Snippings

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This has led to introduction of a legal requirement for banks and building societies to support app-to-app data flows, which will enable customers to approve TPPs via their bank or building society app.

From Open Banking shouldn’t be written off, the revolution is just starting – FinTech Futures.

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The network, called Red Belly Blockchain, was developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the University of Sydney, and deployed over the Amazon Web Services (AWS) global cloud infrastructure.

It was tested across 1,000 nodes in 14 countries at a benchmark rate of 30,000 transactions per second and with an average latency of three seconds.

From Australian agency claims blockchain breakthrough.

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Circle noted that USDC is built on openness and accountability, with commercial issuers required to be licensed to handle electronic money, to have audited AML and compliance programs, to back all tokens on a fully reserved basis and to provide monthly published proof of reserves, to support fungible exchange and redemption of USDC tokens from other authorized issuer members, and to meet other reporting and review requirements established by CENTRE.

From Circle Rolls Out USD Coin | PYMNTS.com.

More like Mondex than Bitcoin, frankly.

So what is a “stablecoin” anyway? If it is meant to be a coin that maintains purchasing power over time then why would you back it with US dollars, which do not? If it is meant to be a coin that 

 

Well, this was first tried donkey’s years’ ago when Digicash launched. The idea of of a crypto coin that represented a dollar, a euro, a pound or whatever. This

 

There’s a difference between a currency and a currency board. A currency board issues a currency (let’s say Zimbabwean Dollars) that is backed by a 100% reserve in another currency (let’s say South African Rand). So, for example, if I issued DaveCoin and each DaveCoin 

Now, if that sounds pointless – why would you use DaveDollars when you could use USDollars? – you have to remember that lots of people do this already. When I give Safaricom at Kenyan Shilling, they in turn give me an M-PESA Kenyan Shilling which is more useful to me because I can send it to someone else using my mobile phone. All of the Kenyan Shillings that are in the form of M-PESA account balances are backed one-for-one by Kenyan Shillings in Safaricom’s bank account.

Under European electronic money laws, this is how things should work. If I give you an e-Euro, I ,must have an actual Euro in “tier 1” capital. The point of this is that 

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A first time buyer whose dream to purchase a flat was temporarily derailed by a Barclays IT glitch yesterday faces heartbreak today as NatWest’s banking system failed.

From First-time buyer is left ‘homeless’ as Barclays and NatWest banking crash | Daily Mail Online.

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“You’d never manage that these days – they could probably tell you what type of dog was doing the running for you.”

From “Big Sam gave me a heart monitor and I strapped it to my dog” – Ex-Wanderer Ian Marshall recalls his pet hates in training | The Bolton News.

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In the United States currently, there’s no legal requirement stipulating a financial institution must make a consumer’s financial data available to a third party in the event that a consumer provides affirmative consent.

From U.S. way behind the curve on open banking | American Banker.

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While the Treasury Department cannot address the intrinsic, structural disadvantages in the U.S. regulatory regime, its recent call for all of the agencies in this space to align behind an interpretation of Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act — which asserts the ability of Americans to permission their financial data — is an important step towards a level playing field,

From U.S. way behind the curve on open banking | American Banker.

 

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In a UK first, customers who receive a call from Barclays will now be able to choose to receive an alert in their app or online banking confirming the details of the employee who is calling them.

From Barclays tackles phone scammers with caller ID feature.

So good to see a bank doing this. I wrote 

Remember when, earlier this year, the main US carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint (as the “Mobile Authentication Taskforce”) announced their plan to launch a mobile authentication solution that will be available to consumers by the end of 2018. The idea of it is to securely authenticate users by using their mobile number, IP address, SIM card attributes and so on, using machine learning and so forth to reduce the risks in mobile commerce.

(They said at the time that the service would be interoperable with the GSMA’s Mobile Connect scheme, which is great).

Well, they’ve now announced their “Project Verify” which will deliver authentication in mobile apps, negating the need for a traditional password. You can see the attraction for users: it means major convenience.

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n 1303, a Persian vizier recounted the use of fingerprints as signatures during the Qin and Han Dynasties, noting, “Experience has shown that no two individuals have fingers precisely alike.” The Chinese had realized that before anyone: a Qin dynasty document from the third-century B.C.E, titled “The Volume of Crime Scene Investigation—Burglary,” pointed up fingerprints as a means of evincing whodunnit.

From The Surprising History (and Future) of Fingerprints.

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Among Amazon Prime respondents, 65% would be willing to try a free online bank account offered by Amazon. Even among people who don’t buy through Amazon, 37% would be willing to try. Amazon customers are quite valuable. They control 75% of US household wealth

From Can Amazon Take Customer Loyalty to the Bank? – Bain & Company.

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