Snippings

The ECB said late on Thursday it had fixed the roughly seven-hour outage in its payment system, which had left transactions likely worth trillions of euros from firms, consumers and investors up in the air.

The malfunction of the so-called Target 2 system (T2), used to settle more than 3 trillion euros ($3.12 trillion) of daily payments and financial trades, meant transactions between banks could not go through.

From: ECB’s multi-trillion payments breakdown sends shudders through Europe | Reuters.

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is calling for the rapid adoption of digital identity technologies to enhance aviation security and operational efficiency.

Leading government and industry stakeholders in aviation security participating in the Sydney Leaders Week Conference supported this position, emphasizing the need for collaboration in implementing Verifiable Credentials (VC) and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs).

From: IATA – Aviation Security Leaders Call for Digital Identity.

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As part of this effort, IATA’s One ID initiative promotes globally interoperable digital identity standards, enabling passengers to verify their travel documents before departure and move through the airport using biometric recognition instead of physical documents. One ID works in harmony with ICAO’s Digital Travel Credential ensuring security and efficiency while maintaining privacy and compliance with global regulations.

From: IATA – Aviation Security Leaders Call for Digital Identity.

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Aviation security leaders at the conference also identified key actions for governments to drive the industry’s digital transformation:

Fast-Track Technology Integration: Incorporate VC and DID technologies into national and international security frameworks, aligning with ICAO Annex 17 and Aircraft Operator Security Programs (AOSP).

From: IATA – Aviation Security Leaders Call for Digital Identity.

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA), along with aviation security leaders, has called for the rapid adoption of digital identity technologies with a release on March 20. The trade association believes the move will enhance aviation security and operational efficiency.

From: IATA Urges Rapid Adoption Of Digital Identity Technologies.

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DPI is a complement to sector digitalization, not a replacement. Core sector digital systems and standards—such as digital registries for social protection, business, credit, and agriculture; health-sector interoperability and data exchange protocols; digital tax or human resource management information systems —are essential investments to be managed in the respective sector.

From: (Part 2 of 2): DPI: Transforming Lives, Not Just Payments.

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You are almost certainly familiar with the concept of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and the link between an effective DPI and the wider economy. The World Bank identifies DPI’s core functions as digital identity, digital payments and data sharing. These essential features support more efficient public and private-sector applications to improve outcomes for citizens (across health, social welfare, financial services, business and beyond). Well, AIs will need DPI too. So what will it look like?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) say that DPI has the potential to support the transformation of the economy and support inclusive growth. They highlight the particular example of India’s foundational DPI, the so-called “India Stack” , and show how it has been harnessed to foster innovation and competition, boost financial inclusion and improve government revenue collection. India’s DPI contains powerful lessons for other countries embarking on digital transformation, in particular a design approach that focuses on shared building blocks and supporting innovation across the ecosystem through APIs.

The future economy, however, is about Agents as much as it is about Businesses and Consumers (the ABCs, if you like) and these will need a DPI that satisifies their needs.

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The next frontier of AI includes autonomous agent systems, where LLMs not only respond to queries but proactively direct their own processes, orchestrate multiple tools, and execute complex tasks with minimal intervention.
This will mean for the first time, agents will be invited into the payment system and will transact and negotiate dynamically on behalf of individuals, businesses, and even with other AI agents — creating a radically different commercial landscape.

From: A-Commerce Evolution: Agentic Commerce as The New Frontier | by The Acrew Team | Mar, 2025 | Acrew Capital.

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Yet, despite significant investments in AI initiatives, many enterprises struggle to scale AI use beyond isolated pilot projects. A recent BCG study found that 74% of companies are currently struggling to scale AI adoption and achieve value. The root cause of this delivery challenge frequently lies not in the AI models themselves, but in the underlying data management approach and infrastructure that supports them. In practice, organizations face a complex collection of data-related obstacles that combine to impede AI adoption at scale.

From: Digital Economy Dispatch #225 — Is a Data Fabric Approach the Key to Scaling Enterprise AI?.

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A Gigachad (GIGA) investor got the Solana meme coin’s contract address tattooed on his chest. But once he posted the proof on Twitter, he discovered that the token address now permanently imprinted on his skin was actually wrong.

From: Man Gets Meme Coin Address Tattooed—But There’s a Typo – Decrypt.

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Six days after creating the TruthOrDare token (DARE) on Pump.fun, a Solana dev doused himself in isopropyl alcohol and had fireworks shot at him. He’s now being treated in a Miami trauma center for third degree burns to a large portion of his body.

From: Solana Dev Hospitalized With Third Degree Burns Trying to Pump Meme Coin – Decrypt.

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As Marisa Rama, Corporate Strategy at Stripe points out, US banks earn around 2% in interchange fees on credit card transactions, decreasing their motivation to invest in RTPs.