A library of snippets
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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The international status of a currency depends on the financial cost of credit in that currency, and this is affected by central bank policies. This holds in theory. It also holds in the data when inspecting the impact of the PBoC’s swap lines on RMB usage. The RMB now looks to be an international currency in the sense that it used for cross-border transactions. It is still much less used than the dollar was by the 1920s. Whether the RMB will rise further is an open question.
From Jump-starting an international currency – Bank Underground:
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Garanti BBVA ships ‘blank’ card with no code imprints:
Customers of the Turkish bank can already apply for the new Bonus Diji card digitally and have it approved in a matter of minutes without the need for a physical signature.
Once approved, customers will be able to start shopping immediately thanks to the built in QR and mobile payment features without having to wait to receive the physical card.
The physical version of Bonus Diji does not include any visible number or code imprinted on the card’s surface, Instead, this information is stored securely on companion app BonusFlaş.
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