A library of snippets
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hat question rises inevitably from a new wave of so-called flash-mob robberies, thieves by the dozens invading retail stores to simply take what they want. It’s happened in California, Illinois, Minnesota and Maryland. Retailers ranging from Nordstrom to 7-Eleven have been hit.
From Why are flash mobs looting stores? Because today’s America gave them the go-ahead | Opinion.
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In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said that the volume of sales on its Pay in 4 service jumped by 400% this Black Friday, compared with the previous year.
From PayPal CEO: Buy-Now-Pay-Later Spending Soared 400% on Black Friday.
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Chinese police are using a new anti-fraud app installed on more than 200m mobile phones to identify and question people who have viewed overseas financial news sites, according to individuals summoned by the authorities.
The app was launched in March by the public security ministry’s National Anti-Fraud Center and blocks suspicious phone calls and reports malware. Police said it was needed to combat a surge in fraud, often perpetrated by overseas operations managed by Chinese and Taiwanese nationals.
The ministry recommended that the app was downloaded but numerous local government agencies made it mandatory for their employees and individuals with whom they work, such as students and tenants.
From China uses anti-fraud app to track access to overseas financial news sites | Financial Times:
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Shin also said that miner extractable value (MEV)—the profit cryptocurrency miners can make by reordering transactions for their own benefit—has been rising, reflecting the recent increase in activity on ethereum. MEV has been called “crypto’s version of Wall Street front-running” by one critic.
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In September, Miami’s city commissioners voted to accept that share, last week valued at $21m. This is a kind of seigniorage — the profit from manufacturing money. The city gets monetary profit, but no monetary control. This is a departure.
From MiamiCoin, a currency without sovereignty | Financial Times.
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There is a long history of city-states producing their own money. But in the past that production came with monetary sovereignty — the ability to control quality and volume. Miami is launching a novel experiment: it is lending its name to a money it doesn’t control.
From MiamiCoin, a currency without sovereignty | Financial Times.
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Liberalism didn’t kill society. And conservatism didn’t kill society. Because society isn’t dead. But it is pallid and fretful, like a shut-in staring all day long at nothing but a screen, mistaking a mirror for a window. Inside, online, there is no society, only the simulation of it.
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Under the second MOU, Singapore and the UK will work more closely to develop mutual recognition of digital identities between the countries.
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$10 billion in spending isn’t a lot. It’s less than the world spends on toothpaste ($30b), much less than the US spends on cigarettes ($80b), and considerably less than the US Federal government spends in one day ($18.65 billion).
If we think of the $10 billion spent by Bitcoin as a security budget (as the spending secures the blockchain) it also compares reasonably to US bank spending on cybersecurity. Bank of America alone spent more than $1 billion on its cybersecurity budget and the total financial security budget is much larger.
None of this proves that Bitcoin spending is well spent but it puts things in context. It is also true, of course, that most of the new crypto platforms such as Elrond (I am an advisor) use proof of stake which uses much less electricity than proof of work.
Still, the next time you read that Bitcoin consumes as much electricity as Sweden substitute Bitcoin spends as much on electricity as Americans spend on Halloween costumes.
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This in turn drove growth in account-to-account payments, with 54% of all business-to-business payments made via Faster Payments. The instant payment rail notched up a 21% increase in volumes year-on-year.
From Pandemic drives annual surge in A2A payments and contactless transactions in UK.
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