Payment Perspectives certainly generated a flurry of activity in our reporting on Bitcoin, the virtual currency backed up by the full faith and credit of everybody else holding Bitcoin. One commenter proposed that what was behind Bitcoin was “one, huge worldwide asset: the internet”; which seems to suggest cyberspace ought to have a seat in
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Last week’s U.S. March jobs number (“a punch in the gut” according to former Obama Council of Economic Advisors chief Austan Goolsbee)—in which the economy added 88,000 jobs as compared with expectations of 190,000—compare strangely with consumer spending figures. According to both U.S. government statistics and self-reported consumer trending, U.S. consumers are spending more. The
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Recent MasterCard global research regarding people’s behavior online reveals a common principle: while people trade information about themselves in order to get some benefit, that trade-off must be made with a clear understanding of the benefit and the use of the information they trade. Reinforcing these findings is a New York Times story (subscription may
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Let me set the stage. It’s time to get my son Joe off to school. I give a five minute warning, “We need to leave in five minutes. You don’t want to miss the bus.” And this goes on…. “We need to leave in four…” Repeat. Joe has the attention span of… well let’s not
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From currency analyst Christopher Vecchio, the quote of the day: “Personally it wouldn’t be my preferred vehicle to trade money because it’s unregulated. But people are deeming it legitimate even though it’s not backed by a sovereign. That could be the attraction behind it. There’s no sovereign credit risk to bitcoins.” Unpack that: a digital
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A recent trip to Turkey put me in a trying situation: among hundreds of kebab stands and sweet baklava vendors, I had to decide if my craving to eat local outweighed the risk that comes with eating strange street food. Instinctively I walked away, but just 10 feet down, another small Turkish stand held the
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OK, I get it; the way we shop is changing. But when does it end? In an effort to get people in the door or on the screen, retailers are giving away the farm. Think “Extreme Couponing” gone mainstream. Nowadays when we go to buy items, big and small, we start out on the web
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