View photosMore Despite a plethora of sometimes unclear regulations and restrictions, large businesses and banks in India are still embracing cryptocurrency — or at least some of the technology that underpins it — as a more reliable way to reconcile accounts, make payments, keep proper records, and manage internal funds. According to a report in the India Times, a number of Indian corporations are currently trialing blockchain technology as a means of record keeping. Despite the traditionally...

View photos A new report on the UK banking industry has identified Fintech startups as a key potential disruptor in the eyes of the industry’s biggest participants. The recently released MoneyLive Banking Report compiled by Marketforce LIVE concluded that Britain’s banking space sees such startups as a “significant threat” to their business models, after consulting with 600 prominent figures from across the industry. The report polled respondents in an attempt to find out how traditional...

More The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has announced its decision to launch a pilot Global Payment Initiative (GPI) service which aims to compete with the growing threat of competing blockchain and fintech solutions provided by institutions like Ripple, JP Morgan and Transferwise. Still in its initial stages, the ambitious pilot aims to “build the foundation of a new integrated and interactive service that will significantly improve efficiencies in the...

More Alrosa, the world’s second largest diamond maker has announced that it is joining Tracr, the blockchain-based end-to-end diamond tracing solution developed by South African diamond behemoth De Beers Group for the purpose of ensuring that conflict diamonds do not enter its supply chain. In a statement published on its website on October 29, the Russian company revealed that it is joining the project because it supports the goal of protecting consumers and ensuring the integrity of the...

China’s ongoing drive to dominate the emerging global blockchain technology sector has been underlined by news that Alibaba Group Holding alone filed more than 10 percent of all blockchain patents worldwide in 2017. Intellectual Property Rights Arms Race Research by Thomson Reuters shows that 56 percent of all 406 blockchain patents issued around the world in 2017 came from China, with the United States a distant second with 22 percent. Combined with the rapid rise in blockchain patent...