Snippings

The European Union’s eIDAS Regulation set to take effect in 2026 encourages Member States to integrate privacy-enhancing technologies like ZKP into the European Digital Identity Wallet (“EUDI Wallet”). With our commitment to making these ZKP tools openly available, Member States can integrate this into their future EUDI Wallets, accelerating their development.

https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/opening-up-zero-knowledge-proof-technology-to-promote-privacy-in-age-assurance/

I read an interesting piece on cashlessness in “The Grocer” recently. While the article mentioned why it is that retailers are going cashless (for example, Gail’s the bakery chain stopped accepting cash last year, citing reduced environmental impact and reduced risk of crime as reasons) it also includes some case studies f people who want to see cash accepted everywhere. One of those quotes a UK consumer as saying

“I live in a rural village and there have been several occasions where the local shop’s card machine was broken for days. Without cash, I’ve had to go without essentials such as food, gas and electricity. I’ve noticed that a lot of cash machines are broken. Certainly the one in our village breaks down quite a lot.”

If I ran the little shop in the village where my sister lives out in the Cotswolds I think I might be tempted to leep my mobile phone with me. Since almost all card payments are contactless in the UK, using my mobile as a softPOS to step in when the card machine breaks down would seem to be a practical interim. I’m surprised that chains like Gail’s don’t give their managers an app to use for when their internet goes down or the card machine gets jam in it.

Anyway, my point is that the idea the csh is the ultimate backup is wrong. In the village shop. the shopkeeper knows who 99% of the customers are and can easily give them food on credit, or write down their card numbers for manual entry when the machine is back on line.

xxx

You can go start a small claim lawsuit today in minutes. That’s not the finish line, it’s the starting point for http://pettylawsuit.com

The bigger play is lawfare as a platform

From: (1) Buildsumn on X: “Wild how fast this flipped. Sam tossed out an idea, and in a week and a half we actually shipped it. (Running on 18 hour days ofc 🫠) You can go start a small claim lawsuit today in minutes. That’s not the finish line, it’s the starting point for https://t.co/tuBBQPWZai The” / X.

xxx

xxx

Many phones sold in the U.S. now come only with eSIMs, including those from Apple. But Chinese telecom companies don’t support eSIMs due to the need of carriers to verify the personal identity of each user, The Information previously reported.

From: Apple’s iPhone Air Faces Problems in China — The Information.

xxx

xxx

Since Chinese banks can and do transact outside swift, the yuan’s role in international payments is probably being undercounted, says Josh Lipsky of the Atlantic Council, an American think-tank.
More than 1,700 banks have signed up to cips across the globe, up by a third since before the war in Ukraine. Transaction volumes rose faster than ever in 2024, up by 43% to 175trn yuan ($24trn). Clearing banks to settle yuan payments (almost all of which are operated by Chinese institutions) have been set up in 33 markets.

From: China is ditching the dollar, fast.

xxx

xxx

EWS is in the early stages of investigating whether to build the infrastructure to create and issue a stablecoin aimed at retail bank customers.

If the plan proceeds it would mark a major step in the mainstreaming of stablecoins in the US: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and PNC are among the company’s owners.

From: Zelle owner investigates launch of own stablecoin – report.

xxx

xxx

in a court filing from last week, Google admitted that “the open web is already in rapid decline,”

From: Google admits the open web is in ‘rapid decline’ | The Verge.

xxx

In that court filing Google said that:

“The fact is that today, the open web is already in rapid decline and Plaintiffs’ divestiture proposal would only accelerate that decline, harming publishers who currently rely on open-web display advertising revenue.”

The people who run Google are not stupid, and they have seen what the transition to the post-web (that is, the web but for AI agents, not for people) will mean.

Is it time to start thinking about micropayments again? In particular, since most everything on the post-web will be produced by AI and since most everything on the post-web will be consumed by AI, is time to start thinking about AI-AI micropayments? 

xxx

in a court filing from last week, Google admitted that “the open web is already in rapid decline,”

From: Google admits the open web is in ‘rapid decline’ | The Verge.

xxx

xxx

Edi Rama, PM, says digital assistant Diella will make Albania ‘a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption’

From: Albania puts AI-created ‘minister’ in charge of public procurement | Albania | The Guardian.

xxx

xxx

The battle is taking place among users of Hyperliquid, a fast-growing decentralized crypto exchange. They are considering reducing their use of Circle’s USDC, the main stablecoin on Hyperliquid. Competitors are rushing in, offering far better deals to Hyperliquid’s customers.

The Takeaway

• Crypto platform Hyperliquid users may lower use of Circle’s stablecoin
• Hyperliquid users hold 8% of Circle’s stablecoin, potentially hurting revenue
• Paxos, Agora, Native Markets among those bidding to issue new stablecoin
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are typically pegged to the dollar and keep most of their assets in safe investments such as U.S. Treasurys. They have been embraced by crypto traders as a way to park money for use as collateral and for international money transfers.

The fight is bad news for Circle, the stablecoin issuer that had a blockbuster initial public offering earlier this year. Stablecoins have become very lucrative businesses because they don’t pay interest they earn on their investments to their customers. Circle does share about half of its interest payments with select exchanges such as Coinbase that use its token, while Tether, the biggest stablecoin issuer, keeps all of its interest payments.

The stablecoin legislation that passed Congress banned stablecoin issuers from directly paying interest to end users. It does allow stablecoin issuers to share their revenue with exchanges, which then reward investors who hold the stablecoins.

Now, Hyperliquid has started a price war. Stablecoin issuers hoping to steal Circle’s business are offering to share an increasing portion of their revenue, in some cases all of it, with Hyperliquid. The fight could quickly turn stablecoins into a commodity business where profits are under constant pressure.

From: Crypto Exchange Sets Off Price War for Stablecoins — The Information.

xxx