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This financial system can’t be fixed

Ten years after a crisis that brought the world to the brink of Armageddon, the people overseeing the world’s largest economy insist they’ve reduced the risk of another financial disaster. Just one problem: We need a different financial system, not just better risk management. I had a front-row seat for the watershed event of the 2008 crisis, the failure of ...

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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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