ICT Luxembourg
has released a Whitepaper on AI in Banking, which is leading the way in my opinion – giving food for thought and also paints a picture that we probably all (can) share in one way or another. I strongly recommend the read. It has been a collaborative effort of many parties and surely they are aiming at showing the attractiveness of Luxembourg, but I believe this is much broader. You can download the paper here.
For some time the Nordic countries, specifically Sweden, have been known for being the first who want to scrap cash altogether at some point in the not so distant future. Perhaps they have gone too far? At least that is what Bloomberg reports – because there seem to be increasing challenges connected with it. After all, it is not so easy to replace a full blown eco-system with another one. Read the full report, which I find most worth reading, right here.
It´s been my pleasure to contribute a chapter to the new book „Digital Marketplaces Unleashed“, which is published by Springer on October 13th, with my dear co-author Björn Matthies.
This collection of different views on how digitalization is influencing various industrial sectors addresses essential topics like big data and analytics, fintech and insuretech, cloud and mobility technologies, disruption and entrepreneurship.
The technological advances of the 21st century have been massively impacted by the digital upheaval: there is no future without digitalization. The sale of products and services has left the classical point of sale and now takes place on a variety of channels. Whether in the automotive industry, travel and traffic, in cities, or the financial industry – newly designed ecosystems are being created everywhere; data is being generated and analyzed in real time; and companies are competing for mobile access channels to customers in order to gain knowledge about their individual contexts and preferences. In turn, customers can now publicly share their opinions, experiences and knowledge as User Generated Content, allowing them to impact the market and empowering them to build or destroy trust.
For 
digital-marketing agency Cooperatize.com, taking bitcoin for payment was easy enough, all co-founder Roger Wu had to do was obtain a digital wallet. To promote the move in 2014, he even penned a blog post for Forbes explaining the decision. A great read on PaymentSource.com – you should read the full article here.
Pymnts.com is a good source for those interested in Blockchain and Payments – adding to this history is an interview they have done with John Callahan, CEO of the biometric authentication company Veridium. It does not change that Blockchain from my POV is still in a very experimental stage – yet interesting. You can read the full piece here.