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Global Sales Brands (Mercedes, IKEA, Walmart, Amazon)-companies with extensive data about their consumers will use fintech to offer financial services to customers, profiting from good risk and pushing bad risk to banks and insurance companies. So far this year, investors have poured $4.25 billion into embedded finance startups, almost three times the amount in 2020

Impacts and Implications are huge...great find!

Describes how 1.7 billion people are still very limited financially--no bank acounts or ability to obtain credit. This limitation stifles growth in various parts of the world. Technology can change this by sharing informatoin digitally between consumers and institutions.

After a crackdown on Binance and other cryptocurrency firms, regulators are now turning attention to the world of decentralized finance. Decentralized finance, or "DeFi," lets users take part in traditional financial activities like lending but with no middle men involved. Regulators are concerned about DeFi services marketing themselves as decentralized when that may not be the case.

"I have seen one fool's gold rush from up close in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis. It feels like we may be on the cusp of another with cryptocurrencies (crypto) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The 2008 crisis holds lessons that can help industry and regulators chart a better path and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past."

More than 80 percent of Gen Z and Millenials are using a money transfer app - compared to 50 percent of baby boomers More than 80 percent of respondents have not used a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and nearly 75 percent avoid credit card debt generally or entirely MX, Finn AI, Q2 and Rival Technologies' white paper explores the use of financial products and services by baby boomers, millennials, and Gen Z

Yes, don't forget the Retail Trading boom with the increase in investment app usage. The 0% commissions a trade started by RobinHood disrupted major Brokers to compete. Think Or Swim and China's Webull are also big ones.

A flurry of recent announcements and ventures from Sber reflected on MarketScreener are just a few of the ventures that suggest Sber is working hard to establish itself as an international player at the intersection of finance and tech. The agile effort has apparently produced the following results: "product introductions increased more than fourfold, while the average time to market (from idea to implementation) decreased more than sevenfold." For a few of the more peripheral spinoffs, see: https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/PJSC-SBERBANK-6494829/news/PJSC-Sberbank-Currency-exchange-rates-at-SberBank-branches-now-on-2GIS-maps-36465221/ or https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/PJSC-SBERBANK-6494829/news/PJSC-Sberbank-Amazing-creatures-from-deep-sea-now-on-SberBank-Online-36463962/ or https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/PJSC-SBERBANK-6494829/news/PJSC-Sberbank-Sber-opens-multimedia-fountain-in-Lipetsk-36463963/

The Economist reports on the pipeline of former American regulatory officials becoming lobbyists or advisers to the cryptocurrency industry. Perhaps the most prominent is Jay Clayton, former head of the SEC, but others include Brian Brooks, who until January was the acting Comptroller of the Currency, and Chris Giancarlo, head of the CFTC between 2017 and 2019. In Britain, Philip Hammond, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, joined Copper, a crypto startup, in October. The Economist notes that, worldwide, "reams of regulations are now in play," and people who know the enforcement systems intimately are in high demand, and paid accordingly. The magazine adds, "The rewards for walking through the revolving doors are only going up.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said the agency is working with a number of other financial regulators to coordinate digital asset regulation. Regarding cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance, Hsu "said it is necessary for regulators to 'ensure that crypto/DeFi activities that take place within the banking system or are facilitated by banks are trustworthy.'" However, since most DeFi activity "takes place outside of the regulated banking system, it is unclear whether Hsu's remarks can be interpreted as reflecting OCC's aspiration to extend its purview over DeFi platforms."

Britain, taking a cautious view of cryptoassets and wanting to ensure they are backed by sufficient capital, may establish rules prior to the Basel Committee's finalization of guidance

2020 Mobile Money Milestones: >300 Mobile Money providers; 1.2 billion accounts; Africa: 55.2% of all providers; 43% of new accounts (2020) in sub-Saharan Africa

Article/presentation by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva where she talks about the current state of things--vaccinations, the economy, and a divergence in economic fortunes around the world is even more evident today.

It seemed that once the pandemic ended, we would pick up where we left off when it started. Apparently not so. There have been several changes over the past year plus that have made changes more lasting than what was expected.

"To their fans, the promise of expanding our reach beyond this planet is thrilling. For critics, the money poured into private vanity projects is unforgivable when there is so much to be done right here on Earth. This race has only deepened the divide between those who love to see the very rich launch into space and those who wish they would never come back."

Countering a common point of view, Liberty Street Economics claims that on the policy front, physical distance from a bank seems not to be what keeps the unbanked away, and so motivating or compelling banks to open branches near the unbanked may not reduce their numbers. In fact, in the FDIC's 2015 survey, only 2 percent of unbanked respondents cited "inconvenient location" as the main reason why they did not have a bank account. Far more important reasons were "not enough money to keep in account," "don't trust banks," and "account fees too high." Those issues merit more attention than banking deserts.

Mobile money has grown quickly in Africa and other countries with large unbanked populations. The activity and market share is attracting international and US investment and could herald a change in US options and activity for the unbanked or underbanked.

Definition of Mobile Money from IMF's Knowledge Bank

"Fun" facts about the current state of payday lending in the US

Child care costs are unrealistic even for middle-income earners

"It is not possible to, I think, destroy crypto, but it is possible for governments to slow down its advancement," Musk said at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California. Another indication of Musk starting to need government to go his way. What is the US government becomes anti- Musk or NASA pulls out or is de-funded?

Oil prices keep going up and up. And two of the most famous names in private equity are stepping down from the company they founded nearly half a century ago. Plus, the billionaire space race may not be much of a race, after all, because Elon Musk is so far ahead. Musk can spread the cost across so many products. He is winning contracts with NASA. He also landed moon lander (3 Billion). He has real scale...the risk is starship.