The Fintech World Responds To Market Focus On Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have been all the rage in recent months, and the fintech market has stepped up its game to provide investors with exciting and creative new ways to play the latest investing trend.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been popular alternative investments for a while now, but concerns over extreme volatility and potential risk to investors has kept the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from approving any crytocurrency ETFs, making it relatively difficult for investors to gain access to the red-hot market.

In fact, just recently, the SEC said it has no plans to approve any cryptocurrency ETFs until the funds can address concerns over volatility and liquidity.

“We believe ... that there are a number of significant investor protection issues that need to be examined before sponsors begin offering these funds to retail investors,” SEC director Dalia Blass wrote.

New Products

But with so much money pouring into cryptocurrencies and trading volatility in the stock market at record low levels, hedge funds and quantitative analysts aren’t sitting around and waiting for the SEC. In fact a number of fintech and technology startup companies have launched new cryptocurrency-related products in recent months.

Here’s an overview of some of these new products and services.

Sweatcoin is a new mobile app that allows users to earn cryptocurrency by exercising. Users earn 0.95 “sweatcoins” for every 1,000 steps they take and they can be redeemed for fitness gear and other offerings.

Revolut is a banking platform that allows users to buy, sell and store bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether and any of 25 different global fiat currencies all on one platform. Revolut wants to be cryptocurrency traders’ one-stop shopping and trading destination.

Storj is a cloud storage startup that leverages the power of decentralization, blockchain and peer-to-peer technology to securely store customer data and maintain 99.999 percent data availability. Storj Share even allows users to rent out extra hard drive space in exchange for STORJ coins.

OpenBazaar is a bitcoin-powered marketplace that allows anyone to easily sell anything and get paid in bitcoin. OpenBazaar is like eBay Inc EBAY or Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, but it charges absolutely no fees to list, buy or sell items.

Tradagon Analytics has launched BCalc for Bitcoin, a new automated trading strategy designed specifically for cryptocurrrencies. So far, the strategy has delivered an unleveraged weekly return of 25 percent compared to a 7 percent weekly return for a standard buy-and-hold strategy.

SESAMm’s L’Humeur des Marchés investor sentiment visualization platform now includes data on major cryptocurrency markets. The platform includes sentiment data from more than 250,000 sources, including social trading websites and specialized press.

Kavout, which is known for its Kai artificial intelligence model, recently told Benzinga it's developing new applications for its stock picking software that will be adapted to suit the needs of cryptocurrency traders. Kavout’s AI already sorts through massive quantities of data and compiles it into a single numerical Kai score to use as a buying and selling indicator.

Takeaway

The companies and products mentioned above are just a small sampling of the types of fintech innovations that will soon change the way investors access, trade, use and benefit from cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Cryptocurrncy is about a lot more than making digital payments, a reality that a growing number of investors are realizing on a daily basis. However, those investors will need the proper information and tools if they want to capitalize on the full potential of the cryptocurrency age.

Related Links:

Ripple Founder Chris Larsen Talks About The Many Use Cases For Blockchain

12 Cryptocurrencies To Watch In 2018 (Besides Bitcoin)