Snippings

xxx

The proportion of fraud originating on WhatsApp and Telegram rose steeply in the second half of 2024. Revolut notes that consumers are led to believe these platforms are secure, yet the number of cases stemming from Telegram jumped by a staggering 121% in H2, while Whatsapp cases rose by a similarly concerning 67%.

Despite this shift, Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) collectively accounted for 54% of all scams reported to Revolut globally, marking the third consecutive reporting period where Meta has held this position.

From: Fraudsters turning to encrypted messaging platforms to scam users Revolut warns.

xxx

xxx

The proportion of fraud originating on WhatsApp and Telegram rose steeply in the second half of 2024. Despite this shift, Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) collectively accounted for 54% of all scams reported to Revolut globally, marking the third consecutive reporting period where Meta has held this position.

From: Fraudsters turning to encrypted messaging platforms to scam users Revolut warns.

xxx

xxx

The UK’s reliance on US-dominated card networks is near-total, especially since the domestic Switch scheme was sold to an American company. This leaves open banking as the only viable alternative. But can open banking realistically replace established payment networks if geopolitical or economic tensions escalate?

From: Can open banking stand alone as the UK’s payment infrastructure?.

xxx

This is not only a UK discussion, it is a discussion across Europe, where the Commission has for years been searching what I could not resist calling “Le Third Scheme”.

 

xxx

No, the problem isn’t that Europe doesn’t have an alternative card scheme. The problem is that Europe doesn’t have an alternative to cards, which is why “Le Third Scheme” should be based on the things that Europe does have: Open banking, instant credit transfer, smartphones and payment institutions.

(With this in mind, I was pleased to see that the European Payment Initiative, the EPI, abandoned its plans for a card scheme — which I always thought sub-optimal — and decided to focus on an account-to-account instant payment solution (A2A) for all kinds of use cases, all through a wallet. There is an interesting synergy here with the European moves to develop a common digital identity service and euro-wallet infrastructure, but that’s a topic for another discussion.)

From: A Real Alternative To Cards In Europe.

xxx

xxx

Parents who are worried about their children being on Roblox should not let them use it, the chief executive of the gigantic gaming platform has said.
The site, which is the most popular in the UK among young gamers aged eight to 12, has been dogged by claims of some children being exposed to explicit or harmful content through its games, alongside multiple reported allegations of bullying and grooming.

From: Keep kids off Roblox if worried, CEO Dave Baszucki tells parents.

xxx

xxx

Keynote speech by Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, University College Cork Economics Society Conference 2025

Cork, 20 March 2025

From: The digital euro: maintaining the autonomy of the monetary system.

xxx

central bank money would play a much-diminished role in the payments system, if households and firms were to maintain their primary transaction accounts in stablecoins and only use commercial bank accounts to upload and download funds from these transaction accounts

 

n a sense, a stablecoin provider would resemble a so-called narrow bank that only holds high quality liquid assets and promises to maintain a stable value of its liabilities (the funds held by customers in their stablecoin accounts). While the pros and cons of narrow banking have been much debated over the decades, a material decline in the volume of deposits held in commercial banks would disrupt the role of commercial banks in credit provision, which is especially prominent in the bank-based European financial system. 

 

The digital euro is also an effective tool to limit the dominance of foreign digital currencies, including the monetary sovereignty risks created by widely-adopted foreign-currency stablecoins. Furthermore, in a world dominated by platform-based payment systems, where payments are bundled with other services in closed ecosystems, a digital euro would provide an open and interoperable alternative, preventing the fragmentation and limited interoperability of money.

In Europe, the digital euro is on the drawing board and will enter its “second phase” of preparation in October of this year, by which time the ECB will have prepared an outreach plan, procurement standards and technology providers. More than a billion euros worth of contracts have been awarded and I cannot help but note that the budget for developing an offline solution accounts for some €662m out of contacts awarded, so clearly the priority is recognised at the highest levels. Last yeasr the Bank invited experts from across the mobile sector to expolore the business and technical aspects of deploying the digital euro’s offline functionality on embedded Secure Elements (eSE) and embedded SIMs (eSIM) in end-user devices.

xxx

Australia’s federal government has announced plans to mandate cash acceptance for essential purchases, ensuring that businesses cannot refuse physical money for necessities such as groceries, fuel, medicines, and personal care products.

From: Older Australians demand stronger cash protections as businesses phase out physical money – Hellocare.

xxx

xxx

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he has instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the production of pennies, citing the high cost of producing one cent.

From: Trump instructs Treasury to halt penny production | CNN Business.

xxx

Back in July last year 

I was surprised to discover what I think future economic historians will label a weak signal for change: As of today, Target will no longer accept personal checks as a form of payment. Yes, that’s correct. Checks, along with foreign currency, mall gift cards, money orders and sundry other retail payment mechanisms are no longer valid in Target stores due what a spokesperson called “extremely low volumes” of the once popular paper payment process.

From: I Will Live To See The Last Check.

xxx

xxx

The Order mandates that, effective September 30, 2025, the Federal government will cease issuing paper checks for all disbursements, including intragovernmental payments, benefits, vendor payments, and tax refunds… Exceptions will be made for people without banking or electronic payment access, certain emergency payments, certain law enforcement activities, and other special cases qualifying for an exception under the Order or other existing law.

From: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Modernizes Payments to and from America’s Bank Account – ].

xxx