Scott James
@drscottjames.bsky.social
Reader in Political Economy, King’s College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-scott-james
IPE of finance and tech, monetary politics, City of London
BANK POLITICS (OUP, 2023)
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/bank-politics-9780192898609?cc=gb&lang=en&
www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-scott-james
IPE of finance and tech, monetary politics, City of London
BANK POLITICS (OUP, 2023)
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/bank-politics-9780192898609?cc=gb&lang=en&
Pinned
Scott James
@drscottjames.bsky.social
· Mar 18
New article with Lucia Quaglia on how EU banks and EU regulators engaged in ‘noisy geopolitics’ by leveraging the digital sovereignty agenda to push for tighter controls on (US) bigtechs. Part of a special issue on ‘Transformation of Banking’ in Competition and Change
doi.org/10.1177/1024...
doi.org/10.1177/1024...
City construction will continue until socialism improves
November 27, 2025 at 10:33 AM
City construction will continue until socialism improves
Reposted by Scott James
The Rock is always surprised
November 27, 2025 at 10:04 AM
The Rock is always surprised
Emergent market economy
www.ft.com/content/3e98...
www.ft.com/content/3e98...
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Emergent market economy
www.ft.com/content/3e98...
www.ft.com/content/3e98...
A bug not a feature 🫤
Bitcoin's $83,000 Price Drop Caused By ‘Software Glitch’ And ‘Manipulation,' Says Tom Lee
Tom Lee says Bitcoin’s price drop was caused by a ‘mechanical glitch’ and deliberate market manipulation, sparking backlash.
www.ccn.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:42 PM
A bug not a feature 🫤
cf Cohen, M. D., March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1972). A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 1–25.
UK's Reeves does not plan to raise income tax, government source says reut.rs/47Iyz6Y
UK's Reeves does not plan to raise income tax, government source says
British finance minister Rachel Reeves does not plan to raise income tax at her upcoming annual budget on November 26 due to an improved fiscal outlook, a government source said on Friday.
reut.rs
November 14, 2025 at 11:13 AM
cf Cohen, M. D., March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1972). A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 1–25.
Highly recommended on Labour’s macroprudential dilemma, from Nick Kotucha
Back to the Future: Labour and the Politics of Financial Deregulation
One of the professed aims of the current Labour government in the UK is to boost GDP by ‘cutting red tape’. This also applies to the financial sector, where in recent months regulators have been aske...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Highly recommended on Labour’s macroprudential dilemma, from Nick Kotucha
‘The only bridge left to cross is Sam Bankman-Fried.’
Trump turns crypto pariahs into power players
Trump’s embrace of crypto has extended to overseas digital assets giants once under the gun in Washington.
www.politico.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
‘The only bridge left to cross is Sam Bankman-Fried.’
‘Presenting its consultation paper on rules for regulating widely used stablecoins, the BoE said it was “considering central bank liquidity arrangements to support systemic stablecoin issuers in times of stress” 📌
Bank of England dilutes planned rules for UK stablecoins
Central bank partly backs down after industry criticism over plan for digital tokens
www.ft.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:07 PM
‘Presenting its consultation paper on rules for regulating widely used stablecoins, the BoE said it was “considering central bank liquidity arrangements to support systemic stablecoin issuers in times of stress” 📌
At least it’s not a pound stablecoin
If an ex-chancellor pumps crypto and no one notices, does it make a noise?
Kwasi be stacking, no one be caring
www.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:30 AM
At least it’s not a pound stablecoin
‘Bailey told the committee that the BoE was considering conducting a “system-wide exploratory scenario” next year to test how the private credit market would manage in a crisis.’ ⏰
BoE governor warns ‘alarm bells’ ringing over private credit market
Andrew Bailey draws parallel with practices before 2008 financial crisis
www.ft.com
October 21, 2025 at 1:16 PM
‘Bailey told the committee that the BoE was considering conducting a “system-wide exploratory scenario” next year to test how the private credit market would manage in a crisis.’ ⏰
Whether or not AI is a bubble is less interesting than thinking about the commercial and epistemological interests served by the performative act of framing it as such
Silicon Valley takes stock of the AI bubble
Plus, Karel Komárek, the man bringing the fight to US gambling giants
www.ft.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Whether or not AI is a bubble is less interesting than thinking about the commercial and epistemological interests served by the performative act of framing it as such
Attempting and failing to reset relations with China now part of the British Political Tradition™
October 16, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Attempting and failing to reset relations with China now part of the British Political Tradition™
Treasury seizes the £5bn for a new strategic bitcoin reserve on my 2026 bingo card
October 15, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Treasury seizes the £5bn for a new strategic bitcoin reserve on my 2026 bingo card
I’d forgotten about this characteristically punchy Adam Curtis documentary from 1996
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
October 15, 2025 at 11:47 AM
I’d forgotten about this characteristically punchy Adam Curtis documentary from 1996
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
A reminder that what might look like a dash for fintech is often just the UK playing catch up with the US and EU
UK moves to allow tokenisation of investment funds
FCA’s proposals would bring Britain into line with fund administration hubs in Ireland and Luxembourg
www.ft.com
October 15, 2025 at 11:25 AM
A reminder that what might look like a dash for fintech is often just the UK playing catch up with the US and EU
Less appreciated is just how quickly Trump and Farage have shifted the Overton window on finance and regulation
Nigel Farage tells crypto conference ‘I am your champion’
Reform UK leader touts plans to create a state-owned bitcoin reserve
www.ft.com
October 15, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Less appreciated is just how quickly Trump and Farage have shifted the Overton window on finance and regulation
Old enough to remember varieties of capitalism
JPMorgan backs ‘America First’ push with up to $10bn investment
Chief executive Jamie Dimon says US too dependent on ‘unreliable’ sources of materials ‘essential’ to national security
www.ft.com
October 14, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Old enough to remember varieties of capitalism
Reposted by Scott James
1/ Who are the globalists? Right wing, Christian group from US seeks to transform UK politics. The latest in a string of transnational moves by the far right to shift the global political debate. Welcome to the nationalist international.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...
They Helped Topple Roe v. Wade. Now Their Sights Are Set on Britain.
www.nytimes.com
October 13, 2025 at 11:55 AM
1/ Who are the globalists? Right wing, Christian group from US seeks to transform UK politics. The latest in a string of transnational moves by the far right to shift the global political debate. Welcome to the nationalist international.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...
The Reinhart/Rogoff bargain here is that generational deregulation > crisis > bailouts = the price of credit creation, creative destruction, etc. But it relies on a logic of mean reversion for central bank balance sheets and public debt that we left in 2008. So next time probably will be different.
October 13, 2025 at 8:47 AM
The Reinhart/Rogoff bargain here is that generational deregulation > crisis > bailouts = the price of credit creation, creative destruction, etc. But it relies on a logic of mean reversion for central bank balance sheets and public debt that we left in 2008. So next time probably will be different.
Looking forward to Basel 666
Conservative tech lord Thiel said tighter financial regulations “were a sign that a singular world government has begun to emerge that could be taken over by an Antichrist figure who could then use it to exert control over people.” Via WashPost
Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction
In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 10, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Looking forward to Basel 666
If AGI is possible in the future, wouldn’t it have found a way to manipulate the present to avoid a bubble? 🧐
October 8, 2025 at 4:40 PM
If AGI is possible in the future, wouldn’t it have found a way to manipulate the present to avoid a bubble? 🧐
Opposing perspectives on the UK’s macro predicament, but both of which echo postwar left and right narratives about declinism rooted in pathologies of the British state, ie. BOE orthodoxy vs Westminster politics
October 8, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Opposing perspectives on the UK’s macro predicament, but both of which echo postwar left and right narratives about declinism rooted in pathologies of the British state, ie. BOE orthodoxy vs Westminster politics
Fama: ‘Bitcoin is going to zero within 10 years…or we’ll need to start all over with monetary theory’
www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/why...
www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/why...
Why This Nobel Economist Thinks Bitcoin Is Going to Zero, with Eugene Fama | Capitalisn't
In December 2024, Bitcoin, one of the earliest cryptocurrencies and undoubtedly the most famous, hit $2 trillion in market capitalization, bigger than Tesla, Meta, and Saudi Aramco. In this episode, N...
www.capitalisnt.com
October 5, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Fama: ‘Bitcoin is going to zero within 10 years…or we’ll need to start all over with monetary theory’
www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/why...
www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/why...
‘Treasury officials privately queried the size of the potential windfall…but the OBR does not score asset seizures in its forecasts and crypto assets are not recorded as financial assets for the purpose of fiscal statistics, one Treasury official said.’ 🙁
www.ft.com/content/9b01...
www.ft.com/content/9b01...
UK seeks to keep £5bn bitcoin haul after money laundering convictions
Complex legal battle over seized assets could run for years
www.ft.com
October 3, 2025 at 10:25 PM
‘Treasury officials privately queried the size of the potential windfall…but the OBR does not score asset seizures in its forecasts and crypto assets are not recorded as financial assets for the purpose of fiscal statistics, one Treasury official said.’ 🙁
www.ft.com/content/9b01...
www.ft.com/content/9b01...
Onto central bank balance sheets presumably
Wasn’t the entire point to move risk away from banks? Now we want to move risk away from NBFI too? Where will it go? To NNNBFI (Non-NBFI Non-Bank Financial Institutions)?
Christine Lagarde calls for tougher rules on ‘darker corners’ of finance on.ft.com/3VKr7BF
October 3, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Onto central bank balance sheets presumably