1 Exploring FinTech and generative AI
This chapter covers
- A brief introduction to FinTech
- What the ACH is and why it is important
- How to use full stack development to build an ACH dashboard
- The benefits and pitfalls of generative AI
The term “FinTech” became common in the last few decades as shorthand for financial technology. In fact, financial technology is a term that could be applied to inventions from long ago, such as the 19th-century cash register and telegraph, and even the earliest coin purses from circa 3,300 BCE. Today, FinTech helps empower crowdfunding opportunities through websites such as GoFundMe and Kickstarter. Gig service apps such as Uber and DoorDash rely on FinTech to facilitate fast payments. Payment services such as Venmo and Zelle can offer fast person-to-person (P2P) and business-to-business (B2B) payments thanks to FinTech. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are certainly classified as FinTech, but even the more traditional banking, investing, and credit companies have FinTech at their core.
What is FinTech, then? Simply put, it is using technology to improve the handling of money. Today, FinTech refers to software that offers quicker, more convenient, and/or new ways to handle money.