Last week, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) wowed us with visions of a future. All the latest and futuristic tech products were on display, providing plenty of food for thought.
Some of the more interesting developments involved fintech at CES. There were some interesting products unveiled, including from venerable financial company MasterCard. On top of MasterCard’s continued evolution in the
On top of MasterCard’s continued evolution in the fintech space, Rokos unveiled a Bitcoin client/node that should make it easier for more people to access the blockchain.
Groceries by MasterCard
MasterCard seemed to want to be everywhere in terms of fintech at CES. First of all, MasterCard is offering an app that allows people to order groceries from the Family Hub refrigerator by Samsung.
The smart fridge should be available a little later in 2017. This will make MasterCard the first shopping app to be integrated into a fridge. The idea is that you can build, manage, and share the grocery lists and shopping carts throughout the week, and then make your order when you’re ready. And, of course, you’ll be able to pay with your MasterCard.
MasterCard is also upping its fintech game by partnering with Coin. The partnership should allow MasterCard Payments to be used with a variety of wearables, including smart watches and fitness bands.
While none of MasterCard’s moves are particularly revolutionary, it does show that the company is moving forward with making things easier for consumers by expanding its digital wallet and by integrating into smart technology.
Rokos and Bitcoin
Another interesting development from fintech at CES involved the ROKOS OS for Raspberry Pi. Rokos introduced its Core, designed to provide a full Bitcoin node to computer users. Rokos Core allows you to hold a Bitcoin wallet, plus send and receive Bitcoin.
But it doesn’t stop there. Core also allows you to mine Bitcoin. This is something a little different. You don’t need special knowledge to use Rokos Core. It’s designed with a full graphic user interface that makes it easy to use once you get it downloaded and installed.
If you’re interested in Bitcoin, but you haven’t had much time to learn the ins and outs, this is a consumer-friendly solution for getting started. It’s got everything you need to start accepting Bitcoin and paying with it. At the very least, you can use it for a wallet and do a little mining.
Other FinTech at CES
There were a few other developments in fintech at CES as well.
One of them was a new version of the Samsung Gear S. The fintech piece comes with the announcement that Samsung Pay will be added to Gear 2, adding a payments piece to this wearable technology.
On top of that, an Indiegogo executive talked about the importance of crowdfunding to help with the development and launch of new products.
There’s a lot going on right now in the world of fintech. As technology evolves and as we see more interesting applications, we will probably see more fintech at CES in coming years.
