We've been here before. Blockchain, the antidote to all the world's greatest ills, is once again being trotted out as a solution to Brexit. The last time, you might remember, it was our dear Chancellor of the Exchequer, Spreadsheet Phil himself, who decided that the distributed and supposedly immutable version of the humble spreadsheet was “the most obvious technology” to tackle... oh just the incredibly complex and sensitive Irish border question. This time, it's the turn of an “internet...

LONDON (Reuters) - Eleven major banks, including Barclays (BARC.L), UBS UBSG.VX and HSBC (HSBA.L), said on Wednesday they had tested a system that could make trading much faster and cheaper, using the technology that underpins crypto-currency bitcoin. Logos are seen outside a branch of Barclays bank in London July 30, 2013. REUTERS/Toby Melville The banks are part of a consortium of 42 major lenders, brought together last year by New York-based software company R3 to work on ways blockchain...

LONDON (Reuters) - American Express (AXP.N) has introduced instant blockchain-based payments using Ripple, a fintech start-up, for U.S. corporate customers sending funds to UK-based businesses that bank with Santander UK STN.SN, the companies said on Thursday. American Express said its FX International Payments (FXIP) business had partnered with Ripple to provide real-time, trackable non-card payments from the United States to Britain. Customers are already using the service, the companies...

LONDON (Reuters) - Fintech firm R3 and 22 of the world’s biggest banks have together developed an international payments system that would allow existing central bank currencies and any new digital ones to be transacted via the blockchain, R3 said on Tuesday. The blockchain, which first emerged as the architecture underpinning cryptocurrency bitcoin, is a shared database that updates itself in real-time and can process and settle transactions in minutes using computer algorithms, with no need...

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin is booming, digital currency hedge funds are sprouting at the rate of two a week and the value of all cryptocurrencies has surged tenfold this year to more than $170 billion. Yet for all the hype, mainstream institutional investors are steering clear of the nascent market, taking the view that it is too lightly regulated, too volatile and too illiquid to risk investing other people’s money in. Bitcoin, the biggest and most well-known cryptocurrency, has outperformed...