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Crypto trading firm Alameda Research has today minted the largest ever quantity of WBTC, an ERC-20 token backed 1:1 by bitcoin, for yield farming.

From Alameda Research mints largest ever quantity of WBTC token for yield farming – The Block:

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Shopify has confirmed a data breach, in which two ‘rogue members’ of its support team were engaged in a scheme to steal customer data from at least 100 merchants.

From Commerce platform Shopify confirms data breach – ThePaypers:

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[“For instance,] the identity credential may be presented with only a portion of the information on the identity credential visible (such as the user’s name and birth date for proof of age),” says Apple, “and/or by providing a processed response to a request for information (e.g., ‘yes’ or ‘no’) based on information contained in the user’s identity credential.”

From Apple working on how to securely present electronic ID wirelessly | AppleInsider:

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A major Chinese city is giving away 10 million yuan in the country’s central bank digital currency this weekend. Recipients can use their digital yuan at 3,389 stores next week. The city aims for the giveaway to boost usage of the new government-backed digital currency.

From Digital Yuan Giveaway: China’s Shenzhen City Hands Out 10 Million Yuan in Central Bank Digital Currency | News Bitcoin News:

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A major Chinese city is giving away 10 million yuan in the country’s central bank digital currency this weekend. Recipients can use their digital yuan at 3,389 stores next week. The city aims for the giveaway to boost usage of the new government-backed digital currency.

From Digital Yuan Giveaway: China’s Shenzhen City Hands Out 10 Million Yuan in Central Bank Digital Currency | News Bitcoin News:

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Meanwhile in the UK, the government has been giving out money too, although sadly most of it has gone to fraudsters.

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A glimpse of the problem came last week when a report by the National Audit Office suggested that £26 billion may have been lost to fraud and defaults on the Bounce Back loan scheme, which provides firms with 100 per cent Government-backed finance worth up to £50,000.

From Whistleblower reveals how East European crooks are stealing millions in Covid handouts | Daily Mail Online:

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America is at stage zero. Customers are locked into sticky credit-card schemes funded by extortionate levies on merchants. Tech firms must rely on creaky financial plumbing run by well-protected incumbent banks.

From The digital surge – How the digital surge will reshape finance | Finance & economics | The Economist:

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America has shielded banks and credit-card firms the most, by being slow to build fast-payment pipes and making it hard to gain digital-banking licences. It has left it to the market to decide when data should be shared, and at what price. Europe and many emerging markets are somewhere in the middle. These have tried to instil competition by allowing data to flow. Some version of Open Banking will soon be in force in 51 countries, ranging from Malaysia to Mexico.

From The digital surge – How the digital surge will reshape finance | Finance & economics | The Economist:

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Investors reckon that “embedded finance”—the integration of credit, insurance and investment into non-financial apps or websites—could in time become as valuable as payment services are today. Both banks and fintechs are therefore racing to integrate the services they offer. In September Yandex, Russia’s leading web-search and ride-hailing app, said it would buy the country’s largest digital bank. A week later Sberbank, Russia’s top lender, dropped “bank” from its name in order to rebrand itself as a tech firm dabbling in food delivery and telemedicine. Peter Ndegwa, who runs Safaricom, a Kenyan telecoms firm and m-pesa’s main owner, wants the service to become a “lifestyle brand” offering overdrafts, loans, wealth management and insurance.

From The digital surge – How the digital surge will reshape finance | Finance & economics | The Economist:

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An original sin was committed at the internet’s conception: its underlying, decentralized architecture was built without an identity layer.

From Getting Internet Identity Right, 30 Years On – CoinDesk:

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