Whoever said that financial institutions and Bitcoin cannot co-exist is in for a huge shocker. The biggest news from the Barclays Accelerator event is that Safello has entered into a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) partnership with the financial giant Barclays. CEO and Co-founder of the Bitcoin startup Frank Schuil said,
“Safello and Barclays will be working together on creating a new payment platform that will support bitcoins. The collaboration begins with a PoC trial to allow for donations to be sent to charities using Bitcoins.”
Founded in 2013, Safello got selected for Barclays Accelerator in March this year. Since launching its Bitcoin exchange, the firm has processed over $6 million in transactions and serves more than 20,000 happy users.
Barclays’ 13-week financial technology accelerator program has been a huge success. Of the 10 firms that were initially chosen, 7 are contemplating extending their relationship with the bank as the event ended with a demo this week.
According to Finextra, Post Quantum has signed a contract which will see an implementation of the cyber security firm’s technology at the bank. Virtual stock trading game platform Stockfuse is in advanced talks to become an integral part of the bank’s graduate recruitment drive with a Global Market Insight Game to be launched later this year.
Derek White, chief design and digital officer, Barclays, says: “At Barclays, we’re embracing the digital revolution, exploring innovations early on so that we can help to shape their development and co-create the future of financial services with these startups.”
Inspired by the huge success of the fintech event, Barclays announced its intentions of running more Accelerator programs to bring the best fintech startups to the forefront. The financial institution will kick off another Barclays Accelerator event in July, backed by enormous support from its partner Techstars.