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he results show that a 1 standard deviation increase in the fintech development level has a significant association with a 0.39 standard deviation decrease in thefts’ density. Robustness checks and instrumental variable estimation support the main results. Further, the development of fintech reduces the density of thefts by reducing residents’ cash holding and providing more job opportunities. Finally, we utilized a nationally representative household survey to estimate the cost of theft for households, finding that victims suffer from more mental health problems, increasing their health expenditure. Our results suggest an unexpected source of welfare gain from the development of fintech: an improvement in public security.

From Less Cash, Less Theft? Evidence from Fintech Development in the People’s Republic of China | Asian Development Bank.

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Apple Financing LLC — has necessary state lending licenses to offer the feature, though it operates separately from the main Apple corporation

From Apple (AAPL) Will Handle Its Own Lending for New Pay Later Service – Bloomberg:

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Goldman Sachs retains a smaller role in the new program. The financial firm is the issuer of the Mastercard payment credential that’s used to complete Apple Pay Later purchases. Apple Financing doesn’t have its own bank charter.

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Results show two thirds of European citizens intend to use new EU-backed wallet for secure storage of ID cards, licences and documents on smartphones; while millions are still carrying unofficial scans and photos of physical ID cards and other documents on their handsets

From Thales Major Citizen Survey Predicts Warm Welcome for New European Digital ID Wallet (EDIW) | Business Wire:

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Enthusiasm for the EDIW is also influenced by age, and citizens’ experiences of digital wallets providers (such as Apple, Google, Samsung) and national Digital ID schemes including BankID in Sweden.

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The airline industry has historically taken a conservative approach to payments

From Why are crypto payments becoming so popular in the private aviation industry?:

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I’ll say. I just had to change a flight on British Airways and despite being an übergold frequent flier and using a British Airways Amex card that I have use approximately a million times before on the BA web site, I had to enter my credit details (including the billing address) just like the first time I ever bought anything on the web back in the 1990s. Not even ApplePay, much less direct-from-account or Dogecoin or whatever it is that the kids use these days.

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Of the reported crypto fraud losses that began on social media, most are investment scams.[7] Indeed, since 2021, $575 million of all crypto fraud losses reported to the FTC were about bogus investment opportunities, far more than any other fraud type… Romance scams are a distant second to investment scams, with $185 million in reported cryptocurrency losses since 2021 – that’s nearly one in every three dollars reported lost to a romance scam during this period

From Reports show scammers cashing in on crypto craze | Federal Trade Commission:

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Kenneth Rogoff is the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and professor of economics at Harvard University. Previously an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, he has written extensively on cash and electronic cash. In a recent piece on crypto regulation, he pointed to the use of cryptocurrencies in emerging markets, saying that “the biggest investors in crypto may be in advanced economies, but the uses – and harms – have so far been mainly in emerging markets and developing economies” before going to says that “one might even argue that investing in some advanced-economy crypto vehicles is in a sense no different from investing in conflict diamonds”.

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The Post Office and digital identity verification company Yoti have become the first government-approved digital ID providers, allowing UK citizens to prove their identities with an app instead of physical documents when applying for a job or renting a property.

Legislation paving the way for employers and landlords to use certified digital identity providers to carry out checks came into force on 6 April this year.

From Yoti and Post Office become first government-approved digital ID providers:

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One thing that came up a few times in conversation was the distribution of crypto losses.

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According to CNBC’s recent survey of Millennial millionaires, 83% stored a portion of their wealth in the form of cryptocurrencies. In stark contrast to both the baby boomers and generation X, of whom only 4% and 25% respectively owned any cryptocurrency at all.

From Why are crypto payments becoming so popular in the private aviation industry?:

Of course. This makes complete sense. If crypto can go to zero or a billion, than any rational millionaire would put 20K into crypto. Worst case, you are down to 980K (but in the meantime your houses have soared in value). Best case, you are a billionaire. But if you are a Gen X with 20K in savings, it’s unwise to commit those 20K to cryptocurrencies. Worst case, you have nothing.

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The privileged US Banks that have direct access to the Fed are paying fees to the Fed that are at most $0.0035.

The Wells Fargos of the Americas then turn around and charge payment Fintechs as much as x100 times that Fed fees — Wise claims fees around $0.35!
Instant

From Who is charging a x100 markup for electronic payments processing? | by Efi Pylarinou | May, 2022 | Medium:

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In January, during a taping of the “Tonight Show,” everyone in the audience received an NFT. The segment started out in a familiar fashion: Jimmy Fallon congratulates his guest — DJ and famous person Paris Hilton — on her recent wedding; showed the audience cardboard blowups of photos from said wedding (the dress was by Oscar de la Renta, Paris tells us); we learn the wedding will be airing that coming Thursday on her show, “Paris in Love.”

This banter carries on for a while when, somewhat awkwardly, the conversation pivots to nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. “Last time you were on the show, I asked you to explain NFTs. And you did so in a great way. That was a very hard thing to really explain to a lot of people,” Fallon says. “But since then, Forbes has named you one of the 50 Most Influential People in the NFT space.”

From The revolution will not be centralized | American Banker:

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