What's going on?

In a twist worthy of a certain Baltimore-based crime drama, the ex-CEO of fallen payments giant �The Wire� Wirecard was arrested late Monday, charged with fraud.

What does this mean?

Last week investors who�d long bet against Wirecard�s shares, citing financial irregularities, were finally vindicated. The German firm revealed independent accountants had failed to find $2.1 billion the company claimed it had to hand � and its boss promptly bowed out.

On Monday, Wirecard admitted its missing money was probably as fictional as an HBO show; on Tuesday, German authorities revealed they�d brought in the company�s recently departed head honcho. He stands accused of fraudulently inflating Wirecard�s revenue and cash balance in a bid to curry favor among investors. While time will tell whether he acted alone, the buck and the blame stops � for now � at the top.

Why should I care?

For markets: Ups and downs.

Wirecard�s stock has lost over 80% of its value since the scandal broke, yet its share price rose nearly 20% on Tuesday. Naysayers might call that a �dead cat bounce� and leave well enough alone. But optimistic investors might wonder at Wirecard�s value falling from almost $12 billion to $2 billion in a matter of days � a much bigger drop than the value of the missing money � and see the former CEO�s arrest as a sign things are clearing up. Wirecard may still be a profitable business, and those investors might therefore think its shares should be worth more.

The bigger picture: Cash is dead; long live e-cash.

Besides payments processor Wirecard, the likes of PayPal and Square have also benefited from a major shift away from physical cash, particularly in developed markets. That trend may well accelerate post-coronavirus, which could explain why the shares of non-scandal-struck PayPal and Square are both at record highs � and why British fintech Checkout.com was valued at $5.5 billion this week as it raised a fresh $150 million of funding.