Crowdfunding and ‘Alt-Finance’ are of course one of the cornerstones of FinTech as key parts of the ‘Finance’ leg. Although FinTech is broader-based encompassing cryptocurrencies such as BitCoin and related technologies (especially Blockchain) as well as new and faster ways of transacting and transferring ‘legacy’ money.
BitcoinCrowdfunding is very much about the crowd, and the entrepreneurs who serve them. What about FinTech overall? Does it spring from the same roots? Have the same DNA? What’s in a name, or in this case, a label?
Crowdfunding is opening up the economy for both the crowd, to fund and drive innovation, and entrepreneurs, to get such ventures started, going and growing. Will FinTech help or hinder this?
To answer these questions, we need a clear and comprehensive understanding, at headline level at least, of both crowdfunding and FinTech. Something which is hard to come by out there at present as most definitions of either are partial and, especially in the case of FinTech, almost as often as not misleading. So let’s start by attempting definitions that we can all understand and agree.