Financial Technologies (PDF)

Financial technologies, known as "e;FinTech"e;, have brought disruptive changes to virtually every aspect of financial services, and is currently revolutionizing the whole financial industry (Goldstein, et al., 2019). Driven by start-ups and technology firms, FinTech covers a wide range of applications from cryptocurrency, mobile payments, marketplace financing, robo-advisors, to smart contracts and even decentralized autonomous organizations (Boehme, et al., 2015; Yu, et al., 2017). FinTech has received significant attention among not only practitioners, investors, regulators but also consultants and academia who are curious about how these novel technologies and changes impact organizations and even broader financial system (Stanko, et al., 2017; Libra, 2019; Chong, et al., 2019).In a world that is increasingly focused on integrating digital technology innovations into normal people's lives, accustoming users to FinTech is capable of creating long-lasting and valuable effects and helping firms gain sustainable competitive advantages. FinTech helps to reduce the costs, to increase the reachability of customers, and to manage risks in a more efficient way. In this special issue, several key emerging areas of FinTech, such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, crowdfunding, are theoretically and empirically examined, and the FinTech's social consequences on inclusive finance are also explored.