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The 19-year-old student made three payments worth a combined Rmb20,000 (£2,332). Shortly afterwards, the man blocked her on social media and stopped taking her calls. Jenny went to the police, only to be told she was “too silly” for buying the scam. “They told me the money was gone for good, as online fraudsters were difficult to track down,” she said. “What I should do is only pick up phone calls from people I know.”

From China fights a financial fraud explosion | Financial Times:

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But perhaps one less-appreciated lesson from American free banking is that, if innovation is not to be smothered, the quality of regulation matters.

From The explosion in stablecoins revives a debate around “free banking” | The Economist:

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One idea, detailed by Messrs Gorton and Zhang and supported by Mr Selgin and Dan Awrey of Cornell University, would be to make reserve accounts easily available to any stablecoin provider, on the condition that they hold all their assets in such an account.

From The explosion in stablecoins revives a debate around “free banking” | The Economist:

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The accounts had promoted the claims of a fake Swiss biologist called “Wilson Edwards”, who alleged the US was meddling in efforts to find the origins of Covid-19.
Edwards’ comments had been widely carried by Chinese state media outlets.
However, the Swiss embassy said that it was unlikely this person existed.

From Facebook uncovers Chinese network behind fake expert – BBC News:

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Over a third admit to using BNPL to buy more than they are able to afford and a quarter report struggling to keep track of their spending having taken out loans with several BNPL providers. One in four say this has caused them to miss a repayment.

From Many BNPL users unclear what they’re signing up to – survey:

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A total of 1.5 million loans worth £47bn were issued through the British governments “bounce back” loans initiative (around a quarter of all UK businesses applied for one of these loans). The National Audit Office (NAO) said the government estimated more than a third of loans, worth £17bn, may never be repaid due to both fraudulent activity and legitimate borrowers defaulting. That sounds optimistic to me. At the beginning of the fourth quarter 2021, figures from the state-owned British Business Bank (which supervises the scheme) showed £2bn worth of loans had been repaid and already £1.3bn defaulted.

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China’s Li Jiaqi, a top livestream salesman widely known as the “lipstick brother,” sold $1.9 billion in goods on the first day of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s annual shopping festival, as the country’s consumers splash out despite an economic slowdown.

From China’s ‘Lipstick Brother’ Livestream Has Record $2 Billion Day – BNN Bloomberg:

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Rex Woodbury’s brilliant piece in The Atlantic What Happens When You’re the Investment
Social capital is becoming economic capital.
By 

If we expand “everyone is an investor” to “everyone is an owner,” we see ripple effects in the record-breaking 4.4 million businesses started in 2020, or in the 68 million Americans who freelance.

From The Financialization of Everything – The Atlantic:

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The radical shift from a transactional outlook to bringing the elements of inspiration and emotion into the shopping experience has helped Klarna create a coherent purchasing process that encloses the pre, during, as well as the post-purchase journey for each user.

From BNPL Behemoth’s Buying Binge: Klarna’s “SuperApp” Strategy:

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Speaking to the Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee on Tuesday, the BoE governor appeared to reject the two extremes of offering an anonymous digital token akin to banknotes or allowing retail accounts at the central bank.

From BoE governor says ‘regulated’ central bank digital currency preferred option | Financial Times:

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