Fintech
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Justice Department Sues to Block Visa Plaid Acquisition, Plaid’s Potential, Scalability and Antitrust
The Justice Department gets it right again with another lawsuit, this time against Visa’s acquisition of Plaid.
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Morgan Stanley Acquires E*Trade, Intuit Reportedly Acquiring Credit Karma, User Acquisition and Market Power
Morgan Stanley acquired E*Trade, and Intuit is reportedly acquiring Credit Karma; both are about improving customer acquisition, but the competitive impacts differ.
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Visa, Plaid, Networks, and Jobs
The history of credit cards helps explain why Plaid is valuable to Visa, and how Visa can make it significantly better.
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More on Chrome and AMP, The Case Against Google, Decentralization and Paradigm Shifts
More on Chrome and AMP, and what The Case Against Google gets wrong about Microsoft. Then, why decentralized networks are aggregator kryptonite.
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Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, TL;DR: The Bitcoin Paradox, Uber-Softbank Deal
Bitcoin versus Bitcoin Cash looks like a pump-and-dump deal; that, though underscores the paradox underlying Bitcoin’s value. Then, Uber and Softbank reach a deal that will reflect the fact Uber didn’t kill Lyft.
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Gatekeepers Follow-Up, Hollywood and Venture Capital, The New York Times versus Tech
The removal of Gatekeepers should not drive the demand for new ones; then, why venture capital has a lot in common with Hollywood, which should serve as a warning. Finally, a reminder, courtesy of the New York Times, of why the Fake News campaign is dangerous.
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Trouble at Lending Club, Lending Club and Aggregation Theory, What Went Wrong
FinTech seems like the perfect application of Aggregation Theory, but over this past week it has blown up in the face of serious issues at Lending Club. The mistakes that were made in do to a degree validate why I haven’t covered the space to date.
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More on Bitcoin, Samsung and Designing Software, The Problem with Holacracy
More on Bitcoin and the fundamental problem with the project, plus my thoughts on the blocksize question. Then, Samsung still can’t nail software, and the problems with Holacracy.
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Bitcoin and Diversity
First, an exploration of the block size debate that is roiling the Bitcoin world, and then how lessons from that debate apply to diversity in tech.
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About that Apple Car (and Jony Ive), The 21 Inc Bitcoin Computer
I’ve agreed that there is probably an Apple Car for a while, but I do need to make it official that I was likely wrong about Jony Ive. Then, what is the deal with 21 Inc’s Bitcoin Computer? Is there any way it makes sense?