It’s broadly agreed that the rails that exist for payments – both domestically and globally – are antiquated. While there has been any number of advances and shifts toward digital wrappers and new ways for consumers to move money around, on the backend the payment rails themselves are roughly the same as they were 50 years ago. Those rails have built the backbone for a … [Read more...] about The Programmable Future of Currency
banking
Bridging the Gap to Faster Payments
The vision for a robust faster payments ecosystem in the United States is well-established. There are multiple contenders to bring it to life – from private offerings like The Clearing House (TCH) to the Federal Reserve’s continuing efforts into FedNow – but achieving true ubiquity can seem like an elusive target. How is that gap from vision to reality going to be … [Read more...] about Bridging the Gap to Faster Payments
Addressing the Challenges of Synthetic Identity Fraud
The Federal Reserve recently released a white paper sharing insights on combating the risk of synthetic identity fraud. As we noted in an earlier article on the subject, this type of fraud is particularly difficult for traditional detection methods to flag, and it represents the fastest-growing type of financial crime in the United States. It’s a problem uniquely built for … [Read more...] about Addressing the Challenges of Synthetic Identity Fraud
Emerging Cannabis Market Presents Opportunities for Payments Trailblazers
In January 2020, Illinois joined 10 other states in the country (along with the District of Colombia) by legalizing recreational marijuana. While this has presented an immediate business opportunity that many have taken advantage of, the continued federal ban on the drug has led to unique challenges for both business owners seeking ways to process payments, as well as for … [Read more...] about Emerging Cannabis Market Presents Opportunities for Payments Trailblazers
FinTech Reaches a Digital Tipping Point
The world of digital transactions is in the middle of a meteoric rise, spurred by major lifestyle changes in the face of Covid-19. Ecommerce has developed more in the past three months than in the ten years prior, and that growth still hasn’t plateaued. How do FinTechs take advantage of that growth and adjust for the future? That was the theme of Plug and Play Ventures’ … [Read more...] about FinTech Reaches a Digital Tipping Point
Could the Crypto Market Protect Against a New Global Recession?
Note: Since this was published, the repo markets have not improved; the Fed supplied another $205 billion to the market on October 18. See James Bianco's LinkedIn post for more at: http://bit.ly/35MM8QJ The Federal Reserve has extended its recent interventions into the securities repurchase, or “repo” market, into November. It’s the first time that the Fed’s intervened in … [Read more...] about Could the Crypto Market Protect Against a New Global Recession?