央行緊急叫停支付寶騰訊虛擬信用卡  支付股勁瀉  騰訊(00700.HK)跌逾4%

http://www.finet.hk/mainsite/newscenter/FINETHK/1/3531072.html

2014-03-14 10:30

財華社香港新聞中心

3月13日，央行下發緊急文件叫停支付寶、騰訊的虛擬信用卡産品，同時叫停的還有條碼(二維碼,即QR Code)支付等面對面支付服務。

央行通知表示，線下條碼(二維碼)支付突破了傳統手藝終端的業務模式，其風險控制水平直接關系到客戶的信息安全與資金安全。虛擬信用卡突破了現有信用卡業務模式，在落實客戶身份識別義務、保障客戶信息安全等方面尚待進壹步研究。

央行在通知中要求，立即暫停線下條碼(二維碼)支付、虛擬信用卡有關業務，采取有效措施確保業務暫停期間的平穩過渡。

there are lots of reasons why cash is bad:

#1 Cash is expensive
 
Cash costs the economy $200 billion, according to Tufts professors Bhaskar Chakravorti and Benjamin Mazzotta. The study did not compare the relative costs of cash v. plastic (or other alternatives), but that is a fairly staggering number. For an individual, the losses mostly come in the form of fees and opportunity costs. For businesses it mostly comes in the form of theft. And for government this mostly comes in the form of lost tax revenue. Here's their breakdown:

#2 Cash is inconvenient
 
On average, the Tufts researchers found, Americans waste 28 minutes a month traveling to an ATM, or 5.6 hours a year. Much of that time would likely have been spent on leisure. But at the mean wage, that means $31 billion lost annually. "...It is indicative of just how much time in the aggregate is spent managing currency," the Tufts professors write.
 
#3 Cash is dirty
 
Researchers from Wright Patterson Medical Center recently asked 68 shoppers at a grocery store to swap out dollar bills they were holding with clean ones. They got the following results:

 •Eighty-seven percent were contaminated with bacteria that could cause an infection in anyone with a compromised immune system, such as people with HIV or cancer.
 •Seven percent had bacteria that could cause an infection in perfectly healthy people.
 •Only 6% were completely clean.
 
#4 Using an ATM is like going to a public bathroom
 
In 2011, British researchers compared the two and found, "the ATM machines were shown to be heavily contaminated with bacteria; to the same level as nearby public lavatories."
 
#5 Cash is dangerous
 
Yes, there's the hacking thing. But Tufts' Chakravorti told us that the odds of your specific account getting hacked remain negligible. On the other hand, he says, the more cash you carry, the greater the risk of losing or misplacing it.
 
#6 Cash facilitates crime
 
A 2012 University of Chicago study confirmed robberies were more concentrated around places that did most of their business in cash.
 
#7 There are physical limits on going cash only
 
Chakravorti points out there are limits on how much you can withdraw from an ATM. Plus the more money you're carrying, the more cumbersome it is to hold it. “You don’t want to be carrying a bag of money into Best Buy to buy a flat-screen TV," Susan Grant, the director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America, told the Times' Stout. "People shouldn’t have to resort to that for peace of mind."
 
#8 You can't order stuff online with cash
 
If you love inconvenience, cash is your guy. Plus it is much easier to keep track of purchases by paying with credit cards, as you don't have to manage a bunch of paper receipts.
 
#9 Businesses lose tons of money to cash theft each year
 
U.S. stores lose $40 billion dollars to cash theft.
 
#10 Cash is expensive to protect
 
The cost of mitigating that above number runs to 0.46% of a business' average gross sales.
 
#11 Cash enables tax evasion
 
Conservatively, the Tufts professors say, studies have shown the government loses $100 billion annually in foregone tax revenue from cash transactions.
 
#12 You can't build up a credit score with cash
 
Credit cards can get you into debt. But they're also basically the only way you'll ever be able to get a loan in the first place. This is perhaps the most immediate benefit.
 
#13 Cash is discriminatory
 
The Tufts researchers found that those without access to financial instruments pay on average about $3.66 more per month in fees than those who do have access, and are nearly four times as likely to face fees. African Americans are more than twice as likely, as measured by the logit coefficient (2.2) to pay for access to cash. "The costs of cash are disproportionately borne by poorer people who have less access to banking," Chakravorti told us.

i respect him obviously, but i also feel a bit sorry for him - he must be living under constant pressure and unknowns.

中共政府狂印鈔 : 通過高通脹由百姓承擔

去年年底，中國國家審計署公布了政府債務規模數據，中央政府債務九萬八千一百二十九點四八億，地方政府債務十萬八千八百五十九點四九億元，即全國各級政府負有償還責任的債務共二十萬六千九百八十八點六五億元;還有，負有擔保責任的債務二萬九千二百五十六點四九億元，可能承擔一定救助責任的債務六萬六千五百零四點五六億元。實際上“負有擔保責任”和“可能承擔一定救助責任”的債務最後都是要由政府承擔的，因此這三十萬二千七百四十九點七億元說到底還是政府債務。

對政府債務不準嘖言

審計署公布了中共政府債務數據之後，大陸官方媒體聲音一邊倒，都說中共政府債務不算多。確實如此。去年中國GDP總值五十一萬九千三百二十二億元，中共政府債只佔中國GDP的一半稍過，較之美國政府債務佔GDP的百分之七十要低許多。

不過，中共政府債務規模這幾年逐年增長，其風險在提高，其危機在加大;而且二○一二年中共政府財政收入只有十一點七萬億元，政府債務占政府財政收入的百分之二百五十九，這就令人咋舌了。

這後一種聲音在大陸各媒體中是聽不到的。原來，審計署一公布中共政府債務數據，中共宣傳部就通知大陸各媒體：媒體不得對中共政府債務尤其是地方債作負面報道及評論。

中央政府的債務連同“負有擔保責任”和“可能承擔一定救助責任”的債務大概是十二萬億左右。如果說，中國中央政府的債務還構不成危機，那麼中國地方債務危機的影子已經很清晰可見了。

現在地方政府財政收入中，土地財政佔了大頭，去年大陸各地賣地收入超三萬億，可是與二十萬億的地方債規模相比還是差了許多。地方財政其它收入增長極慢，營業稅改增值稅可能還會使地方財政收入有所降低。而各地的社會保障投入則逐年在增加。

今年各地政府必然也必須繼續賣地，但今年地方財政收入卻不能保證必定增長;而今年到期需償還的政府負有償還責任的債務，佔地方政府性債務餘額的百分之二十一點八九。二○一五年至二○一六年地方債務到期比重則分別為百分之十七點零六和百分之十一點五八，三年里需償還地方債的一半。還有許多名義上不是地方債的地方債。

地方債是否會違約? 誰也說不準。

事實上，地方政府在清償地方債的一年年過程中，還會再舉地方債，常常是舉新債還舊債。國家發改委負責人最近明確允許地方債“借新還舊”。地方政府的借債衝動很難抑制，事實上，地方債規模逐年擴大就是不斷在“借新還舊”。

地方債幾近於龐氏騙局

在現代政府運作模式中，舉債是一種有用的工具也是一種必要的手段，中國地方政府借地方債照理也是正常的。可是，長期來中國地方債一直比較亂。以政府為背景的融資平台，通過各種辦法募集資金，包括通過子公司滾動發行“理財產品”吸納投資，甚至通過私人渠道在香港等地募資，資金成本一度高達百分之二十左右。有許多地方債“高利短融”的融資平台是不透明的，包括一些高利貸或者是違規發行的理財產品、私募債還有信託產品等，很多類似於龐氏結構，持續滾動高息發行。

中國地方債為什麼會弄得這麼亂、這麼不透明?弄到要借利息高期限緊的短期融資的地步。按照慣例，政府債券有公共財政為後盾，基本上都屬“金邊債券”，可中國的某些地方債卻幾近於龐氏騙局。

政府負債的兩個原因

公開的原因是，地方政府在“趕超”思維下、在追求GDP熱潮中，在改善本地商業環境、增強本地經濟實力的追求中，不管不顧本地財政能力和償債能力，大肆舉債上項目。

隱秘的理由便是，只要有政府工程，政府官員便有合法的和“潛規則”的好處。中央政府自有雄厚的政府資金不斷搞各種各樣的政府工程，地方政府搞工程只能自想辦法了。

地方債這麼亂，中央政府似乎有與之劃清界限的想法。財政部和銀監會連續下文規定，省級政府可以設立一家資產管理或經營公司，參與本地區不良資產的批量轉讓工作。最近中共十八大三中全會提出準備建立地方主體稅種、發行地方長期建設債券等。

可是，根據中共一黨專政的中央集權的政治體制和法律體系，中國的地方政府都不能獨立於中央政府體系之外，地方政府其實是無法獨立發行地方債的。中國現行的每一筆正式的地方債無不是由中央批准，甚至是代為發行的。因此，中國的地方債歸根結柢要由中央政府來兜底。

政府債務亦依靠印鈔機

現在看來，大部分地方債僅靠地方政府是難以償清的，可是中央政府將怎樣來最後承擔地方債務呢?先來看看中央政府是如何來應對中國經濟的。

中央政府有龐大的連續二十年大幅增長的財政收入，可是每當經濟下行或遇到經濟危機需要刺激時，政府採取的財政政策不是壓縮行政開銷、壓縮軍費開銷，不是主要依靠發行政府債券，甚至不是依靠財政赤字，而是赤裸裸地依靠印鈔機──超額發行人民幣。

在中共一黨專政下，中共政府發行多少人民幣無須向普通民眾交代，絕大多數中國老百姓根本不知道每年發行人民幣的具體數目。中國的法律也支持了中共政府的這種做法，《中國人民銀行法》規定：“貨幣政策目標是保持貨幣幣值的穩定，並以此促進經濟增長。”所以，世上各國凡有遇上經濟危機，資本無不受到重創，唯獨中國的權貴資本，即使遇到二○○八年的國際金融危機，仍然毫髮無損。因為超發的四十多萬億人民幣承擔了危機的損失，超發四十多萬億鈔票的結果就是長時期的高通脹。

地方債看來也將如此。

在既不明確地方政府是地方債的責任主體，又不明確中央政府是地方債的最後保底人，這樣含糊狀態下，地方債的主要債權人本來就是銀行，當鉅額的地方債嚴重拖累銀行時，最易順勢通過銀行的壞賬，通過國資的再注入，輕而易舉的稀釋化為流動性的增加，成為高通脹的誘因和結果。鉅額的地方債由全國每個人來埋單了。

這還不算是最壞的結果。如此規模的地方債居然沒有一個責任人，那麼地方債勢必惡性循環，規模會越來越大，直至真正的中國債務危機爆發而難以收拾。

people keep on saying bitcoin is not a physical thing, it is an idea that currently centralised things can be changed to decentralised p2p + cryptography.

well, besides bitcoin, i don't see any other currently centralised thing being converted to such??

maybe it is all just bullsh*t?

1. sha256 gets cracked
2. satoshi dumps all his coins

what else?

中共的印錢速度令全球央行相形見絀

《華爾街見聞報導》稱，中國“印錢”速度遠超過耶倫和伯南克，遑論德拉吉和黑田東彥，中國央行貨幣供應增長速度之迅猛無人能及。

據周三公布的數據顯示，中國的貨幣供應繼續飛速增長。周小川及其同事才剛剛開始直面控制貨幣供應這項複雜而艱難的任務。

自2006年底至今，中國的貨幣供應翻了三倍。但從2006年至去年11月，美國的貨幣供應只增加了55%。貨幣潮水般地湧入，推動了經濟走向新高，但同時也將資產價格推至高點。房價不斷飆升，讓中國的普通大眾寒心退場，人們對泡沫的恐懼也不斷增加。

中國和其他主要西方國家存在著巨大的差異。美聯儲、歐洲央行和日本央行正試圖預防通縮，將經濟從金融危機中解救出來。他們無須擔心通脹風險。

但中國的貨幣政策刺激機制與聯儲的QE有很大不同。美聯儲是通過購買國債和按揭債券來印錢。中國則很大程度上通過發行貨幣來購買大量湧入的美元，以保證人民幣兌美元的過度升值，維護中國的進出口優勢。

而且，影子銀行規模的迅速膨脹也大量增加了中國的貨幣供應，增加了銀行系統的風險。

昨天公布的數據顯示，2013年12月，中國廣義貨幣(M2)同比增長13.6%，增幅比11月低0.6%，比2012年同期低0.2%。該數據說明，中國央行已經開始控制貨幣供應，但動作仍比較慢。貨幣供應的增速明顯超過通脹調整後約7.6%的GDP增長。

在2009年時，中國為了抵消經融危機的衝擊大量印錢，M2增長几乎接近30%。在那之後，中國降低了貨幣供應速度，但仍遠高於GDP增長。這說明央行並沒有在控制信貸上做太多努力。

問題是，中國是否能夠進一步降低貨幣供應增速。現在僅僅是供應溫和減緩就導致了兩次銀行間利率飆升。

據紐約時報，瑞穗證券駐香港經濟學家沈劍光表示：“中國央行的處境十分艱難。央行希望收緊信貸，但整個系統並不習慣，後者已經適應了大筆印錢的日子。”

if it comes down to the wire, between the governments killing bitcoin and you giving your life to save it, would you?

how many people would?

if everything about bitcoin stays the same, except when satoshi released it, he was recognized by his real person.

say he was a computer scientist, similar to linus torvalds creating Linux.

would bitcoin have turned out different then?

if you could travel back to 2008, knowing what you know now, what fundamental changes (if any) would you make to the bitcoin system before it gets released to the wild?

as we know, bitcoin is growing at the moment, albeit slowly.

but nothing lasts forever, so just like myspace and facebook, one day people will get bored with bitcoin and move on to something else e.g. fiat money.

what will you do then?

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/28/bitcoin-is-evil/

this proves 3 things we already know:

1. the nobel is a joke - just go ask peace nobel winner obama after he comes back from initiating wars and sending drones killing women and children.

2. economics as a science is a joke.

3. the global central banks and financial establishment is in full attack mode on bitcoin because they know it will destroy them.

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/financeestate/art/20131227/18567885

中國內銀股價跌低於每股資產淨值

在地方債及水緊問題持續困擾下，內銀難見突破

內地銀行股今年負面消息多多，在中港兩地上市的內銀股，逾半H股市賬率（PB）低於1倍，9隻A股更有七隻PB低於1倍，比率接近八成，換言之，接近全個板塊股價全部低於每股資產淨值（NAV）。專家相信在地方債及水緊問題續困擾下，即使股價較NAV有折讓，除非A股氣氛逆轉，內銀股難見突破。

多家銀行為年結四出張羅銀行同業資金，一度令上海銀行同業拆息（SHIBOR）抽高，雖然人行日前終以逆回購釋出290億元人民幣資金令拆息大跌，但內銀股昨仍成為A股跌市元兇，光銀（6818）A股更跌1.88%，差絕本港上市內銀。一周SHIBOR昨跌28.7點子至5.329厘，1個月SHIBOR則升6.1點子至6.57厘。

股價低於NAV難融資

另外，分析員指出，內銀發新股集資時，不可以低於賬面值批股，故內銀股價低於資產值變相令內銀行難以供股谷資本，面對現時的低殘股價加上新資本要求，內銀股將難以靠股本融資谷資本，變相限制內銀的貸款增長，尤以中小型銀行更艱難。
截至昨日，本報統計中港兩地上市的內銀股當中，接近所有內銀A股股價已經跌得低過其每股資產淨值（9月底數據），僅工行（1398）及民行（1988）仍有1倍或以上PB，分別有1.14及1.13倍，可見內銀股表現相當不濟。當中，中行及交行（3328）A股PB更分別低至0.63倍及0.7倍，剛在港掛牌的光銀A股亦只得0.79倍PB。

H股方面，只得工行、建行、農行（1288）及招行（3968）有1倍以上PB，其餘全數股價低於資產淨值，當中同樣以中行的0.66倍最低。今年迄今，9隻H股內銀，只有中行升3.5%，其他全數滑鐵盧，跌幅介乎1%至9.4%，其中以信行（998）最差。
對於內銀A股股價普遍跌至低於其每股資產淨值，變相令內銀H股出現溢價，專家普遍認為不會為內銀股造成壓力。訊匯證券行政總裁沈振盈指出，內地股民較少留意內銀股，反而因大市氣氛差而對內銀只會「沽、沽、沽」。

鄧聲興：須候A股反彈

回歸基本因素，利率市場化同樣困擾內銀股，有外資分析員指出，不應將利率市場化當壞消息看，他解釋稱，早前宣佈內銀可發大額存款證（NCD），將令內銀有更多渠道取得同業資金，且估計成本會較拆借低，利好內銀股淨息差表現。

AMTD證業務部總經理鄧聲興指出，內銀股跌至現水平已提供吸納機會。他解釋，內銀現可供逾5厘回報，故現時有一定的吸引力，但建議投資者要有耐性，待A股反彈始能見內銀股抽升。有美資基金經理補充，股價低過NAV不代表抵買，或是反映銀行資產質素惡化。

if i install all the 4 major clients on one same windows 7 computer and run them, will they conflict with each other in some ways?

if not, can i send and receive bitcoins among them as if they are totally separate addresses on the blockchain?

thanks in advance.

since i introduced bitcoin to my cousin, his hero is now satoshi, and when he goes to university of phoenix this fall he will major in cryptography.

is it a hard subject to study and learn - do they give out a’s in harvard cryptography classes?

while i would never wish ill thoughts onto him, the fact is people get hit by a bus everyday.

people get heart attacks every day, people travel to other countries and catch a bad flu and pass away in short notice, people get poisoned by jealous husbands for screwing their wives, and so on and so forth.

perhaps he is being held hostage for non-bitcoin-related reasons, perhaps he is in a federal PMITA prison serving life sentence for some non-bitcoin-related charges.

that means we will never get to know him.

the synergy effect means we should incoporate bitcoin with other explosive emerging technologies in society e.g. drone, 3d printing, nano tech, bio hacking, internet of things etc etc.

any ideas how?

something you can hold in your hand, that is bitcoin-related.

off the top of my head:

1. physical bitcoins i.e.

casascius coin
titan coin
bit paper
bit card

2. bitcoin magazine

3. general merchandise with bitcoin logo on it e.g.

t-shirts
mugs
badges

etc.

Is there anything i have missed?

on a scale of 1-10,
1 as in a scrap of toilet paper on the street you walk by,
and 10 being your entire family and children and friends and career and life purpose all rolled into one.

how important is bitcoin in your life?

since 2011 i have experienced several bitcoin bubble crashes, and each time during the consolidation quiet phase, i play the crossword puzzles in the papers until the next bubble comes along.

you?