Tag Archives: Money

The Bank Branch: An Endangered Species?

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“At Citigroup (C), we just learned that 15% have been eliminated in the past year. That leaves only 779 in North America.  At Bank of America (BAC), 234 have gone the way of the dodo in the past several months.  At JPMorgan Chase (JPM), 300 are being shuttered as we speak.  I’m talking about one of the 21st century’s biggest endangered species: the bank branch. And chances are, you’re helping eliminate them almost every single day.  When was the last time you deposited a check with an actual bank teller? Or even at an ATM? I can’t remember personally, and for a very simple reason. I bank with Chase, and the company’s smartphone app lets me do it right from my iPhone 6!”

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/bank-branch-endangered-species-72212

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Greek Island Trials Digital Currency Solution to Boost Economy

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“Drachmae Connect, a tourism business network, is using NXT technology in attempt to help ease liquidity problems and business-to-business trade in the Island of Agistri. The initiative aims to attract tourists with major discount tokens that can be purchased at their website. The opportunity of a decentralized equity and crowdfunding platform to the local Greek businesses is also on the table, similar to the WIR franc baking system. Part of the idea is to use NXT-generated assets as digital coupons and business-independent ‘air miles’ of a sort, facilitate business from tourists among other obvious benefits, like easy, decentralized fintech security.”

http://cointelegraph.com/news/114814/greek-island-trials-digital-currency-solution-to-boost-economy

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Greek Island to Trial Gold-Backed Digital Currency Alternative to the Euro

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“The mayor of the Greek island of Angistri has agreed to a trial of the digital currency Nautiluscoin as a way to attract tourists.  Brian Kelly, the founder of Nautiluscoin, published an article on CNBC on July 8 announcing the news that mayor Ioannis Athanasiou had given his support to the plan.  Angistri is a 13.3 square kilometer island near the Greek port of Piraeus, and a population of 1,142 inhabitants.  To explain the difference between Nautiluscoin and other digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Kelly described how a central ‘Nautiluscoin Stability Fund’ plans to keep the majority of the coins itself, only selling them when demand has risen.”

http://cointelegraph.com/news/114787/greek-island-to-trial-gold-backed-digital-currency-alternative-to-the-euro

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Greece’s New Finance Minister: Bitcoin ‘Highly Problematic Currency’

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“The Finance Minister of Greece’s new radical left-wing government, while at the center of anti-austerity financial policy, is in no way optimistic about Bitcoin, it has emerged.  In an article on his website blog from April 2013, Yanis Varoufakis discusses the ‘impossibility’ of a decentralized currency being controlled ‘apolitically,’ and describes this as a ‘dangerous fantasy.’  He stated: ‘[T]here can be no de-politicized currency capable of ‘powering’ an advanced, industrial society.’  Varoufakis has inherited Europe’s worst-performing economy, and will seek to end the austerity measures put in place by the previous Greek government following the 2008 financial crisis.”

http://cointelegraph.com/news/113380/greeces-new-finance-minister-bitcoin-highly-problematic-currency

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Ron Paul: Greece Today, America Tomorrow?

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“While most commentators have focused on Greece’s welfare state, much of Greece’s deficit was caused by excessive military spending. Greece’s military budget remains among the largest in the European Union.  Despite all the handwringing over how the phony sequestration cuts have weakened America’s defenses, the United States military budget remains larger than the combined budgets of the world’s next 15 highest spending militaries. Little, if any, of the military budget is spent defending the American people from foreign threats. Instead, the American government wastes billions of dollars on an imperial foreign policy that makes Americans less safe.”

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2015/july/12/greece-today-america-tomorrow/

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Greek Perspective at Freedom Fest 2015

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“Did you know about 70% of Greeks own their own home? Hear more on how this financially distraught country is made up of some of the best savers in the world. Alex of the NYC Bitcoin Center at Freedom Fest 2015.”

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IRS Seeks To Require Reporting Of All U.S. Bank Accounts

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“Currently, information reports are not required on non-interest accounts, while there is a $10 threshold for reporting on interest bearing accounts. This change would be effective for the current tax year of 2015, giving banks and credit unions little time to adapt their systems for compliance.  Should this provision be enacted, taxpayers will be awash in new 1099s reporting de minimis amounts of interest.  In many cases, they will report less than a one dollar in earned interest per year.  Additionally, this new reporting requirement will impose substantial costs on the financial services industry that far exceed the revenue that will be gained by the proposal.”

http://consumerbankers.com/cba-issues/comment-letters/joint-letter-re-sec-603

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New IRS guidance limits FBAR seizures to a mere 100% of account value

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“New constraints on penalties the IRS will impose when taxpayers don’t properly report their foreign bank accounts show agency concerns that some will argue in court that huge penalties are unconstitutional, attorneys told Bloomberg BNA.  Practitioners said the guidance likely stems in part from an argument a taxpayer was prepared to make in court in 2014 that a penalty far greater than the value of his bank account, across multiple years, was an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment. Some said that argument still could be made even under the new guidance, which limits the amount the government can take to 100 percent of the account.”

http://www.bna.com/new-fbar-limits-n17179927429/

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Paypal Shuts Down in Greece; Bitcoin Still Operates

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“Capital controls imposed by the Greek government mean that Greek citizens can only withdraw 60 euros (effectively 50 euros after ATMs have run out of 20 euro notes) and online payment service, PayPal, has been left crippled, as a result. PayPal relies on the traditional banking sector and credit card industry for all its transactions to flow.   Fact is, there is an old-style bank that underpins nearly every finance tech start-up that purports to threaten and disrupt the old guard.  Examples are peer-to-peer lending platforms such as Prosper and Lending Club.  Neither company holds the loans they award on their own balance sheets, but, instead, acquire the funds from WebBank, Salt Lake City, Utah.”

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/paypal-shuts-greece-bitcoin-still-operates/

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How to offshore your credit card with China’s Unionpay

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“China created Unionpay 13 years ago to serve as its own interbank for payments.  The unique benefit of Unionpay is that is controlled by the People’s Bank of China and has no relation to the western banking system.  In fact, the Russian government is using the system while they build their own payment system to get away from western systems. One Russian billionaire commented that he got a Unionpay-backed card to protect himself after US sanctions were imposed on Russia.  You can get a Unionpay card by opening a bank account in Mainland China.  Interestingly enough, wealthy Chinese are even using Unionpay for capital flight out of Mainland China.”

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2015/03/02/offshore-credit-card-china-unionpay/

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