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Anticipating the collapse, on Sunday Moscow saw panic buying of luxury goods that may have high resale value.

From Chartbook #89 Russia’s financial meltdown and the global dollar system.:

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Credit cards and digital payment services such as Square have a wealth of data, but it too is mostly from the food service industry. One recent study by Popmenu found restaurant tips of at least 20 percent were increasingly becoming the norm.

From Forgotten tipped workers like hotel maids, airport skycaps, doormen hit hard by pandemic and cashless economy – The Washington Post:

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In my experience people I know are happy to add tips for people they assume to be in a more precarious employment situation. Perhaps it’s because I’m middle class, or perhaps it’s because I have an American wife who insists on proper tipping, but I don’t mind adding 15% for service in a restaurant (if I’m sure the staff will actually get it). Similarly, when we stay in hotels, we always leave a $20 bill for the maid.

So what is going to happen as the cashless society advances? One of the “edge cases” that people often use is giving change to homeless.

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Among those often talked about as endangered by the death of cash are buskers, the homeless, and the old. However, some of those groups are already starting to go cashless. Big Issue sellers, beggars and buskers, are already adopting, in some locations, contactless payment devices, or displaying “QR” codes which enable payment to them by mobile app. “I was in Oslo a couple of weeks ago,” says David Birch. “The people begging on the streets had QR codes. I’ve got a picture of me on the London Underground with a busker who took contactless.”

From Utopia or Dystopia … Are you ready for the rise of the cashless society? | HeraldScotland:

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But among other details, investigators matched Nguyen and Llacuna’s Discord account data (including Nguyen’s IP address and Llacuna’s email address and phone number) with corresponding accounts on the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange. The Coinbase accounts were linked with a Citibank credit card and government ID that let law enforcement track the pair down.

From Two men arrested for $1.1 million NFT ‘rug pull’ scam – The Verge.

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When I talk to bankers, they’re often baffled that companies will pay so much to providers like Stripe for cards or ACH when the bank would offer it so much cheaper.

From Fintech 🧠 Food – 27th March 2020 – Why adding value in payments wins, Apple acquires UK Open Banking provider & Investors Ape into Bored Ape creator..

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Banking-as-a-Service (BassS) is a well-understood strategy to give non-banks embedded finance options to provide financial services to their own customers, exploiting the bank’s licence and core capabilities such account management, compliance, fraud management and lending. It is an incredibly cost effective distribution strategy, as measured by the return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) achieved by the banks taking advantage of it.

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“The vulnerabilities of AI and complex analytic systems are significant and very widely overlooked by many of the organizations employing them.”

From AI Experts Warn of Potential Cyberwar Facing Banking Sector – WSJ.

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ECOMMPAY’s recent study found that 28% of consumers have ‘no idea’ what Open Banking is and how it is used. A further 20% stated that they were a ‘little confused’ about the term and its uses. Similarly, 3 years after the launch of this system, 10% of business leaders still don’t fully understand what Open Banking is, or how it could benefit their business.

From Open Banking Capabilities Still Not Full Understood by UK Consumers; ECOMMPAY Survey Finds | The Fintech Times.

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Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried
“I don’t think it moves the needle that much from where we were before. I think it’s more just a reflection of where the administration is than anything else,” the CEO of crypto exchange FTX told CNBC.

From Biden’s Crypto Order: Sam Bankman-Fried, Kevin O’Leary, Novogratz React.

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The latest book from renowned digital identity expert David Birch is an exploration of the future of money. Birch is always ahead of the game when it comes to industry trends, so despite being published a few years ago ‘The Currency Cold War’ hits right at the heart of the current buzz around cryptocurrencies, CBDCs and digital money.

Birch argues that an overhaul of our current monetary system is inevitable, so we need to be prepared. Developing a global digital identity infrastructure is crucial to enable due diligence for e-money payment systems.

But Birch goes way beyond the technical and places digital currency into a much wider political and geographical content. He explores the political power conflicts and private company interests that have, or will, drive the development of new currencies and change money as we know it today.

From 5 must-read books for digital identity enthusiasts – Future Identity.

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The project is now expected to ditch plans for a card scheme and will instead focus on the digital wallet.

From EPI abandons plan for Visa and Mastercard rival as member banks quit:

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