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In the longer-term future, this kind of ZK proof of liabilities could perhaps be used not just for customer deposits at exchanges, but for lending more broadly. Anyone taking out a loan would put a record into a polynomial or a tree containing that loan, and the root of that structure would get published on-chain. This would let anyone seeking a loan ZK-prove to the lender that they have not yet taken out too many other loans.

From Having a safe CEX: proof of solvency and beyond – HackMD.

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Automated content generation: Large language and image AI models can be used to automatically generate content, such as articles, blog posts, or social media posts. This can be a valuable time-saving tool for businesses and professionals who create content on a regular basis.
Improved content quality: AI-generated content can be of higher quality than content created by humans, due to the fact that AI models are able to learn from a large amount of data and identify patterns that humans may not be able to see. This can result in more accurate and informative content.

From How Generative AI Is Changing Creative Work.

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The one part of FTX’s empire that did have a license from U.S. futures regulators was among the few FTX entities that didn’t file for bankruptcy. FTX US Derivatives—an arm of FTX US—continues to operate as LedgerX, the original name of a U.S. exchange FTX acquired in October 2021. LedgerX sells only a handful of derivatives, like bitcoin futures and ethereum swaps, all of which must be fully collateralized positions.

From How FTX Peddled Risky Derivatives—and Let Its Own Traders Run Wild — The Information.

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Perpetual futures work like this: Instead of buying cryptocurrency outright, traders post a fraction of the market price as collateral and buy a contract that exposes them to the price swings of the token, with gains and losses magnified in either direction. For example, if bitcoin costs $20,000, a trader could post just $1,000. If the price of bitcoin goes up 5%, the trader’s gain is 100%; but if the price of bitcoin goes down 5%, the trader’s loss is also 100%.

From How FTX Peddled Risky Derivatives—and Let Its Own Traders Run Wild — The Information.

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Throughout the pandemic, via three separate statutes, the 10 major US passenger airlines together received more than $54 billion in direct payments ($25 billion, $15 billion, and $14 billion). Congress also appropriated another $25 billion in subsidized loans from the US Department of the Treasury (only a fraction of which airlines have used) and suspended the 7.5 percent excise tax on domestic air travel as well as payments to airports and contractors.

From The 2020 Bailouts Left Airlines, the Economy, and the Federal Budget in Worse Shape Than Before | Mercatus Center:

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During a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hearing on commercial surveillance this week, Karen Kornbluh, the former US OECD ambassador and FCC exec who now leads the Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative at the German Marshall Fund, urged the watchdog agency to enact stricter data privacy rules to protect consumers.

Most of the comments during Thursday’s public forum covered the usual concerns over tracking software that collects millions of data points on individuals — including their location, search queries, race and gender — which is then sold to third parties or handed over to the police.

Kornbluh, however, made the case that businesses’ data collection and retention practices also aid foreign cyberspies.

“There’s a national security loophole from the proliferation of consumer data when we have so much information about Americans floating around the internet,” she said. “In fact, there’s a $12 billion surveillance-for-hire industry that allows foreign governments to buy data.”

This data, Kornbluh added, is then used for espionage, voter manipulation and ransomware attacks as well as doxxing, swatting and real-life harassment. “Data brokers market data on current or former military personnel including their web searches, family members, home addresses, and even GPS coordinates,” she said. “It’s difficult to trace where these data go or what they’re used for.”

From Data tracking poses a ‘national security risk’ FTC told • The Register:

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Finally, she was persuaded to hand over her Apple ID, password, and then the one time passcode that appeared on her phone. She was told this was to prove her identity.

From Fraudsters hijack Instagram accounts to scam others – BBC News:

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Moreover, bailouts are unfair. Why one industry gets bailouts while others do not is mostly determined by political connections and the perception of saliency rather than by real systemic risks to the economy or other economic factors. There are no systemic risks to the economy from airline failures. However, airlines have long benefited from a preferred status with the political class, which explains why they almost always get bailed out.

From The 2020 Bailouts Left Airlines, the Economy, and the Federal Budget in Worse Shape Than Before | Mercatus Center:

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Customers at six 7-Eleven convenience stores in Tokyo, Japan, can now make cashless payments for their purchases by interacting with a holographic screen projected from a contactless self-checkout kiosk.

From 7-Eleven Japan trials holographic contactless self-checkout • NFCW:

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On his daily newsletter a few days later, Naughton pointed towards an entertaining assessment of the DAO phenomenon by David Birch, who is something of an expert on digital identity and payments systems.

From 24 March 2022. Web3 | Heat (again) – Just Two Things:

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