Things we’re reading today include … The Deutsche Bank MD who became a Reiki Master after a breakdown SpaceX shows the benefits of cross-selling if big banks can handle the conflicts What Should a 21st-Century Central Bank Look Like? Moody’s warns bank AI race risks “systemic dependency” on Silicon Valley AI push is putting banks……

For decades, the architecture of money was reasonably easy to understand. Banks held the money, central banks sat at the heart of national monetary systems, card networks connected merchants and consumers, and SWIFT connected banks across borders. It was complicated behind the scenes, but the basic structure had been remarkably stable for years. Then the……

This week’s main blog discussions include … Innovators, Imitators and Idiots Warren Buffett observed years ago that every market eventually sorts itself into three groups: innovators, imitators and idiots. It is deliberately unfair but, like most good aphorisms, it contains more than a grain of truth. The innovators invent something genuinely new. The imitators wait until……

I just came across a useful paper on the SUERF website: Tokenised deposits: old wine in new bottles? by Alistair Milne of Loughborough University The paper focuses upon whether tokenised bank deposits are actually doing anything new? His answer is sometimes, but nowhere near as much as the hype suggests. The starting point is the……

Things we’re reading today include … New ‘digital money’ may not be the banking revolution many expect, says expert How De Novo Branch Expansion Is Reshaping Retail Banking Monzo Business Hits 1m Customers as One in Six UK Firms Bank With it Who stands behind tokenised money? Pleo in crisis: Exec exodus, unhappy staff and……

Warren Buffett observed years ago that every market eventually sorts itself into three groups: innovators, imitators and idiots. It is deliberately unfair but, like most good aphorisms, it contains more than a grain of truth. The innovators invent something genuinely new. The imitators wait until the innovators have proved there is money to be made and……

Things we’re reading today include … FDIC Floats Standard-Setting Body for Banks’ Fintech Partners FBI Agent Charged Over Alleged $1 Million Cryptocurrency Theft Robinhood Secures FCA Registration to Offer Crypto Services in the UK Dubai Duty Free allows cryptocurrency payments for purchases Citi boss Fraser says a UK bank tax would damage London Major banks’ providing……

There was a time when the biggest technology companies knew exactly what they were. Twitter was where the world talked. Facebook was where friends connected. YouTube was where anyone could broadcast themselves. Netflix was where you watched great television without adverts, schedules or interruptions. PayPal was the easiest way to pay online. Each company had……

Things we’re reading today include … Adyen is coming for agentic payments. Can startups keep up? Stripe vet buys a bank for his fintech Cryptocurrency Trading Volumes Near Three-Year Low Lloyds reports first-half profit up 23%, outlines AI-driven cost-cutting plans Central banks slashed their gold purchases in early 2026 Increase in mortgage debt ‘doesn’t indicate……

Back in 2021, PayPal was worth around $360 billion. Today it is worth closer to $50 billion. That’s one of the biggest destructions of market value we’ve seen in fintech, and yet it isn’t because the company stopped growing. Quite the opposite. PayPal still moves almost $2 trillion every year, serves around 440 million active……