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xxx The top 10 accounts that innovators follow are: 1. Richard Branson (@richardbranson), founder of Virgin Group 2. Marc Andreessen (@pmarca), entrepreneur, investor and software engineer 3. Benedict Evans (@benedictevans), partner at Andreessen Horowitz 4. Glen Gilmore (@GlenGilmore), attorney and principle of Gilmore Business Network 5. Scott Kirsner (@ScottKirsner), Boston Globe columnist, and editor ofContinue reading “Study: What inspires innovators on Twitter | Articles | Home”

xxx U.S. investigators uncovered a global financial network run by a senior Islamic State official that funneled money to an alleged ISIS operative in the U.S. through fake eBay transactions, according to a recently unsealed FBI affidavit. From FBI Says ISIS Used eBay to Send Terror Cash to U.S. – WSJ xxx

xxx When a book comes along with glowing praise on its sleeve from Kenneth Rogoff and an introduction by Andrew Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England, you know you’ve got something hot on your hands. This analysis of money by one of the world’s leading experts on the subject does not disappoint… BirchContinue reading “What actually is money? A new book examines early civilisations to find out | Prospect Magazine”

xxx According to the People’s Bank of China, at the end of the first quarter, China had 6.3 billion bank cards in circulation, up 11% from a year earlier. In that first quarter, the value of swiping plastic rose to 15.2 trillion yuan, up 14%. From Visa applies for direct bank-card clearing access in ChinaContinue reading “Visa applies for direct bank-card clearing access in China”

xxx There were just under 1.4 billion card payments in the UK in June, a monthly record. And with the number of card transactions up 12% in 12 months, UK cards have enjoyed their highest annual rate of growth since June 2008… [a significant] factor was the increase in the use of contactless card payments,Continue reading “UK enjoys Summer of Love for contactless cards | Euromoney”

xxx Consumers and businesses made 15.4 billion cash payments in 2016 – down from 17.2 billion in 2015, according to figures released by UK Finance. However despite the decline, cash was still used 25% more often than the second most frequently-used method; debit cards (11.6 billion). During 2016, cash represented almost half (44%) of allContinue reading “Uneasy sits the crown as cash use continues decline”

xxx “In that time, the network structure has remained remarkably constant. In 2013 each wallet was connected on average to 3.12 others. In 2016 that number was 3.53.” Here’s the Biggest Security Threat to the World’s Third-Largest Cryptocurrency – MIT Technology Review xxx

xxx “Alipay now controls 70% of China’s mobile payment market, while Yu’e Bao, which serves as a repository for cash leftover from online spending, emerged as the world’s largest money market fund this year with $165.6 billion of assets under management.” Ant Financial seen becoming world’s top consumer bank- Nikkei Asian Review xxx

xxx “once they found a seller they trusted, only 30 percent shopped around” Fake negative reviews are a cheap way to screw up darknet drug marketplaces / Boing Boing xxx

As I wrote a while ago, the Chinese were first with the great transition from commodity money to paper money. They had the necessary technologies (you can’t have paper money without paper and you can’t do it at scale without printing) and, more importantly, they had the bureaucracy. “In 1260, Genghis’ grandson Kublai Khan becameContinue reading “China and digital currency revisited”