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FTX is seeking to bypass the brokers and use an approach that has evolved in the do-it-yourself, 24/7 crypto trade. In this world, digital assets move on computer networks that have no opening or closing times, or any of the traditional gatekeepers that were required by older technologies.

Under the FTX plan, customers would deposit collateral in FTX accounts — cash or crypto — and be responsible for keeping enough on hand to cover margin requirements at all times. Margin levels would be calculated every 30 seconds. If the margin falls too low, FTX would start liquidating the position in seconds, selling it off in 10 per cent increments or, in worst-case scenarios, offering it to “backstop liquidity providers who agree ahead of time to accept a set amount”. FTX also promised to put $250mn of cash into a guarantee fund.

FTX officials argue that the current practice of asking for margin creates a world of unsecured credit in which FCMs basically hope the customer will pay at some point. Their automated system would be safer, they say. Liquidations would be more frequent, but less ruinous. As proof, they pointed to the ability of their three-year-old international exchange to survive the ferocious volatility of digital asset prices.

From Blockchain and financial markets: will computers push out brokers? | Financial Times.

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Jamie Dimon says competition from Apple and Walmart is ‘intensifying’

From JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Warns That Nonbank Competition Is ‘Intensifying’.

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One platform is attempting to make the trading of crypto more accessible and straightforward with the use of artificial intelligence. Currently, new users must learn about markets and the assets they want to trade, adding to the barriers of getting started.

The decentralized exchange, Soldex, is eliminating these barriers by giving traders the capabilities to use AI-powered trading algorithms developed by users.

From Solana-built decentralized exchange uses AI to make trading more accessible.

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That opens up the possibility, for example, of Telegram or Signal users being able to exchange messages with WhatsApp users.

From EU agrees sweeping new digital rules in effort to curb big tech’s power | Technology | The Guardian.

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The Met Police has suggested giving officers warrant cards that women and girls can scan with a smartphone to confirm their identity.

From Met Police suggest giving officers warrant cards that women and girls can scan | Daily Mail Online:

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Last month, a watchdog report revealed an astonishing 2,000 Met warrant cards had gone missing. 

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Last week, the latest denial was handed down to a proposed Bitcoin spot ETF led by Cathie Wood of Ark Invest. In its 55-page order rejecting the application, the SEC pulls no punches. Here’s a key passage that begins on page 22 (emphasis added):

“… does not sufficiently contest the presence of possible sources of fraud and manipulation in the bitcoin spot market generally that the Commission has raised in previous orders. Such possible sources have included (1) ‘wash’ trading, (2) persons with a dominant position in bitcoin manipulating bitcoin pricing, (3) hacking of the bitcoin network and trading platforms, (4) malicious control of the bitcoin network, (5) trading based on material, non-public information, including the dissemination of false and misleading information, (6) manipulative activity involving the purported “stablecoin” Tether (USDT), and (7) fraud and manipulation at bitcoin trading platforms.”

Gary Gensler can be accused of many things, but being ignorant of how crypto markets work is not one of them.

From A Spot of Bother for Bitcoin – Doomberg.

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A personal assistant to several oligarchs on the St George’s Hill Estate in Surrey, which is an exclusive gated enclave where a third of residents are Russia, told a British newspaper that she was taking several calls every day from Russian billionaires asking her to help them with blocked credit card problems, saying that “They ask if they can use my address when they apply for new cards to avoid the sanctions. I just put the phone down”.

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This was one of the proposals put forward in a new report from the Center for an Urban Future which offers 250 ideas to revive New York City’s economy and build a more equitable city. The non-profit surveyed 175 New Yorkers for ideas, including executives, activists, restaurateurs, architects and politicians. Fred Wilson, founder of Union Square Ventures, proposed NYC Coin: a local currency for the city’s five boroughs.

Wilson writes: “Increased local spending, especially at New Yorker-owned and operated retailers and restaurants, will be critical to creating an economic recovery that includes and sustains the small businesses across the five boroughs that have been devastated by the pandemic. One innovative way to encourage New Yorkers to spend within the city is by creating a local currency: NYC Coin. Local currencies keep money circulating within the community, strengthening the local economy.”

He said the emergence of cryptocurrency and the widespread use of digital wallets and contactless payment would make NYC Coin relatively easy to implement.

“NYC Coin could provide benefits for vendors and consumers through sales tax exemptions, discounts, or other mechanisms, all while showing NYC pride and ensuring the money spent stays within the five boroughs,” Wilson said.

From Cities revisit local currencies to reboot their economies – Cities Today:

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The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is open to looking at solutions that can enable ‘partial authentication’ where needed, and is keen to get feedback from the industry about the demand for such solutions, its CEO Saurabh Garg said on Tuesday.

From UIDAI open to looking at solutions on ‘partial authentication’: CEO | India News – Times of India.

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We are also open to looking at what is called partial authentication. Some people might only want to verify the age, they are not looking at anything more than that.

From UIDAI open to looking at solutions on ‘partial authentication’: CEO | India News – Times of India.

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Citing another example of ‘partial authentication’ requirement, Garg said verification may only be needed for confirming whether a person is a resident of a particular area, and not the full address per se.

From UIDAI open to looking at solutions on ‘partial authentication’: CEO | India News – Times of India.

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A mechanism is provided to associate NFTs with URIs. We expect that many implementations will take advantage of this to provide metadata for each NFT. The image size recommendation is taken from Instagram, they probably know much about image usability. The URI MAY be mutable (i.e. it changes from time to time).

From EIP-721: Non-Fungible Token Standard.

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Metadata is returned as a string value. Currently this is only usable as calling from web3, not from other contracts. This is acceptable because we have not considered a use case where an on-blockchain application would query such information.

Alternatives considered: put all metadata for each asset on the blockchain (too expensive), use URL templates to query metadata parts (URL templates do not work with all URL schemes, especially P2P URLs), multiaddr network address (not mature enough)