Prices of cryptocurrencies NEO, OMG and ETP crashed close to 90 percent on the Bitfinex exchange before reverting back to normal levels; the crash caused the closure of many accounts that made leveraged trades and lost those accounts thousands in potential profits; Bitfinex claims the exchange worked as it should in the situation, but traders disagreed and complained via social media about the crash as well as demanding refunds; the site was slow to respond and traders unable to access their accounts according to complaints; incidents like this test the overall cryptocurrency markets as many believe they are unstable and not safe. Source.
The former CEO and Co-Founder of Dealstruck shares his entrepreneurial journey and reflects on the demise of his company. Source
While speaking at an event by the office of Financial Research Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles talk about the issues digital currencies could pose to the markets; the current level of use doesn’t pose a risk but as the scale of usage increases so does the potential potential problem; Quarles said, “if the central asset in a payment system cannot be predictably redeemed for the U.S. dollar at a stable exchange rate in times of adversity, the resulting price risk and potential liquidity and credit risk pose a large challenge for the system.”; he also talked about the the benefits of blockchain technology and if the central bank would issue their own digital currency. Source.
Alibaba spin-off Ant Financial and non profit online lender QCash won the second annual FT fintech awards; they were selected from a group of over 200 companies in the fintech space and the winners were announced at the FT Banking Summit; both companies were rewarded for innovation and providing increased access to financial services. Source.
Thomas Peterffy, CEO of Interactive Brokers Group, sent a letter to the CME and OCC Clearing Members voicing concerns about bitcoin futures; Mr. Peterffy believes bitcoin price movements are too big and arbitrary; he would prefer to put the clearing of bitcoin into an isolated clearing house or another isolated entity; he is sounding the alarm because he does not want to see the repeated mistakes of the 2008 financial crisis. Source.
Coinbase was ordered to hand over information on customers who made transactions over $20,000 between 2013 and 2015; the IRS believes people have not been correctly reporting income made from trades; the information required by the IRS was significantly less than they originally tried to get back when the IRS initially summoned records a year ago; Coinbase might still challenge the order. Source.
Article shares a story of a $200 jean purchase that was made with the help of point of sale finance firm Affirm; Affirm works with over 1,000 retailers to provide installment loans; merchants benefit since consumers end up spending more, but some critics say it promotes poor consumer behavior; article shares the history of consumer credit and the changes in point of sale financing. Source
Tonderys shares what makes Marlette Funding different and what he sees in the market for next year; he also provides his take on traditional banks getting into the business and where personal lending overall will be in five years. Source
A story by American Banker highlights a potential legislation that will change how Americans pay for college; many people familiar with the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success and Prosperity through Education Reform Act believe it will benefit lenders and loan servicers. Source
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said the U.S. central bank is starting to think about adopting its own digital currency; while talks are in their infancy Mr. Dudley does see the value in the technology behind bitcoin; he doesn’t see bitcoin being a rival to the dollar as it is currently to unstable. Source.