Also: š³ Making the earth greener, one year at a time š From the cloud to the ocean š„ Bread insuranc
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September 21 · Issue #28 · View online
A weekly summary of the latest news in our world of finance, design, and technology.
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Also: š³ Making the earth greener, one year at a time š From the cloud to the ocean š„ Bread insurance? š Apple and monopoly š Are we soon reaching peak niche banks? š³ Yes! We have reached peak niche banks!
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On a related note, Microsoft, one of the worldās largest cloud providers, sank a data center underwater two years agoĀ . Last week they resurfaced it, and their researchers assessed how it has performed and what they can learn from it about energy efficiency. Their first conclusion is that the cylinder packed with servers had a lower failure rate than a conventional data center, about one-eighth of what they see on land. Come to think of it having data-centers on the bottom of the ocean makes sense in a lot of ways: The temperature is cooler and more stable, and it is harder to destroy by both natural disasters and terrorist attacks. The main worry might be electronics and water donāt mix that well. Maybe we have to rename it from Ā«the cloudĀ» to Ā«the oceanĀ» someday?
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Accenture, in their Disruptability Index, called Insurance one of the most susceptible to future disruption, andĀ one of the least innovative sectors.Ā Interestingly enough, one of the latest insurance trends is very old: Bread funds, an alternative kind of disability insurance that can replace lost income.Ā Ā This has been a trendy alternative for Dutch independent entrepreneurs to traditional insuranceĀ . Participants pay a monthly contribution to a pool, plus a small administrative fee, thatās made up of contributions from other self-employed folks. When someone in the group needs the funds, they file a āclaimā with their group leaders and are gifted the money for as long as they need it ā receiving it as a gift allows recipients to accept the funds without paying income taxes. The poolās recommended minimum is 25, and the maximum size is 50 people to avoid a degree of anonymity. A ābroodfondsā organise solidarity by personal connections and networking, and its members are self-governing, but there are platforms that help make it more professional likeĀ Ā RisicodelenĀ . The idea behind bread funds reminds me of Tribe insurance, where the central concept was that their customers created tribes who merged and shared the risk. This should give lower claims payments and thereby lower prices. Unfortunately, Tribe Venneforsikring wasĀ Ā unable to create profitabilityĀ , and therefore silently closed down a while ago.
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Apple has long been criticized for locking down the NFC functionality on their phones and restricting it to Apple Pay. This is seen as an anti-competitive move to keep competitors at bay. The EU is now looking to introduce new legislation thatĀ Ā will force Apple to allow alternative payment services to coexist with Apple PayĀ . Appleās good news is that the EU will wait until 2022 before making any legislative changes to its current digital policy.Ā Apple is also at the moment being investigated by the EU Antitrust Commission over itsĀ Ā App Store policies.Ā This comes in the wake of Epic Games, creators of the game Fortnite,Ā Ā suing Apple for their App Store policiesĀ , especially their 30% revenue cut. Apples reason for distributing apps in their App Store are good:Ā
- The software is sandboxed, where they can only do things that Apple allows.
- Apps are much easier to distribute and update.
- Apple is providing frictionless, safe payment for apps.
āRemember: Appleās iOS rules would not have allowed for the invention of the web browser. Let that sink inā.
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Metal cards have been all the rage in banking in recent years. This week we came over two new ones:
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The first one is theĀ Ā X1 credit card, targetting the bonus point hunterĀ , unlocking higher tiers the more you spend. However, one of the more exciting features is Auto-expiring virtual cards to automatically end free trials and a feature for canceling subscription payments in one click. Quite useful in these SaaS-times.
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The other one is quite eccentric:Ā Ā Letter - a new kind of exclusive bankĀ . Apart from its diamond induced website (itās well-crafted, Iāll give them that), I donāt see the significant customer value proposition. However, they have a very nice feature that I wonder why more banks havenāt implemented: Every time you use your card, theyāll automatically donate to a charity of your choice.
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MSCHF is announcing the worldās first competitive multiplayer bank account. Come again, you say? Well, MSCHF, an artssatirebranding-studio (we mentioned them inĀ week 18 - selling a cut-up Damien Hirst painting)Ā , will send out access codes to people on theirĀ Ā waitlist.Ā Once those people receive their card in the mail, the game begins. The cards link back to the same bank account, owned by MSCHF, who will deposit money in the account at random. The players then race to spend the money. In this project, MSCHF partners with card payment startupĀ Ā Privacy.comĀ , who lets anyoneĀ Ā generate virtual and disposable payment card numbersĀ for free, allowing those users to keep their actual credit card numbers safe. Here is an excerpt from MSCHFās manifesto on the project: āAmerican Express is dying to layer gamification upon gamification until the credit card itself is all but invisible: cashback, points, frequent flier miles, lounge access, industry-specific rewards. [..] The core of the premise is this: if your every purchase makes a set of 6 auxiliary numbers go UP, perhaps you will forget that the main number (your bank balance) is going DOWN.āĀ Ā Read more about the game here.
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Card V. Card by MSCHF
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