Gem, a leading blockchain platform provider, announces today that it has closed $7.1 million in Series A funding, led by Pelion Venture Partners and participated in by KEC Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, RRE Ventures and more.

“We believe blockchain technology will transform how people and companies interact,” says Micah Winkelspecht, CEO and founder of Gem. “It will underpin entire industries and one day produce a blockchain economy that will form the underlying architecture of our daily lives.”

Earthport, the cross-border payment specialist based in London, UK, has appointed Peter Klein as Global Head of FX, effective immediately.

I was listening to a debate on the radio yesterday morning about the Chinese authorities’ inability to keep their financial markets in check. Amidst all the discussion on manufacturing indices, circuit breakers and the like, everyone on the show seemed to be missing the real point. Chinese financial markets are the perfect melting pot for capitalism and communism. Nothing epitomises a free market economy better than a stock exchange where budding entrepreneurs raise finance and where stock prices take daily random walks guided only by market sentiment.

BT today announced that it has won a six-year contract with Nationwide, the world’s largest building society, to continue to provide the network infrastructure underpinning its digital transformation strategy. 

The new infrastructure will allow the building society to introduce the latest customer-facing and back office technologies, boosting efficiency and affirming its position as a market leader in customer experience.

 At the Consumer Electronics Show, MasterCard today introduced Groceries by MasterCard, a new app which enables consumers to order groceries directly from Samsung’s new Family Hub refrigerator. The first shopping app integrated into a refrigerator, Groceries by MasterCard connects consumers to leading grocers in the most convenient and efficient setting – their kitchen.

Truphone, the world’s first global mobile network, today announced the appointment of Ralph Steffens as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), while former CEO, Steve Robertson has been appointed as Executive Chairman and CEO of Strategic Partnerships. Steffens has nearly 20 years’ experience in the industry. Steffens’ last assignment was with Indian telecommunications company, Reliance Jio Infocom as `President and Chief Operating Officer’ based in Mumbai, India.

FXCM is a leading online provider of foreign exchange (forex) trading, Contracts for Difference (CFDs) and related services, announced today its new partnership with German broker FXFlat.

"FXCM is pleased to partner with FXFlat, a dominant player in Germany," says Brandon Mulvihill, Managing Director of FXCM PRO. "The numerous awards FXFlat received in 2015 and the years prior speak to the quality of this new venture. This is an important step towards FXCM's strategic expansion into the German market.”

Fidessa today announced that Maybank Kim Eng has deployed its equities order management and execution platform as their Asian trading solution for global clients.

With Asia being such a fragmented marketplace, many firms have ended up running different local systems for each market, which presents a real challenge when they want to offer a seamless regional trading service to customers.

SWIFT announces a 10 percent rebate on 2015 messaging fees, returning approximately EUR32 million to SWIFT users around the world. The rebate will be paid in March 2016.