Will the next web be built on ethereum? - The rise of new applications like these — among the first running on a public blockchain — have already created what supporters claim is a powerful network effect, as increasing activity brings more and more developers to ethereum. That could make it the platform of choice for what has become known as Web 3.0, where a series of decentralised apps could one day challenge Big Tech’s offerings. Read more
Traders phone up gambling helplines as game-like broker apps spread - Helplines of gambling addiction recovery groups have been ringing with a new kind of caller: day traders. The rise of mobile brokerage applications outfitted with prompts, animations, rewards and digital flourishes have brought the feel of investing platforms closer to online sports betting and gambling. Read more
Affirm shares surge after online lender partners with Target ahead of holiday shopping season - Affirm shares closed up 20% after retail chain Target began offering its customers the online lender’s installment loan service for purchases of over $100. Target said in a blog post that it’s partnering with Affirm and smaller rival Sezzle as consumers gear up for the holiday shopping season. Read more
Apple Pay fees vex credit-card issuers - When Apple Pay launched, the tech giant got big banks including JPMorgan, Capital One, and Bank of America to agree to pay fees that would allow their cardholders to pay by iPhone. Now, some banks are pushing back, nudging card network Visa to change the way it processes certain Apple Pay transactions. The change would trim the fees that banks pay to Apple. Read more
SEC chief says the U.S. won't ban cryptocurrencies - Gensler said Tuesday that the government’s focus is on ensuring that the industry adheres to investor and consumer protection rules, anti-money laundering regulations and tax laws. He made the comments at a House hearing after a Republican lawmaker asked if a China-like prohibition was on the table in the U.S. Read more
The extremely serious case for minting the $1t coin - There’s this silly, anachronistic and ineffectual law on the books called the Debt Ceiling. And in recent years, it’s become increasingly politicized and difficult to get the ceiling raised. But the good news is that there’s another silly law on the books, written in 1996, that specifically lets the Treasury Secretary create a shiny platinum coin of any denomination. Read more
Leading Republican on House Financial Services Committee introduces bill to establish a safe harbor for digital tokens - The bill would adapt the Securities Act of 1933 to establish a three-year safe harbor for token development teams to offer those tokens for sale without full registration as a securities offering on the condition that the network decentralizes over the course of those three years. Read more
Global watchdogs set out guidance on regulating stablecoins - Authorities said in a report on Wednesday that operators of stablecoins, which act as a bridge between national currencies and the cryptocurrency market, should be regulated as financial market infrastructure alongside payment systems and clearing houses. The rules would apply to stablecoins that regulators have decided are systemically-important and had the potential to disrupt payments. Read more
Monzo abandons U.S. banking license bid - British digital bank Monzo has withdrawn its application for a U.S. banking license after more than two years of negotiations with regulators. The bank said it was still committed to growing its U.S. venture - which it launched in 2019 - and would invest further in Britain. Read more
Saudi Arabia Tourism Development Fund launches digital lending service with Temenos - The new service provides investors and businesses in the tourism sector with rapid access to financing solutions from TDF. The USD 4b fund was established to enable private sector tourism investments and develop the tourism sector as part of plans to diversify the Saudi economy. Read more
Over 100,000 banking jobs to disappear in next five years - Analysts at Wells Fargo predict that over 100,000 banking jobs could be displaced by technology over the next five years. Read more
How London became a crypto-art capital - London has been at the forefront of one of the more creative disruptions accelerated by the pandemic - the explosion of interest in crypto art, or art turned into tokens on the blockchain, both as an asset class and as a global cultural trend. The majority of NFT marketplaces are hosted from New York or Silicon Valley but London and Berlin have emerged as an engine of cultural creation, validation and innovation. Read more
The ten trillion dollar man: how Larry Fink became king of Wall Street - A great long form read in the FT summed up by this quote "Larry was astonishing on the level of details he knew. I don’t like him, but he’s a phenomenal businessman, and he lives for BlackRock,” observes one former senior executive. “When he leaves it will be like when Alex Ferguson left Manchester United . . . It is impossible to overstate how BlackRock’s journey is the journey of a single man.” Read more |
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