Snippings

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Denmark is ignoring a request by the European Central Bank and moving to ban 500-euro notes, as the Nordic country toughens defenses against money launderers.

From Denmark Ignores ECB to Ban 500-Euro Note in Dirty Money Battle – Bloomberg.

Yay! Go Denmark! There really is no excuse for printing such high value notes in the modern world. Perhaps it was once a reasonable aspiration to displace the $100 bills stuffed into drug dealers’ mattresses with €500 bills and thus redirect the proceeds of crime (the seigniorage earned on those bills) from the Fed to the ECB, but no more.

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Since 2006, the production costs for the cent and 5-cent coin have exceeded their face value,

From GAO report cites cost savings for U.S. coin alloys | Coin World.

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An exhaustive report by the RAND Corporation concludes that cryptocurrency is less than ideal for terrorist organizations. Cash is still king for terrorists, for a variety of reasons, including the liquidity barriers that regulation and legalization of cryptocurrencies are presenting.

From Terrorists Prefer Cash Over Cryptocurrency, Even Privacy Coins: Report.

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The end of cash could arrive alarmingly quickly as bank branches close, more shops refuse to accept notes and coins and the cost of handling traditional currency spirals, the Bank of England has warned.

Urgent action needs to be taken to find an economical way of serving people who still want to use cash before it is too late and swathes of the country lose access to physical money almost by accident, according to chief cashier Sarah John.

From Cash could disappear as more shops shun notes and coins, warns Bank of England.

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Orange has become the first company in the world to display on its web-pages a blockchain-secured digital trust label that allows one-click verification of the authenticity and source of online content

From Orange Launches Blockchain-based Platform to Fight Fake News.

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For TurnKey’s planned token sale, the company agreed to build the platform before issuing any tokens for it, to diminish the suggestion of speculative investment; the token can only be exchanged among wallets on its platform; and each token is sold at $1 and redeemable for $1 worth of air charter services.

From No Rush to No-Action Letters — The Information.

In other words, they will be creating a closed electronic money scheme.

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Philadelphia’s new law includes some slight deviations from New Jersey’s model. For example, retailers selling to customers through a membership model like Costco do not fall within the scope of the legislation. Additionally, retailers where credit card holds are required for incidentals, such as rental-car companies and hotels, will not be required to accept cash (ironically, a 1984 Pennsylvania law was passed to protect unbanked consumers from this very practice – the Cash Consumer Protection Act reads, “it shall be unlawful for any person to refuse to rent or sell property or services to any individual for the reason that the individual does not possess a credit card”). To the benefit of several large e-commerce retailers, Philadelphia’s law also exempts “transactions at retail stores selling consumer goods exclusively through a membership model that requires payment by means of an affiliated mobile device application.”

From Mandatory Cash Acceptance Update – Philadelphia Legislation & Athletic Venues | Payment Law Advisor.

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What is more likely – 1. a hacker takes the time and effort to gain entry to this specific individual’s email account in the hope that one day they would one day carry out a very large transfer or 2. a hacker targets a conveyancing firm, knowing that they handle a large volume of high value transfers regularly and probably don’t have the best security/outdated protection from a spoof attack?

From Will anyone take responsibility for rising financial fraud? | Financial Times.

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“Starting this Sunday, March 10, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium will stop accepting cash for all sporting events”

From “Mercedes-Benz Stadium Will Become First Pro Sports Venue To Go Cashless”.

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“In one paper, Redmiles looked at whether users make rational decisions about whether to use security protections like two-factor authentication to protect a fictional bank account. ‘Low-SES (Socioeconomic status) and low-skill users have much higher costs to doing something like two factor authentication,’ she says. ‘For the least resourced users, sometimes security/privacy is just too time-intensive.’”

From “Exclusive: Google asked 5,600 employees about remote work. This is what they learned”.

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