Snippings

The first reports have appeared concerning the Digital Currency/Electronic Payment (DC/EP) system being tested in four cities: Shenzen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Xiong’an. DC/EP is the Chinese Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

(Xiong’an is the recently-established “development hub” near Beijing and it is where the “non-core” functions of the Chinese state are going to be relocated to.)

with the kind permission of Matthew Graham @mattysino

The implementation follows the trajectory that I talk about in my book The Currency Cold War, with the digital currency being delivered to customers via commercial banks. The Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China, Fan Yifei, recently gave an interview to Central Banking magazine in which he expanded on the “two tier” approach to central bank digital currency (CBDC). His main points were that this approach, in which the central bank controls the digital currency but it is the commercial banks that distribute it, is that is allow “more effective exploitation of existing business resources, human resources and technologies” and that “a two-tier model could also boost the public’s acceptance of a CBDC”. 

He went on to say that the circulation of the digital Yuan should be “based on ‘loosely coupled account links’ so that transactional reliance on accounts could be significantly reduced”. What he means by this is that the currency can be transferred wallet-to-wallet without going through bank accounts. Why? Well, so that the electronic cash “could attain a similar function of currency to cash… The public could use it directly for various purchases, and it would prove conducive to the yuan’s circulation”.

Hence what I thought most noticeable about the first implementations (this is from the Agricultural Bank of China, ABC) is that they do indeed in include this person-to-person offline transfer functionality. 

with the kind permission of Matthew Graham @mattysino

(As I note in the book, this makes DC/EP look more like Mondex than Libra, so I was surprised to see the digital Yuan labelled “crypto-inspired” on Twitter!)

Anyway, my main point is that I agree with what is said here in this Fortune magazine article ”China is poised to beat the U.S. in the digital currency race”  which that the shift to what I call “smart money” will reward first-mover economies. As the article notes, China will quickly integrate its digital currency into hundreds of “blockchain” projects in which autonomous digital sensors and devices directly exchange information and money. Removing intermediaries from these device-to-device transactions will allow China to automate entire Internet of things ecosystems, bringing efficiency gains to smart cities, supply chains, and electricity grids.

More importantly on the global stage, China could offer digital currency machine-to-machine payments all the way along its 60-plus-country Belt and Road Initiative. Indeed it could. And will.

The same is true in Australia, where Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s latest figures show a surge in CBA Tap & Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay, and Garmin Pay device transactions (up 17% on this month last year) as consumers reach for their phones to avoid touching PIN pads during the Coronavirus outbreak.

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The 17th annual study also noted a dramatic increase on P2P fraud, which is closely linked to the broadening use of P2P services for purchases as well as ID fraud and account takeovers. The 722% increase found between 2016 and 2019 refers to the number of consumers reporting they’ve been impacted by P2P fraud. The increase comes as such P2P services as PayPal’s Venmo, the bank-sponsored Zelle, Square’s Cash App, and Apple Pay Cash grow ever more popular.

From The Fallout From ID Fraud And Account Takeovers Includes a Lot More P2P Payment Fraud – Digital Transactions:

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Losses from identity fraud grew 13% in 2019 to $16.9 billion even though instances of ID fraud fell nearly 10%, according to the newly released 2020 Identity Fraud Report from Javelin Strategy & Research. The study also found that person-to-person payments fraud increased 733% from 2016 to 2019.

Based on a nationally representative sample of 5,000 consumers surveyed online in October and November, the study estimates 5.1% of consumers fell victim to ID fraud last year, down from 5.7% in 2018. Still, 2019’s total dollar losses grew $2.2 billion from $14.7 billion the year before. Banks and credit unions bore most of the costs, but consumers absorbed $3.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs such as fees, resolution expenses, and related costs which more than doubled year-over-year, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin estimates.

From The Fallout From ID Fraud And Account Takeovers Includes a Lot More P2P Payment Fraud – Digital Transactions:

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Contact free payment

The retailer is introducing no contact payment for customers using the Walmart Pay app. Walmart developed the payment service four years ago as part of its goal to transform the shopping experience in its stores, particularly at the front-end. Previously, customers had to select a payment method by touching a screen on its self-checkouts when using Walmart Pay. The retailer has adapted this so that customers who have a smartphone can scan a QR code and Walmart Pay is synced, allowing customers to pay completely free of contact.

From Walmart makes payment and online services contact-free:

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How is it that our government is unable to directly pay such a large share of the American people during a time of crisis without waiting over a month to send a paper check?

From 70 million people can’t afford to wait for their stimulus funds to come in a paper check:

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Yet banks not only have operational and technical questions about how the program will work but also bigger concerns about the degree to which they’ll be responsible for verifying borrower information

From Banks warn of chaotic launch of small business lending program – POLITICO:

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The tools in use fall into three categories. The first is documentation: using technology to say where people are, where they have been or what their disease status is. The second is modelling: gathering data which help explain how the disease spreads. The third is contact tracing: identifying people who have had contact with others known to be infected.

From Creating the coronopticon – Countries are using apps and data networks to keep tabs on the pandemic | Briefing | The Economist:

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Zoom is apparently leaking some email addresses, user photos, and allowing some users to initiate a video call with strangers because of an issue with how the app handles contacts that it perceives work for the same organization

From Zoom is leaking some personal email addresses and user photos – The Verge:

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As the country goes into a Covid-19 lockdown, Poland’s national payments processor, KIR, has teamed up with Cryptomathic to let citizens sign documents remotely.

From Poland rolls out digital signature service:

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