Technology

AI isn't inherently good or bad; its value depends entirely on how it's used. For financial institutions, this means shifting the focus from internal productivity gains to customer outcomes.

The Chinese startup roiled markets with its AI assistant, which appears to be a less expensive answer to ChatGPT. Banks have reasons to be cautious about this particular model but also to hope it will bring down AI's costs.

The group was still the most active such gang last year, but its activity appears to have been severely hampered by law enforcement.

Non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies have no inherent value, so creating a federal "reserve" of them is absurd on its face. Chinese hacking of bitcoin will have no significant economic impact.

Pressing tech items across banking include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s impending Synapse rule and Regions Bank's play for an open banking future.

Truth.Fi will offer ETFs, cryptocurrencies and crypto-related securities.

The Czech Republic's central bank plans to shift billions of reserves to bitcoin. Plus Australia and the Netherlands crack down on BNPL, and other news from the world of payments.

There are reasons to be cautious about how a strategic reserve of the cryptocurrency is established, but the economic arguments for including it in the federal government's portfolio are strong.

Circle and other payment executives say Trump's stated support for digital assets will remove hurdles that have held back support from merchants and consumers.

Biometric payment terminals were on full display at the National Retail Federation's Big Show in New York. American Banker's Joey Pizzolato tried terminals from Ingenico and JPMorgan Payments. What he found might surprise you.