Category Archives: Uncategorized

xxx “The total addressable market of people who want to buy bitcoin is very, very thin,” From What a Tech Startup’s Pivots Say About Bitcoin’s Future | American Banker Indeed. And most of them aren’t in America or any other developed market.

xxx The use of cash has fallen more than 50% in the last four years and is projected to continue to fall as consumers look for faster and secure means of paying options. With a high degree of smartphone penetration in the US market, mobile and digital payments are rapidly gaining a market share inContinue reading “Americans Are Using Less Cash but Mobile Payments Are Not The Ones Replacing It | Let’s Talk Payments”

xxx “It is important for countries like Korea which suffer a severe polarization of wealth due to the shadow economy to pursue more transparency,” From [Weekender] Korea going coinless by 2020 xxx

Before the industrial revolution, we lived in an essentially cashless economy. A reputation economy. There was very little money in circulation.   xxx To spur the trend, the Bank of Korea is seeking a digital way to replace coins for transactions with its aim to make Korea a “coinless society” by 2020. From [Weekender] KoreaContinue reading “POST Back to the Future, Part 97: The Coinless Economy”

Sarah Jeong, writing in The Atlantic, raises the spectre of of surveillance in a cashless society. And she’s right. When money becomes information, it can inform on you. From How a Cashless Society Could Embolden Big Brother – The Atlantic xxx In June 2015, Thomas Dart, the sheriff of Cook County—the largest county in Illinois,Continue reading “How a Cashless Society Could Embolden Big Brother – The Atlantic”

xxx On a private chain with no cryptocurrencies, there is nothing that lives entirely on the chain. There is no asset whose existence is defined only by what’s written on the chain. What you are actually transacting on the chain is a promise, for some recognised entity to give you something in exchange for thatContinue reading “How are banks actually going to use blockchains and smart contracts?”

xxx Banks close the accounts of customers they fear may be up to no good, evicting from the financial system those the government most wants to watch From Losing Count: U.S. Terror Rules Drive Money Underground – WSJ xxx

I have to say that I walked out of the inaugural Money 2020 Europe conference last week feeling rather smug. The reason for this unbecoming bout of self-satisfaction is that I was one of the people who lobbied the organisers of the event to stage it in Copenhagen! Boy, was this the right decision. TheContinue reading “VocaLink Money2020 Europe report.”

xxx My congratulations to the organisers – Anil Aggarwal, Jonathan Weiner and Pat Patel – for making sure this was a very European event. From money2020-europe-amazes-excites-and-raises-the-bar I strongly agree. 

As some of you may recall, I had the great good fortune to be asked to interview Spencer X from Google on the main stage at Money 2020 Europe in Copenhagen. Before I go on to what was discussed, let me first just go on record to sat what a great guy Spencer is. WeContinue reading “Android Pay”