ECB taps CaixaBank and Amazon for digital euro prototypes

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For its part, CaixaBank will focus on producing a prototype for P2P online payments using the digital euro. Over the next few months, it will develop a mobile app that simulates the steps individuals will need to transfer digital euros to their account and/or transfer digital euros to other individuals.

Worldline is responsible for developing the P2P offline payments use-case, while Nexi will work on in-store payments.

From ECB taps CaixaBank and Amazon for digital euro prototypes.

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The (royal monetary) equilibrium – Marginal REVOLUTION

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There are 29 billion British coins in circulation with Queen Elizabeth II’s face on them. Since she first appeared on the coins, a year after her ascension in 1952, the Royal Mint has used five different portraits. And on all of them, she faces to the right.

Now it’s King Charles III’s turn to be on the coins, but he’ll most likely be facing the other direction.

Since the reign of Charles II in the 17th century, the monarch has typically faced the opposite position of their predecessor on coins, according to the Royal Family’s website. Because Queen Elizabeth faced to the right, the new king will presumably be shown facing left.

From The (royal monetary) equilibrium – Marginal REVOLUTION.

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‘It’s very much a Wild West’: how AI art generators are splitting the art world | South China Morning Post

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Advances in AI art generators are raising questions over copyrights, with many countries’ laws not explicitly covering AI-generated art

From ‘It’s very much a Wild West’: how AI art generators are splitting the art world | South China Morning Post:

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Artists are only the beginning. As soon as Big Content can dump actors, musicians and writers, it will. There will be a high-end niche market for original content, the masses will make do with AI-generated pap https://bit.ly/3DlCfgi

Bionic Eye Patients Are Going Blind Again After Manufacturer Decides They’re Obsolete

According to an alarming investigation by IEEE Spectrum, Second Sight Medical Products, the manufacturer of visual prosthetic devices that restored partial vision to blind patients, has provided eye implants to more than 350 blind people.

Now, Doerr and other Second Sight patients have to contend with obsolete bionic eye technology that can’t be repaired or upgraded, even though it’s embedded in their bodies. That means if something goes wrong, they’re likely going to go permanently blind with no solution.

From Bionic Eye Patients Are Going Blind Again After Manufacturer Decides They’re Obsolete.

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TikTok: Trojan Stallion | No Mercy / No Malice

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The most mendacious enemies hide in plain sight. And this enemy is in your pocket. Social media now captures and holds more of our attention than all traditional news outlets. The hand that holds the social graph has its grip on how the next generation of Americans and Europeans feel about capitalism, democracy, and BTS.

From TikTok: Trojan Stallion | No Mercy / No Malice.

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Microsoft, Cloud Providers Move to Ban Basic Authentication

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Microsoft, for example, will remove the ability to use basic authentication for its Exchange Online service starting Oct. 1, requiring that its customers use token-based authentication instead. Google meanwhile has auto-enrolled 150 million people in its two-step verification process, and online cloud provider Rackspace plans to turn off cleartext email protocols by the end of the year.

From Microsoft, Cloud Providers Move to Ban Basic Authentication.

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Apple’s Homeland Security Deal Yields Checkpoint, KYC, Voter ID Patents, Documents Suggest

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Companies like “Google or Apple want to carry the digital identity in their wallets, but don’t want the responsibility or liability for issuing the identity,” industry expert David Birch said in an interview. By partnering with state DMVs, Apple has control over the user experience through its OS and Wallet app, without bearing responsibility for ensuring the accuracy of information it is relaying.

From Apple’s Homeland Security Deal Yields Checkpoint, KYC, Voter ID Patents, Documents Suggest:

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Barclays’ esports/crypto crossover: insert coin | Financial Times

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Barclays analysts describe crypto as “the cousin of esports”

From Barclays’ esports/crypto crossover: insert coin | Financial Times:

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https://www.ft.com/content/14b39f45-b508-4a19-80ff-42aad22d9773

Quite how blockchain technology will “unlock the potential from esports betting” is unclear. Barclays notes only that cryptocurrencies will allow fans to deposit bets and withdraw their winnings (because only losers ever lose) relatively quickly, “bypassing the need for banks and making esports more accessible”.

 

Countries do not control their own currencies | Financial Times

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In 1956, Carlo Cipolla, an Italian medievalist, published five short lectures under the title Money, Prices and Civilization in the Mediterranean World. Kingdoms and cities, Cipolla points out, did not have what we now think of as monetary sovereignty — a monopoly on the issue and control of currency within their own borders. Coins, particularly the most valuable ones, moved promiscuously from private mints to any market they pleased, and the best a king or a doge could hope for was a way to regulate the mints and manage the flow of coins.

From Countries do not control their own currencies | Financial Times:

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Visa, Mastercard, AmEx to start categorizing sales from gun shops

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Visa said it would join Mastercard and American Express in adopting the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant code for gun sales, which was announced on Friday. Until Friday, gun store sales were considered “general merchandise.”

From Visa, Mastercard, AmEx to start categorizing sales from gun shops:

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