Russia could become first country to make entire currency DIGITAL as cryptocurrency booms

The Sun 19 Feb 2021, 1:42

Discussions are underway about the launch of the digital ruble with local banks and the country’s financial watchdog has reportedly said it would present a more detailed concept by summer.

The head of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, said the regulator had received detailed feedback from the banking community about the prospect in a report back in October.

According to an RT report, most lenders expressed their support over a two-level model of the digital ruble.

The model would allow banks to open wallets for their clients on the central bank’s platform and conduct operations with the currency.

Nabiullina said: “We will develop a more detailed concept and start discussing it with the public, market participants, and banks at the beginning of summer.”

 

Sitting on billions, Catholic dioceses amassed taxpayer aid

AP February 4, 2021

When the coronavirus forced churches to close their doors and give up Sunday collections, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte turned to the federal government’s signature small business relief program for more than $8 million.

The diocese’s headquarters, churches and schools landed the help even though they had roughly $100 million of their own cash and short-term investments available last spring, financial records show. When the cash catastrophe church leaders feared didn’t materialize, those assets topped $110 million by the summer.

“I am gratified to report the overall good financial health of the diocese despite the many difficulties presented by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Bishop Peter Jugis wrote in the diocese’s audited financial report released last fall.

As the pandemic began to unfold, scores of Catholic dioceses across the U.S. received aid through the Paycheck Protection Program while sitting on well over $10 billion in cash, short-term investments or other available funds, an Associated Press investigation has found. And despite the broad economic downturn, these assets have grown in many dioceses.

Warning to the rich

 

1Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.  

2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.  

3Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.  

4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.  

5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.  

6Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.      James 5:1-6

 Note: And also a warning to the spiritually rich (Laodicea)

The World’s Billionaires Have Gotten $1.9 Trillion Richer In 2020

Forbes Dec 16, 2020

It’s been a year of pandemic-driven lockdowns, political upheaval and—especially for the planet’s richest people—incredible wealth gains. With major stock markets soaring high, Forbes estimates that the 2,200-plus billionaires in the world have collectively gotten $1.9 trillion richer in 2020.

The world’s billionaires are worth an estimated $11.4 trillion, based on Forbes’ calculations using stock prices from Friday, December 11. That’s up 20% from collective wealth of $9.5 trillion on December 31, 2019.

America’s billionaire class had a smashing 2020. Altogether, the more than 600 U.S. billionaires are worth $4 trillion, a gain of $560 billion since the beginning of the year, aided by record-breaking stock markets. The S&P 500, sitting near all-time highs, is up 13% this year despite the March Covid-crash; the Nasdaq is up 38%.

No one in the world has had a better 2020 than Elon Musk, whose fortune has grown an astonishing $110 billion this year to nearly $137 billion, making him the third-richest person in the world. The surge came from skyrocketing shares of Tesla Motors, which have ballooned by 630%. That rise has been fueled by incredibly bullish investors and the fact that the electric carmaker will be added to the S&P 500 index on December 21.

The world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, had the second-best year. Bezos, who is worth $182 billion, has gotten $67.5 billion richer in 2020 thanks to rising Amazon stock; the online retailer has been cashing in on a world shopping from home.

Covid spikes cashless payments

Fresh Business 20th August 2020

Safety measures imposed by Covid-19 guidelines have resulted in a spike in cashless and digital payments in recent months, according to a new report.

Payments company Square’s findings showed that fewer than one in four payments have been made by cash during the lockdown period, around half of pre-Covid levels.

The report also identified that in parallel with this trend of businesses moving away from accepting cash, consumers and businesses are increasingly using e-commerce and mobile payments. The percentage of remote payments taken by businesses surged from 2% in January to 33% in April at the height of the pandemic. As businesses reopen, they continue to process and increased portion of payments over the phone or online without the need for physical contact, albeit not at the same levels seen at the peak of lockdown.

Square found that 31% of businesses made the move to being cashless by mid-July, up from just 8% at the start of 2020. This equates to an increase of 288%, a trend which shows little sign of abating.

The food and drink sector has led the way in going cashless – 33% of businesses in this sector were cashless, a massive increase from the start of the year when only 8% were. Similar trends have been seen in other sectors, including professional services (from 7% to 29%), retail (from 8% to 24%) and healthcare and fitness (from 15% to 29%).

Felipe Chacon, economist at Square, said: “Covid has changed the way we pay. Existing trends towards digital and cashless payments…have been greatly accelerated as a result of the pandemic.

“Business owners have had to move fast, quickly adapting to new ways of getting paid. They’ve had to balance keeping themselves and customers safe and feel safe, alongside making every sale they can.”