Taking A Closer Look At The Big Picture — Recently I looked into a lot of annual reports to back a certain argument with real data. What struck me in one particular company was that the sequence of numbers seem to be too good to be real. This was the very same strange feeling I had more than a…

How an outdated benchmark distorts reality — Everybody seems to know it: cross-border payments are way too expensive. One can find this incontrovertible narrative in countless articles, in market research, and in podcasts. It is even the base for official G20 policies. It is used as argument for Bitcoin, Stellar, and CBDCs. But is it still true…

Lessons Learned from Micropayments — The ability to pay small sums digitally is said to be the holy grail of web monetization. It will reduce web advertising, avoid subscription hell, lower paywalls and provides income for even the smallest content creator. In short, micropayments will disrupt the payment market. The rewards for those that will…

If one thinks about digital payment systems there is always one fear in the back of the mind. What happens if the light goes out or the internet connection is offline? The first and easy answer is always: those systems need a backup mode to be usable in the extreme…

The most puzzling aspect of bitcoin is the high price. Is there real value that leads to it or is it pure speculation? The question is probably as old as bitcoin itself but a good answer seems not to be widely known. In the legendary debate from 2018 “Is Bitcoin…

A few days ago I asked on LinkedIn, whether gold or bitcoin is less risky for a long-term investment. The results were stunning. The bitcoin enthusiasts tend to prefer bitcoin. Outsiders tend to answer gold. However, there was no clear majority for either of the choices. …