Snippings

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During the investigation, the local police found the money flowed to a specific electronic wallet, but the wallet’s transaction model was different from traditional online payment. After multiple visits to banks and third-party payment companies, the investigators discovered the digital wallet contained e-CNY and belonged to a 26-year-old suspect surnamed Lin from the southeastern province of Fujian.

From Chinese Police Raid What May Be The Nation’s First E-CNY Money-laundering Case.

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the e-CNY is not a 100% anonymous system, but supports “managed anonymity” with tiers of complexity based on know-your-customer needs. 

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A speed wallet set up on an unregistered burner phone is limited to a daily transaction level of 20,000 naira (about $50), and a balance limit of 120,000 naira (about $300).

From The eNaira’s time has come | Financial Times:

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Commonwealth Bank will allow its customers to hold and use bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies via its 6.5 million-user banking app in a bid to appeal to young customers and keep pace with rivals such as Square and PayPal, which already allow users to trade and spend bitcoin.

From Commonwealth Bank to add bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to its banking app:

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*Commonwealth Bank will allow its customers to hold and use bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies via its 6.5 million-user banking app in a bid to appeal to young customers and keep pace with rivals such as Square and PayPal, which already allow users to trade and spend bitcoin.*
*The move will make CBA the first Australian bank – and one of just a handful of banks worldwide – to offer customers access to cryptocurrencies, which are created digitally with no physical form and are challenging traditional banking systems and fiat money.*
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*CBA declined to provide any information about its plans ahead of the formal announcement. But sources close to the project said the plan was designed to allow the more than 6.5 million users of the CBA app to buy bitcoin and other crypto investments from next year, and to view holdings inside the main banking app rather than the CommSec app.*
*CBA believes offering crypto will lift engagement with its app – a key performance metric – because the volatility of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will entice customers back to the app more to check on the value of their holdings. CBA will then be able to show customers the full range of digital services and cross-sell banking products.*
*The ability to pay for goods and services in the real economy with crypto holdings is being considered as an additional feature that could be added by CBA down the track, one source said.*
# CBA’s digital ‘ecosystem’
*Any CBA move into crypto would be a further validation that it has entered the mainstream, after a host of institutional investors jumped on board this year.*
*It would become part of CBA’s digital “ecosystem”, where its app not only allows customers to pay bills and check account balances but also manage property and buy energy and telecommunications services. CBA .* [wants to operate more like a technology platform than a traditional bank](https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/cba-rolls-out-fresh-digital-offerings-20210527-p57vjq)

*CBA is keen not to be left behind in the race to build “super apps” attractive to younger customers. Its move, if confirmed, will surprise other banks, which have mostly adopted a sceptical view of cryptocurrencies. But customers are voting with their feet: the Australian Tax Office has estimated more than 600,000 taxpayers have invested in digital assets in recent years.*
*It is understood CBA has discussed its plans with regulators, who are considering introducing licensing regimes for crypto after the Senate committee Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre (ATFC) two weeks ago and to create protections for bitcoin investors including local custody rules.* [called for Treasury to introduce a new licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges](https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/senate-report-proposes-model-to-regulate-the-crypto-economy-20211020-p591jh)
*CBA’s apparent embrace of crypto comes after it and other banks were criticised * [during hearings of the Senate committee in September for failing to provide banking services to crypto companies.](https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/de-banking-of-fintechs-is-rife-senate-committee-told-20210908-p58puh)

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It seems quite common for DeFi arrangements to call themselves decentralised when they actually include a person with control or sufficient influence, and jurisdictions should apply the definition without respect to self-description,”

From Global regulators target blockchain-based ‘decentralised finance’ | Financial Times:

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Teunis Brosens, ING

The motivators for a digital euro

Monetary sovereignty and geostrategic autonomy are clear motivations for a digital euro. From a more narrow end-user perspective, the gains of a digital euro are less clear.

The gains of a digital euro are less clear
Digital means of payment are readily available today, though acceptance and use vary across the EU. That said, banks better follow discussions closely in the coming two years, during the ECB’s “investigation phase”. The European Commission is due to adopt a regulation in early 2023, setting out key design features. Crucial decisions are, therefore, being made in the coming 18 months, and this is also the phase determining whether the digital euro will turn out useful for banks or will instead be primarily weakening them vis-à-vis big techs incorporating the digital euro seamlessly into their ecosystems.

From Digital regulation – information overload | Article | ING Think:

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Teunis Brosens, ING

To summarise these multiple data-related regulatory initiatives, over the coming years banks will likely have to open up more of their data for real-time portability. At the same time, they may also find themselves on the receiving end of more real-time ported data. Banks that are willing and able to use that data to improve their services will be at an advantage compared to their peer banks. They will be better able to compete with non-bank fintech and big tech providers of banking services. At the same time, they are a more attractive potential partner to those very same non-bank providers. Thus banks face important questions about their data capabilities, and about how they want to put data to work in their organisation. Banks will also need to carefully consider how to reconcile any data ambitions with their role as trusted custodians of money and sensitive financial data.

From Digital regulation – information overload | Article | ING Think:

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Many more processes could be made more trustworthy with blockchains:

Fair random number generators (eg. for lotteries) – VDFs, such as the one Ethereum is expected to include, could serve as a fair random number generator that could be used to make government-run lotteries more trustworthy. Fair randomness could also be used for many other use cases, such as sortition as a form of government.
Certificates, for example cryptographic proofs that some particular individual is a resident of the city, could be done on-chain for added verifiability and security (eg. if such certificates are issued on-chain, it would become obvious if a large number of false certificates are issued). This can be used by all kinds of local-government-issued certificates.
Asset registries, for land and other assets, as well as more complicated forms of property ownership such as development rights. Due to the need for courts to be able to make assignments in exceptional situations, these registries will likely never be fully decentralized bearer instruments in the same way that cryptocurrencies are, but putting records on-chain can still make it easier to see what happened in what order in a dispute.

From Crypto Cities:

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“Aside from the fact that journalists, activists and even children at risk have a right to the protections of online anonymity, de-anonymising all online activity won’t eliminate crime or terrorism: it will simply make it easier to identify some people who have already committed crimes,” says Victoria Baines, a former Europol officer and cybersecurity expert. “If we focus solely on technological solutions, there is a danger that we will be even further away from effectively tackling these social problems.”

From Would ending online anonymity reduce abuse against MPs? – New Statesman:

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However, the ease with which the initial theft was achieved highlights some worrying weaknesses in the Land Registry system, such as the ability to pay anonymously and inadequate checks on the apparent owner’s identity.

From Fraudster steals woman’s £850,000 house:

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In the frantic hours that followed, Husseini discovered the total stranger was now the legal owner of the brick Colonial worth about $525,000 that forms the center of her life with her husband and daughter.

From She had no idea her home could be stolen. Then she read her junk mail. – The Washington Post:

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