The emerging blockchain industry is starting to look like the rest of the tech industry, predominantly male; it is estimated that only 4 to 6 percent of blockchain investors are women; there are a number of women who are looking to change this culture and have started forming clubs and conferences to attract more women to the space; “We have an opportunity to rebuild the financial systems,” entrepreneur Brit Morin said to the NY Times. “Women want to be part of that.”; there has been numerous incidents at industry events and from ICO marketing campaigns that have been discouraging to say the least for blockchain women enthusiasts; with the industry still in its infancy there is plenty of time to build a more inclusive culture for all those interested in the potential of blockchain technology. Source.
Pagaya is an asset manager based in New York; they announced that they have received $75 million in debt financing from Citi; the funds will be used for its Opportunity Fund to invest in loans by online lenders such as Prosper and LendingClub; the company uses machine learning to determine loans worthy of investment. Source
Digital only banking startups are finding it hard to scale as their offerings are similar to incumbent banks but with some better tech; with the amount of companies starting to increase these banks should think of focusing on a particular niche to get greater traction says Satya Patel, a partner at VC firm Homebrew; customer acquisition costs and a viable revenue model are two of the biggest barriers for companies; online lenders like SoFi have started to offer banking services on top of lending as a means to offer customers more products after providing an initial service. Source.
The Godfather of Fintech shares his thoughts on what rewirement means, what fintech needs today, where it is going and what excites him about the future. Source
Deutsche Bank examined whether bitcoin is improving in a recent note they sent to clients last week; a few factors have played into fees staying low, less demand with people looking to transfer their bitcoin and the SegWit upgrade to the bitcoin network; while only 14 percent of transactions occur through the SegWit update the tech is helping to improve the network; transaction volumes moving lower are the bigger reason for the drop in fees according to Mosaic.io co-founder Garrick Hileman. Source.
Business Insider sat with Coinbase’s Dan Romero who recently took on the role of general manager and vice president of the company in January; the interview covered the company’s plans for growth on the engineering and product sides; he said the company is looking to become for cryptocurrency what Google has become for search; the interview also talks through the recent SegWit upgrade, where Coinbase is headed in the next few years and how they compare to their biggest competitors. Source.
Deloitte tracked 86,034 blockchain projects since 2009 that are hosted on GitHub; according to their data over 26,000 blockchain projects were started in 2016 and financial services firms are leading the way in blockchain; 92% of blockchain projects have failed or were started as an experiment; The Finanser shares other findings from the Deloitte report. Source
Capital One is looking to ensure innovation at the bank is beyond add ons that might solve a particular problem; the bank is looking to take a fuller look at innovation and not just trying to be first to market with a new product; Capital One has rolled out a chatbot, an Alexa skill and more as they look to try and make banking part of their customers everyday experience; Sanjiv Yajnik, president of financial services at Capital One, tells TearSheet “The real power is shifting the way in which you think about the product. Customers today are demanding products and services that are seamlessly integrated into their lives.” Source.
In this week’s PeerIQ Industry Update they cover the latest minutes from the FOMC meeting, the new NY Fed report on mortgage lending and Lending Club’s earnings report; the FOMC is on track to raise rates 3 times in 2018 and the new rates could affect ABS pricing; the NY Fed report on the role of technology on mortgage lending said fintech lenders are reducing processing times by 20 percent and default rates by 25 percent; Lending Club reported record revenue and a net loss, their stock dropped 18 percent on the news; PeerIQ also gives a report on their recent partnership with Cross River Bank. Source.
According to a New York Federal Reserve report, online mortgage lenders approve loans faster, experience fewer defaults and encourage more refinancing; not surprisingly they are also able to respond to customers as demands shift; the report studied banks and fintechs to better understand the market; lending from fintechs has grown by 30% annually since 2010, from $34 billion to $161 billion, representing 8% of the market. Source