TechBooky

Google is set to end its prohibition on cryptocurrency advertising. The search engine giant has updated its policy to allow certain kinds of crypto-related advertising. This move follows a similar reversal from Facebook in June. The ban was originally issued in March but came into effect three months later . At the time, the prohibition was meant to offer protection for customers. The previous ban covered initial coin offerings (ICOs), binary options, trading advisory services, and cryptocurrency wallets. The ban came as part of a broader security crackdown which identified virtual currency schemes as a clear and present danger to uninformed investors on the internet. Critics have long identified the nascent cryptocurrency industry as a haven for criminal activity. The policy was originally enacted to protect consumers from the burgeoning number of crypto-scams that have afflicted the market for years and reached a fever pitch as the price of several digital currencies exploded in 2017...

Money laundering activities pose a serious security risk for banking industry as regulators are continuously tightening their guidelines and imposing fines that go as high as 7 figures. Financial watchdogs have forced national governments and international community to take a strict stance against illegal transfer of funds, especially from 3rd world countries into Americas, Western Europe and many tax havens spread across the globe. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) softwares, more commonly known as AML softwares, are considered a secure way of identifying individuals that pose financial risks, thus, allowing banks appropriate response time to deny these probable customers their service. AML Services - Manual vs. Automated Debate AML services are being used by all major banks across the globe but most of them are only performing AML screening with the help of a manual review carried out by using human intelligence. As you can imagine, this is time consuming and costs a lot more than a bank w...

As Google has committed itself to becoming an enterprise technology vendor, it has followed a path it knows very well in pitching big open-source projects as the solution to the challenges of distributed computing. The company has announced the second of two partnerships that will allow it to offer the financial services industry and others a cloud-based platform on which they can develop and run blockchain-based applications. In a blog post ahead of its Google Cloud Next "18 conference this week, the search giant said it is partnering with Digital Asset and BlockApps to enable customers to "explore ways they might use distributed ledger technology (DLT) frameworks on Google"s Cloud Platform (GCP).  The tie-up means that Google Cloud Platform (GCP) customers will now be able to build distributed ledger technology (DLT) frameworks (essentially the backbone of blockchain) in their own apps and services. Digital Asset is a provider of DLT software for the financial servi...

Two years later, Payant, a fintech startup that provides online payment solutions, recently announced over ₦1 billion in transactions. Based in Kaduna the Northern part of Nigeria,  Payant is essentially a web-based invoicing software that lets users create invoices, automatically send payment reminders and accept instant payments online with over 1,600 registered users as at June 2018. According to a blogpost , Payant’s first transaction was worth ₦500 on the 1st of January, 2017. The platform now boasts around 1,500 users. Lowest and highest single payments processed are ₦1 and ₦400,000 respectively. Payant explained in a post that: “In 2018, we are focused on building up our system, improving the quality of our services and increasing our transactions with more merchants." “So far in 2018, we have processed over N1,000,000,000 (One Billion Naira) in total transaction volume with over 1,600 registered merchants.” Aminu Bakori, Found...

Facebook coin? This is not the first time the idea of a coin has been floated, but the plans take on some greater meaning in light of Facebook"s recently reshuffled executive structure and its recent plan of exploring the blockchain technology and now the company might be contemplating launching its own cryptocurrency. Facebook is said to use the cryptocurrency to facilitate transactions on its platform. The shift by the Tech giant would definitely be a monumental shift given Facebook’s huge user base and market influence. Facebook is "very serious" about launching its own cryptocurrency, according to a report from Cheddar . The report added that: “Facebook is specifically interested in creating its own digital token, which would allow its more than two billion users to facilitate transactions without government-backed currency. In a New Year Resolution post in January, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that his company was open to research the blockchain tech. Las...

It"s has indeed been a rosy year for the iPhone maker on some fronts The first generation of Apple’s iPhone was introduced in 2007, bringing innovative features such as a touch screen interface and a virtual keyboard to a broader audience. Considered by many as a revolutionary product, the Apple iPhone drove growth for the smartphone market. Since its introduction to the consumer market, Apple has released eleven generations of the product, along with new features and updates. The iPhone runs on Apple’s own mobile operating system iOS, the second most popular smartphone operating system in the market. In 2017, the iPhone made Apple the second-largest smartphone vendor in the world, with a global market share of almost 15% percent. The iPhone has changed Apple’s business dramatically. iPhone sales have risen strongly over the years, from around 1.4 million iPhones sold in 2007 to more than 216 million units worldwide in 2017. In total, Apple has sold more than one bill...