Fintech

HEY, knock it off CNBC. We (FintekNews) are THE source for all you need to know about fintech. We all know fintech (in all forms) is HUGE and got $17.4 billion in new investment last year alone. I will compliment CNBC though for a great read, BUT come on........I need this job.

(Bill Taylor/CEO)

"The financial technology (fintech) industry is thriving globally and received $17.4 billion in investment last year alone.

According to EY's Fintech Adoption Index, a third of consumers worldwide are using two or more fintech services, with 84 percent of customers saying they are aware of fintech (up 22 percent from the previous year).

But users are often unaware that the financial services applications they use count as "fintech", or may not know what exactly fintech and its accompanying jargon means.

Fintech

Financial technology is broadly defined as any technological innovation in financial services.

Those engaged in the industry develop new technologies to disrupt traditional financial markets.

Various start-ups have been involved in the process of creating these new technologies, but many of the world's top banks including HSBC and Credit Suisse have been developing their own fintech ideas as well.

Fintech companies utilize technology as widely available as payment apps to more complex software applications such as artificial intelligence and big data.

Cryptocurrency

A cryptocurrency is a decentralized digital currency which uses encryption - the process of converting data into code - to generate units of currency and validate transactions independent of a central bank or government.

Bitcoin and ether are the most common form of digital currencies. But there are other forms of virtual cash, such as Litecoin, Ripple and Dash (i.e. "Digital Cash").

Bitcoin

'Bitcoin' – a term we're more used to hearing even in mainstream finance – is the first and one of the most prominent cryptocurrencies used by traders in the world of fintech.

It all began when an unknown person(s), under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, designed bitcoin as a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment network without the need for governance by any central authority.

In an introductory white paper introducing the virtual currency, Nakamoto defined bitcoin as: "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash (which) would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution."...

Full Story at CNBC