A library of snippets
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The South African patent office made history in July when it issued a patent that listed an artificial intelligence system as the inventor.
The patent is for a food container that uses fractal designs to create pits and bulges in its sides. Designed for the packaging industry, the new configuration allows containers to fit more tightly together so they can be transported better. The shape also makes it easier for robotic arms to pick up the containers.
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One attacker, going by the pseudonym “jpegdegenlove” today paid a total of $133,000 for seven NFTs – before quickly selling them on for $934,000 in ether. Five hours later this ether was sent through Tornado Cash, a “mixing” service that is used to prevent blockchain tracing of funds.
From Hackers Exploit Bug to “Steal” $1 Million in NFTs from OpenSea Users.
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My guess is that the total addressable market of metaverse insurance will be only a small portion of today’s physical world premium. Even so, a small fraction of the $650 billion net written premium and $12 billion in net underwriting profit in 2020 in the U.S., might be enough to make insuring the metaverse interesting.
From Insurance in the metaverse, Meta, Facebook | Digital Insurance:
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General purpose reloadable prepaid cards had an average dollar amount loaded onto them of $120 in the past year.
From Average Dollar Amount Loaded onto Prepaid Cards by Canadian Consumers: –.
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Abdallah Assaii, a 37-year-old Lebanese coffee shop owner, robbed the bank to get his money back. It was his money, so was he really robbing the bank? Did he rob the bank or did he just make a claim for what is rightfully his?
The incident took place at a branch of Lebanese bank BBAC in the town of Jeb Jannine, in the Bekaa Valley, on January 18. Abdallah entered the bank branch and held seven bank employees hostage for four hours until they paid him his $50,000 US dollars in cash. The bank claims that Mr Assaii held a gun to the head of one of the bank staff, had explosives in his bag and sprayed petrol on the employees and on the floor, threatening to light a cigarette. Mr Assaii’s lawyer claims there was no threat and that he kept the gun in his bag and apologised to staff when the confrontation ended.
From He ‘robbed’ his bank to get his own money back – Chris Skinner’s blog.
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The image, which has now been withdrawn, was offered for sale for $2,776 (€2,446) on the OpenSea website, according to the Mediapart website, which first reported the story.
From Bataclan survivor shocked as surgeon tries to sell her X-ray as NFT | France | The Guardian.
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BoA concludes that Britcoin would represent a “rebundling” of money. Should consumers hold substantial amounts in a Britcoin wallet, banks would not be able to rely on the stability or duration of checking account deposits. Nor would they be able to cross-sell products such as credit cards and mortgages as effectively as they do now.
From Bank of America Says UK CBDC Would Be More Than a Digital Form of Cash:
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Commercial banks would then be at risk of losing both the funds and the relationship of their customers.
From Bank of America Says UK CBDC Would Be More Than a Digital Form of Cash:
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Despite much rhetoric and progress on paper, the UK remains a safe haven for dirty money, a great deal of which comes from Russia and Eurasia. As we have shown, it is not just money that is laundered, but also reputations.
From 06 Conclusion and recommendations | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank:
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Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, run by CIPS Co. Ltd. and launched by the central bank in 2015 to settle international claims in yuan, will increase the number of direct participating banks using the system to nearly 80 by the end of this year from the current 71, Xu Zaiyue, chief executive officer of CIPS, said in an interview.
From China’s Fledgling Cross-Border Payments System Grows Its Reach – Bloomberg.
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The average daily transaction volume of CIPS reached 317.2 billion yuan ($49 billion) in August, up from about 190 billion a year ago, according to data provided by the company. It had 1,144 indirect participating banks in 103 countries by the end of August, of which 531 were located within mainland China.
Snippings