XPayIndustry WIKIBack to home
XPAY KNOWLEDGE

Industry WIKI

Digital assets and currencies

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

Trading basics

Almshouse

An almshouse is a form of charitable housing that developed in medieval Europe to provide long-term accommodation for people unable to support themselves, most often the elderly or disabled. Originating from earlier hospital foundations associated with Christian charity, almshouses emerged as distinct institutions by the later medieval period, typically housing small numbers of residents

Banking

Bai Salam

Bai Salam (Arabic بيع سلم, more accurately transliterated as Bai us Salami) is an Islamic contract in which full payment is made in advance for specific goods (often agricultural products) to be delivered at a future date. It is necessary that the quality of the commodity intended to be purchased is fully specified leaving no ambiguity leading to dispute. Bai salam covers almost every

Finance

Bayt al-mal

Bayt al-mal (بيت المال) is an Arabic term that is translated as "House of money" or "House of wealth". Historically, it was a financial institution responsible for the administration of taxes in Islamic states; particularly in the early Islamic Caliphate, it functioned as something of a mix between a Central Bank and a Treasury. It was managed by the caliphs and sultans, in dealing with

Banking

Bethmann family

The Bethmann family (; BET-mahn) has been remarkable for the high proportion of its male members who succeeded at mercantile or financial endeavors. This family trait began in medieval northern Germany and continued with the Bethmann bank, which Johann Philipp Bethmann (1715–1793) and Simon Moritz Bethmann (1721–1782) founded in 1748 and soon catapulted into the foremost ranks of German

Trading basics

Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark

The convertible mark (Bosnian; sign: KM; code: BAM) is the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is divided into 100 pfenig or fening and locally abbreviated KM. While the currency and its subunits are uniform for both constituent polities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS), the designs of the KM 10, KM 20, KM 50,

Trading basics

Capitalism and Islam

Islamic capitalism was active during the Islamic Golden Age and Arab Agricultural Revolution, where an early market economy and form of merchant capitalism took root between the 8th and 12th centuries. A vigorous monetary economy was based on a widely-circulated currency (the dinar) and the integration of monetary areas that were previously independent. Business techniques and forms of b

Banking

Challenges in Islamic finance

Challenges in Islamic finance are the difficulties in providing modern finance services without violation of sharia (Islamic law).

Trading basics

Diaconia

A diaconia was originally an establishment built near a church building, for the care of the poor and distribution of the church's charity in medieval Rome or Naples. In contemporary theology, the word diakonia presents a variety of connotations and representations.

Fiat currencies

Ewiger Pfennig

The Ewiger Pfennig or eternal penny (Latin: denarius perpetuus) was a coin of the regional pfennig period (bracteate period), which was minted until the late medieval groschen time. These coins are mostly of the Hohlpfennig or "hollow pfennig" type which, unlike bracteates, had to be exchanged regularly for a fee but were not subject to annual recall of coins in circulation, the Münzverr

Banking

Fils (currency)

The fils (Arabic: فلس) is a subdivision of currency used in some Arab countries, such as, in modern times, Iraq and Bahrain. The term is a modern retranscription of fals, an early medieval Arab copper coin first produced by the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) beginning in the late 7th century and used throughout the region under its rule.

Finance

Finance in India

A prevailing trend from the medieval period, most Indians invest more than half of personal savings physical assets such as land, houses, gold, livestock, and other precious metals and ornaments. Since liberalisation in the 1990s, the Government of India has approved significant banking reforms. While some of these relate to nationalised banks (like encouraging mergers, reducing governme

Finance

Financial astrology

Financial astrology (also known as business astrology, economic astrology, and/or astro-economics) is a pseudoscientific practice of relating the movements of celestial bodies to events in financial markets. The use of astrology in any context is not empirically based and its use in predicting financial markets is at plain odds with standard economic and financial theory.

Banking

Gold dinar

The gold dinar (Arabic: ﺩﻳﻨﺎﺭ ذهب) is an Islamic medieval gold coin first issued in AH 77 (696–697 CE) by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The weight of the dinar is 1 mithqal (4.25 grams or 0.137 troy ounces).

Payments & settlement

Hawala

Hawala or hewala (Arabic: حِوالة, romanized: Ḥawāla, lit. 'transfer, trust'), originating in India as havālā (Hindi: हवाला) or huṇḍī (Hindi: हुण्डी, romanized: Huṇḍī, Sanskrit: हुण्डिका, romanized: Huṇḍikā, lit. 'bill of exchange, draft, or promissory note'), also known as ḥavâleh in Persian, and xawala or xawilaad in Somali, is a popular and informal value transfer system based on the p

Trading basics

History of coins in Italy

Italy has a long history of different coinage types, which spans thousands of years. Italy has been influential at a coinage point of view: the medieval Florentine florin, one of the most used coinage types in European history and one of the most important coins in Western history, was struck in Florence in the 13th century, while the Venetian sequin, minted from 1284 to 1797, was the mo

Banking

History of pawnbroking

Pawnbroking, lending money on portable security, began in ancient history. The practice was widespread in many parts of the world, from ancient Greece to medieval China and medieval Europe.

Trading basics

History of the taka

The taka, also known as the tanka or tangka or dangka, was one of the major historical currencies of Asia, particularly in the Indian subcontinent and Tibet. It was introduced in the 14th century and became a currency of the Silk Road. Its history is intertwined with the medieval Islamic history and culture of the Indian subcontinent.

Payments & settlement

Hundi

A hundi or hundee (Hindi: हुण्डी, romanized: Huṇḍī, Sanskrit: हुण्डिका, romanized: Huṇḍikā, lit. 'bill of exchange, draft, or promissory note') is a financial instrument that was developed in Medieval India for use in trade and credit transactions. Hundis are used as a form of remittance instrument to transfer money from place to place, as a form of credit instrument or IOU to borrow mon

Banking

Islamic banking and finance

Islamic banking, Islamic finance (Arabic: مصرفية إسلامية masrifiyya 'islamia), or Sharia-compliant finance is banking or financing activity that complies with Sharia (Islamic law) and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics. Some of the modes of Islamic finance include mudarabah (profit-sharing and loss-bearing), wadiah (safekeeping), musharaka (joint ventu

Banking

Lombard banking

Lombard banking refers to the business of Italian moneylenders generally referred to as "Lombards" (in medieval times Northern Italy was referred as Lombardy, a much larger region than the modern Lombardy). The term was often used in a derogatory sense, as Lombard banking was associated with the sin of usury.

Banking

Lombard Street, London

Lombard Street () is a street notable for its connections with the City of London's merchant, banking and insurance industries, stretching back to medieval times.

Banking

Massa Frumentaria

Massa Frumentaria or Monte Frumentario was a medieval grain fund established in Malta. As a public institution, it was tasked with the importation and distribution of wheat and other commodities, while also serving as a precursor to an investment bank. The fund was administered by the Università, a municipal body under the control of the Knights of St. John, and later continued under Bri

Banking

Merchant bank

A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodities, particularly cloth merchants. Historically, merchant banks' purpose was to facilitate or finance the production and trade of commodities,

Banking

Murābaḥa

Murābaḥa (Arabic: مرابحة, derived from ribh Arabic: ربح, meaning profit) was originally a term of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) for a sales contract where the buyer and seller agree on the markup (profit) or "cost-plus" price for the item(s) being sold. In recent decades it has become a term for a very common form of Islamic (i.e., "shariah-compliant") financing, where the price is marked

Trading basics

Pontage

Pontage was a toll levied for the building or repair of bridges dating to the medieval era in England, Wales and Ireland.

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

Banking

Riba

Riba (Arabic: ربا ,الربا، الربٰوة, ribā or al-ribā, IPA: [ˈrɪbæː]) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as "usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business (especially banking). Riba is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an (3:130, 4:161, 30:39, and the commonly referenced 2:275-2:280). It is also mentioned in many hadith (

Banking

Sukuk

Sukuk (Arabic: صكوك, romanized: ṣukūk; plural of Arabic: صك, romanized: ṣakk, lit. 'legal instrument, deed, cheque') is the Arabic name for financial certificates, also commonly referred to as "sharia compliant" bonds.

Banking

Takaful

Takaful (Arabic: التكافل, sometimes translated as "solidarity" or mutual guarantee) is a co-operative system of reimbursement or repayment in case of loss, organized as an Islamic or sharia-compliant alternative to conventional insurance, which contains riba (usury) and gharar (excessive uncertainty).

Finance

Tax farming

Farming or tax-farming is a technique of financial management in which the management of a variable revenue stream is assigned by legal contract to a third party and the holder of the revenue stream receives fixed periodic rents from the contractor. It is most commonly used in public finance, where governments (the lessors) lease or assign the right to collect and retain the whole of th

Trading basics

Unam sanctam

Unam sanctam is a papal bull that was issued by Pope Boniface VIII on 18 November 1302. It laid down dogmatic propositions on the unity of the Catholic Church, the necessity of belonging to it for eternal salvation, the position of the Pope as supreme head of the Church and the duty thence arising of submission to the Pope in order to belong to the Church and thus to attain salvation. Th