XPayIndustry WIKIBack to home
XPAY KNOWLEDGE

Industry WIKI

Digital assets and currencies

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

Finance

Bárcenas affair

The Bárcenas affair is a corruption scandal in Spain that affects the conservative People's Party (PP), one of the country's main political parties. Following revelations that Luis Bárcenas, who served as party treasurer and senator, held 48 million euros in Swiss bank accounts, extracts of handwritten accounts, the so-called "Bárcenas papers" (los papeles de Bárcenas) were published in

Trading basics

Big Bang (financial markets)

The phrase Big Bang, used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets, was coined to describe measures, including abolition of fixed commission charges and of the distinction between stockjobbers and stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange and change from open outcry to screen-based electronic trading, effected by UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1986.

Trading basics

Bills of Exchange Act 1882

The Bills of Exchange Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 61) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that codified the law relating to bills of exchange. Bills of exchange are widely used to finance trade and, when discounted with a financial institution, to obtain credit.

Assets

BitMEX

BitMEX was a cryptocurrency exchange and derivative trading platform incorporated in the Seychelles. It was operated by HDR Global Trading Limited.

Finance

Child trust fund

A child trust fund (CTF) is a long-term savings or investment account for children in the United Kingdom. New accounts can no longer be created as of 2011, but existing accounts can receive new money: the accounts were replaced by Junior ISAs.

Trading basics

Community capitalism

Community capitalism is an approach to capitalism that places a priority on the well-being and sustainability of the community as a whole. The community could be a metropolitan area, region, or an entire country.

Securities & exchanges

Conservative Formula Investing

Conservative formula investing is an investment technique that uses the principles of low-volatility investing and is enhanced with momentum and net payout yield signals.

Finance

Constantin C. Arion

Constantin C. Arion (also known as Costică Arion; June 18, 1855 – June 27, 1923) was a Romanian politician, affiliated with the National Liberal Party, the Conservative Party and, after 1918, the People's Party. He served two terms as Minister of Religion and Public Instruction, one term as Minister of Agriculture, and another one as Interior Minister before World War I. His career peake

Trading basics

Cost-of-living crisis

A cost-of-living crisis is a situation or period of high inflation with increases in the nominal cost of living while real wages decrease. As a result, real income and living standards are squeezed to the point that people cannot afford the standard of living that they were previously accustomed to. The population becomes 'poorer' than it used to be in real terms. This is in contrast to

Fiat currencies

Credit theory of money

Credit theories of money, also called debt theories of money, are monetary economic theories concerning the relationship between credit and money. Proponents of these theories, such as Alfred Mitchell-Innes, sometimes emphasize that money and credit/debt are the same thing, seen from different points of view. Proponents assert that the essential nature of money is credit (debt), at leas

Trading basics

Etsy witches

Etsy witches is a colloquial term used to describe people who provide internet witchcraft services, particularly through online marketplaces such as Etsy or TikTok. Rooted in spiritualism, and similar in practice to psychics and mediums, Etsy Witches perform "metaphysical services", usually in exchange for a fee. Many practitioners purport adherence to neopagan witchcraft, often Wicca, a

Finance

European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a standing committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for economic and monetary policy, the functioning of Economic and Monetary Union, financial services and markets, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation, competition policy and the international monetary and financial system.

Trading basics

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury

The exchequer secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the chief secretary to the Treasury, the paymaster general and the financial secretary to the Treasury, and alongside the economic secretary to the Treasury. It ranks at parliamentary secretary level and the holder d

Trading basics

Financial Secretary to the Treasury

The financial secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth–most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the chief secretary to the Treasury, and the paymaster general. However, the role of First Lord of the Treasury is always held by the prime minister wh

Finance

Fish for finance

Fish for finance is the popular phrase used to describe the possible trade-off betrween two major UK industries that was considered by both sides during the trade negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) over their future relationship following Brexit in January 2020. The Brexit withdrawal agreement between the two parties called for an agreement on fisheries t

Trading basics

Greater Manchester congestion charge

The Greater Manchester congestion charge was part of a bid to the government's Transport Innovation Fund for a £3-billion package of transport funding and the introduction of a road congestion charge for Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. In 2008, two cordons were proposed—the outer encircling the main urban core of the Greater Manchester Urban Area and the

Trading basics

Investment Canada Act

The Investment Canada Act (ICA; French: Loi sur Investissement Canada, LIC) is a Canadian federal law governing foreign direct investment in Canada. The ICA was one of the first acts of Brian Mulroney's newly elected Progressive Conservative government, receiving royal assent on 20 June 1985. It has been amended at various times, including recently through Bill C-34, An Act to amend th

Securities & exchanges

Investment style

Investment style,

Securities & exchanges

Jeff Yass

Jeffrey Steven Yass (born July 1958) is an American billionaire businessman. According to Forbes, Yass had a net worth of US$77.8 billion as of September 2026, up from $27.6 billion in April 2024. The richest man in Pennsylvania, he is also the 25th richest in the world. He is a registered Libertarian who gives money to conservative super PACs including Club for Growth Action and the Pro

Payments & settlement

King's shilling

The King's shilling, sometimes called the Queen's shilling when the sovereign is female, is a historical slang term referring to the earnest payment of one shilling given to recruits to the armed forces of the United Kingdom in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, although the practice dates back to the end of the English Civil War. To "take the King's shilling" was to agree to serve as a

Trading basics

Magic formula investing

Magic formula investing is an investment technique outlined by Joel Greenblatt that uses the principles of value investing.

Finance

Ministry of Finance (Chile)

The Ministry of Finance (Spanish: Ministerio de Hacienda) is the cabinet-level administrative office in charge of managing the financial affairs, fiscal policy, and capital markets of Chile; planning, directing, coordinating, executing, controlling and informing all financial policies formulated by the President of Chile.

Finance

Ministry of Finance (Iceland)

The Icelandic Ministry of Finance (Icelandic: Fjármálaráðuneytið) is responsible for overseeing the finances of the Icelandic government. The Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs is Daði Már Kristófersson.

Payments & settlement

Monzo

Monzo Bank Limited, trading as Monzo (), is a British online bank based in London, England. Monzo launched as part of a number of app-based challenger banks entering the UK market.

Securities & exchanges

Peter Thiel

Peter Andreas Thiel ( ; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and conservative political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies and Founders Fund, he was also the first outside investor in Facebook. As of October 2026, Forbes estimated Thiel's net worth at US$37.7 billion.

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

Trading basics

Publicly traded private equity

Publicly traded private equity, also known as publicly quoted private equity or publicly listed private equity, is an investment firm or investment vehicle, which makes investments conforming to one of the various private equity strategies, and is listed on a public stock exchange.

Trading basics

To rob Peter to pay Paul

"To rob Peter to pay Paul", and similar variants that have developed over the centuries such as "to borrow from Peter to pay Paul", and "to unclothe Peter to clothe Paul", are English idioms meaning to take from one person to give to another, especially when it results in the elimination of one debt by incurring another. Similar phrases are found in many languages. "Manoeuvring the Apost

Banking

Too big to fail

"Too big to fail" (TBTF) is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected with an economy that their failure would be disastrous to the greater economic system, and therefore should be supported by government when they face potential failure. The colloquial term "too big to fail" was popular

Trading basics

Treasury Select Committee

The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The committee is responsible for examining and scrutinizing the expenditure, administration and policy of HM Treasury. This includes its agencies and associated bodies, including HM Revenue and Customs, the Ba

Finance

United Kingdom cost-of-living crisis

In late 2021, the prices of many essential goods in the United Kingdom began increasing faster than household incomes, resulting in a fall in real incomes. The phenomenon has been termed a cost-of-living crisis. It is due in part to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a global surge in inflation, wage stagnation attributed to the Conservative Party's austerity program

Trading basics

United Kingdom government austerity programme

The United Kingdom government austerity programme was a fiscal policy that was adopted for a period in the early 21st century following the era of the Great Recession. Coalition and Conservative governments in office from 2010 to 2019 used the term, and it was applied again by many observers to describe Conservative Party policies from 2021 to 2024, during the cost of living crisis. With

Trading basics

Venture capital trust

A venture capital trust or VCT is a tax efficient UK closed-end collective investment scheme designed to provide venture capital for small expanding companies, and income (in the form of dividend distributions) and/or capital gains for investors. VCTs are a form of publicly traded private equity, comparable to investment trusts in the UK or business development companies in the United St