Author Archives: David Birch

xxx The CFTC proposed a new rulebook for prediction markets in the US. The framework would allow most sports-related bets while trying to avoid inviting obvious manipulation. Under the new rules, contracts on player injuries, officiating outcomes, “first-pitch” bets, player ejections, and virtually all bets on war, terrorism, or assassinations would be barred as notContinue reading “In prediction markets, the house always wins (TWIF 6/12)”

xxx A KPMG report on how AI is being used by businesses across the world exaggerated adoption of the technology with bogus case studies that appear to have been based on AI hallucinations. The October report, “Redefining excellence in the age of agentic AI”, made numerous false claims about the use of AI by organisationsContinue reading “KPMG report contained AI hallucinations on benefits of . . . AI”

xxx San Francisco-based Meow Technologies launched what it’s calling the first agentic banking platform. AI agents can now open business checking accounts, issue corporate cards, send and receive payments, and manage invoicing autonomously. The platform integrates with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and Gemini via an MCP endpoint at meow.com/mcp. From: (13) Issue #154: AI Agents GetContinue reading “(13) Issue #154: AI Agents Get Bank Accounts, Your PFM Is Now an LLM, And Aspire Enters the US”

xxx The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center released its 2025 Annual Report this week, and for the first time in IC3’s 25-year history, the complaints crossed one million. Total reported losses hit $20.877 billion — up 26% from 2024, up nearly 400% from $4.2 billion in 2020. Every metric that matters moved in the wrongContinue reading “This Week in Fraud (4/14)”

xxx The Credential already proves the client controls a specific public key. The source field is the same regardless of the payment amount, which means you can use the MPP flow purely for identity when payment isn’t needed. From: Identity | MPP. xxx

xxx According to Shopify, the best e-commerce platform is Shopify. On its blog, the company has published at least 60 different ranked listicles, including “10 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Business in 2026,” “11 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Your Business in 2026,” “The 11 Best Cheap Ecommerce Platforms for Small Business (2026),” and “Best EcommerceContinue reading “Your Search Results Are Getting Sloptimized – The Atlantic”

xxx Global payments giant Mastercard has unveiled Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a new payment service designed to enable AI agents and machines to conduct automated transactions at machine speed across its global payments network, according to a Wednesday press release. The company said the platform is built to support a future in which AIContinue reading “(10) Crypto Briefing on X: “Mastercard Launches Machine Payments with Coinbase, Ripple, Aave, Polygon, OKX and Solana” / X”

xxx For most TCH owners, domestic Tokenized Deposits (TDs) don’t do much more than the RTP system the industry built under 10 years ago; TDs won’t be faster, won’t be cheaper, and won’t be safer. TDs also likely won’t serve the biggest stablecoin use case: crypto-trading. TDs will be ideal for any domestic tokenized assetContinue reading “Banks settle tokenized deposits – by Andrew M. Dresner”

xxx The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Complaint Center annual report recorded $20.9 billion in cybercrime losses last year, a 26% increase over 2024’s $16.6 billion and the first year in the IC3’s 25-year history that complaints exceeded one million. Investment fraud led all categories at $8.6 billion; BEC was second at $3 billion; tech supportContinue reading “This Week in Fraud (6/9)”

xxx A former TD Bank employee has pleaded guilty to feeding his customers’ account information to a crew that drained their balances. He is the fifth former TD worker to admit to a job-related crime in a New Jersey federal court this year. From: TD insider pleads guilty in $3.4M account fraud | American Banker.Continue reading “TD insider pleads guilty in $3.4M account fraud | American Banker”