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The proposed “workable plan” is based in part on a survey which shows that 55 percent of UK residents support the establishment of a digital ID system to prevent asylum seekers whose claims are rejected from working and settling in the Kingdom anyway. Only 28 percent were opposed to this plan, leaving 17 percent who do not have an opinion.
The idea is to cut off demand for passage to the UK among asylum-seekers. Right-to-work checks of digital ID, often involving biometrics, are already coming into force in the UK.  As of December 30, 2022, a long-planned set of requirements for employers will come into effect, but with restrictions on what forms of digital documentation are accepted.

From Digital ID cards for right to work proposed as migrant crisis fix by Tony Blair Institute | Biometric Update:

The system proposed in the paper would involve a physical identity card with digital functionality for employers and government services to authenticate the bearer. Those with the card could provide a passport or equivalent document for identity verification to generate a public or private key pair for a digital signature. The digital signatures could be applied to necessary documents to prove the person’s right to work or receive the service.

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Baker sits among the majority of cryptoasset investors who view tokens as a “fun investment”, according to research published this month by HM Revenue & Customs. A smaller cohort, one in five, said cryptocurrencies were “‘core part” of their investment portfolio.

From Crypto voices: investors speak about the market shock | Financial Times:

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Posing as a scholar, a Chinese woman spent years writing alternative accounts of medieval Russian history on Chinese Wikipedia, conjuring imaginary states, battles, and aristocrats in one of the largest hoaxes on the open-source platform.

From A Bored Chinese Housewife Spent Years Falsifying Russian History on Wikipedia:

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Graham sold a total of 300 9mm Parabellum bulleted cartridges for £5,800 in cash during four meetings with the buyer, who was actually an undercover police officer… Cash was also found at his home, which included banknotes showing the same serial numbers as those handed to Graham on the 13 January, when 100 rounds of live ammunition were bought.

From Coldstream Guard soldiers sold ammunition for cash, court hears – BBC News:

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The banking regulator is asking the Commission to explore the possibility of having a common application programming interface (API) standard across the EU to be developed by the industry. The EBA acknowledged that introducing a single API standard at this stage would bring additional compliance costs, but these would be outweighed by the significant benefits that would accrue as a common API would reduce barriers for new market entrants. The EBA said that this common API would also be extended in the potential move towards open finance — the expansion from access to payment accounts data towards access to other types of financial data (such as savings, investments and insurance data).

From EBA: Standard API for Open Banking in New PSD3  | PYMNTS.com:

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the EBA proposes merging the PSD2 and the Electronic Money Directive 2 as it suggests that this will resolve a significant number of challenges faced by the industry and supervisory authorities in delineating between the two legal frameworks. The EBA also suggests applying identical legal requirements for payment providers and electronic money providers, including authorization process and requirements on safeguarding, initial capital and own funds.

From EBA: Standard API for Open Banking in New PSD3  | PYMNTS.com:

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Members discussed whether current KYC regulation would need to be changed in order to accommodate such proposition. Some members noted that digital ID could be helpful in this space.

From Minutes of the CBDC Engagement Forum – May 2022 | Bank of England:

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In May, property firm Central China Management ran a 16-day campaign in which it accepted garlic as down payments for homes in China’s Qi county, a major garlic-producing region.

From Chinese property developers accept farm produce for homes – BBC News:

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Brian McAllister, director of global operations, consumer direct, at NewStore retailer Burton, says the technology will reduce the dependence on payment hardware to accept transactions, providing a complementary way to accept payments for line-busting. “The biggest advantage of this feature is it eliminates our dependence on traditional payment terminals, which means we can now offer an even more seamless and secure way to accept payments.”

From Apple’s Tap to Pay comes to the high street:

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Last but not least, Steve Pannifer, managing director of Consult Hyperion, gave a fascinating presentation comparing decentralized identity components to central banking components in his ‘Decentralized Identity – The Key to Central Bank Digital Currency.’ Is the dream of a digital currency using existing decentralized identity technology really viable to central bankers? It’s a long shot, but Pannifer gave me hope!

From Verifiable Credentials go mainstream at Identiverse 2022 | Biometric Update.

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