A library of snippets
xxx
In the dog days of John Major’s government, then home secretary Michael Howard, on the back of introducing photographic driving licences, proposed an “anti-crime” ID card, only to be shouted down in cabinet by libertarian colleagues.
Actually, it was also shouted down by me. In a response to the consultation on Mr. Howard’s proposals, I suggested we think about a National Entitlement Scheme, rather
xxx
Michael Howard The Secretary of State for the Home Department
We are making good progress in our assessment of the responses received to the Green Paper on identity cards. I hope to be able to announce our final decision shortly.From Identity Cards: 6 Jun 1996: House of Commons debates – TheyWorkForYou:
xxx
xxx
The European Payments Initiative, a bank-backed joint venture that aims to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa, has put out a Request for Information for ‘qualified technical partners’ to help build its central infrastructure.
Backed by 31 major Eurozone banks and acquirers Wordlline and Nets, the EPI is striving to create a unified pan-European payment system, offering a card for consumers and merchants across Europe, a digital wallet and P2P payments
From European banks seek technical partners to help build rival to Visa and Mastercard:
xxx
xxx
Data trusts are a relatively new concept, but their popularity has grown quickly. In 2017, the UK government first proposed them as a way to make larger data sets available for training artificial intelligence. A European Commission proposal in early 2020 floated data trusts as a way to make more data available for research and innovation. And in July 2020, India’s government came out with a plan that prominently featured them as a mechanism to give communities greater control over their data.
In a legal setting, trusts are entities in which some people (trustees) look after an asset on behalf of other people (beneficiaries) who own it. In a data trust, trustees would look after the data or data rights of groups of individuals. And just as doctors have a duty to act in the interest of their patients, data trustees would have a legal duty to act in the interest of the beneficiaries.
From We need data trusts to help manage our data | MIT Technology Review.
xxx
xxx
The Federal Reserve’s system that allows financial institutions to send money back and forth electronically went down for several hours Wednesday but appeared to be coming back online later in the afternoon.
The “operational error,” as the Fed described it, impacted multiple services, including its pivotal automated clearinghouse system, which connects depository and related institutions send electronic credit and debt transfers.
From The Fed’s system that allows banks to send money back and forth is down:
xxx
xxx
“Competition between banks and fintech is intensifying, with Big Tech possessing the most potent digital platforms due to their access to customer data,” the bank said.
″‘Co-opetition’ between ‘Fin’ and ‘Tech’ players lies ahead, with banks stepping up investment to narrow the technology gap, and the battle between US banks and non-bank fintech is also playing out on the regulatory front.”
From Forget bitcoin — fintech is the ‘real Covid-19 story,’ JPMorgan says:
xxx
xxx
In Russia, where customers can’t usually add tips on top of card payments because most transactions take place with a contactless card tap, a popular booking service in the beauty industry is using Visa Direct to let customers leave tips through its platform, McInerney said.
xxx
xxx
Extricating Bitcoin from Xinjiang could be far more difficult. Unlike, say, blood diamonds or Iranian crude oil, Bitcoins exist only digitally. While there is a public record of the billions of Bitcoin transactions, it’s exceedingly complicated to determine the geographic origin of a particular Bitcoin
From Bitcoin Mining in Xinjiang, China Could Be a Red Flag for Regulators | Barron’s:
xxx
xxx
According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, as of April 2020, China was responsible for 65% of all Bitcoin mining. And of that, 36% takes place in Xinjiang, the largest regional component. Why? Cheap coal means cheap energy to power the machines that mine Bitcoin. Xinjiang has an abundant supply of coal, and the region’s relative remoteness means that it’s far cheaper to use the resource locally than move it to other parts of China.
From Bitcoin Mining in Xinjiang, China Could Be a Red Flag for Regulators | Barron’s:
xxx
xxx
Instead, the basic driver of today’s Bitcoin price is speculation on a scale I don’t think anyone could have predicted in 2014. It was Tesla’s purchase of $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin on February 8 – not its use by a few thousand Venezuelans – that triggered the final push across the $50,000 barrier.
xxx
Snippings