One of the things the last couple of years has taught us is that, while the value of cryptocurrencies can be exceeding volatile, they have staying power. While no one can predict the future price of bitcoin or other crypto they are becoming an asset class in their own right. As this niche industry matures there becomes a need for a broader array of services to support it.

Point of sale lending in physical stores has been around for decades, even centuries. But the process has never been a trivial task, it has usually involved filling out a long form answering dozens of questions. And after all that the would-be borrower is often rejected. Thankfully, fintech is providing a better way.

There are several fintech companies attacking different parts of the real estate market in the UK. Despite the challenges surrounding Brexit this is still and vibrant and healthy market. The fintech leader in what is called the “buy-to-let” segment is Landbay. They began lending in 2014 and just recently closed a $1 billion funding commitment from a large institutional partner.

When you think of cutting edge cryptocurrency technology you generally don’t associate it with small business lending. Even the new fintech lenders that are doing really innovative work in small business lending have tended to stay away from crypto.

We last had Al Goldstein, the CEO and Chairman of Avant and Amount, on the show back in 2015. So much has changed since then not just in the personal loan space but in the banking space as well. And Avant has evolved to meet those challenges.

One of the things that has been lacking in the fintech space is an independent research organization that conducts deep dives into topics that would be of interest to regulators and lawmakers. We now have one such company and they have just completed their first research report.

Identity verification has been around for decades, ever since the advent of the driver’s license and social security cards. But in the digital age where anyone has the ability to conduct financial transactions remotely it has become more challenging. And with all the data breaches that have been happening today companies are less secure in their ability to verify someone’s true identity.

The fintech space has done a decent job of helping small businesses get more access to capital. Obviously, there is more work to do there but the situation is much better than what it was a decade ago. But for growth companies looking to borrow more than $500,000 good fintech-based options are still lacking.

The large credit bureaus do an excellent job of aggregating data and providing credit scores for the majority of the population. But there are still tens of millions of people who remain unscored and one credit bureau is doing their best to try to change that.

The current system of identity verification is broken. With so many data breaches happening today most of our personal information is readily available on the dark web. We can no longer truly rely on any personal information as a way to verify identity. A completely new system is needed.