A study by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research has deemed El Salvador’s decision to accept bitcoin as legal tender to have been an economic failure. The cryptocurrency has failed to spread as a popular medium of exchange, and cost the country up to 1% of its GDP.
Read MoreThis morning, the European Commission released the initial findings of an antitrust case surrounding Apple Pay and third-party access to NFC technology on Apple hardware. The Commission has concluded that Apple unfairly prevents competitors from using NFC payments tech on Apple devices.
Read MoreThe Meta-owned messaging platform said it will offer cashback rewards for Indian consumers who make peer-to-peer payments on the app. It will also look into similar rewards for merchant payments.
Read MoreEBA CLEARING, SWIFT, and The Clearing House (TCH) announced this morning that they will launch a pilot program for immediate cross-border (IXB) payments. The pilot would support payments in dollars and euros.
Read MoreOn Tuesday, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev announced that the online brokerage would lay off 9% of its 3,800-person full-time workforce. Shares dipped by more than 5% after news of the layoffs broke.
Read MoreProposals at annual shareholder meetings for Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo would have pushed management to curb lending for projects in oil and gas. The proposals received between 11% and 12.8% votes in favor.
Read MoreThis afternoon, Fort Worth, Texas, became the first city government in the U.S. to mine bitcoin. The pilot program is limited to three machines mining Bitcoin for six months.
Read MoreThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it would carry out supervisory exams of nonbank fintech companies that pose a risk to consumers. The CFPB has had the authority to look into nonbanks since 2013, but it’s only decided to invoke that authority now.
Read MoreAccording to Mac Rumors, Apple is now opening new Apple Cash virtual debit cards with Visa. Apple Cash has historically partnered with Green Dot Bank and operated on the Discover network.
Read MoreAfter dumping millions into advertisements for the Big Game earlier this year, market insights experts said they failed to see an influx of retail investors. Sources cited market uncertainty, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as reasons for the tepid response.
Read MoreAnalysis by The Markup, a data-driven newsroom covering Big Tech, suggests Utah’s decision to move payday disputes to online courtrooms has increased default judgments against defendants. Defaulting on these loans can lead to garnished wages and a lower credit score.
Read MoreIn a speech to the country’s legislators, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina announced that members of Russia’s alternative to SWIFT, the international payments network, would be kept anonymous. She said 52 institutions from 12 countries currently participate in the network.
Read MoreIn its ESG report for 2021, JPMorgan announced that it had financed and facilitated $285B toward various ESG goals, including development finance, green projects, and community development. It’s part of its larger goal to commit $2.5T toward ESG initiatives over the next decade.
Read MoreAmazon announced that it had added Amazon One—which lets customers pay with their palm print—to the checkout process at a Whole Foods store in Austin, Texas. It’s one of the first Amazon-owned stores outside Seattle to have the feature.
Read MoreIn a memo to staff, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said all employees’ compensation would be tied to the company’s ESG goals. This had previously only been the case for Mastercard executives.
Read MoreThe Financial Revolutionist is weekly newsletter and blog focused on the torrid pace of financial innovation. Today, thanks to the exponential rate of technological change, explosion in global trade and new regulations ushered in by the Great Financial Crisis, a new financial revolution is under way. In this battle, virtually every aspect of the greater financial services sector is subject to rigorous challenge. With the Financial Revolutionist, we are aspiring to create a boots-on-the-ground and highly opinionated assessment of important financial innovation developments in the past week.
