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Digital assets and currencies

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

Assets

2024 WazirX hack

On 18 July, 2024, WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, reported a cyberattack in which approximately US$234.9 million (around ₹2,000 crore) in digital assets were stolen from a multi-signature wallet used under a third-party custody arrangement with Liminal Custody. Global analysis later linked the attack to the Lazarus Group, a North Korea–associated threat actor targeting crypto

Banking

Bank transaction tax

A bank transaction tax is a tax levied on debit (and/or credit) entries on bank accounts. In 1989, at the Buenos Aires meetings of the International Institute of Public Finance, University of Wisconsin–Madison Professor of Economics Edgar L. Feige proposed extending the tax reform ideas of John Maynard Keynes, James Tobin and Lawrence Summers, to their logical conclusion, namely to tax a

Trading basics

Bareboat charter

A bareboat charter, or demise charter, is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat for which no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement. Instead, the renter of the vessel from the owner is responsible for taking care of whatever the agreement specifies – insurance, maintenance, repairs, etc.. The act is commonly known as bareboating or bareboat chart

Finance

Basel I

Basel I, or the 1988 Basel Accord, is a framework on banking regulations published by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 1988. It arose from deliberations by central banks from major countries during the late 1970s and 1980s. By 1992, it had been transposed into law by all Group of Ten (G10) countries.

Securities & exchanges

Beneficial ownership

In domestic and international commercial law, a beneficial owner is a natural person (or persons) who ultimately owns or controls an interest in a legal entity or arrangement, such as a company, trust, or foundation. Legal owners (i.e. owners of record), commonly described as registered owners, may hold those interests as beneficial owners or for the benefit of someone else, in which cas

Finance

Brass plate company

A brass plate company, or brass plate trust, is a legally constituted company lacking meaningful connection with the location of incorporation. Brass plate refers to the only tangible existence of an organization in its jurisdiction of incorporation being a nameplate attached to the wall outside its registered office. The registered office is often the same office and address of the loca

Finance

BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement

The BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) is a framework for the provision of support through liquidity and precautionary instruments in response to actual or potential short-term balance of payments pressures. It was established in 2015 by the BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The legal basis is formed by the Treaty for the Establishment of a BRICS Con

Payments & settlement

BRICS Pay

BRICS Pay (stylized as BRICS PAY) is a decentralized and independent payment messaging mechanism system that is affiliated with the BRICS organization.

Finance

Buffett indicator

The Buffett indicator (or the Buffett metric, or the Market capitalization-to-GDP ratio) is a valuation multiple used to assess how expensive or cheap the aggregate stock market is at a given point in time. It was proposed as a metric by investor Warren Buffett in 2001, who called it "probably the best single measure of where valuations stand at any given moment", and its modern form co

Finance

Central bank liquidity swap

Central bank liquidity swap, known as a swap line, is a type of cross-currency swap used by a country's central bank to provide liquidity of its currency to another country's central bank. In a liquidity swap, the lending central bank uses its currency to buy the currency of another borrowing central bank at the market exchange rate, and agrees to sell the borrower's currency back at a r

Fiat currencies

Chiang Mai Initiative

The Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) is a multilateral currency swap arrangement among the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong), Japan, and South Korea. It draws from a foreign exchange reserves pool worth US$120 billion and was launched on 24 March 2010. That pool has been expanded to $240 billion in 2012.

Banking

China Consortium

The China Consortium, also referred to as banking consortium or financial consortium or four-, five-, or six-power consortium depending on context, refers to two successive cooperative arrangements formed by foreign banks under their respective governments' directions in the early 20th century, to coordinate lending to the Chinese government. These initiatives were resented by Chinese na

Finance

Credit counseling

Credit counseling (known in the United Kingdom as debt counseling) is a process used to help individual debtors overcome their debt through financial education, budgeting, debt management plans (DMPs) – known in the United Kingdom as the individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) – and a variety of other tools with the goal of reducing and ultimately eliminating debt.

Trading basics

Creditor

A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property or service to the second party under the assumption (usually enforced by contract) that the second party will return an equivalent property and

Finance

Currency transaction tax

A currency transaction tax is a tax placed on the use of currency for various types of transactions. The tax is associated with the financial sector and is a type of financial transaction tax, as opposed to a consumption tax paid by consumers, though the tax may be passed on by the financial institution to the customer.

Trading basics

Debt restructuring

Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continue its operations.

Trading basics

Debtor

A debtor or debitor is a legal entity (legal person) that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of this debt arrangement is a bank, the debtor is more often referred to as a borrower.

Trading basics

Double taxation

Double taxation is the levying of tax by two or more jurisdictions on the same income (in the case of income taxes), asset (in the case of capital taxes), or financial transaction (in the case of sales taxes).

Finance

Escrow

An escrow is a contractual arrangement in which a third party (the stakeholder or escrow agent) receives and disburses money or property for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacting parties. Examples include an account established by a broker for holding funds on behalf of the broker's principal or some other person until

Trading basics

Factoring (finance)

Factoring is a financial transaction and a type of debtor finance in which a business sells its accounts receivable (i.e., invoices) to a third party (called a factor) at a discount. A business will sometimes factor its receivable assets to meet its immediate cash needs. Forfaiting is a factoring arrangement used in international trade finance by exporters who wish to sell their receivab

Finance

Financial system in Australia

The Australian financial system consists of the arrangements covering the borrowing and lending of funds and the transfer of ownership of financial claims in Australia, comprising:

Trading basics

Floating charge

In finance, a floating charge is a security interest over a fund of changing assets of a company or other legal person. Unlike a fixed charge, which is created over ascertained and definite property, a floating charge is created over property of an ambulatory and shifting nature, such as receivables and stock.

Finance

Fraudulent conveyance

A fraudulent conveyance or fraudulent transfer is the transfer of property to another party to prevent, hinder, or delay the collection of a debt owed by or incumbent on the party making the transfer, sometimes by rendering the transferring party insolvent. It is generally treated as a civil cause of action that arises in debtor/creditor relations, typically brought by creditors or by ba

Banking

Free banking

Free banking is a monetary arrangement where banks are free to issue their own paper currency (banknotes) while also being subject to no special regulations beyond those applicable to most enterprises.

Finance

Goodwill (accounting)

In accounting, goodwill is an intangible asset recognized when a firm is purchased as a going concern. It reflects the premium the buyer pays over the net value of its other assets. Goodwill is often understood to represent the firm's intrinsic ability to acquire and retain customer business, where that is not attributed more specifically to a brand name, contractual arrangements, or oth

Securities & exchanges

Greenshoe

Greenshoe, or over-allotment clause, is the term commonly used to describe a special arrangement in a U.S. registered share offering, for example an initial public offering (IPO), which enables the investment bank representing the underwriters to support the share price after the offering without putting their own capital at risk. This clause is codified as a provision in the underwritin

Finance

Group of Ten (IMF)

The Group of Ten (G10 or G-10) refers to the group of 11 countries that agreed to participate in the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB), an agreement to provide the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with additional funds to increase its lending ability.

Finance

Growth Enterprise Market

Growth Enterprise Market (GEM; Chinese: 創業板) is a board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong for growth companies that do not fulfill the requirements of profitability or track record for the main board of the exchange. Opened 1999.

Trading basics

Hire purchase

A hire purchase (HP), also known as an installment plan, is an arrangement whereby a customer agrees to a contract to acquire an asset by paying an initial installment (e.g., 40% of the total) and repaying the balance of the price of the asset plus interest over a period of time. Other analogous practices are described as closed-end leasing or rent-to-own.

Trading basics

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (Chinese: 香港商品交易所; abbreviated as HKMEx) was an electronic commodities exchange established in Hong Kong for the trading of commodity futures, options and other financial derivatives. The exchange was originally pitched as a platform to trade oil futures. In fact, it ended up trading mainly silver and gold futures.

Finance

Hypothec

Hypothec (; from Lat. hypotheca, from Gk. ὑποθήκη: hypothēkē), sometimes tacit hypothec, is a term used in civil law systems (e.g. the law of most of Continental Europe) to refer to a registered real security of a creditor over real estate, but under some jurisdictions it may additionally cover ships only (ship hypothec), as opposed to other collaterals, including corporeal movables othe

Finance

Individual savings account

An individual savings account (ISA or Isa; ) is a class of retail investment arrangement available to residents of the United Kingdom. Introduced in 1999 as an Individual Special Savings Account (ISSA), the accounts are exempt from income tax and capital gains tax on the investment returns, and no tax is payable on money withdrawn from the scheme.

Trading basics

Insolvency

In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be insolvent. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet insolvency.

Finance

Insolvency practitioner

In the United Kingdom, only an authorised or licensed insolvency practitioner (IP) may be appointed in relation to formal insolvency procedures.

Finance

International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international financial institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations, headquartered in Washington, D.C. It consists of 191 member countries, and its stated mission is "working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth,

Finance

International Securities Identification Number

An International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) is a code that uniquely identifies a security globally for the purposes of facilitating clearing, reporting and settlement of trades. Its structure is defined in ISO 6166. The ISIN code is a 12-character alphanumeric code that serves for uniform identification of a security through normalization of the assigned National Number, whe

Finance

Investment outsourcing

Investment outsourcing is the process whereby institutional investors and high-net-worth families engage a third party to manage all or a portion of their investment portfolio. This arrangement can include functions such as establishing the asset allocation, selecting investment managers, implementing portfolio decisions (both strategic and tactical), providing on-going oversight, perfo

Trading basics

Lease

A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the lessee) to pay the owner (referred to as the lessor) for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial or business equipment are also leased. In essence, a lease agreement is a contract between two parties: the lessor and the lessee. The lessor is the legal

Trading basics

Lease-by-room

Lease-by-room, also known as individual leasing, is an arrangement whereby a tenant and their roommates pay rent for their own rooms instead of each tenant being equally liable for the rent for the whole apartment. Typically lease-by-room leases are multi-room apartments or townhomes with shared bathrooms and living rooms. What distinguishes lease-by-room leases from joint leases is that

Finance

Legal Entity Identifier

The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a unique global identifier for legal entities participating in financial transactions. Also known as an LEI code or LEI number, its purpose is to help identify legal entities on a globally accessible database. Legal entities are organizations such as companies or government entities that participate in financial transactions. An individual person may

Trading basics

Liquidation

Liquidation or winding-up is the process in law by which a company is brought to an end and its assets and property distributed to claimants. When a company has been liquidated, it is sometimes said to be wound-up or dissolved, although dissolution technically refers only to the final stage of liquidation.

Trading basics

List of taxes

This page, a companion page to tax, lists different taxes by economic design. For different taxes by country, see Tax rates around the world.

Finance

Market Identifier Code

The Market Identifier Code (MIC) (ISO 10383) is a unique identification code used to identify securities trading exchanges, regulated and non-regulated trading markets. The MIC is a four alphanumeric character code, and is defined in ISO 10383 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). For example, the US NASDAQ market is identified by MIC XNAS.

Finance

New Development Bank

The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). According to the agreement, "the bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments" and "shall cooperate with in

Trading basics

Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018

The Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018 is a New Zealand bill that amends the Overseas Investment Act 2005 to ban most non-resident foreigners from buying existing houses, by classifying them as sensitive land and introducing a residency test. Australian citizens are exempt from this rule as they are considered New Zealand residents per the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement. Singaporean

Finance

Panama as a tax haven

The Republic of Panama is one of the oldest and best-known tax havens in the Caribbean, as well as one of the most established in the region. Panama has had a reputation for tax avoidance since the early 20th century, and Panama has been cited repeatedly in recent years as a jurisdiction which does not cooperate with international tax transparency initiatives.

Trading basics

Pari passu

Pari passu is a Latin phrase that literally means "with an equal step" or "on equal footing". It is sometimes translated as "ranking equally", "hand-in-hand", "with equal force", or "moving together", and by extension, "fairly", "without partiality".

Banking

Pitch book

A pitch book, also called a confidential information memorandum, is a marketing presentation (information layout) used by investment banks, entrepreneurs, corporate finance firms, business brokers and other M&A intermediaries advising on the sale or disposal of the shares or assets of a business. It consists of a careful arrangement and analysis of the investment considerations of the cl

Trading basics

Preferential creditor

A preferential creditor (in some jurisdictions called a preferred creditor) is a creditor receiving a preferential right to payment upon the debtor's bankruptcy under applicable insolvency laws.

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

Banking

Qirad

The qirad (also known as Muqaradah by Hanafi and Hanbali scholars) was one of the basic financial instruments of the medieval Islamic world. It was an arrangement between one or more investors and an agent where the investors entrusted capital to an agent who then traded with it in hopes of making profit. Both parties then received a previously settled portion of the profit. The agent

Trading basics

Second lien loan

The vast majority of all second lien loans are senior secured obligations of the borrower. Second lien loans differ from both unsecured debt and subordinated debt.

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

Serbia and the International Monetary Fund

Serbia has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since December 14, 2022 with a quota of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 654.8 million ($615.21 million) and 8,000 votes (0.16% of the total vote share). Serbia is currently represented on the Executive Board by Piotr Trabinski in a constituency with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland, Taj

Fiat currencies

Spahn tax

A Spahn tax is a type of currency transaction tax that is meant to be used for the purpose of controlling exchange-rate volatility. This idea was proposed by Paul Bernd Spahn in 1995.

Trading basics

Stock

Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the total number of shares. This typically entitles the shareholder (stockholder) to that fraction of the company's earnings, proceeds from liquidat

Trading basics

Structured settlement

A structured settlement is a negotiated financial or insurance arrangement through which a claimant agrees to resolve a personal injury tort claim by receiving part or all of a settlement in the form of periodic payments on an agreed schedule, rather than as a lump sum. As part of the negotiations, a structured settlement may be offered by the defendant or requested by the plaintiff. Ult

Securities & exchanges

Subordination (finance)

Subordination in banking and finance refers to the order of priorities in claims for ownership or interest in various assets.

Finance

Supply chain finance

Supply chain finance (SCF), also known as supplier finance or reverse factoring, comprises a suite of financial solutions that aim to manage working capital and liquidity for businesses within a supply chain. These arrangements are typically initiated by a buyer to allow their suppliers to access funding for their accounts receivable at interest rates based on the buyer's credit rating,

Trading basics

Tax competition

Tax competition, a form of regulatory competition, exists when governments use reductions in fiscal burdens to encourage the inflow of productive resources or to discourage the exodus of those resources. Often, this means a governmental strategy of attracting foreign direct investment, foreign indirect investment (financial investment), and high value human resources by minimizing the ov

Finance

Tax compliance software

Tax compliance software is software that assists tax compliance, and may cover income tax, corporate tax, VAT, service tax, customs, sales tax, use tax, or other taxes its users may be required to pay. The software automatically calculates a user's tax liabilities to the government, keeps track of all transactions (in case of indirect taxes), keeps track of eligible tax credits, etc. The

Trading basics

Tax shield

A tax shield is the reduction in income taxes that results from taking an allowable deduction from taxable income. For example, because interest on debt is a tax-deductible expense, taking on debt creates a tax shield. Since a tax shield is a way to save cash flows, it increases the value of the business, and it is an important aspect of business valuation.

Finance

Taxation in Argentina

Due to the absence of the tax code in Argentina, the tax regulation takes place in accordance with separate laws, which, in turn, are supplemented by provisions of normative acts adopted by the executive authorities. The powers of the executive authority include levying a tax on profits, property and added value throughout the national territory. In Argentina, the tax policy is implemen

Finance

Taxation in Cyprus

Taxes in Cyprus are levied by both the central and local governments. Tax revenue stood at 39.2% of GDP in 2012. The most important revenue sources are the income tax, social security, value-added tax and corporate tax, and are all collected by the central government.

Finance

Taxation in Estonia

Taxation in Estonia consists of state and local taxes. A relatively high proportion of government revenue comes from consumption taxes whilst revenue from capital taxes is one of the lowest in the European Union.

Finance

Taxation in Iceland

Taxes in Iceland are levied by the state and the municipalities. Property rights are strong and Iceland is one of the few countries where they are applied to fishery management. Taxpayers pay various subsidies to each other, similar to European countries that are welfare states, but the spending is less than in most European countries. Despite low tax rates in relation to European welfar

Securities & exchanges

Ticker symbol

A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular publicly listed company or security on a particular stock exchange. Ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters or digits) which provide a shorthand for investors to refer to, purchase, and research securities. Some exchanges include ti

Finance

Treasure Islands

Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World (2011) is a non-fiction book about the secretive role of offshore banks and tax havens in global economic affairs. The book was written by Nicholas Shaxson, a political analyst and associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. It was first published on 6 January 2011.

Securities & exchanges

Underwriting

Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability arising from such guarantee. An underwriting arrangement may be created in a number of situations including insurance, issues of security in a

Finance

United States as a tax haven

In 2010, the United States implemented the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act; the law required financial firms around the world to report accounts held by US citizens to the Internal Revenue Service.

Finance

Voidable floating charge

In law, a voidable floating charge refers to a floating charge entered into shortly prior to the company going into liquidation which is void or unenforceable in whole or in part under applicable insolvency legislation.