Grid

I have a dog and am worried he has Stockholm Syndrome. He seems to love me, but it’s only because I feed and walk him every day. By nature, the dog should be free. Thing is that, now that he’s three years old, he’s developed into a beautiful animal who is dedicated to me. As…

The confusion over the origins of money I, like most, thought money was invented to replace barter. I, like most, am wrong. Money has little to do with bartering. Money, in fact, has more to do with how society moved from villages and communities to societies and cities. Going back to the origins of money…

I hate stepping into controversy, and I know that this column is going to be really unpopular, but the latest reporting of terrorist funding using cryptocurrencies is seriously biased. This specifically relates to Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza and Lebanon respectively. The latest violence taking place between Israel and Palestine is awful. No one can…

I liked this so much, it needed to be shared. It is a letter allegedly sent to my bank manager. Enjoy! Dear Bank Manager, I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his depositing…

I was talking about the vision of AI integrated with finance through APIs today. The vision is one where every transaction can be displayed through your devices via your apps. It’s the apps, API, AI economy. It means that wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever you deal with and how can be drilled down…

This week’s main blog discussions include … Forget cashless as cash is the only payment system that works During the summer, there’s been a lot of news about cash. A new €500 banknote is coming whilst, on the converse, a lot of people have been discussing life using cash. Is cash still relevant? Do we…

During the summer, there’s been a lot of news about cash. A new €500 banknote is coming whilst, on the converse, a lot of people have been discussing life using cash. Is cash still relevant? Do we need new banknotes? Well … here’s the lowdown. I am guessing that most of the cash discussions were…

Some years ago, I remember a Chinese lender, Jiedaibao by JDCapital, asking applicants to send them a nude photo to get the loan. The photo would be kept private unless the loan defaulted. If payments were missed, the photo would be shared online to all your friends and contacts. That’s a good way to ensure…

The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and creator of what many call a Ponzi scheme called FTX, has started in New York. FTX was a cryptocurrency exchange that, like MtGox a decade before, lost millions/billions of dollars of investor’s money. C’est la vie. There’s lots of reportage out there about the trial, the background, the…

Lots of discussions these days are about AI. AI this, AI that, AI movie, AI influencers, even AI pop. (the K-pop group Mave do not exist – they are generated by AI) Every day, these developments shock and intrigue me. But what does this mean for banking and finance? Well, I guess there are some…