flwnet

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……

For decades we’ve assumed that technology would make markets more efficient. It has. What we perhaps didn’t anticipate is that it would also make theft, lies and deceit dramatically more efficient. This is illustrated by three completely unrelated stories that caught my attention this week. One examined how consumers are abusing chargeback rules through “friendly……

Things we’re reading today include … HSBC to close all branches and pull out of Australian retail banking market Can Australia’s newest bank give the ‘big four’ some real competition? Coinbase Revenue Falls 19% Over Weak Cryptocurrency Market Elizabeth Warren Highlights Survey Indicating 55% of Voters ‘Disapprove’ of Trump’s Billion-Dollar Crypto Earnings Donald Trump’s $10,000,000,000……

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……

This week’s main blog discussions include … PayPal, Stripe and Adyen: three companies, three futures 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……

You’ve been thinking about cryptocurrencies all wrong. Every few months someone declares that cryptocurrency is dead. In fact, there’s a website dedicated to recording every one of those predictions. The latest panic is bitcoin’s price falling below $65,000 and Coinbase reporting weaker revenues. A few months earlier everyone was predicting Bitcoin would hit $200,000. Before……

Things we’re reading today include … Lloyds Bank to cut £2bn in costs as part of AI-powered strategy Coldcard Bitcoin Wallets Compromised as Hackers Exploit Software Flaw $20B In Cryptocurrency Transfers During World Cup Examined In New Report The State of Digital Identity Verification in Fintech Firms Fintech leaders warn innovation outpaces cyber resilience UK……

Things we’re reading today include: HSBC unveils $1bn buyback as profits mushroom on Hong Kong growth HSBC resumes share buybacks as quarterly profit soars to $10.1bn Former Barclays chief Jenkins raises £40m for tech platform 10x Banking Metro Bank profit jumps as it bucks branch closure trend Visa beefs up cybersecurity offerings with $2.4 billion……

I recently asked a simple question on LinkedIn. Ever since Elon Musk bought Twitter, has X become less useful? The responses were fascinating, not because everyone agreed, but because almost nobody talked about the technology. Instead, they talked about how the platform made them feel. One person wrote that they had built their career on……

Things we’re reading today include … Revolut founder Nik Storonsky sued over £300m superyacht sale Andy Burnham faces mounting calls to hit big banks’ windfall tax as HSBC reports £14.5billion profit Bank battle: history suggests Burnham faces fight if he opts for windfall tax Why a decade-old legal saga is still haunting Deutsche Bank Bank……