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Digital assets and currencies

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

Trading basics

2010 flash crash

The flash crash of May 6, 2010, , also known as the crash of 2:45 or simply the flash crash, was a United States trillion-dollar flash crash (a type of stock market crash) which started at 2:32 p.m. EDT and lasted for approximately 36 minutes.

Finance

Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy

The Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy (also known as the circular transactions controversy) began in Dublin in December 2008 when Seán FitzPatrick, the chairman of Anglo Irish Bank (the state's third-largest bank), admitted he had hidden a total of €87 million in loans from the bank, triggering a series of incidents which led to the eventual nationalisation of Anglo on 21 January

Banking

Bank secrecy

Banking secrecy, alternatively known as financial privacy, banking discretion, or bank safety, is a conditional agreement between a bank and its clients that all foregoing activities remain secure, confidential, and private. Most often associated with banking in Switzerland, banking secrecy is prevalent in Luxembourg, Monaco, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, and Lebanon, among other off-sh

Trading basics

Banking as a service

Banking as a service (BaaS) is the provision of banking products (such as deposit accounts, loans and credit cards) to customers through non-bank or non-financial third party partnerships. The bank provides the balance sheet management, including capital, liquidity and credit risk management, while the partner company (typically a fintech) interacts directly with the customer via their p

Banking

Banq

"Banq" and "banc" are alternative spellings used in company names to evade legal restrictions on the use of the word 'bank' while maintaining a similar pronunciation. This practice is common in the financial services industry, particularly in the United States.

Fiat currencies

Bimetallism

Bimetallism, also known as the bimetallic standard, is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent to certain quantities of two metals, creating a fixed rate of exchange between them. In all known historical cases, the metals are gold and silver.

Assets

BitClout

BitClout was an open source blockchain-based social media platform. On the platform, users could post short-form writings and photos, award money to posts they particularly like by clicking a diamond icon, as well as buy and sell "creator coins" (personalized tokens whose value depends on people's reputations). BitClout ran on a custom proof of work blockchain, and was a prototype of wha

Networks

Blockchain-based Service Network

The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) is a backend architecture in China for developing and managing blockchain-based applications, and is split into Chinese and International uses. BSN China, designed as the backbone of China's blockchain strategy, was established in 2018 and launched in 2020 by the State Information Center under the National Development and Reform Commission of Ch

Payments & settlement

Buy now, pay later

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is a type of short-term debt financing that allows consumers to make purchases while only initially paying for a portion of their value, postponing payment of the remainder of the debt until a future date, or dividing it into a series of installment payments. BNPL is generally structured like a hire purchase or installment plan money lending process that involve

Banking

Conservation banking

Conservation banking is an environmental market-based method designed to offset adverse effects, generally, to species of concern, are threatened, or endangered and protected under the United States Endangered Species Act (ESA) through the creation of conservation banks. Conservation banking can be viewed as a method of mitigation that allows permitting agencies to target various natural

Payments & settlement

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financial intermediaries". In 2015, over US$34 billion was raised worldwide by crowdfunding. One of the companies that obtained money through crowdfundin

Finance

Digital banking

Digital banking is part of the broader context for the move to online banking, where banking services are delivered over the internet. The shift from traditional to digital banking has been gradual, remains ongoing, and is constituted by differing degrees of banking service digitization. Digital banking involves high levels of process automation and web-based services and may include AP

Banking

EarnIn

EarnIn is an American earnings management company that provides earned wage access services and other financial and payroll-related services.

Payments & settlement

Electronic benefit transfer

Electronic benefit transfer (EBT) is an electronic system used in the United States that allows state welfare departments to issue benefits via a magnetically encoded payment card. It reached nationwide operations in 2004.

Payments & settlement

Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting

ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting) was a computer technology that automated bank bookkeeping and check processing. Developed at the nonprofit research institution SRI International under contract from Bank of America, the project began in 1950 and was publicly revealed in September 1955.

Trading basics

Equity stripping

Equity stripping, also known as equity skimming, is a type of foreclosure rescue scheme. Often considered a form of predatory lending, equity stripping became increasingly widespread in the early 2000s. In an equity stripping scheme an investor buys the property from a homeowner facing foreclosure and agrees to lease the home to the homeowner who may remain in the home as a tenant. Often

Trading basics

Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

In September 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that it would take over the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Both government-sponsored enterprises, which finance home mortgages in the United States by issuing bonds, had become illiquid as the market for those bonds collapsed in the subp

Finance

Foreclosure

Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.

Fiat currencies

Forex scandal

The forex scandal (also known as the forex probe) is a 2013 financial scandal that involves the revelation, and subsequent investigation, that banks colluded for at least a decade to manipulate exchange rates on the forex market for their own financial gain. Market regulators in Asia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States began to investigate the $4.7 trillion per day fo

Trading basics

Hollywood Stock Exchange

The Hollywood Stock Exchange, or HSX, is a web-based, multiplayer game in which players use simulated money to buy and sell "shares" of actors, directors, upcoming films, and film-related options. The game uses Virtual Specialist technology invented by HSX co-founders and creators Max Keiser and Michael R. Burns, who were awarded a U.S. patent no. 5950176 in 1999 for the invention. Clai

Finance

Insurance

Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.

Banking

Intermediary

An intermediary, also known as a middleman or go-between, is defined in various ways, according to context. In law or diplomacy, an intermediary is a third party who offers intermediation services between two parties. In trade or barter, an intermediary acts as a conduit for goods or services offered by a supplier to a consumer, which may include wholesalers, resellers, brokers, and vari

Fiat currencies

International monetary system

An international monetary system is a set of internationally agreed rules, conventions and supporting institutions that facilitate international trade, cross border investment and generally the reallocation of capital between states that have different currencies. It should provide means of payment acceptable to buyers and sellers of different nationalities, including deferred payment. T

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

Securities & exchanges

Kalshi

Kalshi Inc. is a prediction market platform based in Manhattan, New York City, that launched in July 2021. The platform is used primarily for sports betting, which constitutes more than 90% of site activity and 89% of revenue in 2025. Analysts describe activity on the platform as "heavily tied to the sports calendar". Individuals can place bets on other future outcomes, including economi

Finance

Landmark Credit Union

Landmark Credit Union is an American credit union providing banking services in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois . It operates as a cooperative and is owned by its members. Landmark provides banking services including, savings accounts, checking accounts, mortgages and investments.

Payments & settlement

Lemon Wallet

Lemon Wallet was a cloud-based digital wallet that allowed users to store digital copies of credit cards, debit cards, reward cards, as well as identification, and other card information. The service was released in July 2011 and the company is based in Palo Alto, California, United States. Wences Casares was the company's CEO.

Finance

Market basket

A market basket or commodity bundle is a fixed list of items, in given proportions. Its most common use is to track the progress of inflation in an economy or specific market. That is, to measure the changes in the value of money over time. A market basket is also used with the theory of purchasing price parity to measure the value of money in different places.

Trading basics

Marketing ethics

Marketing ethics is an area of applied ethics that examines the moral principles and standards governing the practice and regulation of marketing. It addresses ethical issues arising in areas such as advertising, promotion, pricing, product development, and distribution. Certain aspects of marketing ethics, particularly advertising and promotional practices, overlap with media ethics and

Assets

Meme coin

A meme coin (also spelled memecoin) is a cryptocurrency that originated from an internet meme or has some other humorous characteristic.

Finance

Mischler Financial Group

Mischler Financial Group is the American boutique investment bank and brokerage that became the financial industry's first firm owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans.

Payments & settlement

Point of sale

The point of sale (POS), or point of purchase (POP), is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer (which may be a cash register printout), and indicates the options for the customer to make payment. It is also the point at wh

Trading basics

Policy Analysis Market

The Policy Analysis Market (PAM), part of the FutureMAP project, was a proposed futures exchange developed, beginning in May 2001, by the Information Awareness Office (IAO) of the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and based on an idea first proposed by Net Exchange, a San Diego, California, research firm specializing in the development of online prediction

Finance

Primary Dealer Credit Facility

On March 17, 2008, in response to the subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of Bear Stearns, the Federal Reserve announced the creation of a new lending facility, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF). Eligible borrowers include all financial institutions listed as primary dealers, and the term of the loan is a repurchase agreement, or "repo" loan, whereby the broker dealer sells

Finance

Quantitative easing

Quantitative easing (QE) is a monetary policy action where a central bank purchases predetermined amounts of government bonds, company shares, or other financial assets (liquidity) in order to artificially stimulate economic activity. Quantitative easing is a novel form of monetary policy that began in Japan and came into wide application in the US following the 2008 financial crisis. It

Payments & settlement

Scrip

A scrip is any substitute for legal tender.

Banking

Shadow banking system

The shadow banking system is the collection of non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs), or nondepository financial institutions (NDFIs) that legally provide services similar to traditional commercial banks but outside normal banking regulations. S&P Global estimates that, at end-2022, shadow banking held about $63 trillion in financial assets in major jurisdictions around the world, re

Fiat currencies

Smithsonian Agreement

The Smithsonian Agreement, announced in December 1971, created a new dollar standard, whereby the currencies of a number of industrialized states were pegged to the US dollar. These currencies were allowed to fluctuate by 2.25% against the dollar. The Smithsonian Agreement was created when the Group of Ten (G-10) states (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sw

Finance

Social return on investment

Social return on investment (SROI) is a principles-based method for measuring extra-financial value (such as environmental or social value) not otherwise reflected or involved in conventional financial accounts. The method can be used by any entity to evaluate impact on stakeholders, identify ways to improve performance, and enhance the performance of investments.

Finance

Stripe, Inc.

Stripe, LLC is an Irish-American multinational financial services and software as a service (SaaS) company dual-headquartered in South San Francisco, California, United States, and Dublin, Ireland. The company primarily offers payment-processing software and application programming interfaces for e-commerce websites and mobile applications.

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.

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

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

Finance

United States House Committee on Financial Services

The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees the entire financial services industry, including the securities, insurance, banking and housing industries. The Financial Services Committee als