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Despite threats of big fines by state banking regulators, the owner of a Shadyside (Pittsburgh, Pa) ice cream shop who opened his own version of a community bank last summer isn't abandoning his mission.

"We are taking on the challenge of transforming the retail banking industry," his website states.
"PA dept of banks threatening us ... we keep growing," he tweeted in late December.

Instead of deposits he is offering "never-ending gift cards." (More hilarious examples of how this ice cream shop/bank owner is getting around regulations in the article).

The finance ministry for the European Union has announced that cash transactions over 500 euros would soon be banned. Large transactions will only be allowed via credit card, or by check, which essentially amounts to mandating that people have bank accounts. Believe it or not a lot of people don’t have, and don’t want bank accounts. The finance ministry hopes this will help combat tax evasion.

Last September, Laguna Beach resident Stephen McDow found $110,000 deposited in his bank account, courtesy of the IRS. That same deposit has now landed him in hot water, according to CBS Los Angeles. McDow was subsequently arrested and charged with one felony of grand theft by misappropriation of lost property. He reportedly faces four years imprisonment and is currently being held on bail for the exact amount he first received: $110,000.

This means that the investment bank's European derivatives exposure is now backstopped by U.S. taxpayers. Bank of America didn't get regulatory approval to do this, they just did it at the request of frightened counterparties. Now the Fed and the FDIC are fighting as to whether this was sound. The Fed wants to "give relief" to the bank holding company, which is under heavy pressure.

Land banks are government entities that buy, sell and demolish real estate properties. Bernanke is encouraging the creation of Federal Land Bank, which could make the Federal Government the landlord of many renters.

Collier County, Florida -- Have you heard the one about a homeowner foreclosing on a bank?

Well, it has happened in Florida and involves a North Carolina based bank.

Instead of Bank of America foreclosing on some Florida homeowner, the homeowners had sheriff's deputies foreclose on the bank.

Two years ago, when the FBI was stymied by a band of armed robbers known as the "Scarecrow Bandits" that had robbed more than 20 Texas banks, it came up with a novel method of locating the thieves.

WinPoker.com, on the iPoker network, is adding Bitcoin support for deposits and withdrawals, pokerfuse can exclusively reveal. It is the first time a poker room on any major online poker network has added first-class Bitcoin support to the cashier. Deposits can be made by sending BTC directly through the cashier on the WinPoker website to the room’s Bitcoin wallet. As soon as the system receives the funds—typically within ten minutes—the money will be credited to the player’s account. If players store their wallets on smartphones, depositing can be as simple as scanning a QR code.

The World Bank has clued in to the fact that many Eastern Europeans prefer to work in the "shadow economy" — that is, off the books and out of sight of tax men, inspectors and other assorted bureaucrats. This has the World Bank very concerned, for a variety of reasons — some convincing, and others, not so much. By the way, World Bank Employees are exempt from income taxes.