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Everyone has become excited about A2A in the past year or so. A2A are Account-to-Account payments. These are direct transfers of funds from one payment account (bank or e-money service) to another, bypassing intermediaries like card networks and reducing transaction costs and complexity. A2A payments leverage Open Banking technologies and APIs to deliver fast, seamless, and…

I am always fascinated about the way in which people see what is of value and why. The exchange of beads, crystals, diamonds and gold; the use of barter to exchange sheep for goats for weddings; the emergence of digital exchange for tokens; and, of course, the issuance of cash backed by governments that are…

I’ve just spent a frustrating hour trying to access my bank account. It started with trying to login online. Here’s how it went. Enter your card number and password. OK, we now need a OTP code from your app. OK, now enter a code from the SMS or email we just sent you. But then…

I’ve been talking a lot about stablecoins of late and, in a timely fashion, Jas Shah at Fintech: Under the Hood has just landed a great primer all about such things. A Stablecoin Primer: Money for the Digital Age TL;DR Quick Take Stablecoins have evolved from early crypto-pegged concepts to fiat-backed instruments like USDC and…

This week’s main discussions include … Will the upstarts replace the incumbents? Is it just me or has the whole digital currency space become hot, hot, hot? Every five minutes, I see stuff about CBDCs – who needs them?; cryptocurrencies – who’s using them?; and stablecoins – what’s that all about? The last one is…

As blogged yesterday, the GENIUS Act can open the doors for closed-loop networks using stablecoins that circumvent the traditional four-pillar model of issuer, acquirer, merchant and processor. Yes, it could save billions in interchange fees, but there’s another movement in stablecoins trying to change the world. This one is trying to get rid of SWIFT,…

Short answer: possibly. Long answer: the GENIUS Act (the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act) gives a massive stamp on cryptocurrency tokens, stablecoins and protecting the US dollar as the reserve currency of the world. Oh, and it also creates a major opportunity for non-banks to become players in payment processing. For…

Is it just me or has the whole digital currency space become hot, hot, hot? Every five minutes, I see stuff about CBDCs – who needs them?; cryptocurrencies – who’s using them?; and stablecoins – what’s that all about? The last one is intriguing me the most at the moment, as I’ve said for years:…

I’ve been made redundant twice in life: once unfortunately and the other time voluntarily. The unfortunate event was an interesting moment. We knew the company were going to make lay-offs, and HR gathered everyone on a Wednesday to have meetings. We knew the meetings would be redundancies, but just did not know who would be…

A friend turned to me the other day and said: Chris, you always talk about the future and what’s going to change … why don’t you talk about what is not going to change? The question stopped me in my tracks, but it cuts to the core of strategic choices. Start with the things that…