Snippings

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Everywhere I go, I try to purchase items using bitcoin first – either with my Coinbase wallet or my Wallet of Satoshi. I went grocery shopping at the supermarket in my neighborhood and tried to pay with bitcoin at check-out. The cashier initially stated the store accepts bitcoin, and she busily started pressing buttons on her computer that appeared to be five-plus years old. However, the bitcoin point of sale component of the system was not working. So, I had to pay with cash.
When I explored Presidente Plaza, one of the newest malls in the country that is not yet fully built, I tried to use my Wallet of Satoshi several times. The coffee shop did not have a functioning bitcoin PoS system, nor did the comic shop that I entered. I ended up paying using a credit card both times

From: El Salvador Diary: Lightning Is Key to Bitcoin Adoption.

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Not even a bank should be its own bank.

Prime migrated the stored assets to crypto custody firm Fireblocks between July 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. Believing all assets had been migrated, Prime disabled its own access to the 98f address. Unfortunately, customers were still sending crypto to the 98f address. This crypto is now unrecoverable — because Prime couldn’t find where they’d put the pieces of steel.

From: Crypto collapse: Tornado Cash arrests, Federal Reserve shuts down Farmington Bank, Prime Trust played Terra-Luna – Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain.

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Middle East & North Africa Digital Payments Market Analysis
The Middle East and North Africa Digital Payments Market size is expected to grow from USD 204.17 billion in 2023 to USD 343.27 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 10.95% during the forecast period (2023-2028).

The region’s market growth is driven by the increasing prevalence of smartphones, social interactions, and enablement programs by necessary merchants to close the gap between the physical and digital worlds.

The adoption of digital payments in MENA has been relatively slow compared to other regions worldwide. This is due to the population’s inclination to use cash and the banking industry’s gradual modernization. However, favorable conditions in the area can spur the take-up of digital payments and disrupt the traditional payment value chain.
Moreover, the policymakers in both developed and developing MENA countries are getting involved in providing the necessary regulatory framework and infrastructure to support the growth of digital payments in the region. The central banks of Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have adopted specific initiatives to deregulate digital payment services.
Further, mobile financial services’ transformation has been witnessed in the region through payment methods, such as Careem Pay in the United Arab Emirates. A digital wallet app launched by Saudi Arabia’s telecommunications company, STC Pay, allows people to send money to other users and digitally pay for restaurants and stores.
Despite the rapid rise of digital payments, the sector faces challenges related to data security and increased fraud in online payments. A relative lack of digital literacy in crucial emerging countries may hinder the growth of the digital payments market in the region.
The shift in consumer habits caused by the pandemic is expected to boost digital payments in the region. Further, the acceptance of digital payment methods is expected to improve post-COVID-19, and it will play a more substantial role in the long term. With cash being seen as a potential carrier for the virus, governments and regulatory bodies discourage its use. These factors are influencing the growth of the market.

From: Middle East & North Africa Card Payments Market – Digital Transactions by Country.

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Brits made 11.4 million open banking payments in July, a nine percent rise on the previous month.

Year-to-date data for 2023 against 2022 shows that total payments have doubled. In July, the number of active payment users surged to 4.2 million, a 10.5% rise from June and up 68.2% on July 2022.

From: UK sees record month for open banking payments.

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We see three different categories of identity document (as do others) which we label analogue, digitised and digital. The traditional physical document is the first kind typically a paper document or plastic card. When a person wishes to prove their identity, they present the document for either manual or automatred inspection and authentication (by, for example, comparing the person with a photograph on the document). The second kind is the digitsed identity, an electronic version of the physical document (often used on mobile devices). Cryptographic techniques, such as digital signatures, can be used to verify the integrity and authenticity of the data. These are commonly provided via a QR code that can be scanned to verify the document’s integrity and veracity offline. The third kind is the digital identity document. This is the identity that is used in the virtual world to authenticate users and enable them to consume online services. Unlike a digitised document, which is a visual representation, a digital document is built from the ground up to be used electronically with multi-factor authentication and cryptographic techniques (eg, public key cryptography) used to implement the necessary processe to support transactions.

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Despite the fact that SSI provides sovereignty over the digital presence, it introduces new challenges that must be overcome before widespread adoption can occur. The difficulties are conceptual and pragmatic in nature. The primary conceptual problems are defining SSI and defining what constitutes a self-sovereign system. The pragmatic challenges include, but are not limited to, how to coexist with and migrate existing IdPs’ identities to the new model, how to trust data from other self-sovereign identities, and how to assist users, also known as identity holders, with managing, backing up, and recovering private data.

From: Self-Sovereign Identity: A Systematic Review, Mapping and Taxonomy – PMC.

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Each point in that statement was misleading

From: Xoom Money Transfer: The Disruptor That Wasn’t – SaveOnSend Blog.

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The organisation responsible for Japan’s national defences against cyber attacks has itself been infiltrated by hackers, who may have gained access to sensitive data for as much as nine months.

From: Japan’s cyber security agency suffers months-long breach | Financial Times.

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Federal agencies are urging critical infrastructure entities and other organizations to start preparing for the day that quantum computers are able to crack public key encryption systems.

From: Fed Agencies: Plan Now for Quantum Threats to Cryptography.

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Canada will be the first market where the “Request for Pay” feature will also be available with Global Digital Disbursements, letting a company send invoices to customers via text or email along with a link to pay the amount.

From: BofA launches Global Digital Disbursements in Canada via e-Transfer.

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