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As you mourn Lehman, spare a thought for crypto

Everyone remembers where they were a decade ago, right? I’m not talking about the collapse of Lehman Brothers. I mean the Bitcoin white paper of Oct. 31, 2008. It outlined a type of online peer-to-peer electronic cash that would bypass financial institutions — which the author blamed for abusing people’s trust, creating credit bubbles, and charging big fees. Ironically, Bitcoin ...

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Don’t blame bankers for fintech buyers’ remorse

It didn’t last long. Fintech darling Adyen NV is no longer bigger than Deutsche Bank AG. Shares of the payments startup have fallen 17 percent since a group of its original backers offloaded some their stock well before the end of a lock-up period set at its initial public offering. The disposals are understandable. Adyen’s still-very-expensive valuation is less so. ...

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Why Russia should buy back its domestic debt

Russia, according to Deputy Finance Minister Vladimir Kolychev, is ready to buy back its own domestic debt on the open markets if the US sanctions it or if volatility becomes substantially higher than normal. The idea makes sense if one views foreign bondholders as a source of instability — and that’s how a country like President Vladimir Putin’s Russia should ...

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