Finance that relies on smartphones and smart contracts can lower costs for banking services and promote financial inclusion, proponents say. But a look at who is using the technology tells a different story.

The Federal Reserve has been circumspect about whether it will issue its own digital currency. Observers are looking to an upcoming report by the central bank for clarity about its intentions and how a digital dollar would work with private stablecoins.

A consortium including Coinbase Global said all the reserves of the second-largest cryptocurrency stablecoin will shift into cash and short-term U.S. Treasurys, forgoing riskier investments.

The IRS and Justice Department waged a successful campaign to crack down on UBS and other Swiss banks for facilitating tax evasion. Coinbase, Kraken and other crypto exchanges should take note.

CEO Thomas Cangemi is pushing to modernize a bank that for decades was focused largely on multifamily lending. The company has already agreed to buy the mortgage lender Flagstar Bancorp and its partnership with Figure Technologies, a blockchain-focused fintech, has the potential to make that acquisition more productive.

Most people aren't spending bitcoin in stores, but major point-of-sale terminal makers are developing technology and business relationships on the belief that demand will build fast.

New York Community Bancorp says it will invest in Figure Technologies, which has developed an open source distributed ledger. The bank plans to use the technology to cut costs in mortgages and payments and promote financial inclusion.