Snippets

The combination of OAuth 2.o and OpenID Connet is a good way to balance the demands of open banking and GDPR.

As was explained to me on a trip to Shanghai in 2017, Alipay built bilateral relationships with individual banks, in effect becoming a clearing centre. Other “third party” systems followed so the Chinese central bank required them to create a single central clearing system. So now there is Unionpay for debit and the “Internet Association” for mobile payments.

xxx "It’s possible we use just simple Merkle trees and hash chains, but we call them Blockchain" From "Blockchain and Voting | Benlog" . xxx

xxx "ICOs need a competent legal framework and until governments allocate resources to modernize outmoded laws, ICO teams will follow the path of least resistance and raise funds in the most friction-free manner possible." From "ICOs: The Beauty, the Beast and JFK - CoinDesk" . xxx

xxx "As well as the changes to the verification requirements, the new rules, which come into force on April 1, stipulate that all companies providing bar code-based payment services must obtain both an online payment licence and a bank card receipt business licence, and that all cross-bank transactions involving bar codes must be channelled through the PBOC’s or other approved clearing system." From "China’s central bank tightens security in US$5.5 trillion QR code payment services | South China Morning Post" . xxx

Back in 2014, Tom Noyes (who I always take very seriously on this kind of thing) put it another way. He said... "Yes it would be completely wierd to launch a consumer brand called AppleIdenityBroker.. But ApplePay doesn’t quite capture the #1 retailer challenge: knowing WHO their consumers are" From "Brokering Identity - Part 1 - Noyes Payments Blog" . xxx

xxx "‘Personally, I think zk-SNARKs are a hugely important, absolutely game-changing technology,’ Buterin tells Fortune. ‘They are the single most under-hyped thing in cryptography right now.’" From "Zcash: Meet Zooko Wilcox, the Man Building a Better Bitcoin | Fortune" . xxx

Dunkirk. Whenever I see something on TV or read something about Dunkirk, it makes me think about my grandad. He was there. Not only was he there, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his bravery. Here is the citation from the British Army record:  WO2 (RQMS) Acting WO1 Supt Clerk Walter William Page DCM, Royal Signals This WO is Superintending Clerk to SO in C. He was sent from Premesques late on 26th May in charge of 10 other ranks to report to an officer at Dunkirk. For various means the rendezvous miscarried and RSM Page tried to reach the Signal office in Dunkirk. Being prevented by burning buildings in this object, he went to the docks in search of an officer. There he found an officer of the Merchantile Marine in command of a supply ship to be unloaded. He collected about 150 men of various arms and departments in the dock area and kept them at work unloading through the 27th under heavy bombing attacks, until an ammunition ship alongside was bombed and set...

snippet We need a more robust pipeline of available workers to support the growth in the industry. [From Take On Payments - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta ] snippet

snippet Japan Airlines Co. said it has been defrauded out of ¥384 million ($3.4 million) after receiving emails earlier this year that called for the payments of lease fees and commissions into bank accounts in Hong Kong. [From  Japan Airlines falls victim to email fraud, paying out ¥384 million to Hong Kong accounts | The Japan Times ] snippet

xxx "If Estonia succeeds with its plan to create a token for its e-residents to trade in, it could be the monetary glue to hold its ‘digital nation’ together. Electronic payments specialist Dave Birch theorized in his book, Before Babylon, Beyond Bitcoin, that the future of money is one where ‘community is no longer geography,’ and it’s communities who will have the most to gain from issuing their own, customized forms of money." From "Estonia's planning an ICO for estcoins despite Mario Draghi's warning — Quartz" . It’s very kind of 

xxx “These guys, they don’t tip like they used to, because they don’t have the cash in their pockets like they used to,” said Mark, an elevator operator at an upscale Manhattan co-op, talking about his building’s tenants. From Casualties of the Cashless Society: Those Who Get Seasonal Tips - The New York Times xxx

xxx "‘Market cap’ is even worse. It’s literally just whatever the last price was, multiplied by the number of tokens in existence. This is a bogus number that’s not actually applicable to anything — it’s not money that was put into the crypto, it’s not a realisable value like a company market cap, it doesn’t affect prices — it’s just an easily-calculated splashy-looking number that looks good in a headline. Trading is so thin in any crypto, even Bitcoin, that you could never realise a fraction of the number. It is literally just marketing." From "Why you can’t cash out pt 1: Why Bitcoin’s “price” is largely fictional | Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain" . xxx

xxx "Update, 11 December: The Payments Strategy Forum has outlined plans for a new payments system architecture in the UK… The Forum has outlined that customers wishing to make a bank transfer will have to now enter the exact name on the account, as well as the other details."   From "How do you want banks to protect you from scams?" . xxx xxx The system will be available from December 2018, although it will be voluntary as to whether your bank offers it to you when you make a payment" From "How do you want banks to protect you from scams?" .   xxx

xxx Your name and navigation history is valuable personal information. The UK Metropolitan Polices’ 'Digital Control Strategy' identifies infotainment systems in cars, which store this information, as a new forensic opportunity. From Connected Rental Cars Leak Personal Driver Data - Infosecurity Magazine xxx

xxx Munchee, a San Francisco-based company, had told investors that they were buying a “utility” token, because the digital coin could be used within the app to buy goods and services at a later stage. In a whitepaper, Munchee had also told investors that the token “does not pose a significant risk of implicating federal securities laws.” But the SEC said that the company led investors to believe that the value of tokens would increase and be traded on secondary markets — thereby classifying them as securities, which must be registered with the regulator. From Food app calls off ICO after SEC declares its tokens are unregistered securities xxx

xxx "Discover has become the latest credit card company to get rid of signatures as a means of verifying a cardholder’s identity… it’s becoming increasingly rare for consumers actually sign real letters when signing at check-outs" From "Discover announces that it will do away with signatures by April 2018" . xxx To be honest I think I’ll miss signing for purchases in America. xxx

xxx "Technology is changing every industry and it is impossible for me to believe it won’t change our financial system. That’s particularly true because our current system—while stable—is imperfect. Cryptocurrencies can be more secure and more efficient to exchange. They can be inflation-proof and are easier to settle and easier to interoperate. " From "Start Up: China’s LinkedIn friends, notching Huawei?, gender pay improbability, bitcoin redux, and more | The Overspill: when there's more that I want to say" . xxx xxx "While certainly a disruptive idea, evolving our current financial system to take advantage of cryptocurrencies is not a crazy one." From  "Start Up: China’s LinkedIn friends, notching Huawei?, gender pay improbability, bitcoin redux, and more | The Overspill: when there's more that I want to say" . xxx

xxx "Bloomberg estimates only 1,000 individuals own 40% of available bitcoin, while the majority of bitcoin creation (mining) itself is also a tight-knit oligopoly." From "On Fascism, Identity, Cryptoassets and the Future of Censorship" . xxx

I saw a fascinating presentation by Ursula Schilling on Infineon on “Securing the Quantum Computer World” in which said was talking about the need to develop cryptography that will be resistant to attacks from quantum computers. It’s a live topic, because if the figures she presented are approximately correct and there will be quantum computers capable of making practical attacks on RSA/ECC with 15-20 years, that means that information currently being secure using asymmetric cryptography (eg, Bitcoin) is essentially being put into the public domain!

xxx "‘To explain that, one needs investors who are (in our specific case) irrational, woefully uninformed, or endowed with very strange preferences.’" From "How to Price Hard Forks – Jill Carlson – Medium" . xxx

I was amazed to hear at Vendorcom that 30% of population's income doesn't get reconciled at HMRC and DWP for reasons such as they only handle RTI from BACS and lots of people use faster payments. Now I understand! Having recently had occasion to send money to HMRC, I was very surprised to receive a threatening letter from them a month or so later. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was something along the lines of "we've giving up on chasing Google and Richard Branson, so if you don't send us tenner the boys are coming round to sort you out". Shocked, I logged on to my HMRC business account to see that it said that a) I owed them the tenner and b) I'd sent them a tenner that was sitting there "unallocated". I phoned up and the nice woman up North somewhere said that she would "allocate" the tenner to the money I owed them and it was all good. Afterwards, I did wonder why they thought I'd sent them a tenner (ie, was i...

xxx People may baulk at sharing access to personal data yet millions are happily using online banking and enjoying the functionality of their bank’s online app. Millions more are content to share all kinds of personal data with Google and Facebook, which already offers debit card-linked payments in the UK via its Messenger app. From Will you let a stranger look deep into your bank account? xxx

Felix Martin, writing in the Daily Telegraph (5th December 2017) says that "We will end by thanking the monetary cranks for inducing some policy sanity – and making our national financial systems fit for purpose once again", meaning (if I understand him correctly) that while bitcoin may not in the long run prove to be a viable alternative to the existing fiat currency infrastructure, it will stimulate the development of things that are and thus make money more suited to the new economy.

xxx ERC-725 specifically defines and standardizes the actions all identity implementations need to take, such as adding claims to the smart contract and the mechanism for obtaining those claims later. From The Father of the ICO Is All About Identity Now - CoinDesk xxx

xxx The "petro" will be backed by Venezuela's key natural resources (diamonds, gas, gold and oil) and, in theory, will help it get around the "financial blockade" imposed by the US and other nations. From Venezuela will start its own digital currency to beat sanctions xxx

xxx But there is a risk for banks that customers move away from their own apps or online services, weakening their relationship and thwarting their ability to cross-sell. It could leave banks as the plumbing behind the scenes, used to facilitate the movement of money. From UK banks prepare to share customer data in radical shake-up xxx

xxx truthfully answering secret questions is a surefire way to get your online account hacked From San Francisco Rail System Hacker Hacked — Krebs on Security xxx

xxx Why Hong Kong has Mao to thank for ID cards From Design of new Hong Kong smart identity card revealed | South China Morning Post Well, we can’t testify to any input from Mao, but we certainly can testify to the great job that Consult Hyperion did helping to design this, the world’s first modern (ie, smart) national identity card, all those years ago! Which set me thinking. Half a century ago, the media theorist Marshall McLuhan who predicted that seismic social shift that the coming online environment would cause in human relationships  said of it that  “In the new electric world, where everybody is involved with everybody, where everybody is involved in complex processes, the old identity cards, the old means of finding out who am I, will not work”.   Indeed. So what will work? McLuhan had this notion of identity as smeared across entities, depending on the relationships and interactions between identities (what Ian Grigg calls “edge” identity). IN t So what will work? ...

xxx Amazon Pay is coming soon to apps developed for Amazon’s Alexa by third-party developers… A developer preview made available yesterday also indicated that Alexa’s Amazon Pay-powered skills will expanded more dramatically in 2018. From Amazon Pay Comes To Alexa Skills | PYMNTS.com xxx

xxx On Nov. 20, hacked emails show that he successfully extorted 63 bitcoins (~$45,000) from a U.S.-based manufacturing firm. From San Francisco Rail System Hacker Hacked — Krebs on Security xxx