Portrait of Andrei Martchouk, interview partner of the first finquiry episode, talking about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Finquiry #1: Andrei Martchouk on Blockchain

The financial industry of today and tomorrow branches out in many directions. As providers of software foundations for e-wallets and payment processing systems, we plant the roots on which your trailblazing financial products can stand firmly. Yet, with catchwords like  “PSD2”, “fintech”, “blockchain”,” neobanking” and “robo-advisory” entering the scene every day, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees.

To keep oneself up-to-date on the newest industry developments, what better way than to ask the experts. In our new blog series “Finquiry”, we interview professionals about the today and the tomorrow of the financial industry. 

Our Guest: Blockchain expert Andrei Martchouk

Our interview partner Andrei Martchouk is Managing Director and Co-Founder of KI decentralized GmbH. We have asked him about blockchain and the cryptocurrency sphere. 

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A set of coins, jammed into a wedge, symbolizing stablecoins

Opinion: Stablecoins – Next Generation (E)Money

Photo of Mark Caruso, Senior Project Manager at trimplement
Mark Caruso gives his opinion on
what role stablecoins will
play in the emoney sphere.  

Definition: “Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to minimize the volatility of the price of the stablecoin, relative to some “stable” asset or basket of assets. A stablecoin can be pegged to a currency, or to exchange traded commodities (such as precious metals or industrial metals). Stablecoins backed by currencies or commodities directly are said to be centralized, whereas those leveraging other cryptocurrencies are referred to as decentralized” – Wikipedia

Stablecoins by their nature aren’t necessarily a new invention to the financial world. Their basic characteristics have already been described in the first Electronic Money Directive (2000):

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A drawing of a wallet which is digitally connected to internet of things devices like smart cars or fridges

All the Smart Things — Fintech, Blockchain and the Internet of Things

If the rooms had ears and the furniture had mouths … oh, how would they slander about our habits behind our backs?

Well, they can already talk to us for once: Voice-controlled assistant devices like Alexa and Siri inhabit our private spaces just now. And we can easily picture them having a conversation with each other, too (even though it would be a funny one for sure). But what if our clock radio told our food processor to get that smoothie ready, for we are about to leave for work? Or our watch told our bathtub to run us a remedial bath because we’re leaving our workplace with the first stirrings of a common cold? And think of a fridge, buying food articles once it runs out of them, using its own ewallet…

That’s where we enter the domain of the Internet of Things – a domain ripe with opportunities for fintech companies. 

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