Snippings

xxx

ndeed, the concept of “banking the unbanked” may become a relic of the past if stablecoins permit access to core financial services without a bank involved at all.

From Stablecoins, Stability, and Financial Inclusion – Future:

xxx

xxx

Stablecoins have been a core enabling technology behind the growth of DeFi, which requires low volatility, on-chain assets for use in everyday transactions.

From Stablecoins, Stability, and Financial Inclusion – Future:

xxx

xxx

There is nothing more convenient than authorising a payment with your fingerprint.

From Daimler drivers will soon be able to pay with a finger:

xxx

xxx

As part of the scam, the credit card thieves purchased Bits with stolen credit cards and donated large sums by cheering Turkey-based accomplices, then asked them to refund 70 to 80 percent of the proceeds as part of a money-laundering scheme.

From FDD | Turkish Streamers Colluded With Iran-Based Money Launderers: Amazon Subsidiary Twitch Should Take Action:

xxx

xxx

African cross-border payments startup Chipper Cash has raised $150 million at a $2 billion valuation in a Series C extension round led by cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

From FTX leads $150m Series C extension for Chipper Cash:

xxx

xxx

NITZAN MEKEL-BOBROV, CHIEF AI OFFICER, EBAY
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that without AI, the metaverse won’t exist; as carbon is to the organic world, AI will be both the matrix that provides the necessary structural support and the material from which digital representation will be made.

From What is the metaverse? 28 experts speak.

xxx

Account-to-account (A2A) payments are payments that shift money from the payer’s bank account to the payee’s bank account through the instant payment networks that are springing up around the world. These are inexpensive, push-only credit transfers that complete (for consumers and businesses) in seconds whether the underlying settlement networks are actually real-time (as in Australia) or net (as in the UK).

The world of payments is looking the move towards

Payments giant Worldline has flagged the shift to A2A as one of its “megatrends” for the coming year. In Europe, where the PSD2 push to payment initiation services through open banking APIs is gathering steam, they predict A2A reaching 10% penetration within five years (personally, I think this is an underestimate because retailers will tender-steer with incentives). Account-based payments are very attractive to the retailers because of lower costs and faster, irrevocable settlement that remove the need for the payment guarantee central to the card network proposition.

xxx

Let’s say these visions come to fruition. Would that be a good thing? Given all the misinformation and loss of privacy produced by the old-fashioned internet, it’s easy to be skeptical about what massive technology companies might do with a metaverse. Just like the internet and social media, the metaverse can and will be misused. Deepfake technology can already produce images that are indistinguishable from photographs. People can be misled by much less. How much more powerful might an immersive environment prove to be?

From The metaverse could actually help people | MIT Technology Review:

xxx

xxx

Nine out of ten times, the offer was refused. If it was accepted, Mr Boggs would note down time and place on the blank back of the drawing, ask for a receipt and take any change he was “owed”. After a day, he would call one of many avid collectors of his works; he would sell the collector, at a roughly fivefold mark-up, the receipt and change; and from those clues the collector, if he wished to buy the drawing, would have to track down the new owner. Receipt, change and drawn note, when reunited, became joint proof of the drawing’s value, confirmed by the transaction; and would then change hands, typically, for tens of thousands of dollars.

From Obituary: J.S.G.Boggs was found dead on January 23rd | The Economist:

xxx

xxx

Harnessing Yapily’s open banking infrastructure, Trilo empowers businesses to move away from cards and their fees, unlocking hidden revenue which would otherwise be eaten up in paying those fees. While Trilo is giving merchants more visibility on their customers, creating a data-rich ecosystem for merchants to connect more with their merchants.

From Trilo and Yapily join forces to simplify payments & help businesses supercharge customer experience:

xxx