Today in Global Small Business: Get Ready for the Wave of Digitization

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• A rapid wave of digitization over the last few years sparked a significant shift in how businesses make and receive payments. American Express introduces Global Pay, a B2B cross-border payment solution for small businesses.
• The market read the Federal Reserve wrong.  Here's how.
• Here are five things by Gene Marks in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business.
• Quote of the week: "One of the factors that I believe is the biggest obstacle to transformation is the fear of cannibalization.”— Ganesh Ayyar, Mphasis
• As provided by Gene Marks, more than than 60% of world population will use digital wallets by 2026.  Get ready.
• IRS updates crypto questions for 2022 tax return to include gifts.

Today in Global Small Business: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) or All Things Crypto

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Fungible (adj.) — able to replace or be replaced by another identical item; mutually interchangeable.
• Speculative crypto art market takes off.  Why?  "Our digital lives are surrounded by countless digital objects. NFTs are a way to imbue such objects with financial value. When that happens they take on a new level of significance and importance."
• Lindsay Lohan sold a photo of herself for $17K – and then tweeted about it.
• Quote of the week:  "Billionaire Mark Cuban is selling a motivational quote as a NFT for $1,700. " – Markets Insider, March 13, 2021
• Shark Tank celebrity and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban sold a tokenized version of one of his tweets for $952.  The sale was made via the Valuables platform. 
• A clip of LeBron James blocking a shot sold for $100K last month.

The Pros and Cons for Accepting Bitcoin for Global Small Business Payments

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Whether you think Bitcoin is going to keep going up or is due for a correction, you should consider these pros and cons  – benefits and risks – before accepting Bitcoin as a payment method in your global small business. 

And it is important to know that PayPal is getting into cryptocurrency for its customers, too.