Rojin Nair, Advisor
June 1st, 2021
At Incyub8 Inc, Rojin is focusing on nurturing and guiding various national and international start-[...]
Cities and states around the country are banning stores from refusing to accept cash, and it’s a troubling trend for Amazon
- Stores that do not accept cash are on the rise, from quick-service lunch spots to Amazon's Go stores.
- Not accepting cash can speed up lines and make life easier for card-carrying consumers.
- But a backlash has grown, as the cashless trend leaves out lower-income customers who may not have a bank account.
- Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and New Jersey have already barred stores from rejecting cash as payment, and New York City and San Francisco are considering similar measures.
- This could affect the growth of Amazon's physical stores, which do not accept cash.
Cashless stores are becoming controversial.
See:
-
Under pressure Amazon plans to accept cash at cashless Go stores
-
Bank Customers Are Primed And Ready For Amazon
Stores that do not accept cash are on the rise, from quick-service lunch spots to Amazon's physical stores. Not accepting cash can speed up lines or eliminate them altogether, making life easier for card-carrying consumers.
Not everybody is on board with this cashless utopia, however. Backlash has started, as the cashless trend leaves out lower-income customers who may not have a bank account. As of last year, an estimated 15.6 million people in the US do not have a bank account.
Philadelphia barred stores from choosing not to accept cash in early March, becoming the first US city to do so.
"Most of the people who don't have credit tend to be lower income, minority, immigrants. It just seemed to me, if not intentional, at least a form of discrimination," Philadelphia City Councilman William Greenlee told the Wall Street Journal.
New Jersey later followed with its own measure, which Governor Phil Murphy signed into law on March 18.
"This idea of 'we don't want to accept cash' just marginalizes the poor, young people who haven't established credit yet, people who prefer to pay in cash," Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, a sponsor of the bill, told WNYC.
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Tristram Waye for Bitvo | Aug 18, 2022 What is hedging? Hedging is a strategy used by all sorts of market participants. It is widely used in commodity trading, hedge fund, and portfolio management strategies. And you can use it for crypto trading. Hedging is an instrument for protecting capital gains and avoiding losses. You can think of it like a synthetic insurance policy or a risk management technique that can be used in a variety of trading contexts. It is used extensively by commodity producers and consumers to lock in prices for products to be delivered at some point in the future. Options pros or market makers use hedging to offset the call and put options they sell. Equity traders use option-based hedges to protect up and downside of respective positions. They can also use a replacement strategy for existing positions as a sort of hedge. Large portfolio managers may use a variety of instruments, including index futures, and government securities to protect portfolio downside. See: Expert Tips and Strategies for Crypto Trading While bitcoin is sometimes described as a hedge, there are various instances where bitcoin exposure itself could benefit from hedging. The origin of hedging as an idea is old, ...
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Read More
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Read More
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Read More
Tristram Waye for Bitvo | Aug 18, 2022 What is hedging? Hedging is a strategy used by all sorts of market participants. It is widely used in commodity trading, hedge fund, and portfolio management strategies. And you can use it for crypto trading. Hedging is an instrument for protecting capital gains and avoiding losses. You can think of it like a synthetic insurance policy or a risk management technique that can be used in a variety of trading contexts. It is used extensively by commodity producers and consumers to lock in prices for products to be delivered at some point in the future. Options pros or market makers use hedging to offset the call and put options they sell. Equity traders use option-based hedges to protect up and downside of respective positions. They can also use a replacement strategy for existing positions as a sort of hedge. Large portfolio managers may use a variety of instruments, including index futures, and government securities to protect portfolio downside. See: Expert Tips and Strategies for Crypto Trading While bitcoin is sometimes described as a hedge, there are various instances where bitcoin exposure itself could benefit from hedging. The origin of hedging as an idea is old, ...
Read More
Read More
Montreal Gazette | Frédéric Tomesco | Aug 17, 2022 The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is considering its legal options after writing off its entire US$150-million investment in cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network. “Clearly, things didn’t unfold as anticipated,” chief executive officer Charles Emond said Wednesday. “No one at the Caisse, starting with me, is happy with the result in this file. That being said, one shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this is an exception in our venture capital portfolio, which has performed well,” returning 35 per cent annually over about seven years, he added. See: First day of Celsius’ bankruptcy hearing New Jersey-based Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. last month following a decision to freeze customer accounts. The Caisse and WestCap led Celsius’s US$400-million investment round in October. A net investment loss of $33.6 billion slashed net assets down to $391.6 billion as of midyear, the Caisse said Wednesday in a statement. The first-half performance still topped that of the Caisse’s benchmark index, which dropped 10.5 per cent. Charles Emond, Caisse CEO: It’s clear that we got in too early, in a sector that was in transition, with a company ...
Read More
Read More
Betakit | Isabelle Kirkwood | Aug 17, 2022 Morrow expects the Bank will begin registering payments service providers in 2024 Of the nearly 700 FinTech companies in Canada, roughly one-fifth offer payment services. All money service businesses in Canada are required to comply with anti-money and anti-terrorist financing regulations, as well as privacy and consumer protection laws. However, FinTech firms handling low-value, electronic payments are not overseen by a dedicated central regulator in Canada in relation to how they manage risks, respond to incidents, and protect user funds. But this reality is starting to change. The Bank of Canada will soon regulate entities facilitating retail payment functions in Canada, including FinTech firms of various sizes, domestic and foreign. See: Bank of Canada: The Latest on Retail Payments Supervision and Survey New retail payment regulations Ron Morrow, executive director of retail payments supervision at the Bank of Canada: They need to know that it’s coming, and they need to be ready for this regime when it comes into force. The Bank’s role as retail payments supervisor evolved out of the federal government’s 2021 budget, which first proposed to create an oversight framework for payments service providers (PSPs), meaning companies that perform ...
Read More
Read More
CNBC Make It | Jody Michael | Aug 17, 2022 In my 25-plus years of research as a psychologist, I've found that there are five main mental muscles that all work together to help us increase our emotional intelligence, respond to situations with more resilience, build stronger interpersonal relationships, and thrive in all parts of life. While a good amount of successful people have already mastered these muscles, most people aren't there yet 1. Accountability You'd be surprised at how many people incorrectly think they've already mastered this one. Personal accountability doesn't have to do with everyday actions like showing up for work or taking your kids to baseball practice on time. See: How Entrepreneurs Can Manage Their Mental Health You stop blaming other people and circumstances for how you feel or for what has happened. You fully own your part in your results, even while recognizing other potential contributors to what has unfolded. You own exactly what's yours and you hold others to owning what's theirs. 2. Helpful beliefs Most of us think that our beliefs are truths. But they are actually a set of assumptions, which means that we can experiment with them. We can probe them, challenge ...
Read More
Read More
Aug 17, 2022 If you want to be a successful trader, it is essential that you have a trading strategy in place. A trading strategy will help to ensure that you are making the right decisions when it comes to your trades, and it can also help to keep you disciplined. In this article, we will show you how to build a trading strategy that will bring you results. Here are the steps that you need to follow. 1. Prop trading One of the most important aspects of any trading strategy is to have a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve. Are you looking to make short-term trades or long-term investments? What kind of risk are you willing to take? These are all important questions that need to be answered before you can start putting together your strategy. To actually become a prop trader, you will need to have a very good understanding of the markets and the assets that you are trading. This means that you will need to spend some time doing research and learning about the different markets. 2. Develop a system Once you know what you want to achieve with your trading, you ...
Read More
Read More
CryptoSlate | Samuel Wan | Aug 16, 2022 Ethereum's Beacon Chain Validators Discuss Censorship Resistance In a recent Twitter poll on Ethereum censorship, Vitalik Buterin revealed that he voted to punish validators complying with censorship requests by burning their staked tokens.The poll was held by software engineer Eric Wall, who asked the Ethereum community if they would burn the staked tokens of validators who comply with censorship requests or “tolerate the censorship” and do nothing. The majority of voters — 62%, including Buterin — opted for the former. Meanwhile, 9% voted to tolerate censorship, and 29% clicked show results. As of press time, several hours remain until the poll closes. See: Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges ordered to cease dealings with convoy-linked accounts Want Institutional Adoption? You Have to Sacrifice Tornado Cash, says Kevin O’Leary Wall’s poll was a response to a tweet from Lefteris Karapetsas, the founder of Rotkiap, a privacy-focused portfolio tracker, who asked five significant Proof-of-Stake validators if they would comply with censorship requests or respond to the request by closing their staking service. Question for @LidoFinance, @coinbase, @krakenfx, @stakedus, @BitcoinSuisseAGIf regulators ask you to censor at the #ethereum protocol level with your validators will you:A) Comply and censor ...
Read More
Read More
VentureBeat | Kolawole Samuel Adebayo | Aug 15, 2022 While many industries have seen a decline in venture capital investment, the blockchain space has continued to enjoy funding. Blockchain startups have found strength in the rise of NFT use cases alongside the convergence of blockchain and other emerging technologies like 5G, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). Gartner predicts the business value generated by blockchain will increase, reaching $176 billion by 2025 and $3.1 trillion by 2030. In addition, Grand View Research estimates the global blockchain technology market will grow at a rate of 85.9% between 2022 and 2030. With the blockchain market capitalization poised to skyrocket in the next few years, investors continue to pour billions of dollars into blockchain and crypto startups. See: Overview of Some Popular Layer 1 Blockchains A report by PwC on the outlook of the blockchain industry notes: [Blockchain is a] technology enabler with an unrivaled capability to improve the business processes in the enterprise while simultaneously lowering the cost of trust. These advancements are touted to result in a greater return on investment (ROI) for first movers and the businesses they serve. 10 Blockchain Startups to Watch (no particular ...
Read More
Read More
Global Government Forum | Jack Aldane | Aug 16, 2022 Canada's Digital Ambition 2022: Public Consultation coming soon... The government launched its Digital Ambition 2022 on 5 August this year: “a clear, long-term strategic vision for the Government of Canada to advance digital service delivery, cyber security, talent recruitment, and privacy”. The new strategy replaces the government’s Digital Operations Strategic Plan: 2021-2024. One key pillar of the ‘Ambition’ is digital identity, with emphasis on the need for government to create fast, straightforward ways to prove ID claims. “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for government services to be accessible and flexible in the digital age. The next step in making services more convenient to access is a federal Digital Identity Program, integrated with pre-existing provincial platforms.” The document reiterates a Treasury Board mandate set in late-2021 to work towards a common digital identity platform for public services. See: The Evolving Digital Identity Landscape Liquid Avatar Releases Update to It’s Feature Rich Self-Sovereign Identity Mobile App Mona Fortier, president of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: the Ambition would lay a solid foundation for the ever-evolving digital transformation of government” and would serve as “an important tool to support the focus ...
Read More
Read More
Herbert Smith Freehills | Andrew Moir and Pietro Pouche | Aug 16, 2022 The creation (“minting”) and sale and use of NFTs raises many IP issues which we have discussed in our previous posts in our IP in NFTs series. However, brand owners and product manufacturers must also be vigilant in monitoring the virtual marketplaces to ensure that third parties are not creating NFTs that infringe their own IP rights. This is especially true where the company is considering releasing or has released NFTs, because the public will begin to associate the brand with NFTs (which could include infringing NFTs). There are several strategies that companies could adopt to minimise this risk. Strategies for product and brand protection Companies should become familiar with the NFT marketplaces and conduct periodic searches to see if any of their IP is being traded without their knowledge. Image matching technology, such as Google’s reverse image search, can also be used to check whether specific image files are present on unauthorised domains. See: Intellectual Property and NFTs: What you need to know It is also important for companies to be clear and open about their involvement in the NFT space, including making it easy for the public to ...
Read More
Read More
PYMNTS | Aug 2, 2022 A central bank digital currency (CBDC) could be the “holy grail” for cross-border payments, offering a solution that is “immediate, cheap, universal in terms of reach, and settled in a secure settlement medium,” the European Central Bank (ECB) said in a recent report on identifying the ultimate cross-border payment medium. “... the interlinking of domestic payment systems and the future interoperability of CBDCs are the most promising avenues,” according to the report, which also concluded that “... Bitcoin is least credible.” The report points to the greater compatibility CBDCs have with forex exchange (FX) conversions, the upholding of monetary sovereignty, and easy instant payments via intermediaries such as central banks, the report indicated. See: PBOC White Paper: e-CNY’s Path to Cross-Border Payments Half of Multinational Firms Use Digital Currency for Cross-Border Payments (or Plan to) Some central bankers from the G20, however, have hinted that digital currencies issued by the private sector may have more utility than those issued by central banks. Australian central bank Governor Philip Lowe said at a panel discussion that he’s in favor of a private sector solution over the central bank. The promise of using CBDCs for cross-border payments depends on the progress made ...
Read More
Read More
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