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Although the NPA will replace the Bacs and Faster Payments rails (and possibly, in time, the cheque imaging system) the architecture will still operate alongside the card processing rails which creates an inherently large overall cost base.

In addition, given the rapid decline in cash usage the industry faces a growing cost challenge of maintaining the cash supply network which perhaps will lead to the creation of a utility csh supply mechanism.

From The UK’s Payments Landscape – Payments, Payments, Payments:

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A broad mix of payment options that are increasingly digital but have options such as cash and cheques within the mix should be our goal.

Consumers should be able to decide for themselves how they pay. For us, it is important to have a broad mix of options and that efficient methods for payment are available

Burkhard Balz, Bundesbank, Germany.

From The UK’s Payments Landscape – Payments, Payments, Payments:

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As Jack Ma put it, perhaps it is time to move from a “pawnshop” model of banking that is based on collateral to an alternative model based on big data.

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Ma said the Basel Accords, which use a labyrinth of indicators to control risk and are used by regulators worldwide, had been designed by “a club of old people” and questioned whether China needed to follow them religiously.
He argued that China’s biggest problem was the lack of a functioning financial system and compared them to giving a patient the wrong medicine.
“The symptoms of Alzheimer’s and polio may look similar, but they are two completely different diseases. If a child takes Alzheimer’s medicine to cure polio, there will be many new problems,” Ma said.
“The Basel Accords are intended to treat diseases of an ageing banking system, it is a medicine for old people … but China’s financial system is still in its youth.”

From Jack Ma urges financial regulation reform on eve of Ant Group’s ‘biggest IPO in history’ | South China Morning Post:

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Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire behind Alibaba and Ant Group, has questioned whether international financial regulations are suitable for the Chinese economy and suggested traditional banks should change their “pawnshop” operating model.

From Jack Ma urges financial regulation reform on eve of Ant Group’s ‘biggest IPO in history’ | South China Morning Post:

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Digital currencies may play an important role in building the type of a financial system that will be needed in the next 30 years, Ma said.

“Digital currency could create value and we should think about how to establish a new type of financial system through digital currency,” said Ma.

From Jack Ma Blasts Global Financial Regulators’ Curbs on Innovation – Bloomberg:

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Segment-specific forecasts including:
Civic identity apps
Digital identity cards
Third party identity apps
Mobile identity installed base, usage and revenue

From Digital Identity Market Report | Fintech & Payments:

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The coronavirus pandemic is leading to a new phenomenon: a migration to “gateway communities,” or small towns near major public lands and ski resorts as people’s jobs increasingly become remote-friendly. This is straining the towns’ resources and putting pressure on them to adapt.

A new paper published in the Journal of the American Planning Association shows that populations in these communities were already growing before COVID-19 hit, leading to some problems traditionally thought of as urban issues, like lack of affordable housing, availability of public transit, congestion, and income inequality.

From ‘Zoom towns’ are exploding in the West:

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The amount of cryptocurrency spent on so-called dark net markets, where stolen credit card information and a wide array of illegal drugs can be purchased with Bitcoin, rose 60 percent to reach a new high of $601 million in the last three months of 2019, according to data released Tuesday by Chainalysis,

From Bitcoin Has Lost Steam. But Criminals Still Love It. – The New York Times:

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But trusted, irrevocable, unfalsifiable, distributed digital identity is the only path forward that doesn’t create massive risk for society in the long term.

From How to Prevent Social Media’s Editorial Role From Becoming Censorship of Speech — The Information.

This is the reputation economy of the future.