Teenage Suspect in $16M DeFi Hack Wanted for Arrest in Canada

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Unlike in other high-profile exploits where the attacker was “doxxed,” however, Medjedovic refused to return the funds and claimed on Twitter he was prepared to defend “code is law” – an unofficial DeFi ethos that holds that any activities technically permitted by smart contracts are not just immutable, but also legally and ethically permissible – in court.

From Teenage Suspect in $16M DeFi Hack Wanted for Arrest in Canada:

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Inside the Iranian Bitcoin mining industry – Cointelegraph Magazine

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“Bitcoin mining could be used by Iran to evade sanctions. But, if we decide to use this potential, we need to accept it completely. It means that Iran should have the required regulations to create domestic mining pools in case international pools decide to block Iranian miners,” he says.

“If Iran wants to use transactions on Bitcoin’s network in favor of its national interest, it needs to pay special attention to mining and make certain local rearrangements.”

From Inside the Iranian Bitcoin mining industry – Cointelegraph Magazine:

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Crypto: Regulators Are Taking the Wrong Approach to Stablecoins – Bloomberg

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Stablecoins are a creature of regulation in the same sense that money market funds were created in the 1970s to get around government limits on interest banks could pay retail depositors while the economy was running at double-digit inflation.

From Crypto: Regulators Are Taking the Wrong Approach to Stablecoins – Bloomberg:

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Super Apps Set Stage for Consumer-Focused Commerce | PYMNTS.com

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To that end, J.P. Morgan Chase Global Head of Payments Technology Mike Blandina and Global Head of Payments and Commerce Solutions Max Neukirchen said the trends in digital payments set in motion well before 2021 will bring innovations beyond the confines of marketplaces and consumer-focused super apps well after 2022 ends.

Looking back on 2021, they noted that the great digital shift has its roots pre-pandemic, when new payment methods started to gain broader acceptance and multi-site marketplaces became a major economic force.

One would have thought that COVID-19 would have upended everything. As Neukirchen noted, at the end of 2020 and lurching into 2021, vaccines were just starting to be rolled out, and no one was sure how the year might play out.

“Then we saw a strong rebound in the economy, which was reflected in the payment space,” he said. “The strength was reflected not only in volumes, but also with continued innovation, particularly within digital payments.”

Blandina and Neukirchen said the past several months have seen the continued “embedding” of payments, rendering them virtually invisible in various use cases and B2B workflows. And while there’s been much discussion and attention focused on the rise of the consumer super app, as Blandina noted, “there’s a future ‘merchant super app’ out there.”

From Super Apps Set Stage for Consumer-Focused Commerce | PYMNTS.com.

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As Blandina noted, for the marketplaces, “it really starts with what we call trust and safety — which rests with federated identity, which gives you the real understanding of who it is you’re really working with.”

Criminals have stolen nearly $100 billion in Covid relief funds: Secret Service

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Criminals have stolen close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday.

The stolen funds were diverted by fraudsters from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and a another program set up to dole out unemployment assistance funds nationwide.

From Criminals have stolen nearly $100 billion in Covid relief funds: Secret Service.

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America’s Future Depends on the Blockchain – WSJ

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One potential path is an open public-private effort to explore the tokenization of the U.S. Treasury market and related funding processes. Imagine the efficiencies and regulatory enhancements provided by real-time trading, clearing and settlement in the U.S. Treasury market. How about the many efficiencies and welfare-enhancing products that could be built off tokenized interoperability among the Federal Reserve, regulated financial institutions, other financial services providers, investors, savers and consumers? Imagine the benefits to the U.S. from modernizing current payment markets rather than waiting for new ones to develop. Imagine the investment and human capital that would flow in the direction of U.S. ingenuity, virtually immediately, if such an effort were announced.

From America’s Future Depends on the Blockchain – WSJ:

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Bitcoin ATMs: Criminals target cryptocurrency transactions

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“You have to have an approach an AML [anti-money-laundering] KYC approach that’s commensurate with the risk, and for lower transactions, we don’t want to disenfranchise people,” Weiss said. “We want everyone to be able to buy $50, $100, $200 of bitcoin, regardless of their immigration status and regardless if they have an ID.”

From Bitcoin ATMs: Criminals target cryptocurrency transactions:

The thing is, if I am a drug dealer or corrupt politician, I will just set up a bunch of wallets and deposit a couple of hundred bucks into each one. Then when I feel like it, I can have a bot move the cash between the wallets and send it off to wherever.

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