March, 2022

• 1 March

  Security Notes: Can the Law Tame Crypto Crime?

  

  Even crypto businesses that keep saying crypto crime is tolerable recently had to acknowledge a whopping $14 billion in reported criminal crypto activity occurred in 2021. The true figure is at least an order of magnitude higher, since many ransomware victims don’t even report the crime. The sad reality is …
• 1 March

  Banks’ Gift to Independent ATM Deployers

  

  As banks pull ATMs from underperforming off-premise locations, it is creating an opportunity for independent ATM deployers to fill the void, says a report from RBR, a London-based research and consulting firm. The trend, which is being driven in part by banks’ growing emphasis on providing cashless payments to their …

February, 2022

• 1 February

  Payments 3.0: A Less Cozy Regulatory Climate

  

  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent data requests show how regulators are teaming up and provide clues about the near future. In October 2020, the Bureau announced that it requested data from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Square (now Block) about their payments operations, and that it would compare …
• 1 February

  Security Notes: The Lure of Self-Referential Money In a Cryptocurrency Age

  

  In retrospect, Bitcoin had to be expected. Secular humanism challenges God-centered culture, and quantum physics redefines reality to what we humans measure—nothing more. So money that is hinged on nothing external to itself is a natural followup. But if this self-anchored philosophy is wrong-footed, then as it rises to dominate …
• 1 February

  How Processors Can Cash in on Cash

  

  Lost in much of the conversation about digital payments, particularly since the onset of the pandemic, is what to do about the cash merchants take in. The Brink’s Co., which has been hauling and securing cash since 1859, says it has an answer, and in January it announced it also …

January, 2022

• 1 January

  Payments 3.0: Digital Bank Currencies: Are We Truly Prepared?

  

  The birth of cryptocurrencies and the digitization of payments have led central banks worldwide to consider launching their own digital dollars. These central bank digital currencies (CBDC) could either supplement or replace government-issued cash as legal tender. Proponents say the tokens could offer benefits to citizens, governments, and businesses, while …
• 1 January

  Security Notes: Staying a Step Ahead of Quantum

  

  A typical textbook enumerates the three main attributes of money: store of value, unit of account, and medium of exchange. Overlooked is one other attribute: a social lifeline, owing to two other, undermentioned attributes—money is universally desirable, and money creates a bond between two strangers. In this column, I focus …
• 1 January

  Fintech Apps’ Thirst for Data

  

  Consumers have relied more heavily on payments apps and other fintech technologies since the onset of the pandemic, but few are aware of how much control these apps have over consumer data, according to a recent survey released by The Clearing House Payments Co. In fact, consumer confidence in the …

December, 2021

• 1 December

  Payments 3.0: The Pendulum Swings in Washington

  

  The regulatory pendulum is swinging again in Washington, and while the changes might be predictable, they are not always optimal for consumers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau got a new director when Rohit Chopra was confirmed by the Senate on Sept. 30, and the Biden Administration has nominated a new …
• 1 December

  Security Notes: Cyber Oil: The Undefeatable Equalizer

  

  I’m closing my series on quantum computing and payments with an introduction of the underlying vision, pregnant with a bouquet of shining scenarios for a level playing field in cyber territory. Quantum computers are surprisingly non-deterministic in that they are governed by probability. The lottery they play on runs on …