Big Banks, Big Troubles: HSBC, Deutsche, Societe, and Citi Lay Off Thousands Worldwide

Banking giants are in trouble and it’s starting to show. Key players in the industry have already announced massive job cuts and executives with hefty salaries have been dismissed. HSBC, the largest bank in Europe, has revealed it plans to lay off over 4,000 employees and Citigroup is preparing to shrink its trading staff slashing … Read more

Owning Fiat Just Got More Expensive – NIRP Strikes Again

With the recent Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) announcement that even more customers will be charged to hold money in their banks, people are scrambling to find ways to preserve their wealth, while USB and others scramble to dam the losses resulting from national negative interest rate policy (NIRP). The relatively recent experiments with NIRP … Read more

P2P Crypto Lending Is on the Rise

As peer-to-peer cash, it only seems logical that cryptocurrency should be deployed for P2P lending. While that application has taken time to materialize, bitcoin and other crypto assets are now increasingly fulfilling that purpose. Across the BTC, BCH and ETH networks, credit is being supplied to ordinary citizens while bypassing its traditional gatekeepers, usurping the … Read more

Liquidity Difficulties in China: Second Bank Bail-Out Now Reality

Although it has its peculiarities, the Chinese banking sector now faces similar challenges to the west’s financial system. Dozens of small banks have been experiencing liquidity difficulties in the past few months. Observers believe the expanding problem has the potential to trigger a financial crisis that could grow into a new global meltdown. Chinese state-owned … Read more

Unbanked for Buying Bitcoin: How the Financial System Criminalizes Crypto

When we think of the unbanked, we envisage citizens of developing nations who lack the means and documentation to obtain access. But you don’t have to be a Mongolian goat herder to find yourself financially excluded. In the West, relatively affluent citizens are having their banking services withdrawn suddenly and without warning. Their ‘crime’? Buying … Read more

Money Laundering Fines Worth Billions Help Bankers Avoid Prosecution and Unpleasant Labels

The recent seizure of a cargo ship owned by JP Morgan, a vessel loaded with 20 tons of cocaine according to latest accounts, highlighted the risks of banks’ involvement in illicit activities, inadvertent or otherwise. And although U.S. authorities released the MSC Gayane after the owner, JP Morgan’s asset management arm, and the operator, Mediterranean … Read more

PayFast Removes Bitcoin Payments due to Inherent Technical Flaws and Shortcomings

These are very interesting times for Bitcoin, which evidently remains the world’s leading cryptocurrency. Despite a price revival of some sorts, it now appears yet another service provider is ending BTC support altogether. South Africa’s PayFast is the latest company to do so, as they experience major problems with Bitcoin’s inherent design.  Transaction Fees and … Read more