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A wholesale CBDC has potential advantages when settling digital assets. Yet it would raise major policy and governance hurdles. Linking existing systems to new DLT platforms would avoid many of these problems, but would forgo the potential benefits of full integration.

From Press release: BIS, Swiss National Bank and SIX announce successful wholesale CBDC experiment:

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$0.36 per token. After the Christie’s auction, B20 shot up to $23. It’s now down to around $16, according to Coinmarketcap. That’s a nice profit for anyone who got in early—and worth over $3 million for Beeple, if he dumps his coins quickly and there’s enough liquidity to actually sell them.

From Metakovan, the mystery Beeple art buyer, and his NFT/DeFi scheme – Amy Castor:

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Criminals are using the video game Fortnite to groom children as young as 12 to become drug mules, youth workers have warned.

The game’s virtual currency, v-bucks, is offered to children who want to buy extras for the game, such as costumes and dance moves for their characters, but cannot afford to do so.

From Dealers are using Fortnite treats to groom children as drug mules | News | The Sunday Times:

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complete anonymity is infeasible in reality and traces must be kept to recognize identity of the transaction for the sake of preventing crimes and violations, said Mu Changchun, director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China

From Complete anonymity is unrealistic for digital yuan: central bank official – Global Times:

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Cash App functions as a substitute bank for many of its more than 36 million monthly users.

From Square’s Cash App vulnerable to hackers, customers claim: ‘They’re completely ghosting you’:

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Bitcoin is an asset that is highly concentrated in the hands of a few. This, according to the BofA report, is ironic as it touts itself to be a global, decentralized currency.
Around 95% of the total amount of Bitcoin mined is in the hands of 2.4% of addresses.

From From Bitcoin To Bank Of America – Why So Serious? By DailyCoin:

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The bank also calls central bank digital currencies “kryptonite for crypto” but it is intrigued by decentralized finance, which it says is “potentially more disruptive than Bitcoin.”

From Bank of America Sees DeFi ‘Potentially More Disruptive Than Bitcoin’:

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Credit creation is one of the key motors of modern finance. As yet, DeFi doesn’t do anything like this. The various loan products there are typically are simply reworkings of the traditional margin loan concept, except that rather than turning an asset into cash, they turn one kind of coin into another, whilst locking up more of the first coin.

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We define the new normal as banks renting out their OCC Charter to collect deposits, i.e., the marketing is done by a fintech, and the resulting customer deposit is held by the bank.

From A Tale of Symbiosis. How fintechs and banks rely on each… | by Dan Akivis | Mar, 2021 | Medium.

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Apple could have simply allowed Russia to pre-install whatever apps it wanted on iOS devices, but the company also could have taken a radical stand against such interference. Instead, it found a middle ground, one that other countries may well seize on to suit their own autocratic interests.

From Apple bent its rules for Russia—and other countries will take note | Ars Technica:

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Gartner Survey on CFOs and Bitcoin

84% of finance executives say holding bitcoin poses a financial risk due to its volatility.
16% of finance executives are willing to hold bitcoin in the future as part of their organization’s financial strategy.

From Gartner Blog Network:

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