John and Glen recap their top stories from a never-a-dull-moment 2017 in fintech, including Bitcoin’s wild ride, Uber’s and Equifax’s headaches, and the rise of the chatbots.

In This Episode:

• Looking back at what John and Glen were saying about Bitcoin a year ago- when it was worth a paltry $1,000- the “hodl” strategy, the “hard fork,” and how people have reacted to its volatility
• A stunning year of data breaches, led by high-profile incidents involving Equifax and Uber, and the future of data encryption
• The growing wave of interest in “conversational commerce,” fueled by chatbots like Alexa, how Amazon is “pulling an Apple,” and how the technology is being used by banks and credit unions
• Ideas for how credit unions can profitably redeploy resources freed up by voice technology
• The launch of the United States’ first set of real-time payments rails, and the continued growth of same-day ACH transaction volumes
• As the latest advancements in P2P payments, including the rollout of Apple Pay Cash
• The “really boring party” banks and credit unions have been trying to invite us to, and whether they’re willing to include some edgier guests to spice things up

 Links/Contacts:

• Price chart for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin (which have certainly changed since John and Glen recorded): https://www.coinbase.com/charts?locale=en-US
• Bitcoin transaction tracker: https://live.blockcypher.com/btc/
• The history of “hodl” and other Bitcoin terms: https://coinsutra.com/hodl-popular-cryptocurrency-terms/
• Best Innovation Group’s FIVE voice technology solution for credit unions: http://www.bigfiveiot.com/FIVE
• RTP, The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments system: https://www.theclearinghouse.org/payments/real-time-payments