers Must Die
So continuous delivery may live.

Shut Out Of Mobile, Microsoft Courts iOS Developers
A port in a storm?

Consumers Are Willing To Give Up Some Privacy—For The Right Products
A Pew study reveals the quid-pro-quo attitudes.

Android N To Use Oracle’s OpenJDK For Java APIs
Google replaces JDK with Open JDK

China Passes Law Requiring Encryption Keys From Tech Companies
For the new mandate, the Chinese cites American precedent.

The Biggest Company In Tech Fears Britain’s “Snooper Charter”—And Startups Should, Too
An assault on encryption.

Rise Of The Self-Driving Car—And The Next Platform Holy War
Autonomous vehicles will radically change lives. No wonder everyone wants in.

Why Spark And Hadoop Are Both Here To Stay
Skip the hyperbole and the holy wars and get down to facts.

How Big Data Reveals The Secret Life Of Cities
Meet StreetLight’s (blurry) Panopticon.

Nest’s Smart Home Ambitions Extend Past The Thermostat With Thread
The smart thermostat maker joins others to found Thread, a group with a new wireless protocol for mesh networks.