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“If they connect my spending in e-yuan with my score in the social credit system, we will be bound to use it,” she said.

From China’s latest digital currency test doubles down on previous trial, nudging merchants and consumers to embrace e-yuan | South China Morning Post:

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Legal tender does not mean what you think it means
Posted on June 19, 2018
Since the dawn of Bitcoin, the phrase “legal tender” has been appearing in my Twitter feed. This morning, for example, I was surprised to read that:

In Germany, Bitcoin Is Now Legal Tender

— Jason A. Williams (@JWilliamsFstmed)

June 17, 2018

No, it isn’t. Bitcoin isn’t legal tender anywhere and it never will be any more than Avios will be (and I’ve bought more cups of coffee with Avios – one – than I’ve ever bought with Bitcoin). Sorry to be a spoilsport again, but to the very best of my knowledge, Bitcoin is not legal tender in any country. Nor, I would wager, will it ever be. Legal tender is an outdated and essentially meaningless concept, which is why I am baffled by the continued discussion of it.

Who knows what “legal tender” means anyway? Pretty much no-one, in my experience. I remember a story about a schoolboy who was chucked off a Welsh bus for trying to pay with a Scottish banknote. The bus company apologised, saying that “Scottish currency is legal tender” which, of course, it isn’t. Scottish banknotes are not legal tender in England or, for that matter, Wales. Only Bank of England notes are legal tender in England and Wales. On which topic, many thanks to @anshumancrypto for pointing me to this…

I hate to spoil the joke but Scottish banknotes are not legal tender anywhere, even in Scotland. In fact, Bank of England banknotes are not legal tender in Scotland either, because Scotland (which has a separate legal system) has no legal tender law although bizarrely (and thanks to Colin Platt for this via Twitter) Royal Mint coins are legal tender in Scotland in thanks to the Coinage Act 1971 (Section 2).

From Legal tender does not mean what you think it means | 15Mb:

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‘A merchant can decline payment in Alipay or WeChat Pay, but cannot decline payment in e-yuan’

From China’s latest digital currency test doubles down on previous trial, nudging merchants and consumers to embrace e-yuan | South China Morning Post:

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An argument can be made, that while London TravelWatch has identified a problem — people without a bank account won’t be able to easily buy travel tickets — it has proposed the wrong solution in requiring TfL to keep accepting payment by cash.

An alternative where TfL, the GLA and local councils fix the source problem of why people haven’t taken up the option for a free basic bank account would help reduce poverty by removing the cash penalty from unbanked transactions, while also making access to public transport easier.

From People without bank accounts struggle to use London’s transport.

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digital banks have become the poster-child for fintech.

There are now almost 300 so-called “neobanks” live worldwide, with nearly half concentrated in Europe.

From The global boom in digital banks: What the data tells us | Sifted:

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Platforms like Amazon, Facebook or Alibaba incorporate more and more financial services into their ecosystems, enabling the rise of new specialized providers that compete with banks in payments, asset management, and financial information provision.

From What is Really New in Fintech – IMF Blog:

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One is information: new tools to collect and analyse data on customers, for example for determining creditworthiness. Another is communication: new approaches to customer relationships and the distribution of financial products

From What is Really New in Fintech – IMF Blog:

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Fintech resolves the dilemma by tapping various nonfinancial data: the type of browser and hardware used to access the internet, the history of online searches and purchases. Recent research documents that, once powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, these alternative data sources are often superior than traditional credit assessment methods, and can advance financial inclusion, by, for example, enabling more credit to informal workers and households and firms in rural areas.

From What is Really New in Fintech – IMF Blog:

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Platforms like Amazon, Facebook or Alibaba incorporate more and more financial services into their ecosystems, enabling the rise of new specialized providers that compete with banks in payments, asset management, and financial information provision.

From What is Really New in Fintech – IMF Blog:

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According to data from the International Data Corporation (per MarketWatch), global gaming revenue is expected to be around $197.7 billion by the end of the year.

From Games Are Now Making More Than Movies And Sports Combined – GameSpot:

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We deliver finance to small businesses – simply and clearly. Our customers use us to access the funds they need in advance and pay us when they get paid* – with payments taken via an agreed % of their customers’ credit and debit card takings.

From Business Cash Advance | £2.5k to £300k | Liberis Finance:

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Payments are connected to the transactions of a firm

From Liberis Lands $93 Million For SME Financing | PYMNTS.com:

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Only 5% of bitcoin sent to unhosted wallets came from risky services or an illicit source.

From Chainalysis Blog | What You Need to Know About Treasury’s 72-page NPRM for Transactions with Unhosted Wallets and Certain Foreign Jurisdictions:

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