Issues

Janet Yellen: Fed Has No Authority To Regulate Bitcoin

"'Bitcoin is a payment innovation that's taking place outside the banking industry. To the best of my knowledge there's no intersection at all, in any way, between Bitcoin and banks that the Federal Reserve has the ability to supervise and regulate. So the fed doesn't have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in anyway. [..] One concern with Bitcoin is the potential for money laundering. [FinCen] has indicated their money laundering statutes are adequate to meet enforcement needs. [..] It's not so easy to regulate Bitcoin because there's no central issuer or network operator. This is a decentralized, global [entity]. [..] We're looking at this,' she concluded." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJanet Yellen: Fed Has No Authority To Regulate Bitcoin

Vietnam says bitcoin transactions are illegal

"Vietnam's communist government said trading in bitcoin and other electronic currencies is illegal, and warned its citizens not to use or invest in them. Currencies like bitcoin are unnerving financial regulators in Asia and elsewhere because they are outside of their control. Established banks don't like them because people can send the money around the world with any fees. There are a few websites that claim to offer bitcoin in exchange for Vietnamese dong, but it's unclear whether they have done any trading so far. Aside from an investment and buying goods and services online, bitcoin could be used by Vietnam's diaspora to sends home remittances." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVietnam says bitcoin transactions are illegal

Why the Working Poor and Banks Are a Bad Match

"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to draft rules governing payday lending this year. But the conventional wisdom that will likely guide it is based on false perceptions about the working poor and the best way to serve them. So argues Lisa Servon, a professor at The New School in New York, who spent four months as a teller at a check-cashing business in the South Bronx and three at a payday lender in Oakland, Calif. Servon's conclusion is that many low-income consumers fulfill their financial needs outside the regulated banking system by choice and in many cases are better off for doing so." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy the Working Poor and Banks Are a Bad Match

Ukraine Protestors Turn to Bitcoin to Ease Cash Crisis

"Field surgeries and hospitals treat the wounded, kitchens feed the crowds, blankets and clothing are distributed to those who need them, and people with vehicles shuttle everything around. Not only is this a major logistical and people-management feat to co-ordinate, but it must all be paid for somehow. So, expatriate Ukrainians around the world have joined the fight to campaign and raise funds to assist the struggle back home. PayPal only allows money to be sent out of Ukraine, while international bank transfers can take days to complete. Much of the time, transfers happen through friends and trust networks. This week sees a new campaign to raise funds directly via bitcoin." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUkraine Protestors Turn to Bitcoin to Ease Cash Crisis

Gold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation

"The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say. The paper is the first to raise the possibility that the five banks overseeing the century-old rate -- Barclays Plc, Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) and Societe Generale SA (GLE) -- may have been actively working together to manipulate the benchmark. Authorities around the world, already investigating the manipulation of benchmarks from interest rates to foreign exchange, are examining the $20 trillion gold market for signs of wrongdoing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation

RBS has lost all the £46bn pumped in by the taxpayer

"Royal Bank of Scotland has lost all the money invested in it by the taxpayer six years ago when the lender came close to collapse. The bank has confirmed its total losses since its bailout have now drawn level with the £46bn pumped into it in 2008 in return for an 81pc stake. RBS made a loss last year of £8.2bn, its sixth consecutive annual loss, taking its cumulative losses to £46bn. The scale of the losses means that all the capital provided by the taxpayer has now been used up dealing with the toxic legacy assets on the bank's balance sheet. Despite, the loss RBS said it had put aside £576m to pay staff bonuses for 2013." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRBS has lost all the £46bn pumped in by the taxpayer