J.P. Koning
Koning earned his B.A. in Economics from McGill University.
Articles
Fighting Ransomware Doesn’t Require Banning Cryptocurrency
“With OFAC as coxswain, an embargo might achieve everything that a ban on cryptocurrency promises to achieve without depriving gamblers, outsiders, and hobbyists of a product they utilize. It would also be more effective than the status quo, which is not capable of stopping criminals who operate with impunity from noncompliant jurisdictions.” ~ J.P. Koning
Why Do Cryptocurrencies Use So Much Energy?
“Critics are upset about the energy consumption of cryptocurrencies. But it’s not the energy needs of these products that is the problem. Let niche communities enjoy their strange energy-intensive activities. Rather, what is disturbing is that most consumers of cryptocurrencies don’t perceive the true cost of the services they are using. And so these very,…
Gift Cards: When Good Products Do Bad Things
“For now, Apple is free to keep providing gift cards as before. Which means that scammers will probably not face additional hurdles to coopting gift cards for extortion payments. As for the rest of us, that means we get to keep enjoying a hassle-free gift card experience.” ~ J.P. Koning
In Finance, Slow is Good
“What the central bank RTGS/LSM two-step teaches us is that we need a good balance between fast and slow. Sure, real-time settlement is a nice feature. But let’s also have delayed settlement. If brokerages have a choice to use some combination of two-day and real-time settlement, we may arrive at a socially optimal stock settlement…
Algorithmic Stablecoins
“Efforts to create stability without collateral are ambitious. The evidence that Empty Set Dollar and Dynamic Set Dollar have provided over the last few months suggests they are too ambitious. An algorithmic stablecoin only works so long as its users’ self-referential beliefs persist.” ~ J.P. Koning
Here’s Why We Tolerate Fake Check Scams
“Solving the problem of job scam checks isn’t as easy as one might think. Changes to a tightly-wound system like the check system involve tradeoffs. You don’t get something for nothing.” ~ J.P. Koning
Pornhub: Victim of Visa and Mastercard Censorship or Money Laundering Risk?
“Pornhub’s deplatforming is so controversial, in part, because it appears to be arbitrary. It was the New York Times that ultimately served as the fuse, not Visa or Mastercard internal checks.” ~ J.P. Koning
A Simpler and More Accurate Way to Teach Money to Students
“Money isn’t best thought of as a medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value. Let’s just think of it as just a medium of exchange and a unit of account. For the most part these circles overlap, and the two functions are united. But this isn’t always the case.” ~ J.P. Koning
FinCEN and Fed Proposal Means Less Privacy, More Exclusion
“It could very well be that the benefits of reducing the threshold from $3,000 to $250 exceed the costs, defined as the sum of the administrative expenses, lost privacy, and increased financial exclusion. But all of these costs must be included in the final calculation. Not just some of them. As it is, FinCEN and…
Two Types of Postal Banking
“It is possible that these prepaid card providers aren’t competing very hard, and thus unbanked households face abnormally high fees. If so, the unbanked population could benefit by having the USPS enter the market. On the other hand, if the market for prepaid cards is already competitive, a USPS card may have problems gaining a…
