Buy now, pay later. It’s a simple and evocative term for a growing financial service that offers precisely what the name suggests – the ability to buy something without having to pay for it till a later date. Unlike revolving credit, the main sales pitch for the scheme is that if you make your payments on time, you do so with zero interest and zero additional processing … [Read more...] about Buy Now Pay Later – A More Level Playing Field for Lending?
Five Basic Digital Asset Questions this Week
The financial media took a more basic view this week, covering some of the basic questions on digital assets and payments after nearly six months of major interest and investment. The end of privacy? The Financial Times reports on the plans of central banks to launch digital coins. The article emphasizes their reluctance to give up monetary control while giving them the … [Read more...] about Five Basic Digital Asset Questions this Week
Is DeFi the Next Big Thing for Crypto? Not Quite Yet
DeFi - short for Decentralized Finance - has started to become a real buzzword in recent months, with investments in the space growing by leaps and bounds. It's doing so despite being notoriously complex and risky to actually work with - requiring users to understand complex technologies like MetaMask while doing borrow-lending in a space that features absolutely no FDIC … [Read more...] about Is DeFi the Next Big Thing for Crypto? Not Quite Yet
Traditional Finance Moves Closer to Cryptofinance
As U.S. and international financial regulators debate how to regulate cryptocurrencies, financial institutions make business moves toward crypto legitimation. State Street, the Boston-based custodian bank and second oldest in the U.S., announced the formation of a new digital asset unit, with a bitcoin notice on its home page. "We are striving to totally re-imagine and … [Read more...] about Traditional Finance Moves Closer to Cryptofinance
IRS Takes Aggressive Posture on Crypto Taxes
For nearly a decade now, Bitcoin and other digital assets have flown somewhat under the radar when it comes to tax law. While the IRS officially registers them as property, with profits on their sale falling under capital gains taxes, the very nature of how exchanges are set up has historically made profits in this space very difficult for the IRS to track. Enforcement … [Read more...] about IRS Takes Aggressive Posture on Crypto Taxes
Banking on Stablecoins
FinTech news this week spread out over the ecosystem, with no one theme dominating my view of the financial media. Here are some of the reports that caught my fragmented attention during the week after the holiday that marks the beginning of summer in the U.S. "Can traditional banks keep pace with FinTech challengers?," The Financial Brand asks. Traditional financial … [Read more...] about Banking on Stablecoins