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"Wall Street is in the grip of Spac-mania. Three weeks into the new year and 57 so-called "blank cheque" companies have floated on US exchanges, raising $15.7bn, according to Refinitiv. Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon this week questioned the incentives that inspire sponsors. He had a point."

This paper analyzes the structure of SPACs and the costs built into their structure. It finds that costs built into the SPAC structure are subtle, opaque, and far higher than has been previously recognized. Although SPACs raise $10 per share from investors in their IPOs, by the time the median SPAC merges with a target, it holds just $6.67 in cash for each outstanding share. For a large majority of SPACs, post-merger share prices fall, and these price drops are highly correlated with the extent of dilution, or cash shortfall, in a SPAC. This implies that SPAC investors are bearing the cost of the dilution built into the SPAC structure, and in effect subsidizing the companies they bring public.

"The IMF should take over Libra with a view to reinventing the international monetary system in a manner reflecting John Maynard Keynes' rejected proposal at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference for an International Clearing Union."

The U.S. Department of Justice arrested three individuals associated with the July 15 Twitter hack. The hack hijacked the accounts of some of Twitter's most prominent users and sent tweets promising followers who sent Bitcoin to a specific address that their contribution would be paid back double. Authorities said Friday that the attackers used three different Bitcoin wallets to collect their proceeds, receiving more than 400 deposits worth $117,457.58. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis played a key role in the investigation, bringing into question exactly how anonymous are bitcoin transactions. "If [the accused] had carried out these transactions in fiat currency, the investigation may have been more difficult, as the transactions wouldn't have left the same public footprint that Bitcoin transactions do." https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/three-individuals-charged-alleged-roles-twitter-hack

This Bank of Canada paper looks at how deposit competition from a cash-like central bank digital currency would impact the income and liquidity of the six largest Canadian banks. In plausible scenarios, it finds that the banks could absorb the potential shock to net income and liquidity but experience temporary declines in profitability.

Facebook could be in hot legal water after rebranding its upcoming crypto project to Diem - a name already taken by a London fintech. Finance app Diem is threatening to sue Facebook and its partners for copying the name, telling Sifted it is preparing to take action. The Diem app allows consumers to sell their possessions instantly, rather than waiting for bidders on eBay; offering a digital pawnbroker of sorts. Users also get their own DIEM debit cards and accounts, creating what the company calls a 'Bank of Things.'

Using unique data for the UK, this BIS paper provides initial evidence on the effectiveness of the world's first sandbox in improving fintechs' access to finance. Firms entering the sandbox see a 15% increase in capital raised post-entry, relative to firms that did not enter; and their probability of raising capital increases by 50%. The results furthermore suggest that the sandbox facilitates access to capital through two channels: reduced asymmetric information and reduced regulatory costs or uncertainty.

"The attacker of the $611 million Poly Network exploit has started returning the stolen crypto assets, less than a day after their ID information was reportedly obtained by blockchain security firm Slowmist. The attacker's move came less than a day after the initial exploit, which was the largest DeFi hack to date. But hours after the heist, blockchain security firm Slowmist claimed that they already tracked down the attacker's IP and email information while the investigation on other ID intel relating to the attacker continued."

IOSCO published a report that describes how special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) work and outlines the development of SPAC markets. It then describes the regulatory approaches taken to SPACs and shows how these differ from those adopted for traditional initial public offereings (IPOs). SPACs may have some advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional IPOs, but both result in the same outcome and share some key risks. Accordingly, their regulatory treatment may be expected to be similar. However, differences in their mechanics (mainly because the SPAC process for bringing a private company onto the public market takes place in two steps compared to the "one step" IPO) mean that the regulatory treatment of SPACs may need to be adapted appropriately, and the survey confirms that in many respects the treatment of SPACs is not identical to that of an IPO.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is starting two pilot projects to explore trade finance and wealth management product tokenization. The trade finance project will be led by Standard Chartered, and the wealth management product one involves HSBC, UOB, and Marketnode, a digital asset platform built by the Singapore Exchange and Temasek. https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2022/first-industry-pilot-for-digital-asset-and-decentralised-finance-goes-live

The IMF published feedback on the Central Bank of Kenya central bank digital currency (CBDC) discussion paper published in February 2022. The IMF recommended that the paper emphasize that CBDC will "do no harm" to existing private-sector digital payment solutions. A poorly designed CBDC risks taking away customers of banks and other digital finance providers, increasing the cost of financing for banks, and depriving banks of valuable information they obtain through establishing customer relations.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published a paper that accesses the benefits of bond tokenization. It found that it reduces borrowing costs by 0.78% and underwriting fees by 0.22% of the bond's par value. Additionally, tokenization improved liquidity by 5.3%, rising to 10.8% if access is available to retail investors. In order to compare tokenized bonds to conventional bonds it selected a single conventional bond by the same issuer with similar characteristics such as maturity and issuance date.

KMPG published its biannual Pulse of Fintech report that tracks and analyzes developments and investments within the fintech sector. It found that investments in the crypto-asset and blockchain space rose to more than $30.2 billion in 2021 (versus $5.5 billion in 2020). It also noted the expanding reach of fintech into the farthest and most under-served regions of the world, including Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

The Clearing House and PYMNTS.com updated their map of the countries that have adopted, and are expected to soon adopt, fast payment systems. They currently count over 90 countries that have implemented fast payment systems.