Mainstream News

Massachusetts regulators warn about bitcoin as ATM opens

"Massachusetts regulators issued a strongly worded warning Tuesday about the risks of the virtual currency known as bitcoin after the opening of the second ATM-like kiosk in the Boston area that make it easier for people to buy it. On Monday, the second bitcoin ATM in Massachusetts — and apparently just the fourth in the country — opened at the Clover Food Lab restaurant in Harvard Square. The company that installed and operates the machine, Liberty Teller of Boston, placed its first kiosk at South Station in Boston in February. So far, a handful of Boston-area restaurants and retailers accept the currency, whose value is determined by supply and demand." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMassachusetts regulators warn about bitcoin as ATM opens

Cyprus Central Bank Governor resigns with $250K golden parachute

"One of the main criticisms directed against Demetriades has been how, under his watch, the now defunct Laiki Bank accumulated around €9.5 billion in emergency liquidity aid, only to buckle and fail when the ECB threatened to pull assistance. 'How much independence can a central banker have when, from his statements, it appears he was serving other expediencies instead of his country’s interest,' President Nicos Anastasiades said last year. For the state to get its €10 billion in bailout funds last March, the president said, it was told to privatise state companies, seize deposits, make painful cuts, and raise taxes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCyprus Central Bank Governor resigns with $250K golden parachute

Colorado Man Will Go to Trial Over $42 Girl Scout Cookie Purchase

"A Colorado man's purchase of $42 of Girl Scout cookies has led to a court date and more than $700 in debt for what he says was an error by a Girl Scout troop's bank. Tad Osborn, an IT professional in Fort Collins, Colo., bought about a dozen boxes last year from a scout from his neighborhood. He wrote a check for $42 and enjoyed the cookies with his family. Then last summer, he received a notice from a collection agency, informing him that his check had bounced and nearly doubled his bill to $82. The debt collection agency, AAA Collectors Inc., sued Osborn for $739.85, the bulk of which is $450 in attorney fees, followed by court and principal costs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingColorado Man Will Go to Trial Over $42 Girl Scout Cookie Purchase

Texas Tells Company to Stop Investments Using Bitcoin

"Texas regulators ordered an energy company to stop accepting Bitcoin for investments in oil and natural-gas wells, the first action of its kind by a state securities commissioner. Balanced Energy LLC, in the Dallas suburb of Southlake, was directed to stop selling unregistered securities using the digital currency, Texas Securities Commissioner John Morgan said yesterday in a statement. The order reflects concern that investors using Bitcoin might not get their money back, said Bob Webster, a spokesman for the Washington-based North American Securities Administrators Association. Webster described the order as the first of its kind." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexas Tells Company to Stop Investments Using Bitcoin

Global Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge, BIS Says

"The amount of debt globally has soared more than 40 percent to $100 trillion since the first signs of the financial crisis as governments borrowed to pull their economies out of recession and companies took advantage of record low interest rates, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The $30 trillion increase from $70 trillion between mid-2007 and mid-2013 compares with a $3.86 trillion decline in the value of equities to $53.8 trillion in the same period. Borrowing has soared as central banks suppress benchmark interest rates to spur growth. Yields on all types of bonds average about 2 percent, down from more than 4.8 percent in 2007." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlobal Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge, BIS Says

Free banking will go, says RBS chief

"Savers eventually will have to pay for their current accounts, according to the new chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland. Ross McEwan, the head of Britain’s second-biggest current account provider, said that free banking would come to an end because up-front fees were more transparent. RBS had no plans to scrap free banking, but he cast the eventual adoption of a fee-based system in the context of making banks more straightforward for customers. He said in a weekend interview: 'I think [the end of free banking] is something that will be addressed in the marketplace.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFree banking will go, says RBS chief

Despite central bank warnings, Bitcoin gains toehold in Middle East

"'The system is based on the concept of proof of work,' explained David al-Achkar, a Lebanese entrepreneur and active member of the regional Bitcoin community. In December 2013 the Lebanese Central Bank issued an official warning regarding Bitcoin. 'Transactions conducted with Bitcoins facilitate money laundering and the financing of terrorism,' said a circular issued by the Central Bank. Regionally, the limited Bitcoin economy appears to serve more mundane purposes. Earlier this month Dubai-based restaurant The Pizza Guys began accepting Bitcoin payments. Over the past 10 days, The Pizza Guys has processed seven Bitcoin transactions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDespite central bank warnings, Bitcoin gains toehold in Middle East

Weather seems to blame for U.S. slowdown, Fed’s Yellen says

"Unusually harsh winter weather appears to be behind recent signs of weakness in the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Thursday, suggesting the central bank was poised to press forward in ratcheting back its stimulus. Testifying to the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen said the Fed would watch carefully to ensure weather was indeed the culprit, but she reiterated that it would take a 'significant change' to the economy's prospects for the Fed to put plans to wind down its bond-buying program on hold. The world's largest economy added fewer than 200,000 jobs combined in December and January, well below expectations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWeather seems to blame for U.S. slowdown, Fed’s Yellen says

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