#transactions

[brian4rmthe6]

[scanpoetry]

[pitchburgh]

giants fans I am wrapping you in a cozy blanket and bringing you tea :(

[ndigitalplanningtr]

Ultimate Finance Tracker Notion Template | Finance Dashboard | Notion Personal & Business Finance Tracker for 2023 | Debt and Bill Tracker | Subscription Tracker | Digital Finance Planner | Finance Tracker This dashboard will help you manage all your finances in one place. Register expenses, and income & make transfers on multiple accounts. Track your debt, set expense categories, and income; manage subscriptions, wishlist & more. ▷ WHAT IS NOTION? ◉ Notion is an all-in-one workspace where you plan, write, organize, and collaborate. It provides its users the building blocks to create customized layouts to get work done. Notion is free for a personal plan and is accessible through any device connected to the Internet - be it a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or computer. ▷ WHAT'S INCLUDED? ➜ Accounts ✵ Banks ✵ Cash ✵ Credit Cards ✵ Investment ➜ Transactions ✵ Expenses ✵ Income ✵ Transfer ➜ Categories ✵ Income Categories ✵ Expenses Categories ➜ Debt & Bill Tracker ➜ Subscription Tracker ✵ Upcoming Reminder ✵ Next Month Reminder ➜ Wishlist ➜ Months at a Glance ➜ Reports ➜ Database

[mansorus]

Love Ain’t Got No Price Tag {🤍 - 💰}

[theblobject]

CBDCs and the future of money

Within the global banking field, virtual currencies arguably constitute the most widespread trend over the last few years. Its proponents have argued that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are going to define future banking, as they combine the efficiency of digital payments with the safety of central banks. As of now, over 85% of central banks are investigating the possibility of their issuance.

CBDCs around the world:

Source: Updated as of July 2021 based on R Auer, G Cornelli and J Frost (2020), "Rise of the central bank digital currencies: drivers, approaches and technologies", BIS working papers, No 880. Notes: BS = The Bahamas; ECCB = Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, HK = Hong Kong SAR; JM = Jamaica; SG = Singapore

In Europe, specifically, the European Central Bank (ECB), claims that a digital euro would guarantee “costless access to a simple, universally accepted, safe and trusted means of payment”, not replacing cash but functioning as a needed complement which would encourage accessibility, inclusion and innovation. As Fabio Panetta, member of the ECB Executive Board has stated: “We will engage with the European Parliament and other European decision-makers and inform them regularly about our findings. Citizens, merchants and the payments industry will also be involved”.

The project was officially launched in July 2021. The investigation phase started in October and will last for about two years before a final decision is made, testing key features such as design, distribution and impact, while also confronting illicit activities.

What ECB principally tries to do is to raise people’s confidence in central banks and move them away from crypto-assets such as Bitcoin. This is why one of the major issues they focus on is the lack of price volatility, something very common among crypto markets. Moreover, a digital euro could use blockchain technology in order to enhance anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF), in a way similar to law enforcement practices, which are using such technologies against criminal activities and networks.

However, the project is not without its flaws and risks. One major criticism contends that the ECB will have a hard time complying with AML and CTF regulations without affecting the privacy of its users. While the ECB has tried to address these issues by discussing the possibility of a decentralized model, which would give more power to end-users and the private sector, the consequences that inexperienced intermediaries could potentially cause during transaction processing remains a troubling scenario.

On the upside, CBDCs might limit the use of physical notes and coins. The pressure will then be felt in the shadow economy, the cash-driven activities of which would appear increasingly anomalous and uncovered when compared to legitimate cash transactions. This could turn out to be a crucial step towards fighting financial crime.

It is still unclear what the future will bring, as the issuance of a digital euro might take up to five years to be completed, and potential digital euro-related legislative changes within the EU law could delay the process even further. With proper implementation, however, CBDCs could give birth to long-term opportunities and drastically reshape the nature of European financial transactions.

[jpnesecurrency]

the currency of friendship

I recently read A little life, which was one of the best reads I’ve had in a while. It certainly wasn’t good because it was happy or satisfying even, but because it dealt with a lot of life experiences in an unpretentious way that neither promised resolution, survival, nor fairness. And because of this realistic perspective, I think it’s a book many of us should pick up at least once. The book also addressed something I think about often, something I’ll call the currency of friendship. It’s this basis that there is an exchange that takes place between two (or more) people in order for you to continue to be friends. It sounds transactional, yes, but it is more than just an exchange of goods, information or secrets, it is also a common desire to build and grow. 

I think about this sometimes because everyone has those relationships where that exchange is unproportional. There are some people who a) are very good listeners and b) whom I like and want to be friends with, so I decide I want to share things with them. But then I am sometimes the only one sharing. Barring other variables - maybe I have high expectations in friendships, maybe I’m just not that generous - but the reciprocity is not necessarily expected just because I myself gave something away. What’s disappointing about being left hanging is that it reveals a difference in what we understand is needed in order to maintain that friendship, and if that rapport was indeed friendship at all. For me, friendships and relationships grow because you are able to be vulnerable and each time feel more accepted because of the risk you’ve taken to be vulnerable in the first place, whether that’s a candid reaction, a life event, or an emotion. It’s not a constant, lulling presence that might describe colleagues or friends you have in school whom you don’t need to speak to after work or when school ends. Still, I’ve considered some alternative perspectives: - perhaps some people don’t share until they’ve reached a certain level with a person, through time spent together or things shared with one another, or - perhaps some people just live really boring lives and don’t think they have anything worth sharing.  These can certainly be true and are in some ways reassuring. But let’s circle back to the underlying issue regarding the effort in and the understanding of friendships. If these perspectives were the case, they would still mean a fundamental difference in how one’s rapport is perceived and how one understands friendship to be built. To me, you become closer because you share more (some might find this to be a catch 22) and the better friendships are the ones that accept and validate mundanity. Honestly, some of my favorite things to do with good friends are running errands, doing everyday things. 

There’s still more to think about on this, but to return to the book, A Little Life actually takes to task this exchange in friendship and wonders to what extent friends have to share secrets, personal details, etc. One of the main characters, Jude, continuously remains mysterious almost to the very end - even to the reader! - and for a long while feels undeserving of the love he receives because he thinks he can’t reciprocate. Where he can’t give in vulnerability, he tries to make up in different ways. Here’s what he has to say about it:

“You won’t understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are—not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving—and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.”

Here, his idea about friendship seems founded on disproportionate giving, and yet, in the end, the person with whom he is closest is the person to whom he was finally willing to open up. Because of his situation, he was hyper aware of what others were willing to offer, and I think his naive sensibility to that - sometimes manifested as guilt, sometimes as a constant desire to be better - is one of his best qualities. Fundamentally though, his view on friendship is not different from mine, because at the core, there is recognition of a particular value, and to preserve that value, an effort to work and build.  

The takeaway, if you’ve been looking for one: At the end of the day, it's less about a one-to-one exchange, than it is about determining what kind of rapport you have, what you’re willing to offer in spite of things, and I guess, when it’s time to move on.

- - - - - - <3