Snippings

xxx

The airline industry has historically taken a conservative approach to payments

From Why are crypto payments becoming so popular in the private aviation industry?:

xxx

I’ll say. I just had to change a flight on British Airways and despite being an übergold frequent flier and using a British Airways Amex card that I have use approximately a million times before on the BA web site, I had to enter my credit details (including the billing address) just like the first time I ever bought anything on the web back in the 1990s. Not even ApplePay, much less direct-from-account or Dogecoin or whatever it is that the kids use these days.

xxx

Of the reported crypto fraud losses that began on social media, most are investment scams.[7] Indeed, since 2021, $575 million of all crypto fraud losses reported to the FTC were about bogus investment opportunities, far more than any other fraud type… Romance scams are a distant second to investment scams, with $185 million in reported cryptocurrency losses since 2021 – that’s nearly one in every three dollars reported lost to a romance scam during this period

From Reports show scammers cashing in on crypto craze | Federal Trade Commission:

xxx

Kenneth Rogoff is the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and professor of economics at Harvard University. Previously an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, he has written extensively on cash and electronic cash. In a recent piece on crypto regulation, he pointed to the use of cryptocurrencies in emerging markets, saying that “the biggest investors in crypto may be in advanced economies, but the uses – and harms – have so far been mainly in emerging markets and developing economies” before going to says that “one might even argue that investing in some advanced-economy crypto vehicles is in a sense no different from investing in conflict diamonds”.

xxx

The Post Office and digital identity verification company Yoti have become the first government-approved digital ID providers, allowing UK citizens to prove their identities with an app instead of physical documents when applying for a job or renting a property.

Legislation paving the way for employers and landlords to use certified digital identity providers to carry out checks came into force on 6 April this year.

From Yoti and Post Office become first government-approved digital ID providers:

xxx

One thing that came up a few times in conversation was the distribution of crypto losses.

xxx

According to CNBC’s recent survey of Millennial millionaires, 83% stored a portion of their wealth in the form of cryptocurrencies. In stark contrast to both the baby boomers and generation X, of whom only 4% and 25% respectively owned any cryptocurrency at all.

From Why are crypto payments becoming so popular in the private aviation industry?:

Of course. This makes complete sense. If crypto can go to zero or a billion, than any rational millionaire would put 20K into crypto. Worst case, you are down to 980K (but in the meantime your houses have soared in value). Best case, you are a billionaire. But if you are a Gen X with 20K in savings, it’s unwise to commit those 20K to cryptocurrencies. Worst case, you have nothing.

xxx

The privileged US Banks that have direct access to the Fed are paying fees to the Fed that are at most $0.0035.

The Wells Fargos of the Americas then turn around and charge payment Fintechs as much as x100 times that Fed fees — Wise claims fees around $0.35!
Instant

From Who is charging a x100 markup for electronic payments processing? | by Efi Pylarinou | May, 2022 | Medium:

xxx

xxx

In January, during a taping of the “Tonight Show,” everyone in the audience received an NFT. The segment started out in a familiar fashion: Jimmy Fallon congratulates his guest — DJ and famous person Paris Hilton — on her recent wedding; showed the audience cardboard blowups of photos from said wedding (the dress was by Oscar de la Renta, Paris tells us); we learn the wedding will be airing that coming Thursday on her show, “Paris in Love.”

This banter carries on for a while when, somewhat awkwardly, the conversation pivots to nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. “Last time you were on the show, I asked you to explain NFTs. And you did so in a great way. That was a very hard thing to really explain to a lot of people,” Fallon says. “But since then, Forbes has named you one of the 50 Most Influential People in the NFT space.”

From The revolution will not be centralized | American Banker:

xxx

xxx

“Imagine a world where most participants have Souls [digital wallets] that store SBTs corresponding to a series of affiliations, memberships, and credentials,”

From What Happens When You Die in the Metaverse?.

xxx

xxx

But if the U.S. did issue tokenised dollars and T-bills, why would anyone use 100% reserved USD-pegged stablecoins? Indeed, why would anyone even issue them? What would be the point of locking up all those Fed dollars and T-bills just to issue a private sector equivalent?

From There’s no such thing as a safe stablecoin.

xxx

xxx

The department for digital, culture media and sport is due to publish a digital strategy that draws together many of the government’s existing tech policies into one document, according to people familiar with the contents of the 50 page paper.

The strategy is expected to say the UK needs to strengthen its position as a global science and tech superpower, highlighting areas including AI, quantum computing and next generation semiconductors.

From UK to unveil new digital strategy to nurture technology sector | Financial Times.

xxx