From Des Moines-based Dwolla's perspective its been a week of bad news followed by really positive accollades. First the good news, MIT Technology Review has reveals its list of 35 top young innovators . For over a decade, the global media company has recognized a list of exceptionally talented technologists whose work has great potential to transform the world. For his work in designing an improved framework for payments inside the U.S. financial system, Ben Milne of Dwolla has been honored as an outstanding entrepreneur and will be featured on the cover of MIT Technology Review’s special INNOVATORS issue.
While this is excellent news, Bloomberg News recently reported that Dwolla was on a short list of companies New York's top banking regulator had subpoenaed in an investigation into the virtual currency Bitcoin. In a written issued statement Dwolla responded:
“Neither Dwolla nor its financial partners process, sell, or package virtual currency products or services”. “Dwolla is a well respected software system that innovates within the existing banking systems to allow eligible users the ability to safely and securely move U.S. dollars.
So having clarified their position on that, how does Dwolla work? Using the Internet, Ben and his team developed a new payment solution that operates within existing financial systems and regulations to securely help banks and credit unions move real money in a more effective, efficient, and modernized manner. The payment network uses new partnership structures and technologies to verify identities, handle data, mitigate fraud, and isolate risk. These innovations afford Dwolla and its members with a drastically reduced fee and the potential for real-time transfers. Whether a member uses it to send money to a friend, shoot out mass payments online, or pays taxes with your phone: consumers, businesses – even government – are coming to favor Dwolla’s free or 25 cent flat-fee pricing model.
“While Dwolla’s payment engine represents nearly 60 years of technological advancement in payments, it’s how we consciously designed the system to navigate, collaborate, and create new opportunities within the existing U.S. financial system and its current stakeholders,” said Ben Milne, founder and CEO of Dwolla. “Brick by brick, Dwolla is helping businesses, consumers, financial institutions, governments - anyone connected to the internet - a better, more compatible way to engage with the U.S. economy.”
“Over the years, we’ve had success in choosing women and men whose innovations and companies have been profoundly influential on the direction of human affairs,” says editor in chief and publisher Jason Pontin. “Previous winners include Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the cofounders of Google; Mark Zuckerberg, the cofounder of Facebook; Jonathan Ive, the chief designer of Apple; and David Karp, the creator of Tumblr. We’re proud of our selections and the variety of achievements they celebrate, and we’re proud to add Ben to this prestigious list.”
You can check out the MIT Technology Review list here: http://www.technologyreview.com/innovators-under-35
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