#reason of microfinance failure

[webstartechnology]

Nidhi Software Provider in India at an Affordable Price

Opening a nidhi company is one of the trending businesses in India today. People are interested in this business because registering a Nidhi company is simple and easy. Also, these kinds of companies are not controlled by the RBI. It also needs a less complicated and less expensive setup. So, those who have a good knowledge of banking, microfinance, and loans often head toward setting up this type of financial organization.

Now, choosing the best Nidhi software in India could be a tough job as there are numerous vendors present in the market. Everyone claims to have those features and those features. Some claim they provide you banking solutions like NEFT, IMPS, IFSC code, UPI ID, virtual a/c, QR code, etc., while others claim they will provide you E-KYC, E-NACHH, and so on.

Before moving on to choosing the best low cost Nidhi software, let's discuss the problems Nidhi company owners face after purchasing the software.

Most of the companies have one common problem: some deleted entries are still present in the account books, or some entries are present in the cash statement but missing in the day book.

Some software requires more time to load.

Some software provides a single server; due to this, if any kind of mishap happens to this server, you can face a huge data loss.

Some software vendors also provide SMS services, but     most of the time the messages are not delivered to the customer.

Some software providers don’t support banking APIs for their customers. Nowadays, the majority of Nidhi companies provide their members with NEFT, IMPS, and QR codes.If your nidhi doesn’t support these types of facilities, then you might face a little downfall in the market.

A very common but most important problem felt by Nidhi companies is that their software doesn’t fetch the correct data from their ID verification tools.

Some software also generates reports that are riddled with errors, resulting in failure to meet compliance requirements.

Some software does not include built-in compliances. So the respective Nidhi company has to fill up the compliances manually, and that’s a big deal. You have to calculate the entire dataset manually, and then you have to fill up the compliances by yourself.

After delivering the product, some software does not even answer the phone.

That is the current situation. Now it is a big question: if you have to face this kind of problem, how can one continue their business? What does a person do then focus on their business or solve software-related problems? Also, some people always look for cheap software, and they also get it, but the issue is that after taking this kind of low-cost Nidhi software, they face this type of trouble, and in most cases, their vendor doesn’t pick up their call. As people seek low-cost software, it is impossible for the vendor to provide satisfactory post-delivery services.

What will be the solution to this issue? So, I recommend a Nidhi software company that offers trouble-free, user-friendly software and Android apps as well as high-quality services at a reasonable price. You can also get a free Nidhi Software Demo by going to https://www.webstartechnology.in/nidhi-software.html

[tim-cahyanto-bct]

Assessment #2 | Reflective Journaling

As per usual, I left this assignment up until the final dying days that we had available. Now in all fairness, this was due mostly to the fact that I did not even know about the existence of the assignment until today (Saturday 27th). However while I was racking my brain trying to think of something to write about, this very experience about being lost and confused had inspired me to write about our latest CT assignment - data objects. You may have read that last sentence and assumed the worst for the data objects assignment, however all is not lost as we somehow managed to claw our way into some form of success throughout these holidays. However, what I do want to write about was our experiences before then, where my faith and motivation for the data objects assignment was as fleeting as days left to do this reflective journaling. Experience So to begin with, our group was primarily made up of people who had no real group that related to their initial ideas. We had people with ideas to do with gaming, skateboarding, space etc. All in all, it was a real mixed bag of different people with different ideas. Our biggest issue off the bat was deciding upon and maintaining a data set. Believe it or not, it took until the very last week before the holidays for us to finally have a definitive data set which we were all working off, and even then we eventually changed it over the holidays anyway. A big reason for this hesitation and lack of progression, I think, comes down to the lack of any real motivation from the majority of our group. 

I'll be the first to admit that this assignment wasn't something that I was really excited by, especially compared to "cards for play" which I actually enjoyed quite a bit. Upon first hearing about this brief I actually thought it would be something I would be really into. Having done sculpture in high school, I thought this would be quite similar to the projects that I did for that. However, I was somewhat disappointed that we were restrained by the limitations of hard data and the one-directional emphasis on altering physical objects, which eliminated most of my ideas that I was excited to try. Much of our group looked like as if they felt the same- lost and unmotivated. 

It wasn't really until the last couple days where I think we realised how little time we had, and how we needed to actually make some form of progress. We all finally decided to choose and focus on a definitive data set we would all work on, and we came up with an object that we all liked the idea of. We wanted to make coasters and if we had time, cups to map deforestation data. I personally loved the idea, it would be both visual and interactive and I thought that it would be quite impactful. Even though we eventually changed ideas and data sets yet again, it was this point where we really progressed as a group. We finally had a direction to work towards together, and I think that was our pivotal turning point. We ended up using the holidays to knock out the rest of our project out. All of us, I think, happy with what we managed to achieve especially given how rocky our start was. 

Observation

Our biggest problem of the lack of motivation was, in my opinion, because most of the group wanted to do their own thing. I know for me that our original data set of renewable energy was not at all interesting to me, however it was something that the majority of the group kind of just went with. As stated by Amabile, T. M. (1998), "people will be most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself-and not by external pressures" It was just bound to happen that we couldn't come up with anything, intrinsically, most of us were not motivated. Even the looming external motivation of our potentially horrible grades did not seem to phase us. Since we all originally had our own wildly different ideas in the beginning, I think it was hard for us to just completely ditch our old ideas and adapt to a new one which we didn't really care for. While other groups were already deep into prototyping and testing, we seemed to still be stuck up on what data we should even focus on. Alternating between objects with each conversation and data sets with each class, our ideas never seeming to stick. 

A big reason that this happened in the first place, I believe, was because of a lack of leadership and effective communication. I say effective communication as opposed to just communication as we did communicate- quite a lot actually. However, with those ideas that we all came up with together, we never progressed it further. This for me highlights the completely nonexistent leadership shown by anyone in our group; me included. We had the ideas, but never did anything with them. 

This unfortunate experience has allowed me to learn and realise how volatile team projects can be. For the most part, all our group needed to progress much sooner was someone to just gather everybody’s attentions and allow everyone to come to a mutual agreement about what we want to do, and how we should do it. That one simple action could have saved many wasted days. 

Analysis

Ultimately, I think our problems arose from the absence of leadership. 

After having participated in Outdoor Education which heavily emphasises the importance of strong leadership, especially in the often life endangering scenarios we would often find ourselves in, it quickly became quite obvious how our team had absolutely no direction during those first few weeks of the project. “The study concluded that leadership plays a positive role in the transformation success. This conclusion was supported by correlation results which revealed that there is a positive correlation between leadership and transformation success.”  Kendi, B., & Kamaria, K. (2017). This study shows the direct and positive correlation between leadership and success. And on the contrary, how a lack of leadership can also be a contributor to a team’s failures. Additionally, the study conducted by Müller, R., Geraldi, J., & Turner, J. R. (2012) "found an impact of EQ [emotional intelligence] and MQ [managerial intelligence] on project success, but not so from IQ [intellectual intelligence]" From both these studies, we can conclude how effective leadership has a positive correlation to project success; however the latter study also shows how the most important traits are primarily emotional and managerial intelligence. For me, I interpret this study as showing us that effective leadership does not always have to do with outright intellect, but it's more about being able to practically assess the given situation to give the team some direction and focus. This was something I think anyone in our group could have easily done.

Additionally, Jung, D. I. (2001) writes how his study's "Results indicated that transformational leadership promoted higher levels of creativity measured by divergent thinking among group members" In this study, Jung compares transactional leadership to transformative leadership. Basically transformational leadership aims to intrinsically motivate followers to work towards a common goal while transactional leadership focuses on extrinsic motivation using things such as diminishing rewards or punishments. The study highlights the importance of intrinsic motivation over extrinsic motivation when it comes to, in this case, creativity; something a good leader should be able to help facilitate to achieve greater creativity and ultimately greater success. Although it is not solely up to the leader all the time, intrinsic motivation is something that fundamentally only us as individuals can achieve.

This experience with our latest Creative Technologies Studio project has highlighted to me the importance of effective leadership and communication. In the future, I think my aim in these group projects would be to focus more on the group itself rather than solely on the content of the projects. Having someone to steer the group in the correct way in a practical sense would have heavily benefited my latest group, and I have no doubt that it will continue to be necessary for future group projects too. 

References Amabile, T. M. (1998). How to kill creativity (Vol. 87). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.

Kendi, B., & Kamaria, K. (2017). AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS OF MICROFINANCE ORGANIZATIONS IN KENYA INTO DEPOSIT TAKING INSTITUTIONS. International Journal of Business Strategies, 1(2), 22-42. Müller, R., Geraldi, J., & Turner, J. R. (2012). Relationships between leadership and success in different types of project complexities. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 59(1), 77-90. Jung, D. I. (2001). Transformational and transactional leadership and their effects on creativity in groups. Creativity Research Journal, 13(2), 185-195.

[synlogicsinc]

Microfinance Company KYC Verification using RPA Services

While eKYC is something relatively new to India, we need to reconcile with the fact that its importance in the global scenario is only growing each day.

According to a report by Report Crux,

“The Global e-KYC Market is estimated to grow...at a CAGR of 23.4% during the forecast period from 2020-2027.”

To keep pace with the ever-growing customer base, a large number of banks and microfinance companies in India are switching to RPA consulting services, especially to faster KYC processes.                                                                                                                                                                                                     Why Is KYC Important?

KYC not only provides you with significant information about your customer but also safeguards your organization from various legal issues associated with customer frauds that happen, well, so very often.

The Role of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Know Your Customer (KYC) There has been a constant rise in the demand for artificial intelligence in KYC in recent years to prevent non-compliance. But even when AI has been implemented, for mass, repetitive processes, there needs to be some support that standardizes and speeds up operations. For this reason, one needs to introduce RPA with the help of a seasoned RPA implementation partner.

In fact, a remarkable number of banks, microfinance companies, and other financial institutes are already using RPA to transform critical business processes.

RPA eliminates all kinds of human efforts which in turn helps you reduce failures, costs, and human errors and fraud possibilities associated with KYC. RPA consulting services like ours are helping microfinance businesses in India with:

Reducing non-compliance penalties Extending their problem-solving potential Boosting productivity Increasing transactional efficiency and more.

Challenges Associated with Microfinance KYC Verification

Data Quality and Inconsistencies Inconsistency of data is the most recurring problem any microfinancing company encounters while trying to validate the KYC information. There are several distinct sources where the data of a company can be found, and sometimes the available information on file is confusing or out of date.

Solution: Our RPA services offer easy access to government business registries. RPA holds the record from every legal entity that ever existed. It goes straight to the source of company data that is valuable in performing KYC verification for microfinance companies.

Laborious and Time-Consuming Onboarding Process The traditional onboarding process is one of the most common challenges in corporate KYC. This labor-intensive, time-consuming, manual process can lead to frustrating delays for customers, causing them to leave the verification process midway.  

Solution: RPA-integrated KYC process helps monitor customer behaviour and manage the complexity of onboarding. It collates data from multiple sources and allows for in-depth KYC verification. It significantly minimizes the time spent examining the identity of your client and constantly protects your business from money laundering scams.

Increasing Costs of Compliance Time is not the only aspect that can be saved through making automated KYC verification. According to a survey, large financial institutions with more than $100 billion in revenue, spent up to US$150 million a year in 2017 as KYC expenses. And it is expected to grow 10 % by the end of 2022 as regulations become more expansive, detailed, and stringent.

Solution:  Implementing RPA provides an opportunity to offset the cost of the onboarding process by limiting the amount of human input dedicated to KYC. By automating KYC, cost savings of around 30% can be achieved.

Human Error No matter how well_tl-rained, humans are prone to commiting mistakes. And in the standardized KYC verification, these errors can have severe consequences.

Solution: Our RPA consulting services help you eliminate the risk of human error and help you automate the KYC structure. Furthermore, RPA offers the additional benefit of saving a significant amount of time and money over a manual approach.

Continuous Customer Risk Monitoring KYC challenges for microfinancing companies do not end following the onboarding process. The growing regulatory demands to monitor customer risk at different stages. Actively keeping track of a company’s KYC can be highly draining on resources.

Solution: Our service help you develop clear, auditable processes to manage the ongoing monitoring for KYC verification.

Final Thoughts Within the past few years, multiple microfinancing companies in India have been seeking RPA consulting services for KYC verification. The simple reason behind this is that RPA provides an exceptional opportunity to re conceptualize the existing operating model for KYC verification and help you increase efficiency, customer excellence, and employee productivity.

If you are a part of the microfinance industry and would like to simplify your KYC, we can help. Let's talk.

[kriziazulueta108]

Post 3

How does microcredit help the poor really? Do they make them poorer?

Learning microfinance helped me understand how important micro products are to low-income households.  Microcredit is known to be the loan that helps poor people get out of poverty. Though I came to realize that if there will be mismanagement of this product, there can also be failures. According to Five Talents, microcredit can also be subject to abuse and corruption. 

Like in the microfinance institution that we evaluated, there are still things they need to re-check regarding the requirements to apply for a loan. We can say that their product doesn’t really reach the poorer of the poor because of the given constraints. For example, they require a photo that is a photo studio produced. They also won’t allow cellphone quality pictures, this does not take into consideration the clients who cannot afford a picture from the photo studio because this requires them to spend at least 50 pesos. Moreover, photo studios are not really accessible for all especially those living in rural areas.

Moreover, under the institution’s loan program, it says that “The client must have an alternative source of income in the family aside from the livelihood project.” Most low-income households don’t have enough income in the first place that’s why they opt to loan money to fund their livelihood project. This policy is not really inclusive as not everyone would have a stable alternate source of income. Especially during this time of a pandemic, a number of people got laid off from their usual jobs and have nothing to return to and some of these are the sole breadwinner of the family.

I think that microcredit is a really good program for low-income families, but it also depends on the management of the institution. It should be feasible and accessible to their target audience as to really help their beneficiaries.  

Source: https://fivetalents.org/blog/2017/8/15/five-reasons-microcredit-fails-in-the-fight-against-poverty

[theinclusionmasala]

22/11 Day of the entrepreneur - Day of the female entrepreneur. #SheDIDIT

Today 22/11 is day of the entrepreneur in Belgium. Perfect day to run a female entrepreneurship event. I am so happy and honoured that I was invited as a panel member/ guest speaker at the event of #SheDIDit. They promised not an ordinary Friday but a day full of entrepreneurship, diversity and youth... I can officially say that SheDIDIT!

#SheDIDIT is a unique platform full of female talent across cultural backgrounds. It is for the entrepreneurial female with foreign roots. The SheDIDIt woman is willing to do develop all her skills and use her talent to chase her dreams!

I sat in a room full of talented, inspiring and ambitious women from various countries in the world. The event took place on the 10th floor of the Arteveldehogeschool in Ghent, Belgium, which has an amazing panoramic view by the way. We were all connected by the fact we are all women and our common Belgian background either by education, culture, family or just by location. It was amazing to see the diversity and female talent in this country.

In the panel I sat next to Soraya Hayani from the organization FLEKS; an organization that aims to inspire youth to become entrepreneurs. Hearing her talk, I am sure she has inspired many young kids! Bravo Soraya! Keep doing your thing 💜

Another panel member was Katrin Van Den Troost; a very well informed young woman that knows entrepreneurship very well. She is part of Haven Incubator, a cooperation that stimulates kids to turn their hobbies into a business.

http://www.havencoop.com

I also like to mention Emmanuel Iyamu, not a woman but a very interesting young man. He co-founded AYO Belgium, a student union that assists in increasing the success rate of Afro Belgian youth in academics. Emmanuel is full of energy and know - how. I was delighted to discover that such organization finally exist in Belgium. When I was studying, no such organizations existed nor were their any thoughts of creating such. Way to go Emmanuel; you are doing great things! He put the “He’ in ‘She’.

http://www.afroyouth.org

Yasmina Kichauat from Waka Waka Gen also presented strongly.

After the debate, Karijn Bonne, Head of Research and Development Center Business & Management at the Arteveldehogeschool presented the results of her research about the drivers and obstacles of female entrepreneurship amongst newcomers (people who recently arrived in Belgium) and migrants. The results of the study were surprising and at the same time interesting to me. I was mostly surprised to find out that migrant parents were less entrepreunial. Having worked in microfinance in Belgium in the past, and being overwhelmed with loan applications from migrant communities; I had the idea that most migrant parents were self employed. However, the study only covered a small sample of 60 girls with a variety of backgrounds from Liberia to Japan. So it is rather indicative then representive. It is interesting to learn that the majority of the girls would choose to become entrepreneurs for non economic reasons. Reasons are 1) To become a role model. 2)To become financially independent. 3) To have a social impact. 4) Market opportunities. 5) To fight discrimination on the labour market and offering jobs to others. 6) Children: becoming an entrepreneur for kids. The young girls felt that if a Muslim girl with a hijab 🧕 makes it... that’s some serious ish... streetcred all the way. The girls apparently found it hard to come up with a role model. Eventually, they did identify Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Kylie Jenner and I noticed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. I assume she was identified by the Liberian girl in the study group. It was clear that more female role models are needed. Either way, it is already a good start away from the classical, old grey haired, blue suited, caucasian man, that was described multiple times during the event, as the old skool representation of the entrepreneur/ businessman. The obstacles of entrepreneurship are similar for boys as for girls. However, a big concern for these young girls is pregnancy and children. How to combine both? What about paid, versus self employed non - paid pregnancy leave? Another obstacle is access to finance and not having the right network (as with most entrepreneurs). A key finding though, is that fathers can be the backbone and support of these young girls, wanting to start their entrepreneurial dreams. Seems to me that we have to start investing in Daddy Groups, if we want our girls to have more chances to succeed! This is just a quick summary of the results but more can be downloaded on the website of SheDIDIT.

SheDIDIT is a wonderful organization lead by very professional women such as Lien Warmenbol and Katia Kribotuchko who led this event successfully. They invited icons for more discussion and provided a delicious lunch by the catering company “From Syria with love” managed by Yara Al-Adib. The food was amazing! It is the first time that I had Syrian food and I want more more more!!!! and I want to eat it cooked by them :) Meeting Yara was also as her food such a delight. She is such a positive woman full of great potential that sparks your energy. You can book FSYRIAWLOVECATERING for all your events, business dinners or parties. I am sure I will!

Another icon is Roningirl - A samoerai without a sword - she is Cheryl Miller - Van Dijck and she gave us a serious reality check. This Ronin hit us with facts on the discrepancy between men and women. Trust me, we women do not want this; we want equality on all levels. Yet we still do not receive the same opportunities as our fellow male gender brothers. Real Talk: Only 14 percent members of the board in Europe are women, 1 in 5 employees are women in ICT Europe, technology drive entrepreneurship by women in Belgium is at the bottom of Europe, Belgium ranks at the bottom in terms of girls in STEM education. Sad sad sad 😢 we must do better. As a matter of fact, 80% of women are marginalized in their career. Yet with all the obstacles in place, women still find their way to entrepreneurship and at increasing rates. Today we are at 35% in Belgium. A quote that stuck with me today was “The only thing that seperates women of color from anyone else is opportunity- Viola Davis” let that resonate for a bit... It is key according Mrs. Miller that women do not longer give their time to the patriarchy and start their own business. I find this essential in creating equality. We must teach our girls to stand their own ground even better than men! Another icon was Claudia Pahola from Guatemala, a lecturer a St Lucas, a designer at Samsonite and so much more. She brought us nothing but good tips on how to say No as a woman in business, how to deal with failure and how to stay positive! Blogger, influencer Sarah Dimani was also present and gave us a brief insight of what it meant to be a blogger. Most people do not see her as an entrepreneur, they think she is unboxing all day. Well, they are damn wrong, because what I saw was a serious business woman and an equality activist. She explained to us: how to take control of the narrative when the media covers you in trash without ever even asking for an interview. She talked about how it is difficult to keep the balance between personal and business life as an Instagram celebrity with a massive following. Influencer is the correct term but she finds it denigrating; at the end of the day she also needs to make sure her bookkeeping is done and the bills are paid. In order to do so, she is required to run her account as a business and create the necessary content. Unboxing is the easy the part. She is part of the first generation that grew up with social media and in the future being an influencer will be considered a proper job. I agree with her, in my opinion being an influencer is already a serious job/ business. It’s not easy to get Likes ;) Maybe Sarah will even construct an empire such as the Italian Chiara Ferragni; she definitely has the allures for it.

In general, I must conclude it was a fantastic day. Schools were awarded that participated in the business game and Sakina closed down the event with some nice slam poetry. I left on the beats of DJLizaay after networking with Wouter Van Bellingen, the backbone of this project through Integratiepact, Elvira from TedXGhent, IIana Brandwain from Noble Fine Jewelry 💎, Gudrun Verschuere Managing Director at Markant, Alenka Le Compte from the King Boudewijn Foundation and so many more leading ladies! A day full of love and support on what I now call female entrepreneurship day 22/11.

P.S.: this post is written on my iPhone X so sorry for the mistakes.

Professional pics will be uploaded soon taken by Mackengo Creations

[seppotechnology-blog]

What are the Options for Raising Startup Funds

What are the options for raising startup funds? Money is the blood of every business. Many businesses fail during the first year of operation. Lack of funds is the common reason for the failure of the business. In order to generate revenue in business, you need capital. It will require at each stage of business.

The requirement of fund mainly depends upon the nature and type of the business. When you determine the need of fund then you will start finding sources for raising startup funds.

Let us discuss the available options for raising startup funds:- • Self-funding for a startup business: self-funding is the most effective way of raising startup funds which are also known as bootstrapping. For the first time, entrepreneurs have face difficulty in getting funds without some traction and a plan for the potential success of the business. You can raise fund from your own savings and borrow from your friends and family. It is easy to raise funds because it involves fewer formalities and less cost of raising funds. It is considered to be the best option due to its advantages.

• Raise funds through bank loans: when entrepreneurs thinking about raising startup funds then the bank is the place where they can go. Banks offer two types of financing for a startup business: working capital loan and funding. The working capital loan is the amount which is needed to run the cycle of business for generating revenue. Funding includes the process of sharing the plan, the valuation details and project report on which approval of the loan is based. Most banks in India provide many SME finance by various programs.

• Get business loans from micro-financers or NBFC: if you don't get approval for a bank loan then don't worry. It is an option for you. Microfinance mainly provides financial services to those who would not have to get banking services. It is the most popular for those who need are limited. NBFC offers banking services without any legal requirement of a bank.

• Government programs that offer startup capital: The Government of India has launched many programs for raising startup funds. Government has launched the Bank of ideas and innovations program in order to increase innovative product companies. Government starts Mudra plan with an initial collection of 20,000 crores to increase benefits to around 10 lakhs. You required to submit your business plan. For the sanction of loan, you need the approval of the business plan. You will get MUDRA card that you can use to buy raw materials or other expenses.

• Get angel investment in a startup: angel investors are those who are having huge cash and interested to invest in startups. They work in groups of the network to overall screen the proposals before investing. They also provide advice along with funds. The main advantage of raising startup fund from angel investors is that they are ready to take more risks in investment for higher returns.

So, all these are the options for raising startup funds. You can raise your funds from any option according to your convenience and suitability.

[un-enfant-immature]

What money should be

Nik Milanovic Contributor

Nik Milanovic is a fintech and financial inclusion enthusiast, with a decade of work across mobile payments, online lending, credit and microfinance.

More posts by this contributor

The Third Age of credit

The next revolution will be reclaiming your digital identity

With the release of the Facebook consortium’s project Libra whitepaper, the internet, tech world, financial services industry and policy circles are all burning with conversation on the project’s potential. We are still very early into Libra’s life — it is, after all, still a proposal — and there is an endless set of questions left to answer. The project could redefine how we view money or it could be a complete failure; we won’t know which for years to come.

While there isn’t much to add to the (likely thousands) of pundit takes on the project until more details come out, this moment does provide us with an opportunity to step back and take a look at money itself. We should be asking ourselves: how does money work today and how should it work?

Money is an anachronistically analog part of everyday life. The last 25 years saw the digitization of most services businesses, from communications (email) to bookstores (Amazon) to taxis (Uber). Yet, even with the rise of fintech and significant innovation in consumer finance, money itself has remained curiously unchanged.

The future of money is just beginning.

There are good reasons for money to have remained unchanged. Currencies are controlled and issued by states, and for many reasons, they need to be controlled and issued by states. But the reasons are a reflection of the “facts on the ground” today. Money is too sensitive and too critical to allow for the same level of disruptive innovation we’ve seen in other assets. But if we were to design money de novo today from a Rawlsian original position, it would probably look pretty different.

Libra gives us an opportunity to talk more openly not just about what money is, but about what money should be. And regardless of what happens with Libra — which faces regulatory and competitive headwinds — the moment won’t be wasted if we take this time to contemplate the future of money. Below are some (not collectively exhaustive) starting ideas for that conversation, from the most basic to the more exotic.

Money should be free

Let’s start with the most obvious: put simply, it shouldn’t cost anyone money to use money. Financial institutions and fintechs are (slowly) moving toward this consensus, but in many cases, people still have to pay just to access their money.

ATMs charge fees for withdrawals. Checks cost money to print (and for those who feel the U.S. is moving past them, 90% of checks are still written in the U.S.). Foreign remittances incur transfer fees, bank-to-bank wires incur fees, check-cashing incurs fees, paying vendors with PayPal incurs fees, etc. etc.

The early promise of apps like Venmo, Square Cash and WeChat Pay (and earlier, Clinkle) is to let people transfer and use their money at no cost. Apple Pay and Google Pay take that promise a step further by making the phone — not the dollar — the primary instrument for in-person purchases — all at no cost to debit directly from a bank or credit card account.

But these apps have no equivalent in many countries. While mobile money services like M-Pesa have been ubiquitously successful in Kenya and neighboring countries, countries like Nigeria — Africa’s largest economy — still have significant cost of cash problems and expensive policy restrictions on the use of cash. I ran into many “Unable to dispense cash” error messages in my time in east Africa, where just having a bank account could incur non-trivial costs.

Incurring a fee just to use money is an outdated standard.

Money should transfer instantly

To most people reading this, the difference between instant payments and those that take a couple of days is not significant. A paycheck could come on Friday or Monday. A Venmo cashout can take a day or two to hit a bank account.

But as Aaron Klein at Brookings notes, slow payments disproportionately affect poor people. The time it takes for a check to clear, for remittance funds to settle or for payroll to be deposited can mean the difference between paying a bill and incurring an overdraft fee. It can mean not having enough money for weekend grocery shopping. These realities drive consumers to turn to payday lenders ($7 billion in annual fees), check cashers ($2 billion) or overdraft fees ($24 billion!).

Identity should be programmed into money.

As NPR noted when they waited for a Kickstarter payment, “We just need Amazon’s bank to send money electronically to a checking account at Chase bank. It’s just information traveling over wires. How long could it take: A minute? An hour? It took five days.” That is because the rails on which money is moved in the U.S. are more than 40 years old. As Klein notes, you can now send money more quickly from Slovakia to France than DC to Philly — and fixing this delay could be the single fastest way to combat wealth inequality in the United States.

This is another obvious easy win for the future of money.

And signs of that future are emerging. Apps like Earnin and employers like Walmart are paying workers in real time, to allow people to use their money as soon as they earn it. Libra’s own website opines that getting and using money “should be as easy and cheap as sending a text message.” Money should move at the speed of communications.

Money should take ‘one click’ to use

Amazon is notorious for pursuing one-click purchase technology, removing the last small obstacles between consumers and their buying decisions. Money should be no different: moving money to savings, sending it to a friend, making a loan or investment, paying a bill — these activities could all use a more frictionless UI upgrade. Unfortunately, today, accessing your money frequently requires a string of passwords, PINs, IDs or 2FA — all absolutely critical for security, but friction-inducing.

Fortunately, digital identity systems have been a ripe area for innovation in the past few years. Smartphone OS’s now allow people to use biometric identifiers — like fingerprints or Face ID — to authorize the use of their money, with mixed success. Decentralized identity systems like 3Box sell the promise of one universal, self-owned ID profile that can be used to permission any service built on top of it (including financial ones).

Identity should be programmed into money. If units of currency can have an “ownership” field, that field can be unlocked using more frictionless identifiers tied to the user and then re-coded when ownership is changed, making one-click use possible. (This could operate similarly to Everledger’s diamond registration program.) This could also prevent theft: If the “ownership” identity field is secure enough only to be altered in legitimate transfers, money could also be programmed to be unusable if that field is transferred improperly (i.e. stolen). This brings up a related point…

Money should be secure

One of the cities with the fastest rate of mobile payments adoption is Mogadishu, Somalia. Why? Because mobile money is safe — in Mogadishu, where muggings are frequently deadly, carrying cash can be a matter of life or death. The future of money is one in which physical theft is no longer possible because money is securely digitized.

Money should be stable

While theft drives mobile money adoption in Somalia, a BBC report titled The surprising place where cash is going extinct found a different driver of cashless payments in neighboring Somaliland: hyperinflation. The rapidly devaluing Somaliland shilling has made goods that were previously affordable two times as expensive in as many years, leading shoppers to opt for mobile dollars over bundles of cash.

This is one of the expressed promises of Libra and other stablecoins like the Gemini Dollar or the ill-fated Basis: no wild fluctuations. As Caitlin Long points out, “central banks in developing countries are notorious for their lack of discipline in maintaining the value of their fiat currencies, which too often lose purchasing power.” A global, consortium-moderated currency could tame that irresponsibility.

How does money work today and how should it work?

Hyperinflation isn’t as rare as it sounds. It was the status quo two years ago when I visited Zimbabwe and goods were quoted in three prices. Over the last year in Europe, Turkey’s lira dropped 25% in value in its own crisis. And today in Venezuela, inflation stands at over 1,000,000%, making goods un-buyable. The most common explanation for these events is that they happen when people lose faith in governments to protect the value of their currency. The drop in value led to massive capital flight, ironically, to Bitcoin as a source of stability (including a Bitcoin ATM in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital).

Interestingly, the Libra is not the first supranational currency to be proposed (see economist John Maynard Keynes’ Bancor plan). It isn’t even the first international reserve currency based on a basket: the IMF maintains the XDR, a currency pegged to a weighted mix of dollars, euros, yuan, yen and pounds (the Libra will be fiat-pegged to all those, less the yuan). But the Libra would be the first non-sovereign global reserve currency competitor, and the first one that individual people could actually use.

It remains to be seen whether the Libra itself one day gains enough intrinsic value (what Matt Levine refers to as a collective fiction) to separate from its underlying basket of currencies, the same way the U.S. dollar left the gold standard.

The money of the future should not be intrinsically tied to faith in local government — it should retain its value and stability independently so that it doesn’t risk rapid devaluation.

Money should be interoperable

The internet could have developed very differently. If we look back to the early days of the internet, there was always a chance that multiple competitive “walled garden” internets grew side by side, competing for users, and refusing to talk with each other. Fortunately, thanks to the work of nonprofit governing bodies like ICANN, the world mostly runs on one internet. Even in countries like China that wall off certain websites, internet pages still talk to each other using the same set of protocols that they do everywhere else in the world.

Money should be no different. It should be as easy to buy lunch with a currency in one country as with that same currency in another. The same payment protocol should underlie any type of purchase, physical or digital. Transferring between currencies should be instantaneous and free, not require visiting an (online or digital) exchange.

The explosion in cryptocurrencies built around narrowly vertical use-cases has been interesting to watch, but true adoption will only come with a universal resolver that allows people to frictionlessly move between use-cases without manually switching their unit of currency.

Different types of money should be use-based, not geography-based

Branching out from the prior point: What if money had built-in rules that determined what it was useful for? Dan Jeffries provides some instructive examples of what this could look like: deflationary coins could automatically adjust their value to track inflation. Inflationary tokens could be built to lose value quickly to incentivize spending.

Governments could reward spending on environmentally friendly goods by creating currencies that automatically discounted the prices of those goods. Currencies could have rewards and loyalty programs (e.g. Starbucks) automatically built in. Currencies could expire if not used in a given window, or only activate upon a certain date or trigger action. This is the promise of cryptocurrencies as “programmable money” rather than just “digital gold” (the Ethereum/Bitcoin debate).

Money should be an open development platform

If money becomes programmable, the possibilities for what can be built on top of money are endless and unexplored. Some of the most obvious examples are financial applications (like Calibra, the project Libra wallet).

It shouldn’t cost anyone money to use money.

The existence and ubiquity of a single-digital currency is just the first step. Following that step are applications, like lending (institutional or peer-to-peer), investing, savings, gift-giving, etc. Imagine, as a use case, being able to ping your bank via text and ask for a one-week microloan to cover a big purchase — and the loan being approved and sent back to you by text. Or imagine your kids’ allowance automatically accruing to them weekly via text — and an allowance “bonus” applied to any money they set aside for savings instead of spending. As David Graeber would note, it’s these credit and investment applications that create the potential for true growth in a financial ecosystem.

Many view Libra as a future platform, like the iOS Apple Store, that will house a potentially infinite volume of applications built on top of it. These could be universal rideshare apps, airline rewards accounts, e-commerce experiences, etc. that all plug into the same rails that your money is built on, so that the UI is entirely driven by the user intent (e.g. buying something) without requiring you to move any money between accounts.

Money should have (some) guardrails

The last feature money should have is built-in guardrails. This is the most controversial claim here, and one that will ruffle the feathers of the censorship-resistant, self-sovereign crypto community.

Digital money has the potential of traceability and programmable rules to create safety guardrails and prevent, for example, terrorist financing, black-market purchases, money laundering, transfer of stolen funds, etc. Libra, with its strict know-your-customer standards, will certainly work with financial regulators to ensure that it is meeting these guardrail standards. (Even though early reactions from legislators have run the gamut from skeptical to apoplectic.)

Yet there are sound reasons to be skeptical of digital money guardrails. Repressive regimes could use them to contain capital flight and offshoring (a key use case for Bitcoin in China). They could target an individual’s wallet to shut down their freedom of movement or purchase, and precisely trace their physical location. Back-door hacks that abuse guardrail functionality to disable money could have the effect of entirely freezing a country’s infrastructure and bringing down its financial system. It’s important to counterweight these possibilities when considering where guardrails should be set — and whether they should differ across borders.

The future of money is just beginning.

These are exciting times. The potential to move beyond centuries of slow progression in financial services has never been greater. The internet, combined with the ingenuity of blockchain and cryptosystems, could build the framework for a global network that brings the world onto one universal monetary standard. There are many questions to answer between here and there, but with Libra acting as a catalyst, people are finally beginning to ask them. Get ready for more innovation to come — this is just the beginning.

[payment-providers]

New Post has been published on Payment-Providers.com

New Post has been published on https://payment-providers.com/can-microlending-fight-poverty-in-the-us/

Can Microlending Fight Poverty In The US?

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Share

Print

Email

Microlending is a relatively simple concept that can be complicated to evaluate. The theory behind it, pioneered by Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, is pretty straightforward. By accessing small loans at moderate interest rates, impoverished borrowers can invest in building small businesses, getting an education or making household improvements — and thus helping to remove their families from poverty.

Microlending programs and products have mostly been associated with consumers in developing nations — particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — over the last decade. Their effects have been mostly viewed as positive, though how much impact those programs have had in developing world borrowers has been the subject of some recent debate.

But what has gotten less attention — largely because the practice is less common — is how microlending operations play out in developed nations like the U.S. Can a tool for fighting poverty in Bhopal work for customers in Brooklyn?

Grameen Bank — the bank founded by Yunus, and one of the pioneering leaders in microlending around the world — has recently released a report on the subject. The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is yes: U.S. customers in poverty can benefit from micro-borrowing counterparts in the developing world, and in many of the same ways.

Though, as is also the case in the developing world, “benefit” and “solve for entirely” are very different concepts.

An American Tale

Though Grameen Bank has offered microfinancing products since its founding in 1983, its story in the U.S. is much shorter. The firm has only been offering microfinancing to U.S. consumers since 1998.

Andrea Jung, president and CEO of the nonprofit Grameen America, said that, particularly in the early days, there was a problem with perception. “People had a hard time believing this kind of product could work here, because the economic terrain was so different.”

“In Bangladesh, a $100 loan can be life-changing — in Los Angeles, that isn’t funding enough to think about starting a business,” she said. “So I think we spent a lot of time overcoming an idea that we were just picking up our exact offerings from halfway around the world and dropping them unmodified into U.S. markets.”

But, Jung noted, that isn’t an entirely reasonably comparison — an iPhone that has been modified to display Chinese characters also won’t work all that well for a Chinese customer, but that isn’t a reason to infer that iPhones can’t work in China. It is a sign that a modification needs to happen.

Which is what they’ve done, she pointed out: They have modified the loans in terms of amount, interest rates and terms, while holding onto the parts of the program that have most closely correlated with success in other markets. The most important of those is the team aspect of the lending: The microloans (usually in the low four-figures) are given to small groups, and all members of the group are accountable for ensuring each member makes payments.

Just as importantly, though, they also track their data and monitor how their participants are doing.

Grameen America has released its first study on that subject: “Microfinance in the United States: Early Impacts of the Grameen America Program.” Focused on 1,492 women in 300 loan groups in New Jersey, the study sorted participants into two buckets: those who applied and received a loan and those who did not. Both groups agree to be tracked over time – at three, six and 18 months, respectively – to measure their progress. This first study is the first six-month check-in.

The results, thus far, are positive.

“The Grameen America program produced improvements in several measures of material hardship — for example, how often the respondent ran out of money in the three months preceding the survey, the respondent’s ability to afford necessities and the respondent’s current financial situation compared with the previous year,” the report states.

Moreover, Jung noted, the data supports the idea that these kinds of programs can help improve all kinds of global poverty, wherever it exists.

“These borrowers are often going to be excluded as a cohort from mainstream channels,” Jung said. “That’s a mistake, because we’re seeing these women have the potential to serve as powerful economic engines in their communities, and access to capital has the power to unlock that.”

Others, however, aren’t so sure.

A Long Journey

Since the new Grameen report came out, the standard line of questioning has focused on where improvements have not yet been seen. While improvements to participants’ financial lives were noted, the metric on income has not yet been reported.

The most recent six microcredit studies, published in 2015, were conducted by economists working independently across six countries. All consistently came to the same result: Average income was not any higher for those people who had received microloans than those who had. The study did note some modest effects — more small businesses and minor spending pattern changes, mostly — but nothing even close to successfully moving people out of poverty.

“We note a consistent pattern of modestly positive, but not transformative, effects — not the result that many people had hoped for,” the study noted.

But Jung said such studies seem to reveal more a mistake in expectations than a failure of microlending. There are no quick fixes for poverty — and if there was a simple, cheap solution out there, someone probably would have already discovered it.

“Those incremental increases, the not running out of money, not paying late fees, putting a little bit away, developing job stability through a stable business — [are all] small steps that add up to being financially stable or not,” she noted. “And no one can make it out of poverty unless they are financially stable, period.”

There are no quick fixes — instead, there are a lot of long days and a lot of long journeys for customers, Jung said. What this study shows, she noted, isn’t that it is easy to get out of poverty. It shows that people, working together, can slowly build their own paths out, if they are given proper institutional support.

“We can offer people the tools to build a ladder out of poverty, but climbing that ladder is still going to be a significant challenge,” Jung said. “But we have seen people can handle a challenge, people can thrive with a challenge. Our job is to give them the tools they need to try to live up to that challenge.”

——————————–

Latest Insights: 

Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation that’s reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem. Check out our April 2019 Unattended Retail Report. 

alternative lending, Editors’ Picks, financial health, Grameen Bank, micro loans, microcredit, microfinancing, microlending, News, poverty, Small Loans

Source link

[trenttrendspotter]

Fresh from Expo West: 10 Top Natural Trends for 2019

The interest in naturals continues to evolve and capture the imagination of consumers. It’s an exciting time for the industry with the popularization of the plant movement, the emergence of CBD and shoppers’ obsession with wellness. The 2019 Natural Products Expo West, held at the Anaheim Convention Center, March 6 – 9, was a convergence of mainstay and up-and-coming brands vying for the spotlight.

There isn’t a trade show that engenders as much passion as Expo West. Everyone who has ever been to an Expo West remembers it and thinks of their time there with great affection. Great news: The show continues to flourish under new management and to lead the way on natural alternative trends and products. 

“Every year at Expo West we foster the connection between emerging brands who are impacting the landscape and industry pioneers who have paved the way for decades,” said Lacey Gautier, group show director at New Hope Network. ”This event highlights the importance of community engagement and the role everyone plays to create a more sustainable packaged goods industry. With so much to celebrate in organic agriculture and ethical business practices, you can feel the energy throughout the campus.”

Here the top 10 trends spotted by globe-trotting trend watcher Nancy Trent:

1. CBD bubble or boom

What’s happening with CBD is reminiscent of the internet bubble of the 90s…or is it?Everyone is racing into the game, but it’s not a game, it’s just the beginning of one aspect of the plant-based revolution we are seeing change the way we live. Just as the Internet bubble resulted in the failure of many individual companies but not the Internet industry itself, the CBD business is likely to thrive but not all of the many companies coming out with CBD products will survive.

According to Sebastien Hebbelinck, founder of Prana Principle, “We are just scratching the surface of the potential of this revolution as we wait for guidance from the FDA.” Hebbelinck, who has been in supplements for over 25 years, began his career in the Netherlands and settled in Colorado as a sought-after expert. Hebbelinck figured out how to maximize the potential of CBD with a line of full spectrum hemp oil extract sublingual tinctures that contain non-psychoactive phytocannabinoids and synergistic compounds such as Cannabidiol (CBD), Cannabigerol (CBG), Cannabinol (CBN), Cannabichromene (CBC), and a range of naturally preserved terpenes. Terpenes is expected to be the next buzzword in plant-based healing.  

Hebbelinck’s focus is crafting CBD tinctures without THC and he feels there is a lot of confusion in the market about full spectrum vs. broad spectrum, the safety of THC and claims that manufacturers can accurately make. But the country is moving forward and manufacturers need to be responsible to the FDA, retailers and consumers.

2. Shots are the juice

The juicing trend has reached an all-time high.  So has “the awareness of sugar content in our foods, including juice, which has lead to the ‘shot’ movement,” says Kristina Dermody, CEO of California Juice Company. Consumers and people that influence these trends have realized that most of the nutrients we need from juice can be consumed in one delicious shot. This has lead to the success of companies like California Juice Company. The California-grown, organic, nutrient-dense, premium full ingredient fruit and veggies are mindfully formulated to optimize authentic flavors and give the health we need in condensed servings. They are delicious, too!

3. Putting more fun in Functional Foods 

Just the Berries has a special species of Organic New Zealand blackcurrants, which are the most nutrient-rich berries in the world, used primarily for eye and vision health. They are very popular in Asia, as top baseball teams from Japan love this brand. Just the Berries is celebrating its 30th anniversary and is launching its first store in the U.S. 

Likewise, Wishgarden Herbs, an almost 40-year-old whole herb company, combines the fast-acting power of its whole herb liquid extract formulas with an enjoyable social connection via remedy-drink pairings. “This takes wellness and lifestyle to a whole new level that delivers octaves on ‘functional drink’ efficacy and is also fun, tasty and shareable,” says Catherine Hunziker, CEO of Wishgarden Herbs. 

Move over cauliflower pizza: “There can be no doubt that vegetable crust pizza is of interest. Who doesn’t want healthier and tastier pizza alternatives?” asked Benjamin Frohlichstein, CEO of Cappellos. The latest entry into that category is almond crust, with plant protein, healthy fats, nutrient-dense and grain-free pizza crust perfect for keto appetites.

4. The new superfoods

Buyers are inundated with snacks that are so smart, marketers have to find snacks that are not only Keto, protein-rich and grain-free but also have a certain  je ne sais quoi too. 

“There is a focus on ingredients because people are reading labels and demanding better ingredients,” says Jeff Brinkhoff, CEO of Hopapops. For instance, lotus seeds, the main ingredient in Hopapops, are trending in Europe because they are a true ancient superfood with roots in Aryuvedic and traditional Chinese medicine for helping to maintain health blood sugar levels.

Vegan, all natural TahiniBars are made of sesame seeds with amazing taste and texture, all for only 100 calories. The texture is so appealing, TahiniBars made an ad campaign around their smoothness called “my first crush.” 

Brami Snacks, made with lupini beans from Spain, have more fiber than edamame and fewer calories than almonds. To make them even more appropriate for the U.S. market, they come in scrumptious flavors, too. How did we not know about these incredibly delicious wonder beans before? 

5. Focus on simply healthy ingredients

Elma Farms latest introduction is POSHI, which stands for the “Power Of Simply Healthy Ingredients.” These plant-based snacks are gluten-free, non-GMO, convenient and low-calorie.  Everyone is talking about innovative fermented snacks!

Much of the hummus we buy at the store is pasteurized by heat. Anyone who has had or has made their own fresh hummus knows that it’s all about the freshness of the ingredients. Starting out in farmer’s markets, discovered by Wegman’s, they continue to keep high standards for ingredients. “It’s not about flavor to catch attention,” said Chris Kirby, of Ithaca Cold Crafted.  He buys whole lemons and squeezes them in his hummus, which also includes raw garlic.   

And when hummus is good, it’s easy to eat too much. That was the concept behind Blue Moose, one of the first organic snacking hummus with portion control 100-calorie cups and dehydrated carrot sticks. 

6. Basics, made even better

We all would be eating more beets if they were easier to work with. Thank you Beetroute from the Netherlands for sourcing the most delicious beets and doing the messy prep work. I know I will be eating more beets as you launch in the U.S. market.

Another classic to get a fresh spin: Dates. Joolie’s, with the help of superior technology, produces the most succulent organic Medjool dates I have ever tasted.

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, the National Peanut Board partnered with Crazy Richards Peanut Butter to roll out an entirely new category with the introduction of its new frozen snack line, Wholly Rollies – Frozen Protein Balls. Wholly Rollies was developed to make healthy snacking simple. “As consumers continue gravitating toward snacking, the National Peanut Board is excited to be part of bringing new products to the freezer case. As a delicious, nutritious and portable snack, Wholly Rollies embodies everything consumers are looking for,” says Ryan Lepicier, SVP, marketing & communications, National Peanut Board.

7. Brands that go above and beyond

“Every year consumers get smarter and more discerning in their decision-making process, whether it’s non-GMO or vegan–these are specific values,” says Sabrina Banadyga, the chief marketing officer of EnerC. EnerC is a caffeine-free, low-sugar vitamin C supplement committed to the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.

Teatulia, a Bangladesh-based single-garden direct line of organic loose leaf teas, demonstrates a thorough commitment to sustainability by supporting a cooperative and establishing a cattle-lending program. In exchange for maintaining the garden, collective members (who are overwhelmingly female) receive cows instead of the more popular microfinance loans normally associated with Bangladesh. In return for fresh milk, members of the program pay down the loan with milk and cow dung which helps fertilize the tea garden. Teatulia is now introducing a totally innovative line of tea sodas. 

It’s about time people started getting picky about their eggs. “There is an increased desire for eggs from chickens that are pasture raised,” said Ryan Miller of Farmers Hen House. People want more protein, they want better protein and they are willing to pay for it. Another reason these eggs are amazing is they only get eggs from authentic sustainable family farms that produce their grain to feed their chickens. And, their processing plant is 100% solar powered!

8. Hydration cleans up

Hydration was one of the hottest categories. We’re thirsty for natural ways to hydrate. Electrolytes are a great way to stay healthily hydrated, but they are hard to drink without calories, sugar, carbs or caffeine. That’s what lead to the success of Ultima Replenisher, a stick pack containing all 6 macro electrolytes without the things you don’t want. It’s made with all plant-based flavors, colors and sweeteners and vitamin C, another thing we like to add to our water.   

One water company, Essentia, has done some rigorous testing to prove its hydration value.  A clinical trial, published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (JISSN), showed Essentia has a 9.5pH or higher alkaline water that is better at rehydrating than regular water.

9. Seriously smart supplements

As people continue to push themselves to new limits, the use of brain-health supplements has become an expanding industry, with expected growth to $11.6 billion by 2024. Quality of life is dependent on the healthy functioning of the brain and nervous system. Meaningful improvements to cognitive function can impact the quality of communication and connection in relationships. It gives us more of the mental energy we might need to turn our good intentions, in areas like diet, exercise, and sleep, into reality. And, it supports our ability to adapt to environmental stressors. Neurohacker Collective, a company focused on creating best-in-class wellbeing products using a unique research methodology based on complex systems science, understands that different systems in the body don’t act in isolation. Neurohacker’s flagship product, Qualia Mind, is a premium nootropic used to help stimulate and support overall mental performance of the brain. Qualia Mind incorporates high-quality ingredients to ensure optimal results and transcend basic cognitive enhancement. Neurohacker’s brain supplements, while designed to support increased cognition, also are designed to improve the entire body to support peak performance.

10. Chemical free, from cosmetics to OTC remedies

Increasingly, people don’t want to put anything on their body they wouldn’t put in their body. And that means more interest in plant-based ingredients. But even plants can be processed. Skinny & Co provides one of the only chemical-free, additive-free, and non-acidic coconut oil in the world. Every product starts with handpicked, raw coconuts from the jungles of Vietnam, processed through a patented Nutralock System that keeps the oil cool and 100% raw. With 5 or fewer ingredients in each product, these cleansing balms, body scrubs, deodorants and more, are proving that healthy really is beautiful. As the use of essential oils continues to rise with more people leaning toward natural methods of care, Oilogic says its three collections are safe and impactful for babies & toddlers, kids and adults. A trailblazing leader in family natural wellness, Oilogic Essential Oil includes the right concentration of each powerful oil, diluted appropriately to create a safe, yet effective formula that is ready for use. Natural Products Expo West 2020 will be held March 3rd-7th at the Anaheim Convention Center. Natural Products Expo East will take place at the Baltimore Convention Center September 11th-14th, 2019. Follow @NatProdExpo and #ExpoWest on Twitter and Instagram, and visit us on Facebook for ongoing conversations. 

As seen in Whole Foods Magazine

[topicprinter]

The Entrepreneur Roller CoasterYour Essential Guide Book for Thriving as an EntrepreneurDarren Hardy“All human beings are entrepreneurs. When we were in caves, we were all self-employed… finding our food, feeding ourselves. That’s where human history began. As civilization came, we suppressed it. We became ‘labor’ because they stamped us, ‘you are labor’. We forgot that we are entrepreneurs.”- Muhammed Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and microfinance pioneerIntroduction“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”- Ralph Waldo EmersonThis chapter talks about how he became an entrepreneur. This wasn’t something that he planned or decided on with forethought, but rather something that happened in the spur of the moment. The business prospect that enticed him was a company that offered you the chance to buy home water filtration systems at wholesale, then sell them at retail prices and make a profit. (Almost like pursuit of happiness more water filters and less x-rays-T.K)He mentions his mentality as a kid. He use to work commission based jobs, and less 9-5 jobs like fast food. He did this because he wanted to march to his own beat and learn things on his own. He wanted to control his own future and not be constrained by minimum wages and pointless rules. He basically became a door to door salesmen in the beginning, but for him that was a learning moment, every new door meant testing a new angle. In the selling process he used everything from compelling stats to new selling methods. He worked all day and sold nothing, he left the house with 40 water filters and came back with 40 water filters. He was crushed. After assuming he failed and crashed he went to his system of support which was his grandmother. Guess what she did? She ended up buying one in the process of him explaining his sales process. The next logical step for him was asking for referrals. He succeeded in that and ended up selling 16 more. Like any story of a young entrepreneur, it was going to well for him and something bad had to happen and it did. The water filters that he installed were not installed properly and as such ruined his grandparents' home. He had to undergo so much from embarrassment and fixing the other ticking time bombs.The feelings he remembered from the first moment of deciding to become an entrepreneur were:The initial anxiety of taking the leap and investing his hard earned money and the moment where he noticed he might not be cut out for the business and might lose his savingsThe thrill of seeing the first arrival of his product and the initial deflation after his father's reaction and disappointment.I remember feeling the optimism that everyone would buy, the hollow pit in my stomach when everyone said no, the elation of selling the first product, and the exhilarating blur the sales streak that followed.He remembered the shame, embarrassment, and the struggle to overcome the failure that flooded my first few weeks in business.Business is a frightening, exhilarating, and totally addictive thrill ride.Now is the time to rideHe states that ““ It’s never been this good and it will likely never be this good again.”... We have access to the best and brightest business minds in the world. We see all the latest economic news, press releases, and trend data. And we’re sitting on the greatest success archives ever collected in business history.”This it! Right now. Unlike any other time in human history. But you better hurry.For decades ivory towers monopolized the playing field, and as such, held the keys to success.They controlled:The raw materials and resources to create products.The money and talent.The shelf space in stores, and the ships, trains and trucks to fill them.The media and marketing, from newspapers and magazines to radio and TV.They made the game, rules and always have a guaranteed victory.Each of these control points are now open to the public, and are now optimized by the truly crafty individuals. The playing field has truly been leveled. The world’s marketplace is at everyone’s fingertips-literally.People far less smart, capable, talented, or hardworking will stand up. People with lower education, social standing, or family connections will take notice. Even people who are not as nice, kind, or generous as you will take action.What you need to be an entrepreneurYou need to be a lot tougher. On your journey to be an entrepreneur you will face rejection, negativity, and doubt. You will have to face these problems without flinching.You’ll need to be well equipped. It is an emotional ride and it happens in the real world. In the real world you need to be prepared with skills. So you’ll need skills like sales, leadership and productivity.You will need confidence. Everyone starts off scared no matter the pursuit. Doubt is part of the process, and we all get hurt in the processThese are the things that will be covered in the book.“Love doesn’t make the world go ‘round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.”- Franklin P. JonesChapter 1The Height RequirementWhat It Really Takes To Survive And Thrive In BusinessIf you walk around any amusement park, what do you see in the line for roller coasters, no matter the kind of roller coaster, a nervous kid with his back against a lined board. Each mark is an inch, and there’s always one that matters the most. It’s the line that marks the height to ride. A kid will do anything to reach the line from standing on their tippy toes to fluffing up his hair. They do anything for a fraction of an inch.What is required for the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship is not height, but rather love.“The first and most important factor in building a successful business is that you have to love it.”- Darren HardyFinding What MattersHe talks about his successes this chapter how he went from selling door to door to a 5 million dollar operation. He shares a story. He was on recruitment quota and he had to get one more. The person he was talking about was a 50 year old lady. To join his crew there was a 5K commitment and that would take her savings. She asked him is this for her, and he took a minute and said no.Guess what he did next and this was crazyyy-T.KHe drove and he went through deep thought. He knew she would not have succeeded in this business and he imagined the heartbreak she would go through if she failed. He underwent a character awakening moment and it no longer felt right to him. He called the lady back named kate. He told her “I’m not coming back. Ever. The office and the business are yours. I’m done” True to his word he never came back because he feel out of love from his business. If there isn’t love, there wasn’t anything.Love It.... or Else!Steve jobs during an interview at a D5 conference said “People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing and it’s totally true. And the reason is because it’s so hard that if you don’t, any rational person would give up. It’s really hard. And you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So if you don’t love it, if you’re not having fun doing it, you don’t really love it, you’re going to give up. And that’s what happens to most people, actually. If you really look at the ones that ended up, you know, being “successful” in the eyes of society and the ones that didn’t, oftentimes, it’s the ones [who] were successful loved what they did so they could persevere, you know, when it got really tough. And the ones that didn’t love it quit because they’re sane, right? Who would want to put up with this stuff if you don’t love it? So it’s a lot of hard work and it’s a lot of worrying constantly and if you don’t love it, you’re going to fail.”If you don’t love your business, then you’re not gonna make it. You’ll give up.“Starting a company is like staring into the abyss and eating grass”- Elon MuskThe truth about the phrase “looking for my passion” is an excuse in disguise, we use it to cover up the fact that we are not progressing, growing, and taking action in life. The problem isn’t that you lost or missing. Passion isn’t something to discover, it’s already inside of you.Darren liked to compare passion to electricity in a light switch. It’s always there ready to be turned on. The electricity is just waiting to be turned on. Passion is just like electricity, all you have to do is flip the switch.There are 4 light switches to turn your passion on.Switch No.1- Being passionate about what you do.People often judge one person’s front of stage persona with their back of stage reality. How often do singers spend on stage or reality speakers like oprah on camera fulfilling her mission of “using television to transform people’s lives” . The reality is only around 5 percent and the rest of their days is endless meetings, negotiations, and many more random activities. He warns of not over romanticizing the idea of being wholly passionate about what you do. It’s true that 5% of what people do is fun and amazing, but I don’t care what you do, it’s going to suck most of the time. Nothing is going to fun all the time. Give up on that notion now. Is it shocking, if it is get used to it, because it’s the truth and not an opinion.Switch No. 2 Being Passionate about why you do it.He doesn’t love what he does, but why he does it. He doesn’t like to always live out a suitcase or do so much research on endless data logs. I love to empower entrepreneurs around the world. Even if what you have to do is difficult and a dark choice, the passion of why you do it outshines any of the darkness.“The two most important days in your life are the day your born and the day you find out why.”- Mark TwainIf your truly in love with the results of what you do(the why) then you can navigate the tough 95% with grace and passion too.Switch No.3 Being passionate about how you do itIf love and are passionate about what your doing, you don’t do it for gratitude, but rather you do it for yourself. Love the concept of doing things with excellence and thrive on it. Bringing passion to anything you do no matter how boring it is, is an extremely difficult task.People who live by the how switch is truly inspiring. No matter what profession your in bringing enthusimsm and excellence is a result of how you do things, rather than why or what, because those can only carry you so far.When you have passion, opportunity will find you, and people will beat a path to your door.Switch No.4 Being passionate about who you do it for.If anything else fails, this thing is always consistent, you will do things for who it benefits.He shares the story of one of the people that attended one of his forums. The person’s name is Todd Duncan. He has hit rock bottom and what motivated him to get back to the top wasn’t the how or what, but rather the only thing that mattered was who.At 45 Todd was at the pinnacle of success, he was an author of twelve books, public speaker, and owned a successful business. Todd not only succeed in his professional life, but also his private life. He made a wrong move, even though it looked like the perfect move. It cost him millions, and in the middle of recovering he had even sell the business bearing his name. This caused him to lose his company and job, while maintaining a non compete. He was stuck in the endless abyss of legal battles, but fate turned for the worst and his wife had cancer. She later passed away. Later the person who fired him settled causing him to recover everything he lost.I asked him one gut wrenching question why did he enter a battlefield that had just punished him, embarrassed, and beaten him so mercilessly?He answered, “I was instantly a single father of my two teenage boys who had just lost their mom… I had school tuition and mortgages to pay, and debt to manage”He had to become a pillar of strength not for himself but rather for his family behind him.“ If you haven’t found something you are willing to die for, you aren’t fit to live”- Martin Luther KingIt doesn’t matter which switch you flip, but rather as long as the choice matters to you. Once you flip the switch, it’ll give you the boost you need to persevere through the dips, twists, and loops of the track ahead on the entrepreneur roller coaster.Finding Your Fight“Almost every great achievement began with someone finally getting,`Enough!` and standing up to fight.”- Darren HardyA good enemy gives you reason to get passionate, a nemesis pushes you to your limits. Love and hate are the same thing. If you love something, you equally hate what threatens it.Finding Your StrengthThe entrepreneur roller coaster is about how well you can identify your unique advantages, and to move your business forward.In the 1990’s billionaire Warren Buffet did not invest in internet stocks. He was clowned by everyone, but surprise the internet bubble popped and he was called a genius.When asked why he didn’t invest, he held up his index finger and thumb to make a circle he called this his circle of competency. I only get involved in opportunities that are inside this circle.We all have unique skills, talents, and advantages and it is our job to identify it.Were you born strong?When Darren Hardy was a child his teacher once said to him that “success was not in your DNA”The teacher implied to him that even if your not successful at writing, you are successful at other tones. The connotations behind those weird meant everything was decided from the moment he was born. She simply meant that he was not good at writing, but rather he will never be good at it.He admitted that his DNA wasn’t special, but then againSteve Jobs was born to two college students who didn’t want to raise him and gave him up for adoption.Mark Cuban was born to an automobile upholsterer. He started as a bartender, then got a job in software sales from which he was fired.Former Secretary of State and retired General Colin Powell was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He was a solid C student.Tony Hawks was so hyperactive that he was tested for psychological problems.Barbara Corcoran, known as the Queen of New York City, is one of eleven children, started as a waitress, and admits to having been fired from more jobs than most people hold in a lifetime.Everyone single one of these people went through turmoil and they all were on the cover of Success magazine.You are the creator of your destiny as long as you walk on this earth.Strength TrainingAround David Foster's 60th birthday Darren Hardy decided to interview him. The hitman maker behind celine dion and many more.Even after winning 6 grammys he still went on to work 7 days a week and more than 40 hours a week. He had literally won the game he had money and fame so I asked him why?He said to me” On a Saturday morning, when it’s quiet, there is no place I would rather be on the planet no exotic beach, no lounge chair, no golf course than in my studio making great art. That’s not working, but rather that's living to me”This lead Darren Hardy to the conclusion that successful people aren’t genius, but rather maniacs. There is this false narrative that people are born geniuses or have some innate talent. This is the exact opposite people on top of the game merely found something they love. They developed a nearly maniacal drive to continually improve their skills performance, and outcomes.Why is it that we fall for the myth of innate talent? It’s really simple and Darren summed it up into one phrase.Darren Hardy said that “ The thought that I can’t is a lie. We use it to excuse ourselves from trying.”The sad reality of the situation is we use other the excuse of genetic luck, while avoiding disappointment in ourselves.Micheal Jordan Said “Everyone has talent, but ability takes hard work.Chapter 2Secure your shoulder harness“Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds”- Albert EinsteinThe definition of a freak is: A person who is obsessed with or unusually enthusiastic about specified interest.Hearing this, wouldn’t it be hard to believe that an entrepreneur isn’t a freak.The opposite of a freak is normal. Normal is defined as: Conforming to the standard or the common type.He uses a description of a crab trap and why does such a fast and agile, always get caught by the thousands. They have a human like traits and that is to drag down whatever that doesn’t conform. When a crab falls for the trap and takes the bait. More crabs follow, just to follow. So what happens when the bait is gone. Nothing they stay because all the other crabs are staying they conform. The next thing that happens it crazy. When a crab tries to leave the trap, the other crabs claws them down forcing him to stay.Five Strategies to embrace your inner entrepreneurStop being likeableThe perfect example of this is the presidency. He used the example of Barack Obama during his reelection. He has become the most powerful man in the planet. He was mid speech, but he only won with 51% of the vote. So that meant the other 49% believed that he was unfit for office, but guess what he was in office for 100% of people that voted. The higher you climb, the more people hate you..If everyone around you thinks your doing a good job, something is wrong. Reframe your perception of disapproval, and it will empower you rather than drain you.Become LaughableAs a kid we all never wanted to be the bud of a joke. Well is always that because there a bunch people that were laughed at, but they had the final laugh.You ever heard about the joke where a man bought 160 acres of an orange groove to create the happiest place on earth.Well Walt Disney and his heirs are laughing with 515 million people that have truly entered a wonderland.There is a whole list of famous people that were laughed at when they shared their ambitions. Trust me and the wise implications of Gandhi, people laugh at revolutionaries, extraordinary achievers, and icons… at first. So if you believe in your dreams, visions, or plan, don't let snickering and finger point deter you.Define SuccessHe used a very personal example for himself, when faced a shift on his definition of success. His whole life, he worked and worked to be able to impress his father. One day he got so wealthy he decided to buy his dad a new house with all the works. The first thing his father did when he saw his new house was point out the flaws. Darren was devastated because he finally thought he would be able to impress his father, but it didn’t work out. He thought he was unsuccessful because of that. In that moment he realized that he would have to create his own definition of success.Right after this moment he went around and interviewed 100’s of successful people. One interview that shook the core of his beliefs around success was Maria Shriver. Her answer led him to the idea that too often do we base our success on other people and not enough time trying to crave our own version of success.Simply speaking your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own voice, heart, and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.Get a GripThis is another story that he read, that changed his opinion of the way people should live their lives. This article he read broke down some common stats around funerals.The article stated that you could live a long full life as a good citizen, a good friend, and a good human… Even then only an average of ten people would care enough to cry.This wasn’t the worst part. 50% of people will skip your burial and go to the afterparty because the rain.He then explains the 18-40-65 rules. That simply means that as an eighteen year old we constantly worry about everyone else’s opinion. Then when we’re 40 we only care about our loved ones feelings. Then the 65 rule which means we realize that no one is really thinking about us.Reduce Recovery TimeOn the journey to be an entrepreneur we all will face step backs, failure, and disappointment, and obstacles. These kinds of problems are mandatory, and yes, they hurt. You will get hurt over and over, what separates the freaks from the normals is how long it takes for you to get back up. It is in moments of great disparity where we realize our next steps and marks for achievement.Martin Luther King Jr said “The ultimate measure of a man is not where stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge.”We can either be the men who overcome insecurity and turmoil to reach the everest of achievement or we fall into the depths and be buried by the waves of mediocrity. You can either be a challenger or a conformer.The path gets dark, sometimes dark then others, but there will be few moments of light. Those moments will make it all worth it because comfort after adversity is triumph.Confucius said that “ Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rather getting up every time we do.”If you want to get better, you have to push yourself. If you push yourself, your going to fail. What goes up must come down. If your not falling, then your not getting better.This philosophy is detrimental towards anyones growth. It is okay to fail, even better, it's important to fail because it’s proof that your trying and your aiming to be better than your old self and the limits set by that. With that mindset setbacks and obstacles shouldn’t be moments of despair, but rather moments of celebration.

[mysticcollector-things]

Pros and cons of microloans - take it or not?

In our last article -  Quick loans - scammers or benefactors,  we already wrote about the positive and negative sides of quick loans. But due to the growing popularity of this type of microloans, we will describe in more detail the pros and cons of microloans.

In the life of each person, a situation may arise when a certain amount of borrowed funds is urgently required. As a rule, the majority of citizens in such cases seek help from banking organizations in order to obtain a loan. Meanwhile, the banks themselves are in no hurry to lend their money to everyone and put forward rather stringent requirements to the potential borrower, thereby trying to minimize their risks. Despite the tempting advertisements of banks, which talk about the availability of loans for all comers, many job seekers hear credit denials and there are more than enough reasons for this. 

For example, a high probability of failure awaits applicants for a loan whose credit history is damaged or informal work. Having been refused by the bank, many applicants are trying to find alternative borrowing options, one of which is microcredit , which despite its “youth” is very popular among Russian citizens. Experts promise great prospects for microcredit, which is largely due to the realities of our country and the conditions for obtaining such loans. The Russians are quite willing to decide on the issuance of microloans, while rarely thinking about how much they will have to pay in the end for such loyalty from the lender. Meanwhile, this type of borrowing involves certain nuances and features that every person who plans to issue a microloan should be aware of.. Before contacting a microfinance organization and obtaining the desired loan, it is important to learn about the pros and cons of microloans , only then will it be possible to make the right decision, which you will not have to regret very much later. Find more at the https://5starsloans.com

The disadvantages of microloans

The main and perhaps the most significant drawback of microcrediting is its high cost , which is equal to the prices of modern moneylenders. If you decide to get a microloan , you should pay special attention to the size of the interest rate , which is calculated not in annual terms as in a bank, but in the daily. Microfinance organizations in this way try to attract customers, and they do it pretty well, since many inattentive people learn about the fact of daily interest accrual only after signing the contract, while the loan manager may intentionally keep silent so as not to scare the client away. 

Interest rates, which at first glance look very attractive and attractive in practice, turn out to be a huge total overpayment for the borrower. It is easy to calculate how much a micro loan issued at 1.5% per day will cost you. For example, if the loan size is ten thousand rubles and the loan term is 10 days, then you will have to repay 11,150 rubles, and now imagine an overpayment for a couple of months. In addition, unlike banks, MFIs are not regulated by law with respect to obligations to disclose an effective loan rate, which microfinance organizations willingly use, and therefore the real rate can be much higher than the advertised rate. The disadvantages of microloans can also include rather small amounts of loans and a short borrowing period. As a rule, most MFIs agree to provide microcredit in the amount of 1 thousand to 30 thousand rubles for up to three months, although some lenders go further and increase the limit. True,

Of the main disadvantages of microloans, the following can be noted:

a very high percentage of the loan;

small maximum loan amount;

short borrowing period;

the absence of a law governing the obligations of MFIs to disclose an effective loan rate.

Benefits of Microloans

You can talk about the high cost of microloans for a very long time, however, in situations where there is an urgent need for money and there is nobody to borrow it from, microcredit becomes the only optimal solution. Of course, you can also borrow from private lenders, but in this case the risk is too great to be left without anything, since their activities are not at all controlled by the state, and therefore fraud is often practiced in this area. In order to apply for a loan in an MFI, the applicant will need only a passport and a minimum of free time, while in terms of security, such a loan transaction will be the same as with bank borrowing. 

The main thing is to carefully study the loan agreement, paying special attention to the items in small print, where usually there is information about conditions of borrowing that are not pleasant for the borrower. If you neglect this moment, then there is a high probability of the occurrence of not at all pleasant surprises for the borrower in the process of repaying the loan. Another undoubted advantage of microloans is that such a loan is available even for holders of a damaged credit history. As you know, banks do not want to cooperate with such clients, considering them unreliable, while MFIs do not care about this fact. Moreover, microloans can be used to correct credit history. The fact is that microfinance organizations as well as banks send information about loans to BKI, therefore, having regularly paid several such loans, one can count on a more solid bank loan. If you neglect this moment, then there is a high probability of the occurrence of not at all pleasant surprises for the borrower in the process of repaying the loan. 

Another undoubted advantage of microloans is that such a loan is available even for holders of a damaged credit history. As you know, banks do not want to cooperate with such clients, considering them unreliable, while MFIs do not care about this fact. Moreover, microloans can be used to correct credit history. The fact is that microfinance organizations as well as banks send information about loans to BKI, therefore, having regularly paid several such loans, one can count on a more solid bank loan. If you neglect this moment, then there is a high probability of the occurrence of not at all pleasant surprises for the borrower in the process of repaying the loan. Another undoubted advantage of microloans is that such a loan is available even for holders of a damaged credit history. 

As you know, banks do not want to cooperate with such clients, considering them unreliable, while MFIs do not care about this fact. Moreover, microloans can be used to correct credit history. The fact is that microfinance organizations as well as banks send information about loans to BKI, therefore, having regularly paid several such loans, one can count on a more solid bank loan. Another undoubted advantage of microloans is that such a loan is available even for holders of a damaged credit history. As you know, banks do not want to cooperate with such clients, considering them unreliable, while MFIs do not care about this fact. 

Moreover, microloans can be used to correct credit history. The fact is that microfinance organizations as well as banks send information about loans to BKI, therefore, having regularly paid several such loans, one can count on a more solid bank loan. Another undoubted advantage of microloans is that such a loan is available even for holders of a damaged credit history. As you know, banks do not want to cooperate with such clients, considering them unreliable, while MFIs do not care about this fact. Moreover, microloans can be used to correct credit history. The fact is that microfinance organizations as well as banks send information about loans to BKI, therefore, having regularly paid several such loans, one can count on a more solid bank loan. microloans can be used to correct credit history. The fact is that microfinance organizations as well as banks send information about loans to BKI, therefore, having regularly paid several such loans, one can count on a more solid bank loan. microloans can be used to correct credit history. The fact is that microfinance organizations as well as banks send information about loans to BKI, therefore, having regularly paid several such loans, one can count on a more solid bank loan.

[a-alex-hammer]

What money should be – TechCrunch

Nik Milanovic Contributor

Nik Milanovic is a fintech and financial inclusion enthusiast, with a decade of work across mobile payments, online lending, credit and microfinance.

More posts by this contributor

The Third Age of credit

The next revolution will be reclaiming your digital identity

With the release of the Facebook consortium’s project Libra whitepaper, the internet, tech world, financial services industry and policy circles are all burning with conversation on the project’s potential. We are still very early into Libra’s life — it is, after all, still a proposal — and there is an endless set of questions left to answer. The project could redefine how we view money or it could be a complete failure; we won’t know which for years to come.

While there isn’t much to add to the (likely thousands) of pundit takes on the project until more details come out, this moment does provide us with an opportunity to step back and take a look at money itself. We should be asking ourselves: how does money work today and how should it work?

Money is an anachronistically analog part of everyday life. The last 25 years saw the digitization of most services businesses, from communications (email) to bookstores (Amazon) to taxis (Uber). Yet, even with the rise of fintech and significant innovation in consumer finance, money itself has remained curiously unchanged.

The future of money is just beginning.

There are good reasons for money to have remained unchanged. Currencies are controlled and issued by states, and for many reasons, they need to be controlled and issued by states. But the reasons are a reflection of the “facts on the ground” today. Money is too sensitive and too critical to allow for the same level of disruptive innovation we’ve seen in other assets. But if we were to design money de novo today from a Rawlsian original position, it would probably look pretty different.

Libra gives us an opportunity to talk more openly not just about what money is, but about what money should be. And regardless of what happens with Libra — which faces regulatory and competitive headwinds — the moment won’t be wasted if we take this time to contemplate the future of money. Below are some (not collectively exhaustive) starting ideas for that conversation, from the most basic to the more exotic.

Money should be free

Let’s start with the most obvious: put simply, it shouldn’t cost anyone money to use money. Financial institutions and fintechs are (slowly) moving toward this consensus, but in many cases, people still have to pay just to access their money.

ATMs charge fees for withdrawals. Checks cost money to print (and for those who feel the U.S. is moving past them, 90% of checks are still written in the U.S.). Foreign remittances incur transfer fees, bank-to-bank wires incur fees, check-cashing incurs fees, paying vendors with PayPal incurs fees, etc. etc.

The early promise of apps like Venmo, Square Cash and WeChat Pay (and earlier, Clinkle) is to let people transfer and use their money at no cost. Apple Pay and Google Pay take that promise a step further by making the phone — not the dollar — the primary instrument for in-person purchases — all at no cost to debit directly from a bank or credit card account.

But these apps have no equivalent in many countries. While mobile money services like M-Pesa have been ubiquitously successful in Kenya and neighboring countries, countries like Nigeria — Africa’s largest economy — still have significant cost of cash problems and expensive policy restrictions on the use of cash. I ran into many “Unable to dispense cash” error messages in my time in east Africa, where just having a bank account could incur non-trivial costs.

Incurring a fee just to use money is an outdated standard.

Money should transfer instantly

To most people reading this, the difference between instant payments and those that take a couple of days is not significant. A paycheck could come on Friday or Monday. A Venmo cashout can take a day or two to hit a bank account.

But as Aaron Klein at Brookings notes, slow payments disproportionately affect poor people. The time it takes for a check to clear, for remittance funds to settle or for payroll to be deposited can mean the difference between paying a bill and incurring an overdraft fee. It can mean not having enough money for weekend grocery shopping. These realities drive consumers to turn to payday lenders ($7 billion in annual fees), check cashers ($2 billion) or overdraft fees ($24 billion!).

Identity should be programmed into money.

As NPR noted when they waited for a Kickstarter payment, “We just need Amazon’s bank to send money electronically to a checking account at Chase bank. It’s just information traveling over wires. How long could it take: A minute? An hour? It took five days.” That is because the rails on which money is moved in the U.S. are more than 40 years old. As Klein notes, you can now send money more quickly from Slovakia to France than DC to Philly — and fixing this delay could be the single fastest way to combat wealth inequality in the United States.

This is another obvious easy win for the future of money.

And signs of that future are emerging. Apps like Earnin and employers like Walmart are paying workers in real time, to allow people to use their money as soon as they earn it. Libra’s own website opines that getting and using money “should be as easy and cheap as sending a text message.” Money should move at the speed of communications.

Money should take ‘one click’ to use

Amazon is notorious for pursuing one-click purchase technology, removing the last small obstacles between consumers and their buying decisions. Money should be no different: moving money to savings, sending it to a friend, making a loan or investment, paying a bill — these activities could all use a more frictionless UI upgrade. Unfortunately, today, accessing your money frequently requires a string of passwords, PINs, IDs or 2FA — all absolutely critical for security, but friction-inducing.

Fortunately, digital identity systems have been a ripe area for innovation in the past few years. Smartphone OS’s now allow people to use biometric identifiers — like fingerprints or Face ID — to authorize the use of their money, with mixed success. Decentralized identity systems like 3Box sell the promise of one universal, self-owned ID profile that can be used to permission any service built on top of it (including financial ones).

Identity should be programmed into money. If units of currency can have an “ownership” field, that field can be unlocked using more frictionless identifiers tied to the user and then re-coded when ownership is changed, making one-click use possible. (This could operate similarly to Everledger’s diamond registration program.) This could also prevent theft: If the “ownership” identity field is secure enough only to be altered in legitimate transfers, money could also be programmed to be unusable if that field is transferred improperly (i.e. stolen). This brings up a related point…

Money should be secure

One of the cities with the fastest rate of mobile payments adoption is Mogadishu, Somalia. Why? Because mobile money is safe — in Mogadishu, where muggings are frequently deadly, carrying cash can be a matter of life or death. The future of money is one in which physical theft is no longer possible because money is securely digitized.

Money should be stable

While theft drives mobile money adoption in Somalia, a BBC report titled The surprising place where cash is going extinct found a different driver of cashless payments in neighboring Somaliland: hyperinflation. The rapidly devaluing Somaliland shilling has made goods that were previously affordable two times as expensive in as many years, leading shoppers to opt for mobile dollars over bundles of cash.

This is one of the expressed promises of Libra and other stablecoins like the Gemini Dollar or the ill-fated Basis: no wild fluctuations. As Caitlin Long points out, “central banks in developing countries are notorious for their lack of discipline in maintaining the value of their fiat currencies, which too often lose purchasing power.” A global, consortium-moderated currency could tame that irresponsibility.

How does money work today and how should it work?

Hyperinflation isn’t as rare as it sounds. It was the status quo two years ago when I visited Zimbabwe and goods were quoted in three prices. Over the last year in Europe, Turkey’s lira dropped 25% in value in its own crisis. And today in Venezuela, inflation stands at over 1,000,000%, making goods un-buyable. The most common explanation for these events is that they happen when people lose faith in governments to protect the value of their currency. The drop in value led to massive capital flight, ironically, to Bitcoin as a source of stability (including a Bitcoin ATM in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital).

Interestingly, the Libra is not the first supranational currency to be proposed (see economist John Maynard Keynes’ Bancor plan). It isn’t even the first international reserve currency based on a basket: the IMF maintains the XDR, a currency pegged to a weighted mix of dollars, euros, yuan, yen and pounds (the Libra will be fiat-pegged to all those, less the yuan). But the Libra would be the first non-sovereign global reserve currency competitor, and the first one that individual people could actually use.

It remains to be seen whether the Libra itself one day gains enough intrinsic value (what Matt Levine refers to as a collective fiction) to separate from its underlying basket of currencies, the same way the U.S. dollar left the gold standard.

The money of the future should not be intrinsically tied to faith in local government — it should retain its value and stability independently so that it doesn’t risk rapid devaluation.

Money should be interoperable

The internet could have developed very differently. If we look back to the early days of the internet, there was always a chance that multiple competitive “walled garden” internets grew side by side, competing for users, and refusing to talk with each other. Fortunately, thanks to the work of nonprofit governing bodies like ICANN, the world mostly runs on one internet. Even in countries like China that wall off certain websites, internet pages still talk to each other using the same set of protocols that they do everywhere else in the world.

Money should be no different. It should be as easy to buy lunch with a currency in one country as with that same currency in another. The same payment protocol should underlie any type of purchase, physical or digital. Transferring between currencies should be instantaneous and free, not require visiting an (online or digital) exchange.

The explosion in cryptocurrencies built around narrowly vertical use-cases has been interesting to watch, but true adoption will only come with a universal resolver that allows people to frictionlessly move between use-cases without manually switching their unit of currency.

Different types of money should be use-based, not geography-based

Branching out from the prior point: What if money had built-in rules that determined what it was useful for? Dan Jeffries provides some instructive examples of what this could look like: deflationary coins could automatically adjust their value to track inflation. Inflationary tokens could be built to lose value quickly to incentivize spending.

Governments could reward spending on environmentally friendly goods by creating currencies that automatically discounted the prices of those goods. Currencies could have rewards and loyalty programs (e.g. Starbucks) automatically built in. Currencies could expire if not used in a given window, or only activate upon a certain date or trigger action. This is the promise of cryptocurrencies as “programmable money” rather than just “digital gold” (the Ethereum/Bitcoin debate).

Money should be an open development platform

If money becomes programmable, the possibilities for what can be built on top of money are endless and unexplored. Some of the most obvious examples are financial applications (like Calibra, the project Libra wallet).

It shouldn’t cost anyone money to use money.

The existence and ubiquity of a single-digital currency is just the first step. Following that step are applications, like lending (institutional or peer-to-peer), investing, savings, gift-giving, etc. Imagine, as a use case, being able to ping your bank via text and ask for a one-week microloan to cover a big purchase — and the loan being approved and sent back to you by text. Or imagine your kids’ allowance automatically accruing to them weekly via text — and an allowance “bonus” applied to any money they set aside for savings instead of spending. As David Graeber would note, it’s these credit and investment applications that create the potential for true growth in a financial ecosystem.

Many view Libra as a future platform, like the iOS Apple Store, that will house a potentially infinite volume of applications built on top of it. These could be universal rideshare apps, airline rewards accounts, e-commerce experiences, etc. that all plug into the same rails that your money is built on, so that the UI is entirely driven by the user intent (e.g. buying something) without requiring you to move any money between accounts.

Money should have (some) guardrails

The last feature money should have is built-in guardrails. This is the most controversial claim here, and one that will ruffle the feathers of the censorship-resistant, self-sovereign crypto community.

Digital money has the potential of traceability and programmable rules to create safety guardrails and prevent, for example, terrorist financing, black-market purchases, money laundering, transfer of stolen funds, etc. Libra, with its strict know-your-customer standards, will certainly work with financial regulators to ensure that it is meeting these guardrail standards. (Even though early reactions from legislators have run the gamut from skeptical to apoplectic.)

Yet there are sound reasons to be skeptical of digital money guardrails. Repressive regimes could use them to contain capital flight and offshoring (a key use case for Bitcoin in China). They could target an individual’s wallet to shut down their freedom of movement or purchase, and precisely trace their physical location. Back-door hacks that abuse guardrail functionality to disable money could have the effect of entirely freezing a country’s infrastructure and bringing down its financial system. It’s important to counterweight these possibilities when considering where guardrails should be set — and whether they should differ across borders.

The future of money is just beginning.

These are exciting times. The potential to move beyond centuries of slow progression in financial services has never been greater. The internet, combined with the ingenuity of blockchain and cryptosystems, could build the framework for a global network that brings the world onto one universal monetary standard. There are many questions to answer between here and there, but with Libra acting as a catalyst, people are finally beginning to ask them. Get ready for more innovation to come — this is just the beginning.

Source link

Source/Repost=> http://technewsdestination.com/what-money-should-be-techcrunch/ ** Alex Hammer | Founder and CEO at Ecommerce ROI ** http://technewsdestination.com

[blog-tom-maier-blog]

About Us

A situation may arise in the life of each person when a certain amount of borrowed funds is urgently required, and I can help you with this, visit https://binixo.id/ . 

As a rule, the majority of citizens in such cases apply for help to banking organizations with the aim of obtaining a loan. Meanwhile, the banks themselves are not in a hurry to lend their money to everyone and put forward rather stringent requirements to the potential borrower, thereby trying to minimize their risks. 

Despite the attractive advertising banks, which talk about the availability of loans for all comers, many applicants hear denial of credit and there are more than enough reasons for this. For example, a high probability of failure awaits applicants for a loan whose credit history or informal work has been corrupted. Having been refused a bank, many applicants are trying to find alternative borrowing options, one of which is microcredit, which despite its “youth” is very popular among citizens.

 Experts promise great prospects for microcredit, which is largely due to the realities of our country and the conditions for obtaining such loans. Citizens are quite willing to decide on the registration of microcredits, while rarely thinking about how much they will have to pay in the end for such loyalty on the part of the lender. Meanwhile, this type of borrowing involves certain nuances and peculiarities that every person planning a microloan should know about. Before contacting a microfinance organization and obtaining the desired loan, it is important to find out about the pros and cons of microloans, only then it will be possible to make the right decision, which later will not be greatly regretted.

The main and perhaps the most significant drawback of microlending is its high cost, which is equal to the prices of modern money lenders. If you decide to apply for a microcredit, special attention should be paid to the size of the interest rate, which is calculated not on an annualized basis, as in a bank, but on a daily basis. In this way, microfinance organizations try to attract customers, and they are pretty good at this, since many inattentive people learn about the fact of daily interest accrual only after signing the contract, while the credit manager can intentionally remain silent so as not to frighten off the client. Interest rates, which at first glance look very attractive and tempting in practice, turn out to the borrower a huge total overpayment. It is easy to calculate how much it will cost you a microloan issued at 1.5% per day.

It can be a very long time to talk about the high cost of microloans, but in situations where there is an urgent need for money and there is no one to borrow them - microcredit becomes the only optimal way out. Of course, you can also get a loan from private lenders, but in this case, the risk of leaving nothing at all is too great, since their activities are not at all controlled by the state, and therefore fraud is often practiced in this area. For the same, in order to apply for a loan in an MFI, an applicant will need only a passport and a minimum of free time, while in terms of security, such a credit transaction will be the same as in bank borrowing. The main thing is to carefully study the loan agreement, paying special attention to the items written in small print, where information is usually found about borrowing conditions that are not the most pleasant for the borrower. 

If you treat this moment carelessly, then there is a high probability of the occurrence of surprises that are not the most pleasant for the borrower in the loan repayment process. Another undoubted advantage of microcredit is that such a loan is available even for owners of damaged credit history. As you know, banks do not want to cooperate with such clients, considering them unreliable, and this fact does not bother MFOs. Moreover, microcredit can be used to correct credit history. The fact is that microfinance organizations as well as banks send information on loans to the CII, therefore, having regularly repaid several such loans, you can count on a more solid bank loan.

[theconservativebrief]

“Teach a man to fish,” the saying goes, “and you feed him for a lifetime.”

That axiom has loomed large over international development policy for decades. There has been a great deal of aid focused on teaching a man to fish — that is, providing people with skills instead of simple assistance — to lift up the global poor. From 2002 to 2012, the World Bank invested $9 billion in skills training programs.

Skills-training programs take a lot of forms, but there are generally two kinds: programs aimed at individuals, which try to teach them everything they’ll need to take higher-paying local jobs, and programs aimed at business owners and prospective business owners, which try to teach them skills to run a business more efficiently and expand their operations.

Their objectives are laudable, but there’s just one problem: They largely don’t work. Participation rates in the programs aren’t very high. People who do participate often drop out, if the program lasts more than a few days, and unsurprisingly, it’s hard to teach important results in that time. For that matter, participants might be right to ignore the program or drop out, as research suggests that the programs don’t reliably increase income.

This isn’t to say every skills-training program is ineffective. But even the programs that do show results often don’t stand up to cost-benefit analysis: The results they get are worse than if they just gave people the money that is spent on training them. That said, recent research has found cost-effective results for programs that take a combined approach: training and mentoring, plus direct grants of assets. Those programs, more than just pure skill-training approaches, look to be worth further study and investment going forward.

Skills-focused programs have enjoyed the support of governments, private foundations, and individual donors, and they’ve been attempted all around the world for years. The World Bank has long been one of the most enthusiastic proponents of skills-training programs.

Over the last decade, though, as more and more research has come in with less than promising results, the World Bank has started to moderate its enthusiasm. “Less than a third of training programs have positive results for earnings and employment and even those that are successful are costly, with returns that rarely justify the investment,” its website admits today. It’s sponsoring many skills-training projects all the same, and many of them have grown dramatically in the last decade.

One popular focus for skills training programs is business training. The people who run small businesses in developing countries typically don’t follow “best practices” as they’re understood in the developed world, and program after program has set out to change that.

One of the most widely implemented business training programs is the International Labor Organization’s Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) program. Since it launched in 1977, the program has trained more than 15 million participants, 10 million of those since 2005. The program offers both vocational training (teaching people how to do in-demand jobs) and business management training: teaching accounting, management best practices, financial literacy, and how to start a business. SIYB is the largest such program, but many programs run on a similar model.

A 2014 review of the research into business training interventions, including SIYB, found little evidence of an impact on earnings for micro-entrepreneurs (the group that includes most of the world’s poorest). The researchers also found that almost no micro-entrepreneurs hired an additional employee as a result of a business training program.

The program could still create benefits by increasing income, or reducing the risk of business failure, so additional research focused on looking for impacts on those metrics is needed. Most of the existing research found no effects, but the studies were small enough that even substantial effects could have gone undetected. Most businesses did implement some changes to their business processes as a result of their new training, but studies typically didn’t detect a gain in income as a result. (A few of the larger studies detected small gains.)

The results are similarly discouraging for a related class of programs, sometimes called “hand-holding” programs, where each trainee gets one-on-one follow-up assistance with their business projects. For example, in a program in rural Pakistan, recipients of loans and training got followup visits in which they could ask questions and discuss the concepts they’d learned in training. Researchers found this had no impact on any of the metrics of interest (income and assets, networking, decision-making, or outlook on life).

In a 2015 paper, Chris Blattman and Laura Ralston summarized the problem this way:

It is hard to find a skills training program that passes a simple cost-benefit test. After repeated studies of technical, vocational, and business skills training programs, most programs do not have positive impacts, especially on men. Those that do are often so expensive that costs far outweigh benefits. And most poor people turn these programs down or drop out.

There are lots of things that could potentially be interfering with the success of these programs. A major one seems to be a lack of assets. Blattman and Ralston found that “the poor seem to be held back by too little capital and an absence of cheap credit.”

When programs give capital to the poor, be it cash, tools or livestock, to small business owners, unemployed youth or ultrapoor women, we tend to see similar results: poor people expand the number and size of their businesses, and increase the profitability of work in their portfolio.

Another problem seems to be that we don’t know how to teach the skills that are actually useful for small businesses, making the best use of local conditions and local opportunities. Training programs don’t seem to be very good at persuading trainees to change their practices. The skills that matter most may be hard to teach.

Yet another problem is that it’s hard to reach business owners who’d benefit from training. The sort of business owner who pays attention to free training programs available in their area, signs up, attends the programs, and implements the changes is probably one who is already unusually motivated to adopt best practices for their business. They might have already adopted the procedural changes that make sense for them, and get little out of training programs. Some studies suggest that the business owners who’d benefit from training are the ones that won’t seek it out.

But not every attempt to teach skills has failed. “Graduation” programs are a promising new, multi-faceted intervention aimed at the ultra-poor. Graduation programs involve giving people assets (such as livestock, money or equipment) as well as training and mentoring. Unlike microfinance programs, which don’t work very well, graduation programs don’t demand repayment of the initial grants. As Blattman and Ralston observe above, asset transfer programs seem to work better than pure training programs, and graduation programs include both elements.

Initial results seem promising. A 2015 paper found that in a large-scale randomized trial across six countries, a graduation program improved income and savings, food security, and well-being. (In one country it failed, because the chickens that people were given died of disease.) The evidence suggested that the researchers had hit on a skills training program that worked. That left the question of whether it worked any better than just giving the involved people cash.

Two studies published in 2017 suggest that it does. Both of them employed “cash benchmarking” — testing the effects of their program in comparison to a program where they just give the population cash. This lets us determine whether there’s any extra effect from the training, mentoring, and targeted asset grants.

The first study, conducted in South Sudan, found that the gains from the graduation program were more sustained than the gains from directly giving cash. The second study, from Uganda, found substantial gains to consumption and income — while recipients of cash spent it on reducing debt. That reflects reasonably robust evidence that the training and mentoring aspects of the program are actually adding value.

Graduation programs dodge a lot of the problems identified above that make most programs with a training component fail. They give people assets, which means that they’ll get results if those people are primarily limited by lack of assets as well as if they’re primarily limited by lack of skill. They may be able to reach more recipients, since the value of attending the program is more obvious.

That suggests that skills training might be worth pursuing, but not blindly. They seem to only get results when they’re one part of a big picture. Capital transfers — giving people money, or tangible physical assets — seem to be an essential ingredient of success. Yet graduation programs in South Sudan and in Uganda outperformed purely giving people money.

To return to the metaphor, you need to make sure someone is healthy enough to fish and has access to fishing supplies, and that they’re being taught to fish by someone with relevant local expertise, and that there aren’t any good reasons they’re not already fishing. But skills training programs that narrowly target the poorest people globally, transfer them assets with no strings attached, and offer them mentoring and assistance, may actually produce the sustained gains in prospects we’ve been looking for all along.

Sign up for the Future Perfect newsletter. Twice a week, you’ll get a roundup of ideas and solutions for tackling our biggest challenges: improving public health, decreasing human and animal suffering, easing catastrophic risks, and — to put it simply — getting better at doing good.

Original Source -> Everyone wants to “teach a man to fish.” But skills training alone doesn’t help the world’s poor.

via The Conservative Brief

[cryptonewsupdates]

Pakistan Central Bank Bans Banks from Cryptocurrency, ICO Transactions

Join our community of 10 000 traders on Hacked.com for just $39 per month.

Pakistan’s central bank has told banks and other financial services providers not to support virtual currency transactions. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) advised the general public in a statement on its website and in a tweet that it regulates both domestic and international payment and money transfer services.

  Pakistan’s announcement on Friday follows one by India’s central bank from having any links to virtual currency dealers, which immediately slashed cryptocurrency prices on local exchanges.

Transfers Could Bring Prosecution

SBP said anyone using virtual currencies to transfer funds outside Pakistan could be prosecuted, according to propakistani.pk. Any person found using virtual currencies, coins or tokens for the purpose of transferring money outside Pakistan will be subject to prosecution as per applicable laws.

The SBP also asked commercial and microfinance banks, as well as payment system operators and payment service providers not to facilitate account holders seeking to carry out transactions in the form ICO tokens and cryptocurrencies,

SBP noted that it has not recognized cryptocurrencies as legal tender and has not authorized or licensed any entity for the issuance, sale, purchase, exchange or investment in any currencies or tokens.

Central Bank Cites Risk

The SBP took the action on account of the following risks: • Virtual currencies are highly volatile, unstable and the prices are primarily based on speculations; • The failure and closure of virtual currency exchanges and businesses for any reason, such as action by law enforcement agencies; and • The number of security compromises of virtual currency exchanges and wallets worldwide in which large amount of funds have been lost.

In addition, fraudsters have also begun offering pyramid style investment schemes, promising high returns to the general public in Pakistan. SBP warns that such schemes, which are similar to Ponzi schemes, this can cause significant losses to the general public.

Also read: India bans banks from processing cryptocurrency purchases

Reserve Bank Of India Clarifies Position

Late on Friday, the Reserve Bank of India issued a more detailed circular stating any regulated entities that already provide virtual currency services are required to cut all ties within three months.

Such services include maintaining accounts, registering, trading, settling, clearing, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, opening accounts of exchanges that deal with them and transfer funds in accounts relating to purchase or sale of virtual currencies.

The RBI acknowledged that blockchain technology has many potentially-beneficial applications but argues that cryptocurrencies raise a number of concerns related to consumer protection, market integrity, and preventing financial crimes.

India-based cryptocurrency trading volume had already plummeted by 90 percent in recent months as banks themselves had already begun to restrict the ability of cryptocurrency exchanges to secure access to financial services and locals to trade with funds stored in Indian bank accounts. However, until now, this blockade had not been codified into official government policy.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Follow us on Telegram. Advertisement

[cryptobully-blog]

Pakistan Central Bank Bans Banks from Cryptocurrency, ICO Transactions

http://cryptobully.com/pakistan-central-bank-bans-banks-from-cryptocurrency-ico-transactions/

Pakistan Central Bank Bans Banks from Cryptocurrency, ICO Transactions

Join our community of 10 000 traders on Hacked.com for just $39 per month.

Pakistan’s central bank has told banks and other financial services providers not to support virtual currency transactions. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) advised the general public in a statement on its website and in a tweet that it regulates both domestic and international payment and money transfer services.

  Pakistan’s announcement on Friday follows one by India’s central bank from having any links to virtual currency dealers, which immediately slashed cryptocurrency prices on local exchanges.

Transfers Could Bring Prosecution

SBP said anyone using virtual currencies to transfer funds outside Pakistan could be prosecuted, according to propakistani.pk. Any person found using virtual currencies, coins or tokens for the purpose of transferring money outside Pakistan will be subject to prosecution as per applicable laws.

The SBP also asked commercial and microfinance banks, as well as payment system operators and payment service providers not to facilitate account holders seeking to carry out transactions in the form ICO tokens and cryptocurrencies,

SBP noted that it has not recognized cryptocurrencies as legal tender and has not authorized or licensed any entity for the issuance, sale, purchase, exchange or investment in any currencies or tokens.

Central Bank Cites Risk

The SBP took the action on account of the following risks: • Virtual currencies are highly volatile, unstable and the prices are primarily based on speculations; • The failure and closure of virtual currency exchanges and businesses for any reason, such as action by law enforcement agencies; and • The number of security compromises of virtual currency exchanges and wallets worldwide in which large amount of funds have been lost.

In addition, fraudsters have also begun offering pyramid style investment schemes, promising high returns to the general public in Pakistan. SBP warns that such schemes, which are similar to Ponzi schemes, this can cause significant losses to the general public.

Also read: India bans banks from processing cryptocurrency purchases

Reserve Bank Of India Clarifies Position

Late on Friday, the Reserve Bank of India issued a more detailed circular stating any regulated entities that already provide virtual currency services are required to cut all ties within three months.

Such services include maintaining accounts, registering, trading, settling, clearing, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, opening accounts of exchanges that deal with them and transfer funds in accounts relating to purchase or sale of virtual currencies.

The RBI acknowledged that blockchain technology has many potentially-beneficial applications but argues that cryptocurrencies raise a number of concerns related to consumer protection, market integrity, and preventing financial crimes.

India-based cryptocurrency trading volume had already plummeted by 90 percent in recent months as banks themselves had already begun to restrict the ability of cryptocurrency exchanges to secure access to financial services and locals to trade with funds stored in Indian bank accounts. However, until now, this blockade had not been codified into official government policy.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Follow us on Telegram. Advertisement

CryptoCoins News