Opinions

The U.S. is preparing to turn its conflict with Iran into the kind of economic war that Iran has been waging since the start.

The credit card giant's BVNK acquisition wasn't a bet on crypto hype. It was a hedge against irrelevance. It suggests that the companies that defined the last era of finance are now preparing for a very different future.

The Federal Reserve's initial step toward doing away with paper checks is welcome, but any economy-wide transition must consider the needs of a variety of stakeholders, including many consumers who still rely on them.

After a nearly two-decade long "ice age" in which few new banking charters were granted, regulators have shrugged off a zero-failure mentality and are allowing some risk back into the system.

On-chain infrastructure is making idle balances obsolete. The OCC needs to act before banks lose the ability to compete in a market where consumers no longer tolerate below-market-rate returns.

Banks' core ledger systems are a sclerotic holdover from the past. The future belongs to the banks that set them aside and allow transactions to close in real time.

Across Latin America, central bank-led instant payment networks have seen enormous growth. The next breakout market is Mexico. If bankers in the U.S. want to see the future of consumer payments, they should look south.

As bitcoin plays an ever-larger role in cross-border transactions, what remains to be seen is how prepared the various bodies overseeing global finance are to engage with an asset that operates largely beyond their ability to meaningfully control it.

Quantum computers are one dire threat for cryptos, but public disinterest is a bigger one.

Unionization efforts at several Wells Fargo locations go in reverse, while the buzzy blockchain stuff overshadows the plain fact that customers want products that help them rather than gee-whiz technology.