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Digital assets and currencies

Understand assets, networks and trading mechanics with sources you can check.

Finance

MSCI KLD 400 Social Index

The MSCI KLD 400 Social Index was launched in 1990 and is designed to help socially conscious investors weigh social and environmental factors in their investment choices.

Banking

Narrow banking

Narrow banking is a banking system that restricts commercial banks to hold only safe and liquid assets, like government bonds, against customer deposits, while prohibiting traditional lending activities. Under this model, banks function as custodians and payment processors, separate from the lending function performed by other financial intermediaries. The concept emerged as a response t

Networks

NEAR (blockchain platform)

NEAR is a public blockchain platform that uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and provides smart-contract functionality. Its native cryptocurrency is NEAR. It was founded in 2018 by Illia Polosukhin and Alexander Skidanov, with mainnet launching in 2020.

Trading basics

NEC

NEC Corporation (日本電気株式会社, Nippon Denki Kabushiki gaisha; an acronym for Nippon Electric Company) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It sells IT and network services, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) platform, and telecommunications equipment and software to bus

Networks

Non-fungible token

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. They typically contain references to digital files such as artworks, photos, videos, and audio. Because NFTs are uniquely identifiable, they differ from cryptocurrencies (which are fungible, hence the name non-fungible token), and as a result they

Networks

Northern Data

Northern Data AG is a multinational technology company headquartered in Germany. It provides GPU infrastructure on demand for high-performance computing in sectors including artificial intelligence, big data analytics, rendering, and cloud computing. Services include a platform for processing large data sets. Formed in 2019 through the merger of Northern Bitcoin and Whinstone, it has two

Banking

Offshore bank

An offshore bank is a bank that is operated and regulated under international banking license (often called offshore license), which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to less regulation and transparency, accounts with offshore banks were often used to hide undeclared income. Since the 1980s, jurisdictions that p

Trading basics

Omnichannel

Omnichannel is a neologism describing a business strategy. According to Frost & Sullivan, omnichannel is defined as "seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels".

Finance

Operating partner

An operating partner is a title used by venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) firms to describe a role dedicated to working with privately held companies to increase value. The role was created by large-capitalization private equity groups when the importance of driving corporate change to add value increased as sellers became more sophisticated and financial engineering less cent

Finance

Outline of finance

The following outline provides an overview and topical guide to finance:

Payments & settlement

Pine Labs

Pine Labs is an Indian multinational Financial Technology company headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, that provides point of sale (POS) systems and payment systems. Founded in 1998, it facilitates digital payments through Android-based POS machines that are primarily used by retailers in India, UAE, and Malaysia.

Networks

Polygon (blockchain)

Polygon (formerly Matic Network) is a blockchain platform which aims to create a multi-chain blockchain system compatible with Ethereum. As with Ethereum, it uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism for processing transactions on-chain. Polygon's native token is POL, an ERC-20 token which allows for compatibility with other Ethereum cryptocurrencies. It is operated by Polygon Labs.

Trading basics

Post-PC era

The post-PC era was a market trend observed during the 2010s involving a decline in the sales of personal computers (PCs) in favor of post-PC devices, which include mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers as well as other mobile computers such as wearable and ubiquitous ones. These devices emphasize portability and connectivity, including the use of cloud-based services,

Trading basics

Prediction market

Prediction markets, also known as betting markets, information markets, decision markets, idea futures, or event derivatives, are open markets that enable the prediction of specific outcomes using financial incentives. They are exchange-traded markets established for trading bets in the outcome of various events.

Banking

Private equity in the 2020s

In the 2020s private equity (PE) firms responded to the COVID-19 recession with a surge in funding.

Assets

Proof of personhood

Proof of personhood (PoP) is a means of resisting malicious attacks on peer-to-peer networks, particularly attacks that use multiple fake identities, otherwise known as a Sybil attack. Decentralized online platforms are particularly vulnerable to such attacks by their very nature, as notionally democratic and responsive to large voting blocks. In PoP, each unique human participant obtain

Securities & exchanges

Public–private partnership

A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions. Typically, it involves private capital financing government projects and services up-front, and then drawing revenues from taxpayers and/or users for profit over the course of the PPP contract. Public–private partnerships have been implemented in multiple countri

Finance

Quality investing

Quality investing is an investment strategy based on a set of clearly defined fundamental criteria that seeks to identify companies with outstanding quality characteristics. The quality assessment is made based on soft (e.g. management credibility) and hard criteria (e.g. balance sheet stability). Quality investing supports best overall rather than best-in-class approach.

Trading basics

Quantitative fund

A quantitative fund is an investment fund that relies on systematic, data-driven methods, such as mathematical models, statistical techniques, AI, and machine learning, to make investment decisions, rather than fundamental human analysis. These funds are often referred to as systematic funds, and many employ factor investing strategies such as value and momentum, which are widely studied

Trading basics

Real bills doctrine

The real bills doctrine says that as long as bankers lend to businessmen only against the security (collateral) of short-term 30-, 60-, or 90-day commercial paper representing claims to real goods in the process of production, the loans will be just sufficient to finance the production of goods. The doctrine seeks to have real output determine its own means of purchase without affecting

Finance

Regional Economic Intelligence Committee

The Regional Economic Intelligence Committee is the apex forum overseeing government agencies responsible for economic intelligence and combating economic offenses in the respective states of India. The committee is under the Economic Intelligence Council. It was formed in 1990. The head of the committee is usually the Director General of the Directorate General of Income Tax Investigat

Networks

Regulation of algorithms

Regulation of algorithms, or algorithmic regulation, is the creation of laws, rules and public sector policies for promotion and regulation of algorithms, particularly in artificial intelligence and machine learning. For the subset of AI algorithms, the term regulation of artificial intelligence is used. The regulatory and policy landscape for artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging

Trading basics

Retail marketing

Once the strategic plan is in place, retail managers turn to the more managerial aspects of planning. A retail mix is devised for the purpose of coordinating day-to-day tactical decisions. The retail marketing mix typically consists of six broad decision layers including product decisions, place decisions, promotion, price, personnel and presentation (also known as physical evidence). Th

Finance

Royalty fund

A royalty fund (also known as royalty funding) is a category of private equity fund that specializes in purchasing consistent revenue streams deriving from the payment of royalties. Royalties are a usage-based payment from one individual or entity to another individual or entity, giving the right to use an asset, product, service or idea.

Payments & settlement

SADAD

The SADAD payment system was established by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to be the national electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) service provider for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The core mandate for SADAD is to facilitate and streamline bill payment transactions of end consumers through all channels of the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) Banks. SADAD was launched on June

Payments & settlement

Sage Group

The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British multinational enterprise software company headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It develops accounting, financial management, payroll and human-resources software, mainly for small and medium-sized businesses. Its products include Sage 50, Sage Intacct and Sage X3.

Trading basics

Securities Transaction Tax

Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is a tax payable in India on the value of securities (excluding commodities and currency) transacted through a recognised stock exchange. As of 2016, it is 0.1% for delivery based equity trading.

Finance

Skattrannsóknarstjóri ríkisins

Skattrannsóknarstjóri ríkisins, also known as the Directorate of Tax Investigations (DTI) is responsible for investigating legal cases where suspicions of tax fraud, tax evasion, or other violations of tax law are found within Iceland. The DTI is accountable to the Minister of Finance.

Finance

Social earnings ratio

The social earnings ratio, sometimes abbreviated to S/E, is a single-number metric, used to measure the social impact of various organizations. The non-financial metric is similar to the price-earnings ratio, but instead focuses on valuation against social impact, rather than projected earnings.

Finance

Sovereign wealth fund

A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as private equity funds or hedge funds. Sovereign wealth funds invest globally. Most SWFs are funded by revenues from commodity exports or from foreign exchange reser

Networks

StarkWare Industries

StarkWare Industries is an Israeli software company that specializes in cryptography. It develops zero-knowledge proof technology that compresses information to address the scalability problem of the blockchain, and works on the Ethereum platform.

Trading basics

Startup company

A startup or start-up is a company or project typically undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to go public, startups are new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo-founder. At the early stages, startups face signifi

Securities & exchanges

Stock market cycle

Stock market cycles are proposed patterns that proponents argue may exist in stock markets. Many such cycles have been proposed, such as tying stock market changes to political leadership, or fluctuations in commodity prices. Some stock market designs are universally recognized (e.g., rotations between the dominance of value investing or growth stocks). However, many academics and profe

Finance

Suspicious activity report

In financial regulation, a suspicious activity report (SAR) or suspicious transaction report (STR) is a report made by a financial institution about suspicious or potentially suspicious activity as required under laws designed to counter money laundering, financing of terrorism and other financial crimes. The criteria for when a report is required vary by country, but in general, a repor

Finance

Tax haven

A tax haven is a term, often used pejoratively, to describe a place with very low tax rates for non-domiciled investors, even if the official rates may be higher.

Fiat currencies

Technical analysis

In finance, technical analysis is an analysis methodology for analysing and forecasting the direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume. As a type of active management, it stands in contradiction to much of modern portfolio theory. The efficacy of technical analysis is disputed by the efficient-market hypothesis, which states that stock market pr

Trading basics

The Good Judgment Project

The Good Judgment Project (GJP) is an organization dedicated to "harnessing the wisdom of the crowd to forecast world events". It was co-created by Philip E. Tetlock (author of Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction and Expert Political Judgment), decision scientist Barbara Mellers, and Don Moore, all professors at the University of Pennsylvania.

Securities & exchanges

Thematic investing

Thematic investing is a form of investment that aims to identify macro-level trends and the underlying investments that stand to benefit from the materialisation of those trends. Thematic investing aims to seize opportunities arising from megatrends likely to shape the global economy in the decades ahead.

Finance

ThetaRay

ThetaRay is a fintech software and big data analytics company with headquarters in Hod HaSharon, Israel and New York, and offices in Madrid, London, and Singapore.

Finance

Timeline of artificial intelligence risks in global finance

The following article is a broad timeline of the course of events related to artificial intelligence risks in global finance.

Finance

Tipalti

Tipalti is an American multinational financial technology company headquartered in Foster City, California, with offices in Amsterdam, London, Plano, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv, Toronto, and Vancouver. The company provides accounts payable, procurement, expense management, and global payments automation software for businesses.

Finance

Tobin's q

Tobin's q (or the q ratio, and Marris's v), is the ratio between a physical asset's market value and its replacement cost. It was first introduced by Robin Marris as a firm-level microeconomic variable in his 1964 book The Economic Theory of Managerial Capitalism, and was shortly afterwards further analysed by Richard Kahn in early drafts of his paper Notes on the Rate of Interest and th

Networks

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint is an online tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Paris and published by Ubisoft. The game was released worldwide on 4 October 2019 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and on 18 December 2019 for Stadia. The game is the eleventh installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon franchise and is a narrative sequel to the 2017 video game Tom

Finance

Tracfin

Tracfin (acronym for Traitement du renseignement et action contre les circuits financiers clandestins, "Intelligence Processing and Action Against Clandestine Financial Circuits") is a service of the French Ministry of Finance. It fights money laundering.

Finance

Trade finance technology

Trade finance technology (abbreviated TradeTech, tradetech, or sometimes Trade Tech) refers to the use of technology, innovation, and software to support and digitally transform the trade finance industry. TradeTech can be seen as a subcategory under FinTech. As digital information becomes more readily accessible, convenient, and available, the trade finance industry is being gradually m

Trading basics

United States v. Banki

In United States v. Banki, 685 F.3d 99 (2nd Cir. 2011) the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of Mahmoud Reza Banki. Banki had been convicted of multiple crimes related to allegedly conspiring to violate United States sanctions against Iran by transferring large amounts of money — totaling some $3.4 million — from Iran to the United States.

Trading basics

USI Tech

USI Tech Limited (also known as United Software Intelligence, or stylised as USI-TECH) was a Dubai-based cryptocurrency and forex platform trading provider, suspected to be a high-yield investment program and a Ponzi scheme. Prior to going offline with its users' funds, USI-Tech moved its website from a .com top-level domain, to a .io domain, while also appearing on a number of mirror do

Trading basics

Venture capital

Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equit

Trading basics

Vix Technology

Vix Technology (Vix) is an Australian company that designs, supplies and operates automated fare collection (AFC) systems, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), access, payment and passenger information display systems (PIDS) for the public transit industry.

Assets

Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal

In January 2022, 15—the pseudonymous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) artificial intelligence researcher and creator of the non-commercial generative artificial intelligence voice synthesis research project 15.ai—discovered that the blockchain-based technology company Voiceverse had plagiarized from their platform. Voiceverse marketed itself as a service that offered AI voice

Networks

Web3

Web3 is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, tokenomics, and privacy-enhancing technologies. The term is sometimes confused with the Semantic Web, as both have sometimes been referred to as "Web 3.0". Some technologists and journalists have contrasted it with Web 2.0, in which they say user-genera

Trading basics

Wei Dai

Wei Dai (Chinese: 戴维) is a computer engineer known for contributions to cryptography and cryptocurrencies. He developed the Crypto++ cryptographic library, proposed the b-money cryptocurrency system, and co-proposed the VMAC message authentication algorithm.

Assets

World (blockchain)

World, also known as World Network, is a humanity verification project and financial network. It was developed and launched as the cryptocurrency project Worldcoin. Among other organizations, contributors to the project include Tools for Humanity, a company founded in 2019 by Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania. World's stated mission is to provide a reliable and anonymous way t

Trading basics

Xsolla

Xsolla is an American financial technology company that makes payment software for video games. It was founded in 2005 in Perm, Russia, by Aleksandr Agapitov. As of 2022, it had 500 employees. The company's core product is Pay Station, a suite of tools for integrating payment systems. It can be used to accept more than 1000+ payment types in more than 200 countries. Xsolla software was u

Payments & settlement

YooMoney

YooMoney branded as ЮMoney, (formerly Yandex.Money) is an e-commerce payment system. It is 100% owned by Sberbank and operates in Russia and nearby countries.

Networks

ZachXBT

ZachXBT, also identified as Zachary Wolk is a pseudonymous American blockchain investigator and open-source intelligence (OSINT) researcher known for independent forensic investigations into cryptocurrency fraud, scams, and thefts. He has been active on X (formerly Twitter) since 2021, publishing detailed investigative threads that trace stolen funds, expose rug pulls, and identify perpe