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Delve into the world of
cryptocurrencies
VIDEO I INTERVIEW
Three internationally renowned
experts give us the key aspects
to enter the world of digital currencies.
What is blockchain technology? In what areas
can this revolutionary technology develop?
What can we expect of its near future?
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The great novelty of these
currencies is its technological
development, the way money changes
hands: the intermediary disappears and
the customer has the ability to record,
secure and make the payment or collection.
DIGITAL CURRENCIES
A future that is present and past
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Lucia is 10 years old. She still doesnt know
what a virtual currency is, but she is indeed
part of the generation that will begin to use
them massively on a daily basis in the near fu-
ture. Like millions of other children, she is famil-
iar though with fake money, with which you
can buy many things in mobile games or vir-
tual communities such as Club Penguin. It is
money thats inside the phone [device]; when
you want to pay, you send it to the cashier or
the shopkeeper, who has a special machine to
get those coins.
And how do you send it? With a mobile mes-
sage, although you have to be careful not to
show it or send it to anyone because, then,
how do you recover it? The perception of the
child of what is a virtual currency is not too
far from what an adult could explain, and it is
essential when trying to understand the key
concepts of a phenomenon that promises to
transform the economy. Currency, means of
payment and security: three pillars that sum-
marize a major economic matter, now and al-
ways.
The near future
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Gold, copper, nickel or silver; virtual, digital,
cryptographic... History has seen currencies
of all colors, sizes, nationalities and all sorts
of names for more than two thousand years.
The big break happened a few centuries ago,
when the way money changes hands was
transformed with the introduction of ledgers.
In modern payment systems, payments are
made by reducing the balance in a customers
account and increasing the balance in the re-
cipients account by an equivalent amount
a process that has not changed since the 16th
century. The difference lies in the technology
employed to record the balances, explains
the Bank of England in a special bulletin
about virtual currencies. In fact, it is all an im-
aginary and virtual journey, where briefcases
only intervene in minority practices.
Over the past half-century, these entries have
passed from being registered and communi-
cated on paper to being done electronically
between two clients, with the bank as witness,
guarantor and intermediary of the deal. Thats
Money has always travelled virtually
the past and present of modern banking, now
facing a new revolution. But if virtual money al-
ready existed, why is everybody talking about
virtual currencies like Bitcoin? Whats new, really
new, is once again the technological develop-
ment, the way money changes hands. In this
new mutation, however, it seems that the inter-
mediary disappears and the client is the one
who has the ability to record, secure and make
the payment or collection. The intermediate
step, the traditional bank as we know it, disap-
pears a decentralized model, as opposed to a
centralized one.
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Virtual currencies seem to be another re-
sponse to an unstoppable trend aiming to im-
prove processes and reduce costs, which in-
volves technology and globalization. They are,
in themselves, the crisis and catharsis of the
old economic model based on borders, cus-
toms, brokerage and tolls of all kinds that pop-
ulate international, national or local economies.
Like any crisis, they are also an opportunity.
The possibility of establishing a new financial
model based on software and data is more real
than ever in this 2015.
For example, today most financial assets
(stocks, funds, derivatives, deposits...) only
exist as digital records in private or central
banks. Currencies too.
A small part of the money in circulation comes
to life in the form of notes or coins, even though
the majority lies within the oceans of informa-
tion and data that live in the computers and
technology systems of banks. They are the
custodians and guardians of data.
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Bitcoin, like hundreds of other currencies of its kind, brings into question this
model by proposing a currency which is a computer code, limited in supply,
saved and recorded by the user, but localized and controlled by all its users
in real time through their computers. It is therefore the entire community of
users who guarantees that this currency exists and has been transmitted
from one person to another.
Its a peer to peer (P2P) model that makes unnecessary, at least in theory, the
presence of an intermediary. Behind Bitcoin there is a technological design
that allows disintermediation, point to point transmission, data encryption
and digital signing. Their transmission in the form of instant messages, with
popular apps like Telegram (or WhatsApp), allow to guess that such applica-
tions may soon play a leading role in virtual currencies.
Technology is the question
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VIRTUAL WALLETSSuch as Google Wallet, Apple Pay, etc.
VIRTUAL MONEYThey are credits in online gaming or local currencies. They remind the days of Second Life, back in 2003
MOBILE MONEYTransmitted via mobile phones
DIGITAL CURRENCIESLike bitcoins
According to the Bank of England, there are four types of recent innovations in electronic payments that are often confused with one another:
Development boom
Only the two last categories have the decentralized component that makes
virtual currencies revolutionary. However, these four branches coexist and
complement each other depending on their purpose. Its use is still scarce,
but their development is experiencing a boom of activity that involves en-
trepreneurs, startups, investors and accelerators. We are going through a
present of creative chaos, a maze of possibilities and expectations where it
is still unclear which is the dominant species, the king of the jungle who will
exercise the law of the strongest.
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A sufficient critical
mass
Offer a solution to a problem and improve an activitys efficiency
A purpose for its existence
beyond financial speculation
Above all, it must be
better than what
already exists
Today there are more than 100 virtual curren-
cies, with a market value of 4 billion dollars, ac-
cording to Coinmarket . Under the shadow
of the famous Bitcoin the most popular and
used of all of them hundreds of replicas have
Anyone can create a virtual currency, but not all will survive. To succeed they must have:
emerged, with specialized features and uses
including exchange rate; loyalty programs;
granting of credit; storage; donation; alloca-
tion of the digital property, and buying time,
among others.
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Bitcoin and its derivatives meet many of these features:
They solve problems such as, for example, making a loan or transfer of digital goods and recording that transaction in a reliable way
They have elite users within the technology developer community itself
They are better in the sense that they are able to reduce costs
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The future
How will virtual currencies look like in five years? As almost anything in eco-
nomics, we can predict and establish a model of behavior. However, it doesnt
make much sense if we consider the recent evolution of some technologies
and digital services. WhatsApp or Instagram hardly existed in 2009, and
now they are common applications used by millions of people. Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn were in full global spread, but they barely had revenue;
today they obtain more than 20 billion dollars a year between the three of
them and show profits.
Did anyone bet a dime on Google in 2008 when it launched Android? May-
be even less people than on Chrome OS, the operating system that aims to
reach hundreds of millions of computers around the world starting this year
and may sweep Windows off the map. Five years ago, the fate of Microsoft
could change. Steve Ballmer, then CEO of the company, criticized Google
for having two operating systems and described its strategy as unclear. His
own employee Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, corrected
him saying: Android is a bet of the past, based on applications; Chrome is
the operating system of the future, when everything will be in the cloud.
From todays perspective, Ozzie was totally right about the strategy of his
then rival Google (although he lasted only two more months in Microsoft).
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Every day there are new predictions, but they rarely crystallize in a revolu-
tionary phenomenon. Would Apple have bet on its luxury iPhone in 2007,
for its iPad in 2010 or its Watch in 2015? The present of virtual currencies
seems to be Bitcoin, but we still dont know how it will be really used, or if a
new and improved system will be born in the coming months or years.
However, and taking into account Hollywoods historical capacity to predict
the widespread use of a device or technology service (Startreks tablets in
the 80s; autonomous cars in Demolition Man, 1995; video calls in Back to
the Future... ), we can foresee another future for virtual currencies: their use
to trade time, i.e. hours, minutes or seconds. In the movie In Time (2011), the
protagonists go to work and get paid with time. The rich manage their time
fortunes and buy luxury cars with time units. Isnt this the most valuable as-
set and the real engine that moves business transactions or relationships?
Will we see time virtual currencies?
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Regulatory pressure over
banks, who are waiting for a
common regulation on this
technology, is leaving innovation
in virtual currencies in hands of
financial startups. Banks remain
vigilant, but are also getting involved
in the process with investments
and funding emerging companies.
VIRTUAL CURRENCIES
The entry of banks in the sector
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Blockchain technology represents a new source
of business for banks, as the transformation
of the value chain opens up a new revenue
stream. It will affect all those services involved
in the exchange of assets. However, the con-
cept of bitcoin doesnt allow just that, but also
a new way of understanding finance through
an economy that is collaborative, participatory
and between individuals.
These technologies that underpin the creation
of bitcoins allow the unique identification of
digital goods and their transmission to another
person or company directly without interme-
diaries. And here comes a potential threat to
banks, whose business is based, among oth-
er things, on providing trust. The typical bank
margin includes charging for loans (assets or
money lent) a bit more than what they pay for
deposits (passive or money). The same goes
for service fees such as account maintenance,
credit or debit cards, etc.
WHAT IF THE BANK AS WE KNOW IT IS NO LONGER NECESSARY?That is the approach of the bitcoin technology,
and thats why some entities are stepping up
to address this disconcerting future.
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It has sponsored the development of Coinffein, a Spanish
startup leaded by Alberto Gmez and Sebastin Ortega,
who claims to be the bitcoin for the identification and
transaction of financial assets such as stocks, mutual
funds, commodities, warrants, options, futures... It takes
advantage of the peer-to-peer transactions allowed by
bitcoin-style technologies, so that the user can cover the
entire financial process without having to visit a bank. It
goes from the identification of an asset to the allocation
of its ownership to a user and the ability to transmit it
(sell it) to somebody else.
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The groups approach to the bitcoin world has
gone hand in hand with its investment in start-
ups through BBVA Ventures. Its investment in
the incubator 500startups, with hundreds of
startups of all kinds passing through its hub,
has allowed BBVA to follow closely some of
the most innovative projects in the sector.
This Silicon Valley accelerator has supported
Traity, for example, a company that claims to
be the reputational ID in Internet and allows to
apply techniques of social intelligence (based
on social networks) for scoring related to finan-
cial products such as credits, among others.
Coinbase is the icing on its portfolio of invest-
ments, although its links with financial startups
are many through the specialized fund Ribbit
Capital, also participated by the bank. Sumup,
a startup that develops points of sale (PoS) for
retail, is another of its noteworthy investments.
BBVA sustains that the bank of the future will
be, rather than a guardian of data, a financial
services intermediary. Francisco Gonzlez,
President and CEO of BBVA, visualizes the
bank of the future as a driver of technology
development to simplify the user experience.
The acquisitions of Madiva (real estate big
data) or Simple (mobile and personal finance)
expand their possibilities for providing tech-
nological services and keeping engaged with
the evolution of the financial ecosystem.
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It has opted for an alliance with Telefnica in various
joint ventures and has launched in 2015 its first fund spe-
cialized in fintech (finance and technology). Under the
brand Innoventures it has started to invest in startups
and soon it will also enter the virtual currencies area. It
participates in projects like Monitise, Yaap and Cyano-
gen, the future rival of Android.
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The British bank has launched along with Techstars an
accelerator of projects related to finance. Among these
young companies, the development of technologies
based on Bitcoin is not something unknown. Projects
like Crowdestates (mortgages), Aire (cards), Gust Pay
(payments) or the Spanish Novicap have visited Barclays
headquarters, who has invested in them and is observ-
ing whats happening in the sector and among virtual
currencies.
One of its major business areas is precisely its exchange
rate and forex broker, one of the largest in the world
alongside UBS, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan.
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In response to the Call for Information on digital cur-
rencies launched in November 2014 by the UK Treasury
in order to analyze the development of this technology,
Citi issued the report HMT Call for Information on Digi-
tal Money . In this official response, the bank pointed
out that the lack of clear regulation is creating uncer-
tainty by preventing legitimate players, such as banks,
to enter this field. In its paper, Citi urged authorities to
resolve these uncertainties in order to allow banks to
decide how to approach digital currencies.
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The Swiss bank has decided to focus on in-
vesting in house, in internal projects led by its
own employees instead of outsourcing fintech
innovation to startups. Thus, UBS has created
a laboratory to investigate the potential of the
underlying technology in Bitcoin, just as BNY
Mellon and other banks have done.
In early 2015, UBS announced its intention
to explore how blockchain technology can
streamline transactions. It has run some tests
with smart-bond, a tool that uses this techno-
logy to do cryptographically what normally
would be done by the intermediary.
There are many more examples of how the
banking industry is trying to catch up with the
upcoming technological revolution, but initia-
tives are scattered.
So far, startups that have created online for-
eign exchange services are the big beneficiar-
ies in the short term of the bitcoin technology:
they are the ones who charge commissions
for every transaction that takes place on ei-
ther side of the Bitcoin, changing it to euros,
to yen or dollars.
Although the US banking industrys involve-
ment in fintech projects through investments
in startups is less visible, it is in fact quite no-
ticeable through numerous specialized funds.
There are two examples that clarify the rela-
tionship of large US banks with financial inno-
vation products such as bitcoins and others:
they are, for example, the main funders (pro-
viding capital and credit) of the largest credit
platforms between individuals and companies
(P2P) in the country, Lending Club and On-
Deck. US banks already work and have been
reaching agreements for years with financial
startups to develop the technological side of
their business.
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This is the formula to combat the so-called market
makers, i.e. Google, Apple or Amazon companies
able to change in a short time the banking habits of
consumers through their tools and technologies.
WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, is already revolution-
izing telecommunications in 2015 with the massive
spread of VoIP calls, just as it did before with its chats
against SMS.
It also plans to enter the m-payments sector, although
Apple seems to be the best-positioned to extend the
massive use of electronic payments via mobile phones
with its Apple Pay service.
For now, both will use the infrastructure of traditional
operators and banks. But what about the day the devel-
opment of bitcoin or other technologies allows them to
contact consumers without going through the bank?
The competition of the market makers
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To avoid letting a language die,
people have to speak and write
in it. For a currency to become
a reality, the same: it has to be
used, have a value, and be a
buy & sell tool.
GLOBAL SNAPSHOTS
(Potential) bitcoin-based
success stories
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In 2015 there are hundreds of virtual currencies
Yes, hundreds. There are so many that it seems hard to believe that they all
have chances to be used and needed by people (or machines). Soon there
will be so many that they will exceed the physical currencies which they are
called to replace. Nevertheless, today they are only used by a minority, and
their consideration as currency is still being questioned.
The physical world in the 21st century has evolved into five major curren-
cies grouping more than 90% of transactions: dollar, euro, yuan, pound and
yen (in this order). There are more, but they arent relevant from a global
perspective and dont have influence beyond certain territories. But with the
Internet this approach changes, as the territory itself is global.
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CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
BITCOINSIt has already become a name associated with a range of products, the
same as Kleenex to tissues; Coca-Cola to any soda with certain taste, or
Google it for searches on the Internet. But the bitcoin protocol is also the
spark behind hundreds of initiatives and startups that can become poten-
tial successes. And they will reach that stage when they become part of the
daily life of users.
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NAMECOINOf French origin (Gerald Boily and Vince Durham are linked to its design),
this bitcoin-based currency is actually a domain registrar. It serves to gener-
ate a new set of protocols, localization and identification on the Internet of,
for example, the rightful owner of a website. Its features allow, among other
things, to speed up the tedious task of transferring a domain (without in-
termediaries), its registration, and reinvent the classic DNS (Domain Name
System) hierarchy that today configures any connected device, be it a web
or an app. Its structure and mode of operation is a clone of Bitcoin: limited
to 21 million units maximum and a progressive creation of them under the
mining mode.
CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
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DODGECOIN, LITECOINThere are countless developments and versions of bitcoin, but if we have
to mention some of them, these two should be highlighted for two reasons:
they improve the safety of other systems (through complex strings and
previous encryption) and are more used than the rest in terms of activity
and transaction. Their issuing volume (maximum of coins in circulation) and
mining (creation of money) is less limited.
CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
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RIPPLEIf bitcoin transfers money in the form of computer code, Ripple does the
same but with credit. It is therefore a P2P credit system based on the bitcoin
technology and concept. Its users transfer among themselves these virtual
credits, with the objective of eliminating the intermediary (the bank). The
system itself and its users act as banks in the form of community. They are
the ones who record the debt, ensure that it has been returned (or not) and
allow to establish lender-borrower relationships among them.
CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
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ETHEREUMIt aims to provide an alternative protocol based on blockchain to create
smart contracts. It uses an integrated turing-complete programming lan-
guage which allows to write smart contracts and decentralized applications
to create their own arbitrary rules for property, transaction formats and state
transition functions.
This protocol goes beyond the currency; it addresses decentralized file stor-
age protocols, decentralized computing, decentralized prediction market...
it also has the potential to increase the efficiency of the computer industry
and boost other peer-to-peer protocols.
CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
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CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
COINBASEA platform of reference for the exchange of virtual currencyA currency that doesnt depend on any country... you can be your own
bank and make transactions worldwide very easily and quickly. Or whats
the same: you have the control and the reins of your own money. This
is how Brian Armstrong defines the US startup Coinbase, a leading
platform in the field of buying and selling virtual currency which was
launched in 2012 as an alternative to the current monetary system and
is regulated by an algorithm and the trust of its users. The platform has
currently 2.5 million users.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Armstrong (a former programmer at
Airbnb) founded together with Fred Ehrsam (former consultant at Gold-
man Sachs) the American platform that serves as a virtual wallet and
e-commerce mediator with bitcoins. In 2014 it was launched in 13 Euro-
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CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
Convert USD to Bitcoin and back through your bank account Coinbase keeps your
bitcoin secure
Invest
Pay Friends
Shop Online
pean countries: Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Austria,
Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Slovakia and Malta. Months later it did so
in the UK - with the approval of Londons City, the British and European
financial capital - and is currently present in 26 countries.
This expansion is based on three pillars: a consumer wallet (the bitcoin
online wallet), that allows to make payments in a simple, anonymous
and safe way; a platform with APIs, so developers can build bitcoin apps
for businesses; and an exchange, where individuals and companies can
trade bitcoins against all major currencies. As Armstrong explains, we
want our exchange service to be the most liquid one, improve our API
so people can develop all kinds of applications, and expand our Bitcoin
Wallet to reach the maximum of nations.
In the United States, its exchange has conquered California and New
York, and its new service, Instant Exchange, is an insurance against vola-
tility as it allows users to send and receive payments in bitcoins eliminat-
ing the risk of exchange rates. When bitcoins are purchased or sent to
another person or company it is possible to pay for them immediately
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CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
using the local currency, and when received in the bitcoin wallet they
can be transformed directly into the local currency, avoiding future ex-
change rate variations. Licensed to operate in 25 US states, Coinbase is
transparent in all its operations against money laundering and its com-
prehensive identification model of customers prevents possible frauds.
Earlier this year, BBVA invested in the worlds largest cryptocurrencies
portfolio, which has an exchange service that allows users to buy and
sell bitcoins instantly. It did it through BBVA Ventures, the BBVA Group
venture capital project that invests in startups that are transforming the
finance industry. The 75 million dollars of the new Series C funding round
brings the total capital raised by Coinbase to 106 million dollars. The
round was led by DFJ Growth with the participation of existing inves-
tors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Ribbit
Capital. The next target of the leading company in virtual currency ex-
change is India and to expand throughout the North American market.
Many may think Im crazy, but I believe bitcoin will surpass the dollar as
currency in the next 10, 15 years, bets Armstrong.
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GEMINITwo key names in the Bitcoin ecosystem are related to this project: Tyler and
Cameron Winklevoss, the Harvard blond twins who became famous after
their appearance in the movie about Facebook as the architects behind the
social network. They are two of the biggest holders of bitcoins almost from
the beginning; that is, they were on top of the pyramid when the bitcoins
bubble and speculative fever exploded in 2013. Their fortune in bitcoins mul-
tiplied after investing several million dollars. Now they want to create a bit-
coins stock exchange to compete with other markets such as Coinbase and
provide liquidity to que currency incorporating large banks and Wall Street
hedge funds to the system. The Winklevoss have also invested in Xapo.
CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
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CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
XAPO Behind this brand is one of the key names in the birth of online banking 15
years ago: Wenceslao Casares. He was the founder of the online bank Pa-
tagon, which failed after its millionaire acquisition by the Santander Central
Hispano of Emilio Botn, Jos Mara Amustegui and Angel Corcstegui. The
project was ahead of its time, but nevertheless it ended up being the base
of Santanders Openbank. With Xapo, Casares is at the forefront of bitcoin, as
a leader in virtual currencies storage and with its concept of safe. He has
also developed a currency and payment gateway for users and businesses.
Casares has garnered wide support, from the Winklevoss and funds such
as Benchmark, Fortress or Ribbit Capital (participated by BBVA). He is one
of the most experienced fintech entrepreneurs and achieved exits with the
sale of his previous project, the financial security app Lemon, which he sold
to the US group Lifeclock.
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COINFFEINEIt is a Spanish startup owned by Bankinter and other seed venture capital
funds. Its still at a very early stage, but it has already shown its intention to
specialize in a particular area: become the bitcoin for the identification and
transaction of financial assets such as stocks, mutual funds, commodities,
warrants, options, futures... How? It remains to be seen how it does it, but the
concept of peer-to-peer transactionality enabled by bitcoin-style technolo-
gies provides a new system that, theoretically, makes unnecessary the pres-
ence of a depository or settlement agent, reducing the financial relationship
to the issuer and the investor.
CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
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KANTOX, PEERTRANSFER...They are among the most successful specialized projects in the financial
scene. Born in Barcelona and Valencia, these two startups compete with
banks in two specialized finance segments: sending money or remittances,
and currency exchange for businesses. Behind both projects we find peer-
to-peer platforms using technologies similar to what bitcoin suggests for
transactions. If they remain as they are, there is not much to add, but both
startups can very well grow with additional services and gradually become
the banks of the future.
CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
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CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
AMAZON COINThe e-commerce giant is always in the front line when it comes to innova-
tion in retail. And if to do so it has to launch its own virtual currency, then
so be it. Amazon launched Coin in 2013 to provide discounts to users of its
digital content stores such as Kindle (books), Amazon Store (apps), Instant
Video or Music for series, films and audiovisual material. Even though it has
never provided figures regarding its use, the currency is still available for its
millions of customers in these key moments for the company.
Through its Prime program, Amazon is transcending the online world and
has become a logistics platform for its partners. Prime is a private sales club,
with users paying a subscription to receive multiple services. The latent pres-
ence of Amazon Coin can generate disruptive synergies in combination with
Prime. Dont forget that the value of a currency is in its use, the number of
users and the size of the market of goods that can be purchased. Amazon
has more than 20 million different products for sale in its pages.
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THE SOCIAL COINThis Catalan startup has by-passed the mercantilist concept and conver-
ted bitcoin in a currency for chains of favors and altruistic actions. The
encryption technology based on the concept of Bitcoin allows to track
and measure the extent of a social action. The project, which is based in
Barcelona and run by a group of young people, has been financed with a
crowdfunding campaign and is about to launch its own app. Companies
like Cisco and Iberdrola have collaborated with them as a way to encour-
age their employees to volunteer.
CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
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CURRENCIES l OTHER USES
DROPCOINAnother currency with a laudable goal: reward creators of content, at a time
when the absence of solid business models for small media prevents a
greater plurality of information. With just a click, this startup from Navarra
(Spain) offers readers of websites the possibility of making micro-donations.
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DIGITAL CURRENCIES
The security dilemma
One of the main arguments raised by the creators
and supporters of virtual currencies as means
of payment is safety. Is this reputation founded? Some
of its detractors base their critics precisely in security
flaws and the cyberattacks they have suffered.
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It is almost a mantra among experts when
pointing out the greatest cybersecurity threat
to a system: its you! Yes, it is the user who, at
some point, will expose the vulnerabilities of a
system, whether it is an employee, a customer,
a supplier, or a manager of a small or big com-
pany, a bank or a high level institution. In col-
loquial terms, it turns out to be something like:
You can put a thousand firewalls and the best
protection, but there will always be a user on
your network that compromises the system
accessing it from the wrong place or clicking
on the wrong link. Malware, apps, websites...
they are all potential threats.
Given this starting point, Bitcoin and other
virtual currencies would be far from being
immune and infallible.
P2P, strength and weakness
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The transmission of information is
public (though just for advanced
users), opening the door to vulne-
rabilities that can only be solved by
specific tools, such as the digital wa-
llets.
The transmission of these curren-
cies between users is not encryp-
ted and can be tracked by others. It
is a clear communication, without
encryption. This means that anony-
mity is only limited to the users
identity and the transactions traffic
(incoming and outgoing) can be
monitored and spied.
It is unalterable and has a unique ID,
allowing to catalogue it also as a cu-
rrency, although it is not.
The most famous cryptocurrency
is a computer code that cant be
changed, or at least in theory it
seems impossible. This feature is the
foundation of potential uses based
in bitcoin, such as the identification
of digital property.
There is no authority guaranteeing
issuance, payments, the value of the
currency or its property; it is the sys-
tem formed by the community or
network of users who guarantees
who owns what in real time.
Among pairs or individuals, so its
great strength is at the same time
its greatest weakness.
THERE IS NO CENTRAL AUTHORITY:
TRANSMISSION:
COMPUTER CODE:
VULNERABILITY:
IDENTIFICATION OF THE DIGITAL PROPERTY:
THEY ARE P2P SYSTEMS:
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The myth of anonymity
Bitcoin as such is anonymous, because it
doesnt require identification to be used. But
this myth falls down at the drop of a hat with
the above mentioned possibility of building
tracking tools. Since the amount of bitcoins
kept in any location is public information, the
money owned by a specific person whose
identity has been compromised can be de-
ducted, and also where the money came from
and which was its destination. Undoubtedly,
this would be a serious danger to the privacy
(and even the integrity) of people if Bitcoin is
adopted en masse, warns the security agency
Incibe in a report.
That anonymity was in question after the ac-
tions against Silkroad, an online market for il-
legal goods such as drugs or weapons which
were traded with bitcoins. It was only a matter
of time that the authorities (in this case the FBI)
established a map of relationships connecting
dealers, buyers and the creators of Silkroad.
Even today the real origin of Bitcoin remains
unknown. The real identity of its creators and
pioneers is masked behind the pseudonym
Satoshi Nakamoto. This can mean a weak-
ness for the system in the future, since it may
have encouraged the creation of some back
doors in order to create vulnerabilities, al-
though this seems unlikely as it is open source
technology. However, this anonymity can also
be its strength, as it has allowed to focus the
debate on the development and opportunities
of the currency, regardless of who created it
and why.
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Theft rate, is the myth of a super-currency crumbling down?
Therefore, the degree of vulnerability or secu-
rity is linked to the complementary actions
adopted by the user, such as the digital wal-
let used for bitcoin transactions like transfers,
payments or simple storage. In turn, these
additional measures (wallets, platforms...) open
new paths tor vulnerability.
90% of the thefts of bitcoins since 2009 took
place in Mt.Gox, which was the largest ex-
change for trading these cryptocurrencies. It
went bankrupt in 2013, after a hacker attack
and unable to meet the reimbursements of
its clients. That insecurity, inherent to any plat-
form, reveals that virtual currencies are not
safer than current banknotes.
Until 2014 it is estimated that around 1 mil-
lion bitcoins have been stolen, with an added
value of about 800 million dollars (based on
its exchange rate a given time), according to
information published in forums like Bitcoin-
talks. This figure would represent a fraud rate
of only 0.3% compared to the volume of ac-
tivity of bitcoin (over 54 million dollars a day).
However, this ratio would be four times the
credit card fraud rate (0.09%), a sector which
moves more than $ 15 trillion in transactions
and records $ 13 billion in thefts, according to
estimates of the banking sector.
Fraud rate of 0,3%(the credit card fraud rate is 0,09%)$ 54 million
Daily volume of activity 1 millon
bitcoins were stolen in 2014
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The explanation is simple: time. Technologies such as
bitcoin are less than five years old, while more traditional
payment systems like credit cards have been circulating
for over half a century and are still evolving in terms of
security and anti-fraud measures.
Absolute numbers suggest a greater insecurity, although
in theory it is much more difficult for cybercriminals to
attack a distributed network with millions of users than
just one hub with a great stock of currency. Wallets and
retailers are the ones taking the highest risk.
The need for a new generation of digital banks or the
transformation of those which already exist is therefore
more than evident, as well as the creation of a regula-
tion providing security to the users of cryptocurrencies.
Why is it considered a safe currency when data indicate otherwise?
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CHRONOLOGY
Bitcoin from its origins
The development of what we know today
as bitcoin started between 2007 and 2009.
Its birth is surrounded by mystery, contributing
to make this technology even more attractive.
Its origins lead us to a pseudonym, Satoshi
Nakamoto, somebody who no one knows
or has ever seen
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2008
November The first public appearance of Bitcoin was in the mailing list cryptography2, where a user with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto announced that he had been working on a new system of electronic money.
The bitcoin chronology
Sources:
Bitcoin milestones
Bitcoin historical quotations: profits from mining
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February A profile created in the P2P Foundation website under the name Satoshi Nakamoto posted the message Bitcoin open source implementation of P2P currency, which opened the door to participate in the network.
2009
January The first version of Bitcoin sees the light. Mining starts and a few days later the first transfer of bitcoins is done.
September The domain Bitcoin.org is registered.
October The first currency exchange rate is set: 1 dollar equals 1.3 bitcoins.
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May The first commercial Bitcoin payment is accepted. That same month, a user pays for a 25 dollars pizza with 10,000 bitcoins. That will be the most famous transaction of the currency when in 2013 its price escalates to over 1,000 dollars per bitcoin.
2010
FebruaryMt. Gox and Bitstamp are launched, becoming the largest exchange markets for bitcoins and protagonists of its most famous speculative episode. Platforms to buy and sell virtual currencies start to spread.
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2011
February Launch of Silkroad, an online market of illegal products which are traded in bitcoins.
June Wikileaks comienza a aceptar Wikileaks starts accepting payments in bitcoins. The virtual currency becomes famous; it is now a global issue and an object of concern to several governments.
November The first major international conference on Bitcoin is held in Prague.
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2012
February Tradehill, the first major bitcoin exchange platform, closes due to regulatory problems and a dispute among its users.
March The web hosting platform Linode is hacked, suffering the greatest theft so far of bitcoins to a group of users (at that time valued in more than $ 200,000).
Summer Coinbase, Peercoin and Ripple, three of the most important startups of the virtual currency ecosystem are founded. In this fruitful summer, Bitinstant suggests creating bitcoin debit cards. There is a boom of projects based on Bitcoin, focused on the uses of the technology rather than on its financial component.
September There is a conference in London on the virtual currency. The Bitcoin Foundation is created, acting as a reference for the ecosystem during the following years. WordPress, the most used platform to create websites in the world, begins to accept payments in bitcoins.
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2013
February The price of bitcoins begins to heat up: $ 31 per unit are paid in Mt. Gox.
AprilThe bubble starts to grow. For the first time, Bitcoin goes over $ 100, and in a matter of days it exceeds $ 250. The financial industry, starting with its most aggressive investors, sets its eyes on Bitcoin as its value starts to surge.
OctoberSilkroad closes after an FBI operation related to drug dealing and money laundering. It is the first seizure of bitcoins by authorities, and therefore there is a transfer of bitcoins to a government account.
DecemberMore than 5 million dollars in revenue are registered through bitcoin mining in a single day. This record triggers the participation in the ecosystem and attracts new users. That same day, bitcoin marks a record of $ 1,151 per unit.
End of 2013The Central Bank of China prohibits the use of bitcoin in its financial system. Other countries such as Thailand joined the ban, while other governments (Canada, Australia, Japan...) opt for pragmatism: they allow their activity and tax the bitcoin like any other financial asset. International agencies specialized in money laundering put the focus on the bitcoin system.
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2014
January The founder of Bitinstant and president of the Bitcoin Foundation, Charlie Shrem, is accused of money laundering in the US.
February Mt.Gox, the largest exchange market for bitcoins, shuts down. It unleashes a wave of panic in the price of Bitcoin, which falls to 500 dollars, 50% less than a month before.
SummerSome of the most important startups in the bitcoin ecosystem raise important rounds of financing for their development. The ecosystem starts to become professionalized.
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2015
June The Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), Benjamin Lawsky, unveils the final version of the BitLicense , aimed at companies that operate with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in this state. Thus, to operate in New York, companies holding client funds or exchanging virtual money for dollars or other currencies will have to obtain a license. The new regulation establishes specific conditions to maintain the license, related to consumer protection and compliance of money laundering laws, capital requirements, changes of ownership and cybersecurity.
The bitcoin is stabilized between 230 and 280 dollars per unit. Already 14 million units of bitcoin have been created, more than half of the 21 million expected in 2030.
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How to use digital currencies?
VIDEOGRAPHIC
In this videographic we will
show you, step by step, how digital
currencies are to be used, what do you need
to be able to use it, where you can use it and
what transactions you can carry out with
your digital money. Dont miss this tutorial
and learn the simple, fun way how
to keep up with cryptocurrencies.
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In depthA list of links to other useful tools and resources that you may find useful as a supplement to the information offered on the Crypto-currencies report.
On theweb
innovation edge | Crypto-currencies | centrodeinnovacionbbva.com
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Web
Internet of Finance: unleashing the potencial of blockchain technology Institute of International Finance, Abril 2015.
A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform.
Hitos de bitcoin.
Ingresos por minera.
Citi response to the HMT Call for Information on Digital Money. Diciembre 2014.
PwC. Los medios de pago, un paisaje en movimiento, Junio 2015.
Accenture response: Digital currencies: Call for Information, Diciembre 2014.
Finance Magnates.
CoinDesk.
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1 Trending issues Summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the period based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
2 Technology trendsIn the following section, we outline the upcoming technologies that will chan-ge everything, with predic-tions on what may come of them in financial industry.
3 InnovacinHighlighted in this section some of the actions in which BBVA Innovation Center takes part, on innovation and entrepreneurship. Through this section we also provide direct access to the BBVA Innovation Center events.
alsoin thisissue
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
80% of banks will replace their core systems within five years According to the Invigorating Banking report, sponsored by Five Degrees and done by Finextra Research, there is strong support for core system replacement and renovation. 83% of respondents believe that their banks technology can no longer support their needs, and another 89% think it is inevitable that banks quickly modernize technological processes to avoid losing market share.
Thus, four out of five banks believe they will have to replace their core banking system within the next three to five years. In addition, nearly 90% are in favor of including SaaS or cloud-based services as part of the infrastructure, according to this survey among bank executives.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
New challenges and opportunities for banks New technologies have already been the engine of transformation of business models in different industries, and therefore the vast majority of banks are trying to deal with the inexorable trend towards the digital market, which is changing the behavior of users and leading to the emergence of new disruptive competitors and new business models.
According to a publication of the Unacc, this new group of companies is challenging the established system reinventing different parts of the ecosystem of financial services: from Square, as a disruptive payments services company for points of sale, to ZestFinance, which uses Big Data technology for credit rating operations, or Simple, rethinking the user experience in retail banking.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Millennials prefer mobile banking According to research conducted by Gemalto, 92% of the young millennials have a mobile phone, 42% have a tablet and 38% have both devices. In addition, seven out of 10 connect to the Internet more than two hours a day, and almost four of every 10 millennials spend more than five hours.
Beyond these data about daily habits, the study analyzes the behavior of these young people regarding financial services. Nearly three out of 10 respondents say they have never visited a bank branch. Research shows that this generation is characterized by opting for online services: 62% of them say they use mobile banking at least once a month, accessing bank services through a smartphone or tablet.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Social business a profitable enterprise The concept of social business developed by Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and Nobel Peace Prize, refers to a self-sufficient company in financial terms, which aims to achieve a social objective, whether related to the protection of environment, the promotion of science or arts, etc.
One of the characteristics of this type of companies is that they reinvest their profits in the development of the business. It is true that earnings do not increase, but they dont register losses either. Currently, these companies are enjoying a very favorable economic, social and political context, because the crisis has increased the need to fight against exclusion and poverty.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Barack Obama orders the use of Chip&Pin cards This measure recently approved in the US will favor the mobile payment sector and European providers. It should be noted that in the United States the majority of cards still use magnetic strips, a format much less secure than the Chip&Pin, widely established in Europe.
The executive order signed by the US president forces the federal government to issue EMV debit and credit cards with chip. EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) is a global security standard that uses a computer chip to authenticate transactions.
This is a great opportunity for companies (and particularly SMEs) developing EMV-compatible mobile payment systems.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
The Iceberg Theory applied to customer experience The Iceberg Theory, based on the minimalist writing style of Ernest Hemingway, sustains that the heart of a story has to lie below the surface, and shine through. This theory is behind the premise that a good customer experience requires a lot of work: if the strategy is really well designed, the client wont see all the effort.
That is: you have to address all the problems and find solutions before the user detects them, or at least before he perceives there is something wrong. The challenge is to make invisible all your work in order to truly put the customer at the center of the corporate strategy.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Loyalty to a brand in Twitter Why do you follow a brand on Twitter? This is one of the questions that many social networking strategists of brands make in order to increase their number of followers. SimplyMeasured analyzed the followers of the 10 most popular brands on Twitter to investigate what they have in common and try to understand the behavior of consumers when they click on More. The results show that Internet users follow more than one brand, and in many cases several brands of the same market niche (i.e. competitors) at the same time.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Discover the crowdfunding ecosystem Entrepreneurs are one of the big beneficiaries of the rise of the P2P financial ecosystem, as it responds to their needs and demand for project funding in the initial stages. It is at this point when investors come into scene, becoming a peer-to-peer alternative to the traditional financial market. In fact, in these early stages of funding these investors are often called Friends & Family, as they are part of the core group who believes in the entrepreneurial project.
But beyond these figures we find professional investors: business angels, crowdlending platforms and even donors or prospective clients who buy in advance the product or service. Hence, to give coherence to this new model are emerging P2P technology platforms in different versions: crowdfunding, crowdlending, equity crowdfunding, donations or rewards, etc.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Fansino, the winning app of the Mobile Premier AwardsDespite being in its beta phase, Fansino has been the winning application at this years Mobile World Congress. It is a music-related app that helps connect artists with their fans.
Artists can tell when a fan is listening to their music and therefore assess the impact of their songs, while fans can chat with them. This app connects to Facebook and checks the artists social networks, so users can see the latest news published by music stars.
The apps GPSGAY and SATS Mobile Triage were the other nominees for these awards.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Apple Watch is in storesAustralia, Canada, China, Spain, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, United Kingdom and United States are among the first countries to sell Apples new device, its smartwatch, a high precision gadget offering groundbreaking features for health and sports. The Watch is available online or by reservation at Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Resellers in China and Japan.
Apple Watch begins a new chapter in the way we relate to technology and we think our customers are going to love it, said Tim Cook, Apples CEO, when presenting the device. It allows users to send messages, read emails and answer incoming calls on their iPhone directly from the wrist. It offers up to 18 hours of autonomy and comes with a unique charging solution that combines Apples MagSafe technology with inductive charging to connect quickly and easily.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Social banking, a new banking experience Branches, online banking, mobile banking... these are concepts that are more or less common among bank customers. However, the so-called social banking is increasingly gaining strength as a new experience in the interaction between customers and banks. If until now banks used social networks to monitor and analyze the behavior of their users, services, customer care and, above all, strategies of brand marketing, now they are beginning to design and develop financial services designed for social networks. An example: the Indian bank Kotak Mahindra has launched Jifi, a service which integrates social networks to attract new users. Its the fusion of Twitter and Facebook with traditional banking.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
The Data springMadrid was this spring the city of Big Data, bringing together various organizations and initiatives: the Inno-vaChallenge Data Week, the Big Bang Data exhibition and the cycle Vivir en un mar de datos (Living in a sea of data), among others. It was an intense program of activities which involved a large number of organiza-tions and initiatives to explore and reflect on the crea-tive, social and political practices that arise around this culture of data.
Exhibitions, lectures, workshops, debates, datathons and guided tours contributed to explore subjects as diverse as: techniques and methodologies related to data visualization and data mining, data journalism, collective cartography, crowdsourcing, access policies and reuse of information (Open Data, Open Science), institutional and government transparency practices, economy of data, and online safety and privacy.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
Stress in the office can cause panic attacks across the company As the world economy continues its transformation, it is important to maintain a level of balance within the workplace. The challenge is to promote an environment free of stress in the office in order to achieve balance, engagement and productivity.
According to various studies, 40% of US workers have job stress and nearly a quarter say work is the main source of anxiety in their daily lives.
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In this section, readers will find summaries of the most relevant news of selected topics that have been published over the course of the month based on its relevance to the Banking industry. The summaries were prepared by the editorial board. Further information is made available for each given topic.
Trending issues
Core Banking Platform
New Formats
Mobile Banking
Social Business
Mobile Payments
Customer-Centricity
Brands & Branding
Crowd Finance
App Ecosystem
Gadgetology
New Banking Concepts
Big Data
Future of Work
DIY
The TechShop movement: how to learn electronics, welding or carpentry TechShop was founded in 2006 by Jim Newton and Ridge McGhee, a professor of robotics and a science adviser who were inspired by the lack of access of their students to the tools and equipment required for robotics. The challenge was to give people access to machinery and technology normally only open to specialists.
Anyone can join this movement and have access to multiple tools: computing machines, industrial sewing machines, oscilloscopes, laser cutters, 3D printers and all kinds of welding equipment, etc. These groups offer training on the use of each tool, but the key of the learning process is that once you have mastered the basics everything really depends on you: Do It Yourself.
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Core Banking PlatformsHere you will find articles related to basic IT infrastructure which supports main banking processes, including technologies such as SOA, WOA, digital platforms, etc.
New FormatsBased on design principles focused on customer insights, New formats offers retail banking customers more channels which are more granular and highly functional; a consistent, simple, and collaborative universal user interface; real-time intelligent processes; highly personalized solutions; and is open to social networks and the web. Examples of these new formats are provided here.
Mobile BankingRelevant news about mobile banking platforms (which enable customers to access financial services, such as transfers, bill payments, balance information and investment options) can be found here.
Social BusinessSocial Business is the integration and use of social technologies by an organization, which includes social media/work media, crowd listening, crowd intelligence, crowd working, etc. Stay tuned to see how this space will evolve.
Mobile PaymentsThe process of using a hand-held device to pay for a product or service, either remotely or at a point-of-sale. Up to date information is provided.
Customer-CentricityCustomer-centricity is the organizations understanding of customers at a granular level and the capability to create, deliver, and capture different kinds of value propositions to different groups of customers, based on customer understanding.
Brands & BrandingMarketing in the modern world have many channels to reach consumers at their disposal: (smart)phones, tablets, PCs and (smart)TVs and different ways to communicate their brands, such as traditional ads, banner ads, SMS/MMS, etc.
Crowd FinanceA process where small amounts are money raised for a definite purpose, Crowd finance sources funds collectively from individuals. In other words, the money comes from a wide range of individuals and not from a single entity. Read more about it here.
App EcosystemThere are 5 main components in the current Apps Ecosystem: connectivity, devices, OS platforms, app platforms, and apps; along with related products and services providers (MEAPs, Mobility as a Service providers etc.).
GadgetologyGadgets are everywhere and it seems that there are more and more each passing day. We are moving towards a contextual computing environment and, as a result, the number and functions of gadgets are poised to grow (thanks in part to the internet of things). In this section, we share a word or two about gadgets.
New Banking ConceptsBanks around the world continuously explore new approaches to strengthen customer relationships, both in the virtual and the physical worlds; including Virtual assistants, natural language search tools, new marketing tools, different segmentation (children, gen Y,) etc. This section will cover news along these lines.
Big DataIt been said, what gets measured, gets managed. The Big Data trend offers organizations an opportunity to manage just about everything. Here well share stories about Big Data capture, curation, storage, sharing, analysis, and visualization.
Future of WorkWork, increasingly, is not about where you do, but what you do. The future of work is more flexible and collaborative; and values are going to play an important role, especially corporate values. The way we work is changing fast stay tuned.
DIYDo It Yourself (DIY) refers to a trend of people doing projects to either be creative/recreational and/or cost-saving activity. This trend becomes really interesting as new technologies enable new functionalities such as 3D printing, health/wellness, etc, which help empowers individuals; this may even change the we think about businesses in the future.
EACH SECTION EXPLAINED
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Smartwatches: a new way to make apps For all of its technological marvel, the Apple Watch is still a
smartwatch, and its not clear that anyones yet figured out what
smartwatches are actually for. This phrase from Nilay Patel, a journalist from The Verge , pretty much sums up the current state of wearable technology. Its hot, fashionable, everyone talks
about it, but we still dont know exactly what do we need it for.
The Watch has just been launched with prices ranging from 350 to
15,000 dollars. Its still too early to know whether it will start a
revolution just as the iPod, iPhone and iPad, but many large
technology companies were waiting for Apple to present its new
gadget to start experimenting with such devices.
Its the case of Citymapper, an application that recommends users
different routes to move around the city on foot, by bike, taxi or
public transport. Citymapper has been one of the first apps adapted
to the Apple Watch.
The following section outlines the upcoming technologies that will change everything, with predictions on what may come of them in financial industry.
Technology trends
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In an article published in Medium , the creators of this app explained how they conceived its smartwatch version: Weve
learned on mobile that users turn the app on and off multiple times
during use, they said. This is the nature of transit information when
you move across the city. You need snippets of information.
Different things at different times, depending on where you are
along the way.
With this in mind, they have created an application that offers quick
information about the state of public transport, which with a simple
tap on your wrist notifies you when you have to get off the train and
gives you the departure times of buses and trains without having to
take the phone out of the pocket. Furthermore, they claim that using
a wearable app may also be safer because city dwellers are
generally walking too fast, crossing streets, using stairs, jostling
through crowds.
The testimony of Citymapper shows us the smartwatch through
the eyes of a developer. Smartwatches are not yet
computers attached to our arms; they are, rather, a
second screen for our mobile phone (in fact, many
of them are not even autonomous devices and
need to be connected to a smartphone). For now,
these watches are here to save us the gesture of
taking the phone out of the pocket to check emails
and monitor our physical activity, but they are still
not ready to steal the throne to phones.
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The language of watchesApples first iPhone was a breakthrough product for many rea-
sons. One of them is that it invented an entirely new language.
The finger gestures on the smartphones touch screen com-
pletely changed the way we use technology. The movements
we make with the thumb and index fingers to turn pages, zoom,
drag objects or type a message are part now of our daily life and
have been incorporated in all kinds of products.
Smartwatches have new features that require the user to com-
municate with them in a whole new way: the screen is small, it
is intended to take quick glances, the device is attached to the
wrist and can only be controlled with one hand, and there is little
space for buttons inside or outside the screen.
In the case of Apple Watch, we should high-light features like the taptic engine, a technol-ogy that taps the users wrist for notifications
and alerts, and the crown, a button that can
function like a computer mouse. In the com-
ing months we will discover what developers
come up with, and what users demand: In what
language will we interact with our watches?
Will voice control prevail? Will there be new
touch gestures? Will there be more watches
with crown?
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Jorge Piera, Head of Mobile Development at
the Spanish company 8fit , is working on
a version for Watch of his fitness application.
Piera explains that the possibilities, for now,
are quite limited. With an iPhone you can grab
the tool palette and do whatever you want, he
says, but with Watch there are elements you
can change very little. We feel very constrained,
but we believe the result will be pretty good. In
these early versions of the watch, Apple wants
to stay in control and leaves little room for ex-
perimentation.
For Jorge Gutirrez, CEO of the Spanish com-
pany Tecnilgica , the difference between
developing for mobiles and developing for
smartwatches is as big as it was at the time
between computers and smartphones. If ges-
tural and voice interfaces improve in the near
future, watches will become independent de-
vices, other uses will appear and some of the
differences may disappear, he says. Rita Ma-
dariaga, lead of mobile development at Tec-
nilgica, adds that we are in the first versions
of these devices and there is still plenty to ex-
plore. She also believes that these gadgets
will unleash their full potential when they have
more autonomy.
Pedro Piera sees the watch not as an appli-
cation, but as a complement. Hence, train-
ing sessions are started with the mobile and
are controlled with the smartwatch. 8fit will
use Apple Watch notifications to provide us-
ers information about their diet, while the rest
of the app will focus on giving them informa-
tion about exercises without having to take
the phone out of the pocket.
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Many of us stopped looking at the time on the wrist long ago; we now look at it on the phonesays Jorge Gutirrez
And while we are on it we read a notification, we check Twitter... We have got
used to it, and we assume this as something natural; we dont consider it a
lack of attention if we are with another person. Smartwatches, says Gutir-
rez, could turn around this process and allow us to check all these notifica-
tions faster.
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Piera says that the size of the screen forces you to select very well what
information you have to show, and display it so that the user can see every-
thing at a glance. However, he doesnt think there is much room to invent
new touch gestures. You have the same as on the iPhone, but in such a
small screen you cant introduce a multitouch, he explains. Pressing the
screen opens a new menu, and they have tried to introduce new gestures
with the crown, but I dont think there is room for many more, he concludes.
Jorge Gutirrez also believes that there is no room for many gestures on
smartwatches, but he considers the crown one of the great features of Watch.
A finger on a smartwatch covers around 60 or 70 percent of the screen,
and 80 or 90 percent of the information, he says. I believe that all the in-
teraction you can move from the screen to the crown will be a success, and
I would be surprised if other manufacturers dont begin to incorporate this
type of control.
So, will we all end up wearing technology? Pedro Piera says its a mystery.
The iPad was criticized when it was launched, but Apple makes good qual-
ity products. It is possible that iPhone users also want this device, he says.
Jorge Gutirrez believes they will become usual devices, but he doesnt
think they will be as ubiquitous as smartphones. In their current form they
are going to be targeting high income customers, and wont have as much
penetration.
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BUSINESS
Digital bank seeks long-term, stable relationship with startup. Offers engagement and support. Qualified partner will possess commitment, talent and eagerness to conquer the world.
bbvaopentalent.com
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After the close of registration, this year will be
remembered by the global character of its en-
tries, as more than 650 startups from over 60
countries from all around the world have en-
tered BBVA Open Talent.
The surge in entries from the USA is notewor-
thy, having become the country with the high-
est number of participants, ahead of Spain,
Colombia, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Spain 143
Colombia 57
UK 48
Mexico 47
USA 166
View all data in this
infographic
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We suggest we go hand in hand, because as
the african proverb says:
If you want to go fast, walk alone, but if you want to go far, walk together
The 7th edition of this competition
is already underway:
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This is the 7th edition of BBVA Open Talent,
BBVAs most ambitious competition so far,
and the most mature. We are looking for in-
novative fintech projects, but also related ide-
as that contribute to the industrys evolution
and transformation, such as Big Data, security,
e-commerce and others. We are interested in
finding projects and entrepreneurs to become
our fellow travel companions.
At BBVA, we are committed to innovation. We
have been partnering with entrepreneurs for
over seven years now. We have a passion for
discovering and promoting talent from whom
we can learn and share knowledge.
Show us your ideas that will disrupt our indus-
try in e-commerce, security, mobile payments,
data and others, and we will provide you with
support that will increase your chances of suc-
cess. We win when you succeed.
The final events, in which the 60 finalists will
have to compete before the jury and in public
to become one of the six winners, will be held
in September. After these, two champions will
arise from each of the three regions: Europe,
Latin America and USA & Rest of the world.
Each winner will receive 30,000 euros to
develop a project in collaboration with BBVA.
In total, more than 180,000 euros will be dis-
tributed among the six winners.
We dont just want a photo or a teambuilding
trip with you. We want to give you more. We
want you to give us more. Thats why we are
preparing an immersion and interaction pro-
gram that will be implemented over two non-
consecutive weeks.
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In these two weeks, youll meet people from
some of the best companies in the finance
and technology industry and have the oppor-
tunity to use BBVAs contacts to the benefit of
your business. Through this project, well work
together, get to know each other, and find out
what you need - all while working together to
disrupt the financial ecosystem.
In addition, BBVA offers the winners of Open
Talent 2015 the opportunity to enjoy a unique
experience with the Roca brothers in the heart
of their restaurant El Celler de Can Roca
and in La Masa, their innovation center.
Also, BBVA create the Special Award for Fi-
nancial Inclusion . BBVA looks for startups
with digital financial solutions for low income
customers or small business that provide
products and services for low-income custom-
ers and digital financial solutions that enable
the bank gather and process information. he
winner will travel to Maputo, Mozambique, to
pitch his project in the Global Policy Forum in
September 2015.
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INNOVAQUOTES
More than a year ago, BBVA Innovation Center began to share via social
media all sorts of inspiring content in the form of quotes. The motivating
nature of the content secured Twitter and Facebook users interaction.
After a long time sharing them, and given the positive reviews of these in-
spiring quotes, at BBVA Innovation Center we wondered: why not create an
app that helps you find the perfect quote for the right moment?
Discover #InnovaQuotes, your personalized quotes generator. Its an app from BBVA Innovation Centers
Facebook page that has been awarded on this years Digital Awards with the recognition of Best Campaign on
the Social Networks. In this app you can find hundreds of quotes that will grant you the necessary inspiration for
innovation and entrepreneurship.
InnovaQuotes, an