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As Senator Carter Glass once remarked, policy should endeavor to remove all toll gates set upon the highways of commerce (Glass 1917). A basic payment system is very much like a public highway system. Sure, we could erect toll booths every five miles. We might even erect toll booths on public sidewalks, public parks, and so on. At some point, the practice of attempting to recover every nickel and dime of user cost at its source seems not only impractical, but also ridiculous.

From Some Thoughts on Central Bank Digital Currency | Cato Institute:

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Norway’s National CyberCrime Center is trying to pry open Monero and Dash—two cryptocurrencies known for their privacy-protection capabilities—amidst the search for missing person Anne-Elisabeth Hagen.

From Norwegian Police Trying to Crack Monero and Dash in Missing Person Case – Decrypt:

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Society’s response to ransomware is an example of a collective action problem. The public would be better off if everyone cooperated and refused to pay money to ransomware operators. With no incoming ransom income, the ransomware business would be unprofitable, attacks would cease and the collateral damage would stop.

From Ban All Ransomware Payments, in Bitcoin or Otherwise – CoinDesk:

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Lending money and then recouping it later, plus something extra, is economically a loan. Calling it a fee may exempt it from certain regulations, but it does not change its nature.

From A few small banks have become overdraft giants:

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The explosion of overdraft fees makes basic banking expensive for people living paycheck to paycheck. Banks and credit unions generate over $34 billion in overdraft fees annually by one estimate. What those with money experience as ‘free checking’ is quite expensive for those without. Prior research has focused on who pays overdraft, finding a small number of people (9%) are heavy overdrafters accounting for 80 percent of the fees. Not as carefully researched is whether this is just a small part of banks’ general business model, or whether for some banks overdraft has become their main source of profit. In fact a few small banks have become overdraft giants relying on overdraft fees as their main source of profit. These banks are really check cashers with a charter. Why do bank regulators tolerate this?

Aaron Klein
Senior Fellow – Economic Studies
AaronDKlein
For six banks, overdraft revenues accounted for more than half their net income. Three had overdraft revenues greater than total net income (meaning they lost money on every other aspect of their business).

From A few small banks have become overdraft giants:

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GDS is advocating for a simple solution that would let citizens prove their identity online, instead of manually scanning proofs of residence or bank statements for verification purposes. But “a simple digital identity solution that works for everyone,” as it is described by Read, is easier said than done.

From The government wants to have another go at digital identity. Can it get it right this time? | ZDNet:

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her fake drivers license did not trigger a red flag

From The children selling explicit videos on OnlyFans – BBC News:

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Two reasons come to mind for why so many unbanked would rather remain so than get a conventional bank account. The first is that financial services providers often described as “non‐​mainstream” — check cashers, pawnbrokers, payday lenders — serve the unbanked better than many of us think. They have convenient locations that are open most of the time, their fees are transparent if high, and the people who work there look like the unbanked: young, minority, immigrant, often Spanish speaking. The second reason is that bank accounts have become commoditized, their offerings indistinguishable from each other, and innovation minimal in comparison with other consumer financial products. Given the available alternatives, bank accounts just do not appeal to a majority of the unbanked.

From Which Type of Digital Currency for Financial Inclusion? | Cato Institute:

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But I am also unhappy with the conventional definition of financial inclusion. It assumes that, were someone to open an account on behalf of each unbanked household, the problem would be solved. Some experts whose commitment to help the unbanked I do not doubt advocate just that: a mandate for the Federal Reserve to create retail deposit accounts — “FedAccounts” — on demand (Ricks, Crawford, and Menand 2021). But I think the merits of this intervention as a financial inclusion policy are questionable, as there is no assurance that the unbanked want such accounts.

From Which Type of Digital Currency for Financial Inclusion? | Cato Institute:

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to appeal to unbanked households, digital wallets must address the reasons why the unbanked are so

From Which Type of Digital Currency for Financial Inclusion? | Cato Institute:

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