Here's how one of the world's biggest banks wants to use bitcoin technology | ||
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Banks mostly aren't interested in bitcoin, but they are interested in the software that runs the digital currency — the blockchain. Banks run on systems that were in some cases built decades ago and as a result are slow, costly and cumbersome. The blockchain — the program that lets people send bitcoin to each other and records those transactions — doesn't have these legacy issues. The blockchain keeps a public record of transactions, spread across a distributed network, and allows much quicker transfer of balances. As a result, sending bitcoin is faster, cheaper and more transparent than sending traditional currencies. That makes it attractive to banks looking to soup up their money transfer businesses, but the technology also has potential in other areas — distributed ledgers could be used for "smart contracts" when banks make loans, for example, recording who's borrowed what across a public network. "We have internally identified 20 to 25 use cases where this technology can be applied," Mariano Belinkey, head of Santander InnoVentures told Business Insider at MoneyConf in Belfast this week. Belinkey reeled off international money transfers, trade finance, syndicated lending and collateral management as some of the areas where blockchain technology could be applied. Santander, the world's tenth biggest bank and the second largest in Europe, is one of several lenders investigating how to use the blockchain in traditional banking. UBS has set up a blockchain research lab in London, Goldman Sachs has invested in bitcoin startup Circle and Nasdaq is also experimenting with the technology. It's pretty clear why the banks are doing all this. As well as making their systems smarter, it could save them a huge amount of money. A report co-authored by Santander earlier this month estimated that blockchain technology could reduce banks' infrastructure costs by up to $20 billion (£12.8 billion) a year. Julio M Faura, head of innovations at Santander, told Business Insider: "For us, the first obvious space to explore all of this in is payments, particularly international payments. Later on we think smart contracts have the potential to transform many of the other things we do. "We still haven’t made anything official, we haven’t announced anything publicly, but we have an internal team working on this. We’ve done some proof of concepts."
Faura is heading up a team in Santander dubbed Crypto 2.0 — referring to cryptocurrencies — which is carrying out experiments with the blockchain and digital currencies. Santander InnoVentures, which Belinkey heads, is the Spanish banking giant's $100 million (£64 million) fintech investment fund, launched last year. The fund has made 3 investments so far and Belinkey said 2 more are close to completion. A source told Business Insider that one of these is a startup working on blockchain technology. Belinkey declined to comment. Belinkey told BI: "We’re very excited about distributed ledgers and blockchain technology. They really have the potential to disrupt many of the basic processes we have underlying our transactional products." "What we see as the foundation use case, which is international payments, we don’t really need a coalition of 50 banks to make it work. We have ten major geographies. Just us connecting our ten major geographies will allow 100 million customers to make instant payments worldwide. If we partner with two or three banks similar to us we’ve got pretty much global coverage." But Faura adds: "This thing will only be interesting if many banks take part and collaborate. We are talking and experimenting with several banks." Belinkey chips in: "It’s like having the first phone — there’s no point, you can’t ring anyone." He adds that while Santander is very keen to explore the possibilities of blockchain, we won't be sending cash over blockchain networks any time soon. Belinkey says that "while getting to a working prototype could be something that we do within months, getting to an actual product that regulators say is good to go and the compliance guys like — that will take a while." Stephen Pair, CEO of bitcoin company Bitpay, told me during our interview at MoneyConf that he's in conversation with several banks about the potential of blockchain and related technologies. But he said: "I’ve been in and around banks for a while and they take years, even with software that’s well known and well understood." Pair thinks it will be at least 5 years before any banks seriously adopt a version of blockchain technology. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
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One ad blocking company wants companies to enforce ad blocking across their entire businesses | ||
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Adblock Plus, one of the most popular tools people use to block ads online, has announced a new feature that would allow companies' IT and network administrators to deploy ad blocking at a company-wide level. In a blog post, Adblock Plus outlines the benefits of ad blocking to companies as: "[cutting] down on distracting, [saving] bandwidth and [keeping] networks safe from threats like 'malvertising'." IT administrators wanting to deploy Adblock Plus on their company's computers previously would have had to install the browser extension one-by-one on each computer. But Adblock Plus says its new version 1.9 update for Chrome, Opera, and Safari will allow for "large scale deployments." Adblock Plus does allow some ads through its net. Publishers and digital advertising companies can work with Adblock Plus for their ads to be whitelisted and appear on an "acceptable ads" list – this includes "static ads" that are "preferably text only" and don't obscure a page's content. If the publisher or ad seller is small — like a WordPress blog with two ads, for example — Adblock Plus won't charge them to go through this process. But bigger companies pay Adblock Plus huge fees to get their ads unblocked. PageFair, a company that works with publishers to measure the cost of ad blocking, estimated earlier this month that Google lost out on $6.6 billion in global revenue to ad blockers last year. An Adblock Plus spokesman told Business Insider there have been "about 300 requests" from IT professionals for system-wide deployment of its service. Those include all sorts of organizations including companies, colleges, schools, K-12 school districts, and local governments. US universities Notre Dame and Lehigh, and companies including Seven Energy International and Compnology have already trialed rolling out Adblock Plus across their systems, according to Adblock Plus' website. However, two IT network administrators Business Insider spoke to said they would not be interested in deploying Adblock Plus across their systems. One IT consultant, who has previously worked for a global investment bank, a global leisure company, and a government regulator, said ad blocking is not something that has ever come up in conversation at the companies he has worked at. He told Business Insider: "If this came up in a CAB [change advisory board] meeting, the first question that would be asked is: What's the business case? And the business case would need to be really good to consider freeware that would need rigorous testing that would probably involve thousands of [dollars] of man hours. And for a decent-sized business, I think you would only see a relatively insignificant decrease in bandwidth use." Another network administrator who works at a large school told Business Insider that many business and institutions already have systems in place. "Personally, I wouldn't be keen on installing an add-on. I'd rather do it at the web filter level [all of our PCs connect to the internet through a web filter.] As it happens, our web filter — one that is popular amongst schools — already inspects ads and blocks if they are inappropriate. I'm not convinced any network manager worth his salt would be interested in installing some add-on like that, to be honest," the source told Business Insider. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women  | ||
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First Syrian refugees return to Tal Abyad after IS defeat | ||
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Akçakale (Turkey) (AFP) - The first Syrian refugees returned to the border town of Tal Abyad from Turkey Wednesday after it was liberated from the Islamic State group, an AFP journalist reported. Kurdish forces took the strategic town after several days of intense fighting that sparked an exodus of more than 23,000 refugees into neighbouring Turkey.
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Amazing LeBron, Cavs can't end city title drought | ||
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Cleveland (AFP) - Despite the greatest one-man performance in NBA Finals history, LeBron James could not make the injury-weakened Cleveland Cavaliers a champion in his homecoming season. The 30-year-old superstar took his once-woeful club from a doormat to a title contender that fell short Tuesday as the Golden State Warriors beat the Cavs 105-97 to win the best-of-seven series 4-2, extending Cleveland's US-record drought without a major pro sports title to 51 years and counting. "For me, it's never a success if you go out losing, but I think we put ourselves back where this franchise needs to be, being a contender," James said. "But we've still got a lot of work to do." James averaged finals highs of 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists -- an unprecedented statistical sweep and the top combined totals for any NBA playoff series ever. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1974 and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1995 also had 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists over a finals. Defiant in the face of a season-ending left shoulder injury to Kevin Love in the first playoff round and a fractured left kneecap for star guard Kyrie Irving in the finals opener, James lifted an outmanned collection of role players and fill-ins within two games of a crown. "Tried as much as we could to try to make up for those guys. It's a lot of talent sitting in suits," James said. "I don't know any other team that's gotten to the finals without two All-Stars. You've got to have all the playmakers. You've got to be healthy. You've got to be at full strength to win it. We weren't." James had 53 assists in the finals, 11 more than the rest of the Cavaliers combined. But with swarming defense and a slow pace, they were able to win two games against the NBA's top offensive and defensive squad. "We were playing great, but we had no luck and we weren't healthy," James said. "We ran out of talent. We gave everything we had. The guys played as hard as they could as long as we could. - Vegas likes Cavs in 2016 - The spectacular numbers by "King James" prompted the Westgate sports book in Las Vegas to make the Cavaliers a 9-4 favorite for next year's NBA crown Tuesday, ahead of Golden State and Oklahoma city at 5-1, a sign of the respect James has earned for the club. "I haven't thought about next season at all," James said. "I didn't win a championship, but I've done a lot of good things in this first year back, and hopefully I can continue it." James is 2-4 in the NBA Finals, well shy of prior superstar Michael Jordan's 6-0 finals mark. James went 2-2 in four finals with Miami but is 0-2 with the Cavaliers, also falling in 2007. "It's really no great feeling when you lose," James said. "Only thing you can do is just try to pick yourself back up whenever that time may be and then just go at it again. "When you fall short, it hurts and it eats at you, and it hurts me to know that I wish I could have done better and done more to help us get over the hump. But it just wasn't our time." Cleveland center Timofey Mozgov, the first Russian to play in the NBA Finals, was devastated in defeat. "It’s the toughest one in my life to swallow," Mozgov said. "It’s hard." James admits at times he thinks it would be easier not to come so close than to suffer the pain of losing in the finals. "I'm almost starting to be like I'd rather not even make the playoffs than to lose in the finals. It would hurt a lot easier if I just didn't make the playoffs and I didn't have a shot at it," James said. "But then I lock back in and I start thinking about how fun it is to compete during the playoffs. If I'm lucky enough to get here again, it will be fun to do it." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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British wages smashed expectations in April — and it looks like pay growth is finally back | ||
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The unemployment rate stayed at 5.5%, with no change from March. Analysts had expected a small drop in unemployment numbers, but not one large enough to change the overall rate. Most of the good news came from average weekly earnings, the main measure of wage growth, which rose by 2.7%, well above the 2.1% analysts expected. In the private sector, wages are accelerating at an even faster pace, rising 3.3%. With inflation -0.1% in April, the lowest in half a century, real wage growth is at its strongest level since 2011. Taking inflation into account, it's at its highest since 2007. Most official and private forecasts of wage growth over recent years have been ludicrously optimistic in hindsight, but there are signs of some modest pressures building. Here's a chart from BNP Paribas indicating that pressure (produced before today's figures were released):
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This 1998 supercar could auction for $15 million  | ||
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The UK's 
Evans replaces Clarkson on BBC's 'Top Gear' | ||
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London (AFP) - Broadcaster Chris Evans is to replace Jeremy Clarkson as lead presenter of the BBC's hit motoring show "Top Gear", the corporation announced Tuesday. The BBC said Evans, 49, had signed a three-year deal to present the world's most popular factual TV programme -- and announced that Clarkson's former co-presenters, James May and Richard Hammond, would not be returning, after months of speculation. Clarkson was dropped from the madcap "Top Gear" programme, which has 350 million viewers per week in 170 countries, after he punched a producer in the face in March. A BBC spokeswoman said Evans' co-presenters would be announced "in due course", with production of the new series starting in the next few weeks. "I'm thrilled," said Evans. "'Top Gear' is my favourite programme of all time, created by a host of brilliant minds who love cars and understand how to make the massively complicated come across as fun, devil-may-care and effortless. "Of course, it's anything but and that's the genius of 'Top Gear''s global success. "I promise I will do everything I possibly can to respect what has gone on before and take the show forward." Evans is a well-known motoring enthusiast who has an impressive collection of expensive fast cars, including rare Ferraris. "Top Gear", filled with stunts, road tests, adventures and experiments, has featured his car collection in a previous series. Evans currently presents the breakfast show on BBC Radio 2, -- considered the biggest job in British radio -- and he will also stay on in the role. - Clarkson felled by own punch - Clarkson's contract was not renewed after an internal BBC investigation found he physically attacked producer Oisin Tymon following a lengthy verbal tirade -- reportedly because the presenter was annoyed at a lack of hot food after a day's filming. The 30-second attack saw Clarkson strike the producer, giving Tymon a swelling, bleeding lip. The outspoken presenter, 55, flagged the incident to the BBC after Tymon took himself to hospital. Clarkson is caricatured by fans as a straight-talking man-of-the-people and by detractors as a boorish bigot. More than a million people signed a petition calling for him to be reinstated. An extended farewell episode featuring some of the final footage shot with the Clarkson, May and Hammond trio will be screened later this month. May, 52, tweeted his best wishes to the new appointment. "Well: best of luck to @achrisevans and the future of Top Gear (b. 1977). That's a ballsy call, frankly, and to be admired," he wrote. Kim Shillinglaw, controller of the BBC Two channel, said she was "delighted" that Evans would be taking the show forward. "His knowledge of and passion for cars are well-known and combined with his sheer inventiveness and cheeky unpredictability, he is the perfect choice to take our much-loved show into the future," she said. Evans rocketed to fame as a fresh-faced television host in the early 1990s, but went off the rails in an orgy of heavy drinking in the dying days of the Britpop era, including some notorious benders with troubled England footballer Paul Gascoigne. But he made a comeback as an older, wiser and safer broadcaster. The British Broadcasting Corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide earns around £50 million ($75 million, 70 million euros) a year from "Top Gear". Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Here's how one of the world's biggest banks wants to use bitcoin technology | ||
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Banks mostly aren't interested in bitcoin, but they are interested in the software that runs the digital currency — the blockchain. Banks run on systems that were in some cases built decades ago and as a result are slow, costly and cumbersome. The blockchain — the program that lets people send bitcoin to each other and records those transactions — doesn't have these legacy issues. The blockchain keeps a public record of transactions, spread across a distributed network, and allows much quicker transfer of balances. As a result, sending bitcoin is faster, cheaper and more transparent than sending traditional currencies. That makes it attractive to banks looking to soup up their money transfer businesses, but the technology also has potential in other areas — distributed ledgers could be used for "smart contracts" when banks make loans, for example, recording who's borrowed what across a public network. "We have internally identified 20 to 25 use cases where this technology can be applied," Mariano Belinkey, head of Santander InnoVentures told Business Insider at MoneyConf in Belfast this week. Belinkey reeled off international money transfers, trade finance, syndicated lending and collateral management as some of the areas where blockchain technology could be applied. Santander, the world's tenth biggest bank and the second largest in Europe, is one of several lenders investigating how to use the blockchain in traditional banking. UBS has set up a blockchain research lab in London, Goldman Sachs has invested in bitcoin startup Circle and Nasdaq is also experimenting with the technology. It's pretty clear why the banks are doing all this. As well as making their systems smarter, it could save them a huge amount of money. A report co-authored by Santander earlier this month estimated that blockchain technology could reduce banks' infrastructure costs by up to $20 billion (£12.8 billion) a year. Julio M Faura, head of innovations at Santander, told Business Insider: "For us, the first obvious space to explore all of this in is payments, particularly international payments. Later on we think smart contracts have the potential to transform many of the other things we do. "We still haven’t made anything official, we haven’t announced anything publicly, but we have an internal team working on this. We’ve done some proof of concepts."
Faura is heading up a team in Santander dubbed Crypto 2.0 — referring to cryptocurrencies — which is carrying out experiments with the blockchain and digital currencies. Santander InnoVentures, which Belinkey heads, is the Spanish banking giant's $100 million (£64 million) fintech investment fund, launched last year. The fund has made 3 investments so far and Belinkey said 2 more are close to completion. A source told Business Insider that one of these is a startup working on blockchain technology. Belinkey declined to comment. Belinkey told BI: "We’re very excited about distributed ledgers and blockchain technology. They really have the potential to disrupt many of the basic processes we have underlying our transactional products." "What we see as the foundation use case, which is international payments, we don’t really need a coalition of 50 banks to make it work. We have ten major geographies. Just us connecting our ten major geographies will allow 100 million customers to make instant payments worldwide. If we partner with two or three banks similar to us we’ve got pretty much global coverage." But Faura adds: "This thing will only be interesting if many banks take part and collaborate. We are talking and experimenting with several banks." Belinkey chips in: "It’s like having the first phone — there’s no point, you can’t ring anyone." He adds that while Santander is very keen to explore the possibilities of blockchain, we won't be sending cash over blockchain networks any time soon. Belinkey says that "while getting to a working prototype could be something that we do within months, getting to an actual product that regulators say is good to go and the compliance guys like — that will take a while." Stephen Pair, CEO of bitcoin company Bitpay, told me during our interview at MoneyConf that he's in conversation with several banks about the potential of blockchain and related technologies. But he said: "I’ve been in and around banks for a while and they take years, even with software that’s well known and well understood." Pair thinks it will be at least 5 years before any banks seriously adopt a version of blockchain technology. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
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