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When Amazon Web Services US-East-1 went down in early December, Chivo went down with it. You’d hope a national payment system would be a bit more robust. [Elsalvador.com, in Spanish]

From El Salvador: Bitcoin Volcano Bond laws, Chivo still doesn’t work, corruption – Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain:

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This is essential if we want Web 3.0 applications to be as fast and responsive as Web 2.0 applications. But is that a useful objective? The most successful new technologies address new workloads rather than migrating old ones on to new platforms. Web 3.0 is better at some very specific things, like moving value with tokenization and enabling complex integrations with smart contracts.

From Web 3.0 Is Too Complicated:

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But in the near-term, the metaverse is more likely to involve using virtual reality (VR) to enhance the experience of remote working and social interactions with family and friends who live in different places (as well as entertainment and online gaming).

From Policymakers, web3, and the metaverse.

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Interoperability will be the game-changer.

Prior years have seen fragmented solutions to handling identities online that range from password managers and government-issued e-identities to identity verification service providers for KYC and organizations working on self-sovereign identity (SSI). One of the main barriers to consumer adoption has been interoperability. Demand for digital identity and assets reached critical mass in 2021, with popular demand for digital Covid-19 vaccination certificates and passes. In 2022, these initiatives will continue to expand, spurred by government endorsements like the European Commission’s announcement for a Digital Identity and consumer demand for convenience.

From The Next Evolution Of Digital Identity In 2022.

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Rod Sims, Australia’s chief antitrust official, is coming to the end of his term at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. As the man of who faced off with Google and Facebook, he has an interesting warning for regulators: Don’t break up big tech. He is concerned about the “uncertain outcome” of a breakup and thinks that pro-competition regulations are best way to rein in big tech. This is precisely the point I made in Wired magazine’s “Wired World in 2022” special issue.

One other interesting nugget from Thursday’s filing: Apple’s spending on Cook’s security jumped 34% to $630,000. This is a fraction of what some other companies pay for their CEOs’ security (Facebook’s spending on Mark Zuckerberg’s was $13.4 million in 2020, for instance). Still, the amount Apple pays to protect Cook has been steadily rising for the past few years.

 

And this is before cryptocurrency-powered assassination lotteries enter the mainstream.

Writing in Computers & People back in September 1975, Paul Armer (from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at 
Stanford) expressed some early concerns about the use of the payment system as a surveillance tool. In doing so, he made a very interesting point about the use of cash:

And further suppose that you have gotten into the habit of using the system because: one, it is convenient; and two, it may be cheaper than other payment mechanisms. Now comes an instance in which you want privacy and decide to use cash. If you have to obtain the cash from the EFT system, that cash transaction will stand out like a sore thumb. The point here is that it’s not enough just to have the option of using cash, the cash option must be used frequently or it becomes useless as a means for privacy.

I hadn’t really thought about this before, but it’s an important point. We can’t be that far away from assuming that anyone who pays in cash or Bitcoin at the local supermarket is a drug dealer or corrupt politician.

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A new tech startup plans to become “the stock market of litigation financing” by allowing everyday Americans to bet on civil lawsuits through the purchase (and trade) of associated crypto tokens. In doing so, the company hopes to provide funding to individuals who would otherwise not be able to pursue claims.

From Tech Startup Wants To Gamify Suing People Using Crypto Tokens:

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A new study from Juniper Research has found that the value of transactions made over prepaid cards will exceed $4.1 trillion globally in 2026; up from $2.3 trillion in 2021 – a substantial growth of 75%. The growth in prepaid cards will be driven by the ongoing replacement of cash, as economies move increasingly towards digital payments.

From Prepaid Card Transaction Value to Exceed $4.1 Trillion by 2026:

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fee revenue reaching over $32 billion globally in 2026, from $22 billion in 2021.

The research found that while the US will account for over 43% of global transaction values in 2026, there are other significant opportunities emerging.

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POLICE forces across the UK have seized bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies valued at almost a third of a billion pounds during criminal investigations, New Scientist can reveal. But this figure may be only a tiny fraction of the illicit funds being used in the UK, because police face significant technological and legislative hurdles when investigating crimes involving cryptocurrencies.

From Bitcoin: UK police forces have seized more than £300 million in cryptocurrencies | New Scientist:

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