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Inhabitants will buy goods and services using Akon’s own cryptocurrency AKoins, which will form the basis of Akon City’s economy.

From Akon is planning to build a cryptocurrency-powered city in Senegal – The Spaces:

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Defining a suitable regulatory response to the appearance of Big Tech in the financial sector is “one of the greatest public policy challenges facing regulatory bodies”, says BBVA in a report which calls on financial watchdogs to address the imbalance on data access between banks and firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook.

From Financial regulators need to get to grips with Big Tech – BBVA:

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Against this backdrop, calls are expected in the U.S. and other nations for closer cooperation between monetary authorities and technology companies to help develop a cross-border digital dollar or a counterpart such as a cross-border pound.

From China takes battle for cryptocurrency hegemony to new stage – Nikkei Asian Review:

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Operating as a reverse ATM, users can insert up to $1,000 in cash through a bill accepter, and in turn an activated and loaded Mastercard is dispensed.

From DCBank works with XTM to introduce ‘reverse ATMs’:

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The 45-year-old woman, surnamed Li, used 20 other identities in addition to her own, to take out almost 900 travel insurance policies from 2015 to 2019.

From Woman in China, 45, made S$589,800 by buying insurance on flights she predicted would get delayed – Mothership.SG – News from Singapore, Asia and around the world:

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Defining a suitable regulatory response to the appearance of Big Tech in the financial sector is “one of the greatest public policy challenges facing regulatory bodies”, says BBVA in a report which calls on financial watchdogs to address the imbalance on data access between banks and firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook.

Financial regulators need to get to grips with Big Tech – BBVA:

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Efforts are being made to track down the owner of more than 3kg of gold that was left in a carriage last October.
The hoard, worth around £152,000 ($191,000), was found on a train between St Gallen and Lucerne.

From Swiss search for owner of gold haul left on train – BBC News:

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The website Biblio-Fiend have listed their nine best books about the future of money and I cannot help but be a little flattered to find out that two of them are mine. Here’s the list:

The Currency Cold War by D. Birch (LPP:2020).

Blockchain Bubble or Revolution by N. Mehta, A. Agasha & P. Detroja (Paravane: 2019).

The Future of Finance by H. Arslanian & F. Fischer (Palgrave Macmillian: 2019).

Beyond Blockchain by E. Townsend (2018).

Before Babylon, Beyond Bitcoin by D. Birch (LPP: 2017).

The Internet of Money volumes 1-3 by A. Antonopoulos (CreateSpace: 2016).

Personal Currency by R. Colbourn & A. Riegelmann (Lionhead: 2016).

The Age of Cryptocurrency by M. Casey and P. Vigna (Macmillan:2015).

How Would You Like To Pay by B. Maurer (Duke University Press: 2015).

Needless to say, I was very flattered to be in such good company!

 

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The tech giants, meanwhile, see expansion into financial services as a way to further embed themselves in people’s lives and gather data they could use to inform more of their products.

From Google Plans to Expand Google Pay Into Commerce Portal — The Information:

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Madis Reimand, Head of the Baltic country’s Financial Intelligence Unit revealed that regulators suspect that licensed crypto firms are abusing their Estonian credentials to commit fraud elsewhere.

From Estonia withdraws permits from 500 cryptocurrency firms:

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