The Week Unwrapped podcast: TikTok tills, crypto banks and green cash

Are social purchases too easy? Is Bitcoin joining the mainstream? And can David Attenborough get us to invest in the environment?

Analysis

Friday, October 30, 2020 – 11:29am

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

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In this week’s episode, we discuss:
TikTok purchases
The social video platform TikTok is teaming up with the Canadia payment company Shopify to create ads with built-in online stores, making it easy – perhaps too easy – for app users to spend their money. Or, given the youth of the TikTok user base, to spend their parents’ money.
Crypto gets a job
In two cryptocurrency-related stories, Paypal that users will be able to buy Bitcoin on its platform – although not to use it directly in purchases – and the investment bank JPMorgan said its own digital currency, JPM Coin is now being used commercially by a big client for the first time. Both developments seem like a step into the mainstream for digital currencies – but both come with heavy caveats.
Green investments
The “Attenborough effect” has reached the world of personal finance, where it is reportedly driving a significant increase in interest in environmentally responsible investments. The asset manager Liontrust, for example, said its sustainable funds had trebled from £2.5bn to £7.5bn since 2017. And it’s not just about doing good: financial advisers say environmentally responsible companies are more likely to be resilient and could have better prospects for long-term growth.
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