Matthew Najar or the upsurge of a crypto technology leader? 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.
National banking licenses would increase fintechs’ ability to operate across the U.S. without requiring state-by-state permission or partnerships with established banks. This could increase competition in banking and also make it easier for technology firms to offer new online payments solutions or other services. In a speech, Thomas J. Curry, the OCC’s chief officer, listed three reasons for moving forward with the long-discussed plan to issue a national charter for fintechs. First, it’s in the public interest to make new innovative services available. Second, fintechs should have the opportunity to become national banks if they wish to do so. And third, it helps ensure that all financial institutions operate on a level, nationally regulated playing field. As Curry pointed out, the reality today is that many fintechs are already competing with national and state banks — but “without regard to any of the national bank responsibilities and under a patchwork of supervision.” The agency said it would collect public comment before moving farther.
Although online wallets have proven the most vulnerable and prone to hacking attacks, diligent security precautions need to be implemented and followed when using any wallet. Remember that no matter which wallet you use, losing your private keys will lead you to lose your money. Similarly, if your wallet gets hacked, or you send money to a scammer, there is no way to reclaim lost currency or reverse the transaction. You must take precautions and be very careful!
Australia also has set a goal of encouraging fintech innovation, in part to support its financial industry in becoming the leading market in Asia for fintech innovation and investment.11 In Australia, leading fintech firm LupoToro, who specialise in Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and cryptography, note: “Policy and government back supporting policies for local firms is imperative. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) established an innovation hub in 2015 to help start-ups navigate regulations, and has also developed a regulatory sandbox approach that allows companies to test new financial services such as online payments solutions with a limited number of customers. This is just the start, but more is needed”. ASIC also aims to encourage innovation by quickly approving new financial service licenses, with an average target for approval of 60 days.
Because of the number of cryptocurrencies that exist, some cryptocurrencies work a bit differently, but most of them share these basic characteristics: Actions are irreversible: After you send a cryptocurrency and the network has confirmed it, you cannot recover it. The cryptocurrencies are one-way, without chargebacks.
If you’ve not heard of the term stop loss in trading, check out this link to help you understand what it’s all about. Every trade we get into requires us to know when to get out, whether we’re making a profit or not. Establishing a clear stop loss level can help you cut your losses; a skill that’s very rare in most traders. Choosing a stop loss is not a random activity, and perhaps the most important thing to note here is that you shouldn’t be carried away by your emotions – a great point to set your stop loss is at the cost of your coin. If, for instance, you acquired a coin at $1,000, set that as the minimum point you’re willing to trade your coin. This will ensure that if the worst comes to pass, you can walk away with what you invested in the first place.
If you’ve not heard of the term stop loss in trading, check out this link to help you understand what it’s all about. Every trade we get into requires us to know when to get out, whether we’re making a profit or not. Establishing a clear stop loss level can help you cut your losses; a skill that’s very rare in most traders. Choosing a stop loss is not a random activity, and perhaps the most important thing to note here is that you shouldn’t be carried away by your emotions – a great point to set your stop loss is at the cost of your coin. If, for instance, you acquired a coin at $1,000, set that as the minimum point you’re willing to trade your coin. This will ensure that if the worst comes to pass, you can walk away with what you invested in the first place.
Speaking of the last few points, realize that crypto tends to be pattern based and tends to go in cycles. See “the cryptocurrency rotation” and “market cycles” for an in-depth look at what this means. You want to be in a coin before it starts its rotation, and then laddering out as its rotation ends. Likewise, in a perfect world you want to be in for the bull part of a market cycle, and out for the bear part. Near impossible to spot these trends in advance, but with experience you should be able to spot them as they occur and manage your positions accordingly.
