Category Archives: Payment system

A Hard Look at the Mini-BOT, the Parallel Currency Idea of Italy’s New Ruling Coalition

The mini-BOT has only been sketched out at a high level. How might it work and more important, would it succeed as a parallel currency?

Jim Chanos on Fraud: “Cryptocurrency Is a Security Speculation Game Masquerading as a Technological Breakthrough”

The legendary short seller Jim Chanos in a wide-ranging discussion of financial frauds, starting with cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin is the last thing he’d want to own in the event of a catastrophe.

Don Quijones: Visa Goes Down in the UK, Chaos Ensues, Cash is Suddenly King

War on Cash suffers setback: Visa payments system crashes in the UK– one of the world’s most cashless economies– forcing people to ATMs to withdraw cash to settle transactions.

Cryptocurrencies’ Challenge to Central Banks

The risks of introducing a central bank digital currency are high while the efficiency gains do not seem large. A more efficient system can be achieved via innovation in current payment infrastructure.

TSB Are Using Their Own Customers to Alpha Test Their New IT Platform

The mess at TSB is even worse that the press would have you believe.

TSB Train Wreck: Massive Bank IT Failure Going into Fifth Day; Customers Locked Out of Accounts, Getting Into Other People’s Accounts, Getting Bogus Data

An epic IT disaster at the UK’s TSB illustrates how fragile banking systems are.

Disruptive Finance Huffing and Puffing Won’t Blow Big Bank Houses Down

Why newfangled finance will not have much impact on the banking industry.

Michael Hudson: Origins of Money and Interest: Palatial Credit, Not Barter

A deep dive into the origins of credit and money, along with the political implications of different theories.

Wolf Richter: Collapse of Cryptocurrencies in Q1 – Even the Biggest Crashed 67% to 88%

Cyrptocurrencies’ wild ride is looking more and more like a skydive with no parachute.

Bank Enthusiasm for Blockchain Waning

Blockchain hype is finally meeting commercial realities.

Over One Fifth of Student Borrowers Used Loans to Gamble on Cryptocurrencies

A new category of cryptocurrency sucker, and even worse, leveraged traders to boot.

Wall Street Journal Hyping Amazon Banking: “Ridiculous, Ridiculous, Ridiculous”

The Wall Street Journal gets itself duped into publishing some particularly flaky, um, nebulous, um, aspirational Amazon banking ideas.

Money: The High Cost of Betrayal

The misrepresentation of how the US money system works is worse than mere economic malpractice, which is already pretty common.

Cryptocurrencies Don’t Make Sense

How cryptocurrencies do a poor job of delivering on their supposed purposes.

PayPal Demonstrates What Happens to Former Tech Unicorns Which Get Lame

PayPal is no longer getting away with the sort of things it could as a payment processor newbie.