Business this week

Business this week

Gary Gensler, the chairman of America’s Securities and Exchange Commission, called for more protections for investors in the cryptocurrency markets, which he described as a Wild West rife with fraud and swindlers. Mr Gensler wants federal securities laws to apply to digital currencies and more powers for the SEC to oversee the market. If not, he worries that “a lot of people will be hurt” by bad investments.

Another challenge to traditional banking is emerging from “buy now, pay later” (BNPL), which enables shoppers to spread their payments for goods, sometimes with no interest or credit check but a fee for late instalments. Square, a payments firm run by Jack Dorsey, has offered to buy Afterpay, based in Melbourne and a global pioneer in BNPL, for $29bn, Australia’s biggest-ever takeover. Regulators have expressed concern about BNPL’s lax lending rules. The industry has ballooned during the pandemic. Apple is said to want to enter the market.