Kiffmeister’s Fintech Daily Digest 12/08/2019

  • A simulation exercise at Harvard University’s Kennedy School explored the dangers if large sums could be secretly sent secretly to hostile nations.
  • To get around its epic scaling limitations the numero uno cryptocurrency system (bitcoin, duh) is finally deploying the Lightning Network (LN) to major players such as the exchange Bitfinex. And what that basically means is that bitcoin is moving firmly away from real time gross settlements and push payments and into the world of deferred net settlement and pull payments. An ironic state of affairs given its raison d’être was to rid the world of intermediaries and reduce settlement risks and exposures.
  • The Cryptocurrency Indicators of Suspicion Working Group Report details 86 indicators of suspicious activity, or patterns of transactions on the blockchain, to provide details of how criminals have laundered $3.7 billion in 2019 so far. Project Participate is comprised of a crack team of compliance officers from firms active in the crypto space, including major banks and crypto exchanges companies, plus blockchain investigation firms Chainalysis and Bitfury Crystal.
  • Facebook’s Libra represents American interests to the point that it can be considered a digital currency issued by the US Federal Reserve, according to Long Baitao, executive deputy director of Tsinghua University’s blockchain research institute.
  • This paper maps the global shadow payment system and identify what mechanisms, if any, SPPs use to protect their customers. Examining the business models and customer contracts of over 100 SPPs, the paper suggests that, at least from a consumer protection perspective, SPPs are currently not an effective substitute for bank-based payment systems.
  • From payments to lending to insurance to checking accounts, Amazon is attacking financial services from every angle without applying to be a conventional bank.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.