October, 2021

• 1 October

  Payments 3.0: Three Keys to Crypto Acceptance

  

  When the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin in 2009, it seemed that the U.S. dollar and other currencies would have a new competitor. However, radical forecasts of digital currencies becoming the coin of the realm have not come to pass. Will Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies take their place alongside cash …
• 1 October

  Security Notes: The Root of Quantum Mystery

  

  Random means without order. Strange that disorder serves as the foundation for the most comprehensive order of nature: modern physics. Physics today asserts that, concerning the microcosmos, what happens next is totally unpredictable per individual event. Only the behavior of a group of events is subject to prediction. Matter behaves …
• 1 October

  A Busy Affirm Tests a New Debit Card

  

  Will a debit card be coming soon from Affirm Inc.? A new card product that taps the user’s checking account for in-full purchases or installments is in beta testing with “several hundred people,” at buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Holdings Inc., the company’s chief executive, Max Levchin, told equity …

September, 2021

• 1 September

  Payments 3.0: How the Prepaid Rule Tipped the Market

  

  The prepaid market has been upended and shrunk by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s prepaid accounts rule. Prepaid cards were a popular money-management tool for low-income Americans. And even though the cards never generated many complaints, the bureau decided they needed to be heavily regulated. Now, direct-to-consumer prepaid cards are …
• 1 September

  Security Notes: Quantum Unknown: A Cautionary Tale

  

  When automotive vehicles came on the road, they were described as “fast horses.” When the transistor replaced the vacuum tube, it was described as a “smaller switch.” And now that quantum computers are in the offing, they are being described as “faster computing machines.” We know very well that the …
• 1 September

  The DoJ on Debit Routing: A Tougher Rule, Please

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice in August lent its weight to a proposed rule from the Federal Reserve Board that would reinforce merchants’ choice of networks for e-commerce transactions arising from debit cards. At the same time, it suggested the rule could be made more stringent. Justice’s support for the …

July, 2021

• 1 July

  Payments 3.0: The CFPB Is Gearing Up

  

  Signs of the Covid-19 pandemic fading away include things like open restaurants, fully packed stadiums, and a return to travel. But for the financial-services industry, the real end of the pandemic may be signaled when regulators knock at the door. During the pandemic, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau extended certain …
• 1 July

  Security Notes: Prepare for Quantum Randomness

  

  Until the early years of the 20th century the world was modeled as a Rube Goldberg contraption, where a series of levers, handles, belts, and wheels create a long sequence of well-anticipated actions. Quantum trashed this model and replaced it with cosmic dice. The claim of quantum physics is that …
• 1 July

  Shopify’s U.S. Sellers Get Affirm

  

  With e-commerce sales booming, payments players are looking for combinations that can keep online customers engaged and add even more buyers to their ranks. An example emerged in June as Shopify Inc. and Affirm Inc. announced Affirm’s buy now, pay later service became available to “hundreds of thousands” of U.S. …

June, 2021

• 1 June

  Payments 3.0: Regulators Are Zeroing In

  

  The regulatory climate for financial services is warming up, and even companies that have largely escaped notice are feeling the heat. Regulators at the state and federal levels are taking a new look at everything from transaction routing to the ways companies market themselves. While it may look like they …