This Week in Fintech ending 30 July 2021

Capture investment opportunities created by megatrends

This Week in Fintech ending 30 July 2021

30 July 2021 Technology & Digitalization 0

This week our experts brought you the following insights based on their experience as investors, entrepreneurs & executives.

Monday Ilias Hatzis our Greece-based crypto entrepreneur (Founder & CEO at  Kryptonio a “keyless” non-custodial bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallet, that lets users manage bitcoin and crypto, without private keys or passwords and Weekly Columnist at Daily Fintech) @iliashatzis wrote Yield farming: High Rewards, High Risk?

The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell below the $30,000 threshold early last week, and many fear that  Aeolus’ bag of winds may have opened and we may see new lows. Cryptocurrencies have tumbled since mid-May, wiping some $1.3 trillion off their market value. All of the top ten most valuable cryptocurrencies are down by more than 50% since their recent highs. Bitcoin has faced a range of obstacles, including regulatory scrutiny in China, Europe, and the US and dropping hash rates. But in the last few days, the values of cryptocurrencies have all trended upward, indicating that the cryptocurrency market may be beginning to show signs of recovery. The reason behind the bounce back is Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Cathie Wood speaking during a panel discussion about the future of Bitcoin. Yet, many crypto investors instead of just waiting for the value of their digital coins to grow, are now actively pursuing returns by lending out their crypto holdings or exploring other ways to earn yield and maximize their profits. “Yield farming” can result in interest rates in the double digits, which is far greater than the interest rates available in dollars.

Editor note: If Bitcoin is an asset it should earn something. The higher yields from Defi yield farming elicit two responses – positive (free market interest without central bank manipulation) and negative (this will be a honey pot for scammers).

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Tuesday Bernard Lunn, CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy wrote: 4 part series on Lightning Network Part 4: Pooh Bear says disruptive change takes longer than expected but impact is bigger than expected

Pooh, exercising his role as moderator at the Pooh Corner Tech Debate, pointed out that most people in the audience are focussed on the supply issues around Lightning Network ie how it works, but that the bigger issues maybe around the demand issues ie who will use it.

“That is why I follow the honey” continued Pooh. “The El Salvador legal tender decision is all about remittances. Through Strike and Lightning Network, people can send/receive/spend money super fast and dirt cheap. This is real competition to using USD and Western Union.”

“Being a bear of little brain”, continued Pooh in his best humble brag voice, “I do NOT have all the answers but these are the three questions I am asking.

Editor note: The last post in our 4-parter on Lightning Network

Wednesday Alan Scott Managing Director EMEA at 24 Exchange @Alan_SmartMoney wrote his weekly roundup of Stablecoin news.

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Thursday

Rintu Patnaik, an Insurtech expert based in India, wrote: Catastrophe Models Are More Accessible, Insightful and Prevalent Than Ever

Five years ago, catastrophe(CAT) modelling was relatively unknown. Today, CAT modelling for hurricanes and earthquakes is fast becoming the norm in property underwriting. Catastrophes, natural or man-made, can obliterate otherwise stable businesses. Commercially available CAT models have emerged only in the last quarter century. Earlier, rudimentary methods were employed to estimate catastrophic losses as historical loss data was scarce for low frequency, high severity events and standard actuarial techniques inadequate.

Editor note: with news about wildfires in West of America/Canada and floods in Europe, this post is very timely

Christian Dreyer @x3er, the Swiss based CFA who focusses on how XBRL changes our world wrote his weekly roundup of XBRL news.

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Friday Howard Tolman, a well-known banker, technologist and entrepreneur in London, wrote his weekly roundup of Alt Lending news.

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