July 11, 2023 @ 11:07 pm By Barry James  |  

Some environments can induce a kind of dream-like state in people overcome by their grandeur. You’d think that Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, the ‘Banker’s Banker’ would be over this by now — but no! In this year’s Mansion House speech, we were treated to his vision of… Read More

June 7, 2023 @ 9:35 am By Barry James  |  

Reservations, Threats & Benefits In a recent conversation with Danny Kruger, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, we delved into the Bank of England’s Digital Pound Project and the broader implications of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). This discussion is particularly timely, given that… Read More

June 6, 2023 @ 1:45 am By Barry James  |  

An Urgent Call for Good Governance In light of the latest phase of the ongoing – ‘Great Debate” on the Remaking of Money – ‘The Great Digital £ Debate’ during May and into June – it is clear that the advent of Central Bank Digital… Read More

April 18, 2023 @ 12:00 pm By Barry James  |  

As the USA House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Fintech, and Inclusion, hold a hearing on stablecoins Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in the USA, in the UK, and around the world, attempts to shoe-horn digital money from central and private banks (CBDCs and Stablecoins) into existing… Read More

October 10, 2022 @ 11:07 pm By Barry James  |  

‘Going for Growth’ Liz Truss’ Style Has Led the UK to A Precipice – Can MPs Pull it Back In Time?   Dear MPs, As Liz Truss launches her pincer movement in parliament this week – a ‘charm offensive’ coupled no doubt with a touch… Read More

September 26, 2022 @ 11:00 pm By Barry James  |  

It’s Time for a Safe Pair of Hands – Before It’s Too Late The first thing that Kwasi Kwarteng did as Chancellor injected so much risk into the British economy that the investors he was seeking to attract had, quite predictably, the opposite reaction. Any… Read More

May 21, 2020 @ 3:00 am By Barry James  |  

Some people in government here are talking as if the crisis is over, and that they’ve done all they can for businesses. There are worrying signs that the initial good intentions are fading and that the temptation to manage the numbers and the messages rather… Read More

March 28, 2020 @ 8:58 am By Barry James  |  

Why we may not be surprised but we must be outraged! The banks are a danger to our society – and, according to the BIS (the Centralbank’s Central Bank)  an unnecessary one at that. The UK government has over the last two weeks taken unprecedented… Read More

March 24, 2020 @ 9:40 am By Barry James  |  

It is we, the crowd, who will rebuild the economy after Covid-19. We need the means to do it. The last couple of weeks has revealed who it is that runs the real economy, beyond the glass towers that loom over everything else, imposing their… Read More

March 5, 2020 @ 10:44 am By Barry James  |  

CC – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Britain has up to 2 Million ‘mortgage prisoners’ in increasing financial stress through no fault of their own, a situation created, paradoxically, by bad, outdated regulation.  There have already been 7 attempted suicides in the UK Mortgage Prisoners… Read More

July 6, 2019 @ 4:29 pm By Barry James  |  

As Fintech Challenges the World Order. We know how fundamentally the internet and the web have changed not just the world of work, business and commerce but all our lives and the way we live, around the world. It’s touched and changed just about everything… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 7:47 am By Barry James  |  

The world stands at a crucial juncture when new DNA will be created that will form and influence our civilizations for generations to come, determining what our future looks like. The world is now in a position to build global public infrastructure. Who owns this… Read More

May 14, 2019 @ 6:00 pm By Barry James  |  

G8’s AML Body FATF Seeks Killing Crackdown on Crypto Exchanges and Tokens of All Types Crypto exchanges of all types and similar services (virtual asset service providers or ‘VASPs’) should be absorbed by traditional banks or disappear altogether. This seems to be the view of… Read More

October 15, 2018 @ 11:00 am By Barry James  |  

On the brink of Brexit, whatever happens, and as the USA cedes it, Britain can – and should – be again providing leadership at a historic turning point for the world. However, despite warm words and good intentions, we have started shooting ourselves in the… Read More

April 3, 2018 @ 4:59 am By Barry James  |  

We are entering the era of the digital token.  Or to put it another way a new kind of frictionless economy based on an a new internet of value. We’re already beyond the point of no-return – the ‘token event horizon’ is already well behind… Read More

December 15, 2017 @ 12:00 pm By Barry James  |  

Appearing on the BBC’s news flagship Newsnight the head of the UK’s regulator, the  FCA’s  Andrew Bailey, has drawn mainstream attention to Bitcoin and the world of cryptocurrencies while admitting that they have yet to understand what he called an ‘odd commodity’. While  the BBC’s… Read More

December 4, 2017 @ 2:53 pm By Barry James  |  

It was recently reported that the former chief economist of the World Bank wants Bitcoin banned, saying “Bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention, lack of oversight” You missed something crucial. Because of the ‘McKinsey’ factor. The operative rules (laws of nature from… Read More

December 1, 2017 @ 1:32 pm By Barry James  |  

Until now ‘Fintech’ has had a rather timid relationship with crowdfunding – and to put it bluntly many Fintech founders would have rather be seen dead in a ditch than crowdfunding a million dollars or two – even as a first step. Until now. Initial… Read More

November 10, 2017 @ 4:52 pm By Barry James  |  

  The future is arriving a lot sooner than almost anyone thought as, fuelled by billions in ICO cash, the blockchain revolution moves ten times faster than the internet revolution ever did: Gibraltar, their nimble regulator and Stock Exchange are providing an exemplar that may… Read More

September 1, 2017 @ 12:11 pm By Barry James  |  

Crowdfunding is about to enter a new and more powerful phase. Having become ensnared in a tangle of aging regulation designed for a disconnected, opaque world of fast-talking strangers Crowdfunding – in all it’s forms but especially Equity (ECF) – has yet to live up… Read More