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This IMF paper studies the effects of technological change on financial intermediation, distinguishing between innovations in information (data collection and processing) and communication (relationships and distribution). Both follow historic trends towards an increased use of hard information and less in-person interaction, which are accelerating rapidly. It points to more recent innovations, such as the combination of data abundance and artificial intelligence, and the rise of digital platforms. It argues that in particular the rise of new communication channels can lead to the vertical and horizontal disintegration of the traditional bank business model. Specialized providers of financial services can chip away activities that do not rely on access to balance sheets, while platforms can interject themselves between banks and customers.

Banco Central do Brasil unveiled the general framework and updated rules for the country's instant payment system PIX, which will be launched gradually from November 16. From October 5, those interested in joining the system will be able to register the so-called PIX Keys, which will identify the payer and payee. To use the central bank's platform, users will need an email address, phone number or taxpayer ID. There will be three ways to complete the transfer: by entering the recipient's data, by using a QR code or by using a payment link. The central bank will both regulate and provide the payment settlement infrastructure, including the database with data on the accounts of recipients. Participating financial institutions will pay 0.01 reais per transaction to use PIX, versus an average of 0.07 in the current TED system. The minimum capital required is 1 million reais. https://www.bcb.gov.br/detalhenoticia/475/noticia

The World Economic Forum's "Presidio Principles: Foundational Values for a Decentralized Future" lays out sixteen principles aimed to protect users and preserve the values of the technology so that all can benefit, in a "Bill of Rights" style document. Rights are grouped into four broad pillars; (i) transparency and accessibility (the right to information about the system), (ii) privacy and security (the right to data protection), (iii) agency and interoperability (the right for individuals to own and manage their data), and (iv) accountability and governance (the right for system users to understand available recourse).

Coinbase aims to sell its Coinbase Analytics services, including its "identity attribution" software, to the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration and the Infernal Revenue Service. Coinbase Analytics uses technology from Neutrino, a blockchain analysis startup that Coinbase acquired last year. Coinbase uses the product internally for compliance and global investigations. However, Coinbase Analytics data is fully sourced from online, publicly-available data, and does not include any personally-identifiable information for anyone, regardless of whether or not they use Coinbase.

The GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index measures the performance of 170 countries - representing 99% of the global population - against key enablers of mobile internet adoption: infrastructure, affordability, consumer readiness, and content and services. This data can help the mobile industry and other stakeholders understand where to focus action in order to drive increased mobile internet adoption. It now includes data from 2014 to 2019. A report accompanies the 2020 update to the Index which highlights the key findings and trends.

Bitcoin has created a new level of transparency and auditability previously unknown in financial and economic data. Since all Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a public ledger, we can analyze activity in a relatively comprehensive fashion. By creating metrics and analytics using data straight from the Bitcoin blockchain, we can gain novel insights into investors' behavior that are not possible with traditional, non-crypto assets.There are a variety of different on-chain metrics that we can use to gauge bitcoin market cycles and signal when price is nearing local maximums and minimums.

The GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index measures the performance of 170 countries - representing 99% of the global population - against key enablers of mobile internet adoption: infrastructure, affordability, consumer readiness, and content and services. This data can help the mobile industry and other stakeholders understand where to focus action in order to drive increased mobile internet adoption. It now includes data from 2014 to 2019. A report accompanies the 2020 update to the Index which highlights the key findings and trends.

S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is launching global crypto-asset index capabilities with Lukka, a New York City-based crypto asset software and data company. S&P DJI will provide S&P DJI-branded and customized indexing and benchmarking solutions supported by Lukka's proprietary crypto asset pricing data.

Ripple Labs received a patent for a smart contract that can use oracles to connect a distributed platform to a variety of different real-world data. Originally filed in June 2018, one example of a use case provided includes using the smart contracts to automatically settle options contracts when pre-agreed conditions are met, such as a company's debt-to-equity ratio hitting a certain threshold. Another example, for the oil industry, is feeding data on the density of a specific crude oil shipment to help a smart contract determine whether to make a trade. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&S1=10,789,068&OS=10,789,068&RS=10,789,068

"According to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the top 10,000 individual investors in Bitcoin control about one-third of the cryptocurrency in circulation. By using a data collection method that differentiated between addresses belonging to intermediaries and individuals, NBER researchers were able to find the former controlled about 5.5 million Bitcoin at the end of last year while the latter controlled about 8.5 million. Additionally, the top 1,000 individual investors controlled about 3 million, and the concentration could be even greater. The concentration of miners is even more profound, data show. NBER found that the top 10% of miners control 90% of the Bitcoin mining capacity, and just 0.1% (about 50 miners) control 50% of mining capacity. Such a high concentration could make the Bitcoin network vulnerable to a 51% attack. NBER found the concentration also decreases following sharp increases in the Bitcoin price, meaning the probability the network is vulnerable to a 51% attack is higher when Bitcoin's price drops sharply."

"Big tech firms entering financial services can scale up rapidly with user data from their existing business lines in e-commerce and social media, and by harnessing the inherent network effects in digital services. In addition to traditional policy concerns such as financial risks, consumer protection and operational resilience, the entry of big techs into financial services gives rise to new challenges surrounding the concentration of market power and data governance. The current framework for regulating financial services follows an activities-based approach where providers must hold licences for specific business lines. There is scope to address the new policy challenges by developing specific entity-based rules, as proposed in several key jurisdictions - notably the European Union, China and the United States."

The World Bank has assembled a Global Database of Fintech Regulations that constitutes a curated library of enabling laws, regulations, and guidelines from nearly 200 countries in a searchable and easy-to-use format. The data show that while some countries have strong enabling regulations for fintech and digital financial services, others simply lack the necessary regulatory infrastructure. Also, foundational legislation exists in most countries, but there are important gaps, for example in the implementation of basic data-protection regulations.

"The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has announced it is conducting a survey to collect feedback on how existing national and regional data frameworks interact with and affect the functioning, regulation, and supervision of cross-border payment arrangements."

Worldwide searches for bitcoin have reached mid-2020 levels as of April 22, 2022, with readings of 17 for the week of April 17-April 23 versus May 2021's all-time high reading of 76. This does not mean the total number of searches for "bitcoin"  is decreasing, but that its popularity is decreasing compared to other searches. Data suggests most searches for bitcoin originate from Nigeria, followed by El Salvador and Austria.

Digital payments volumes in the Philippines have grown from 1% of total payments in 2013 to 30% in 2021. A Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) case study  examines this success story by diving into the key decisions made by the government and private sector in accelerating the adoption of responsible digital payments. These included continuous evaluation of progress against transparent targets, proactive policymaking to satisfy evolving needs, and institutionalizing data systems and building internal capacity to collect and analyze data.

The IMF published a paper that synthesizes four lessons from the experiences of six Asian e-money schemes (Alipay and WeChat Pay in China; Paytm in India; and GoPay, GrabPay, and ShopeePay in Southeast Asia) for central banks as they consider CBDC issuance: CBDC should embody trust, convenience, efficiency, and security; CBDC service providers can facilitate adoption by leveraging digital technology, targeting use cases, developing business models, and complying with legal and regulatory requirements; central banks could incentivize CBDC service providers to develop these four channels when considering CBDC adoption; and central banks may be able to establish data-sharing arrangements that preserve privacy while leaving room for CBDC service providers to explore the economic value of data.

The IMF published a paper that explores how the introduction of an informationally more intrusive digital payment vehicle affects households' cash use, credit access, and welfare. For example, lenders can exploit households' payment data to infer their creditworthiness, but households then face a tradeoff between protecting their privacy and credit access. A tech monopolist controls the intrusiveness of the new payment method and manipulates information asymmetries among households and oligopolistic banks to extract data contracts that are more lucrative than lending on its own. The laissez-faire equilibrium entails a digital payment vehicle that is more intrusive than socially optimal, providing a rationale for regulation.

Also, on-chain data seems to indicate that funds are also being drained from wallets of clients of Almeda, a sister trading company of the exchange. This story just keeps on getting better!

"Zero-knowledge schemes have recently become a popular attempt to offer users privacy in an attribute-based credential system. In this article, we do not contest the mathematics of these schemes; we assume it is logically sound. Instead, we draw attention to the trade-off that is made when employing cryptography instead of trusted parties to protect user privacy. We assert that, for these approaches to create the trust required by credential verifiers, they must introduce mechanisms that limit their utility and create significant privacy risk to the user that cuts against data minimization goals. Greater trust must be placed in the shelf life of cryptography to prevent the user from being unwantonly correlated than alternative approaches. Just as we would discourage storing encrypted private data on public blockchains, we discourage this approach here. Lastly, this article introduces the concept of a trusted witness which provides privacy for honest users and solves the privacy-trust problem without the disadvantages of the zero-knowledge approach."

Bitcoin hashrate is becoming highly centralized, with a few mining pools controlling most of the blockchain mining power. The latest data from Mempool indicates that 50% of the total hashrate is held by Foundry USA and Antpool. The graph below shows that over 80% of Bitcoin's mining power is concentrated among just 5 pools. This contrasts with the beginning of 2022, when these five mining pools barely exceeded 60% of the hashrate. This poses significant dangers to the cryptocurrency, because the miners could agree to reject transactions that do not meet a specific parameter leading to a 51% attack.