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Kakao’s co-chief executive Namkoong Whon has resigned after an hours-long outage of the company’s mobile services sparked a public backlash against South Korea’s dominant messaging app provider.

From Kakao’s co-chief resigns over messenger app service outage | Financial Times:

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Europol this week said it has arrested 31 people in a crackdown on a car-theft ring that developed and used a technique to steal keyless vehicles.

The alleged crooks preyed on motors from two French automakers, we’re told. The thieves were apparently able to update or manipulate the cars’ software so that the doors could be opened and engine started without needing the owner’s wireless keyfob. Just turn up, get in, drive off.

From Arrests after crooks use wireless keyfob hack to steal cars • The Register:

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The Royal Netherlands Army has become the first Western military to begin operational trials with armed unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs),

From Royal Netherlands Army commences armed robot trials in first among Western militaries:

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This week, DeFi project Moola Markets retrieved 93% of the $9.1M they lost in an exploit after negotiating with the culprit. This came on the heels of a similar exploit last week of Mango Markets, which resulted in the exploiter keeping $47 million and returning the other $67 million. These incidents were unique in that individuals were able to successfully manipulate prices due to thin liquidity in the pools – different from the code exploits we’ve typically seen this year in hacks of DeFi services.

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We propose that, on independence, Scotland would continue to use the pound sterling for a period before moving to our policy of adopting a Scottish pound. The change would take place as soon as practicable through a careful, managed and responsible transition, guided by criteria and economic conditions rather than a fixed timetable.

From Building a New Scotland: A stronger economy with independence – gov.scot:

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We should instead focus and debate the salient CBDC-related topics, like its effects on financial stability, payment system improvements, and financial inclusion.

From Speech by Governor Waller on the U.S. dollar and central bank digital currencies – Federal Reserve Board.

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Also, because stablecoins are pegged to the dollar, they may increase rather than reduce the primacy of the dollar abroad, since demand for stablecoins increases demand for dollar-denominated reserve assets held by the stablecoin issuer.

From Speech by Governor Waller on the U.S. dollar and central bank digital currencies – Federal Reserve Board.

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I am highly skeptical that a CBDC on its own could sufficiently reduce the traditional payment frictions to prevent things like fraud, theft, money laundering, or the financing of terrorism

From Speech by Governor Waller on the U.S. dollar and central bank digital currencies – Federal Reserve Board.

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Researchers from a Chinese state-run think tank have floated the idea of an Asia-wide digital currency with the aim of reducing its reliance on a United States dollar-based economy.

The views of researchers Liu Dongmin, Song Shuang and Zhou Xuezhi from a unit of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) were published in an issue of the World Affairs journal posted online in late September, who said the establishment of an Asian yuan token would lower Asia’s reliance on the USD.

Much like similar existing and trialed central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the researchers said distributed ledger technology (DLT) would form the backing of the Asian token, which would be pegged to a bundle of 13 currencies.

The currencies would include those of all 10 of the member nations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with China’s yuan, Japan’s yen and South Korea’s won, according to the researchers.

From China floats idea of ‘Asian yuan’ to reduce reliance on US dollar:

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Our six Deutsche Bank experts believe that the most likely future scenario in the future is one of multiple metaverse ecosystems, but which allow interoperability through standard solutions and protocols for digital identity, credentials, and asset ownership. The metaverse could usher in the next e-commerce revolution as it gains traction through advances in technology and becomes more mainstream. Financial services firms have a significant role in powering this evolution.

From Metaverse – the next e-commerce revolution – Corporates and Institutions:

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