The Lead

Never before in history has there been a viable replacement for gold but, alas, there is now. A young whippersnapper born of the digital age that answers to the name of Bitcoin may be putting old gold out to pasture.

Since we are basically still at the very beginning of 2021, with almost everyone making predictions for what may or may not happen in the coming year, it might be a good idea to look back. NOT at what happened but rather some very topical quotes and sayings that always seem to get overlooked (or ignored), BUT which have a direct and lasting importance on what's happening now. With some of these quotes, the government (and financial 'smarties') would rather you didn't remember them, but hey, they were the ones who said them.

The $5.3 billion deal between Visa and Plaid collapsed due to a government antitrust lawsuit. The U.S. Justice Department called Visa a "monopolist in online debit transactions."

The mainstream emergence of Special Purpose Accquisition Companies (SPAC for short) has became one of the hottest market stories of 2020 and the trend appears to be continuing into the new year.

Just in case you haven't heard (amazing), the price of Bitcoin reached over $40,000 last week as more institutional investors have decided to gain exposure to the digital asset/currency.

Walmart issued a late day press release on Monday, 1/11/21, in tandem with Ribbit Capital, that the two firms were announcing the creation - or should I say co-creation - of a new fintech start up. The new firm, which is yet unnamed (the fintech formerly known as symbol?), will be "designed to develop and offer modern, innovative and affordable financial solutions", according to the announcement.

London-based Computerweekly.com is reporting that fintech- and payment-sector related jobs bounced back significantly after a brief drop-off after the initial Covid 19 lockdowns.

Last week several news headlines read that Russell Okung, star offensive tackle of the National Football league's Carolina Panthers, would be the first player to be paid his salary in Bitcoin. Not totally true. Almost immediately another headline rang out that, no, he is not being paid in Bitcoin.

Almost everyone has seen that cryptocurrencies have lately been.....well, a real moonshot. Bitcoin, ether and the lesser known digital currency names have had quite a blast off.

Charles Evans, President of the Chicago Federal Reserve bank, seems to have completely mistaken New Years Day (Jan 1) for April Fools Day (April 1) as he gave a speech Monday.