Bitcoin

Industry Report: Bitcoin ‘Hooking Up’ With Traditional Finance

Nick Marinoff | Jun 25, 2016 | 13:52

---

Is Canada going cashless? Are PayPal and Coinbase an item? Is IBM testing the blockchain? Take a look below to catch up on all the Bitcoin and digital currency news.

Also read: Industry Report: How Badly Was the DAO Attacked?

Is the Finance Sector Getting Cozy With Bitcoin?

COINBASE

In what’s being called a “stellar move,” Bitcoin exchange Coinbase is adding PayPal and credit card support for its users.

Coinbase recently reported on its blog:

“Through this integration, Coinbase users are now able to sell BTC and have their USD funds deposited to a PayPal wallet… We’ll invite more users to each service over the next few weeks, and we’ll be expanding to more countries in the coming months.”

PayPal has been showing increased interest in the digital currency market, having filed a patent for a payment device that accepts an assortment of cryptocurrencies in December 2015.

IBM

Japanese bank Mizuho Financial Group and IBM are planning to test the blockchain and become further involved in the digital currency arena. The purpose: to explore the swapping of payments and hopefully discover new financial services based on the technology behind bitcoin and its crypto-cousins.

Senior Technical Officer at Mizuho Masahiko Katou states:

“Mizuho Financial Group has a history of adopting new technologies to continuously improve customer services… In an era of technology transformation, Mizuho is testing blockchain, Watson, and other technologies to deliver high quality and more efficient customer services.”

MD of Industry Sales at IBM Masao Sanbe added to the mix, explaining:

“IBM understand how to use blockchain and IBM Cloud as the technology foundation to transform the way businesses interact with their ecosystem of trading partners. IBM is proud to continue its support to Mizuho Financial Group’s important initiatives.”

NANOPAY

Toronto-based fintech corporation NanoPay is offering Canadian citizens the new “MintChip,” a digital currency product that allows users to send and receive digital cash with friends and family alike, and pay for purchases wherever the item is accepted.

All transactions take place through a secure, P2P system, ensuring customer safety with each purchase.

Thus far, reactions have been quite positive, and over a million downloads have been recorded.

NanoPay CMO Simon Keogh, however, feels that this is just the tip of the iceberg:

“MintChip APIs will be available to partners looking to integrate digital cash into consumer and business applications including central banks, commercial banks, telcos, acquirers, retailers, as well as developers and POS providers, with a goal to further expand the utility and acceptance of MintChip.”

Know of any stories that deserve to be in our regular industry reports? Please let us know in the comments!

Images courtesy of Coinbase, Forbes, NanoPay.