By Coinweek ….
CoinWeek News Wire for July 14, 2017:
The War on Cash
1.) Visa Takes War on Cash to Restaurants
Visa has long considered cash one of its biggest competitors and has been taking steps to chip away at it. Getting rid of cash is a priority for Visa Chief Executive Al Kelly, who took over late last year, especially as cash and check transactions continue to grow globally.
“We’re focused on putting cash out of business,” Mr. Kelly said at Visa’s investor day last month, adding that converting check and cash to digital and electronic payments is the company’s “number-one growth lever.”
2.) The World’s Stand Out Digital Economies
With nearly half of the world’s population online, the research maps the development of 60 countries, demonstrating their competitiveness and market potential for further digital economic growth…
3.) Cyberthreats increase as India goes cashless: Study
“Globally, most countries are facing a shortage of professionals with the expertise, training and motivation needed to deal with cyber criminals, and India is no exception,” said Assocham secretary general D S Rawat…
4.) Did India’s Demonetisation Bring About a Digital Transaction Revolution?
Within a couple of weeks after the demonetisation, the narrative of the goals of the demonetisation dramatically shifted from the black money and fake currency to the virtues of digital economy. Consequent to this, India witnessed a publicity blitzkrieg that promoted digital transactions…
5.) Sub-Saharan Africa Driving Global Market for Mobile Money
[T]he number of live mobile money schemes in the region had reached 140 across 39 countries at the end of last year, accounting for more than half of the 277 mobile money deployments worldwide…
[See Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker’s Market Whimsy column on such monetary innovation here. —CoinWeek]
6.) Limits of a cashless society
A ‘cashless society’ is about as probable as the ‘paperless office’ that some insisted was within reach 20-30 years ago. Just as technologies like email and cloud computing came to co-exist alongside paper, innovations including credit cards, digital wallets and cryptocurrencies are complementing cash rather than replacing it…
Brain Food
7.) What tally sticks tell us about how money works
If money is simply tradable debt, then tally sticks and uncashed Irish cheques weren’t some weird form of quasi-money. They were simply money in a particularly unvarnished form…
8.) This homemaker has a metallic map made of coins
It was her father, Shammaiah Kerodi who inspired Shreemathi to take up the interesting hobby when she was still a child, and her passion for the metallic pieces of history remains undiminished till today…
But the Royal Mint’s strong quality controls mean that finding a coin that has passed through without being checked is more collectable and probably worth more than its value…
10.) 2017 ANA Summer Seminar Week 1 YN Interviews – Numismatics with Kenny
Here are the YN interviews that I did over Week 1 of the 2017 ANA Summer Seminar. I also included some of the numismatic activities that occurred during the week. Please look for Week 2’s YN Summer Seminar video and other videos showing some of the many coins purchased while I was in Colorado Springs. Enjoy!
Under the Radar
11.) Hundreds brave rain to meet coin artist
Hundreds of collectors, young and old, patiently waited in the rain outside of the Queen Street Canada Post office Thursday for the chance to shake hands with local artist Wesley Klassen, whose artwork is the new face of Canada’s dollar coin…
12.) Sri Lanka to issue Rs10 commemorative coin to mark 150 yrs of Ceylon Tea
Since the day James Taylor planted the first seed of tea, Ceylon Tea has embarked on a massive journey.
This is a remarkable achievement from a mere experiment sampling to a gigantic 1.5 billion US dollars export achievement of today, which in the past helped immensely to sustain country’s economy…
Current Events
13.) My Personal Comment on the Proposed Libyan MOU
[From Peter Tompa’s outstanding blog on cultural property laws around the world and how they affect the ancient coin hobby and industry. Recommended reading. —CoinWeek]
Under no circumstances should there be restrictions placed on historical coins except those identifiable as stolen from Libyan public and private collections. Here, IAPN, PNG and ACCG have noted what hoard evidence that is available shows that “Libyan” coins are typically found outside of the confines of modern day “Libya,” which would make any restrictions placed upon them contrary to governing law…
14.) Australian government accused of ‘legalised theft’ over damaged currency crackdown
In Australia, the Mint and the Reserve Bank are responsible for redeeming mutilated coins and banknotes, respectively. After two decades and tens of millions of dollars redeemed, Mr Shahar says both organisations have stopped paying him for his business…
Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency
15.) Mt Gox CEO facing trial in Japan as bitcoin gains traction
Authorities suspect France-born Mark Karpeles of accessing the exchange’s computer system in February 2013 and inflating his cash account by $1 million. He was arrested in August 2015 and released on bail months later…
16.) IRS Blinks in Bitcoin Probe, Exempts Coinbase Transactions Under $20,000
Instead of asking Coinbase for a long list of details about its customers who bought or sold bitcoin between 2013 and 2015, the IRS told a federal court it is now seeking information only for those accounts that engaged in transactions worth $20,000 or more.
The news will come as a relief to thousands of people who dabbled in bitcoin but faced the prospect of a tax investigation for failing to disclose they sold a small amount of the currency, or used it to purchase goods and services…
17.) Cryptocurrencies need regulation, says CEO of Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCC
Lee said central banks need to embrace the fact that bitcoin is a new digital currency that’s being traded actively in China and around the world.
“It’s a new thing the central banks should pay attention to and figure out what the rules and regulations should be.”
Crime & Punishment
18.) Fake Perth Mint gold bars for sale on dark web
“Normal people buy gold to hold it, never open the package and scratch it to verify. These are by far the best bars available and are almost indistinguishable from the real thing,” the advertisement read…
19.) Gilbert police recover stolen $4,000 coin collection
Walton, who police say has “multiple pages of criminal history out of several states”, allegedly admitted that he “knew or should have known” the coins were stolen.
He reportedly told police that, “he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sell them for a large profit.”
20.) Notable eBay coin dealer was downloading child porn when his home was raided
Daniel Canup, 45, is facing 10 counts of possession of child pornography.
[Florida Department of Law Enforcement] agents served a search warrant at his Fox Hollow Circle home as part of a child pornography investigation.
A computer “under Canup’s control” was found and actively downloading child porn while the agents were present, FDLE said.
Agents say as many as 10 images and videos were found. Many of the victims were younger than 12 years old.
[Daniel “Shane” Canup is well-known among coin collectors as eBay seller Kryptonite Comics. —CoinWeek]
Counterfeit Cavalcade
21.) You’ve come a long way, Benjamin
In 1739, Benjamin Franklin tackled counterfeiting in a Philadelphia printing company he owned to produce colonial notes with nature prints, using raised patterns cast from actual leaves to defeat fakes…
22.) Printing of Counterfeit Money in Europe is Declining
This positive phenomenon is mainly due to the dismantling of two French counterfeit printing workshops in Italy that fed dispatched falsified notes to France. In addition, new 20-euro notes, which are harder to counterfeit, have been circulated in France. The central bureau expects the downward trend to remain in 2017 due to the new 50-euro banknote…
Gold, Precious Metals & Bullion
23.) This Giant Metals Exchange Is Taking on the Gold Elite
The world’s biggest industrial metals exchange is taking on the most powerful players in the gold market with the launch on Monday of its first futures contract for the commodity since the middle of the 1980s…
24.) How London’s Gold Market, the World’s Largest, Evolved: Timeline
After a three-decade hiatus, gold-futures trading is returning to London. It’s the latest change for the city’s bullion market, the world’s biggest for over-the-counter trading, and which until fairly recently had remained largely unchanged for about a century…
Banknote News
25.) Plea to donate first Jane Austen £10 note
The campaign – a call to ‘Bring Jane Home’ – is not, as some might think, a plea for the author’s remains to be returned to her home village of Chawton, but for supporters to donate their first Austen £10 note to Jane’s Fund, a fund set up to help restore and protect Austen’s precious home which is in urgent need of restoration…
26.) Zimbabwe central bank wants higher inflation, more bond notes
The central bank is also looking to increase the $200 million Afreximbank facility backing its bond note currency introduced last year to address a severe banknote shortage… Zimbabwe remains in the throes of a cash shortage, and [John] Mangudya’s comments will stoke fears of a return to hyperinflation.
27.) Third-generation composite banknotes to be put into use in Armenia in 2018
New composite banknotes of third generation will be put into use in Armenia in 2018, and they will gradually oust current banknotes, the press office of the Central Bank of Armenia reported on Wednesday.
The central bank’s board, approved the idea to place Paruyr Sevak picture on a 1,000 drams banknote, Tigran Petrosyan on a 2,000 drams banknote, William Saroyan on a 5,000 drams banknote, Komitas on a 10,000 drams banknote, Hovhannes Aivazovsky on a 20,000 drams banknote and Saint Gregory the Illuminator on a 50,000 drams banknote…
Museums & Exhibits
28.) T.T. Wentworth exhibit examines why we collect things
While the show questions the essence of collecting, it also sheds light on the crowned collector of Pensacola, Theodore Thomas Wentworth Jr., for which the museum is named. Wentworth found a gold coin in 1906 when he was eight years old, an 1851 picayune that hatched his passion for collecting. He held public office and owned a bicycle shop in the 1920s where he displayed his growing trove of historical objects. He moved it to the Dorothy Walton House in the Seville Historic District in 1938 and upgraded to a roadside museum in Ensley in 1957…
29.) Elmira College’s Twain programs boosted by coin sales
The college recently received nearly $428,000 from the sale of the coins, which were available for purchase through the U.S. Mint and went on sale in January 2016, according to a news release…
Worthy Additions to Your (E-)Library
30.) Coins of the Boii and Taurisci – Free Download
This volume is the result of a conference which took place June 2012 in the Schüttkasten event center in Klement-Oberleis, Lower Austria. The main focus of the contributions was the development of contacts and relations between the settlements of Latène culture, which are connected with the Celtic tribes of the Boii and Taurisci on the basis of numismatic and written sources. The introduction to the volume found the depiction of the paradigm shift and the true explosion of new found and found categories (coins, fibulae, knotted rings, architecture and settlements).
Just for Fun
31.) This Arcade Machine Eats Garbage Instead of Coins
The Toronto-made SpriteBox, a DIY “cocktail style” arcade cabinet (the screen is horizontal and both players sit across from each other) embodies the exact opposite ethos. It only plays locally made indie multiplayer games, and it doesn’t want your money. What it will accept in its specially-modified receptacle are your trinkets, personal notes, and even your garbage. You can also decide to throw nothing in but air, and it’ll still work. It’s the ultimate name-your-price model…
32.) Pittsburgh Bleeds Black And Gold, But How Did We End Up With Those Colors?
“The black shield is the idea of constancy or grief, think about it in terms of endurance, perseverance,” Sturgess said. “He has three gold coins, those are called Byzantines, and it comes from the idea of a gold coin from Byzantium which became Constantinople and is now Istanbul. And they were symbols of trust and honesty.”
* * *
Follow CoinWeek on 
and 
— Subscribe to CoinWeek’s YouTube channel.
PCGS-Certified American Silver Eagles Currently Available on eBay
[wpebayads]
We as a family have gone back to more and more cash transactions in the last 2 yrs, as our VISA cards have been “hacked” twice. Both times the spurious charges were caught and stopped, but this has gotten ridiculous. Cash IMHO has an advantage over cards for most face to face transactions , AND WITH THE ADVENT OF THE “COUNTERFEIT CHECKING” PENS, CASH IS looking more and more like the way to go!
Recently we were one of only two families who could check out with CASH and get our our food at a local big grocery..after their whole “electronic payment” system crashed during a storm.
What we need is a return to sound money..cash,either of precious metal OR bills redeemable in gold and/or silver,…like we had 100 yrs ago..sound money. Larger notes would help too, for bigger transactions.
I always make it a point to use cash. I was hounded at Starbucks a few times for using cash. They wanted me to use Starbucks cards and told me all about them. I replied that I was not interested. I don’t even need or want free drinks. Paying in cash is still a lot better! No gimicks! I got a 1964 quarter as change once from the same Starbucks who wanted me to use cards!