.svg)
- Musk Mulls Mandatory Subscription Payments For All X Users
- FedNow Has 'Much To Learn' From India’s UPI, Says Bolt CEO
- EBANX Expansion Looks To Tap Into India’s 'Booming' Digital Payments Market
- Three Arrows Co-Founders Hit By Nine-Year Prohibition Orders
- Peru Achieves QR Code Interoperability
- TikTok Fined Over GDPR Non-Compliance In Ireland
Musk Mulls Mandatory Subscription Payments For All X Users
X owner Elon Musk has said he is considering introducing a “small monthly payment system” to the platform to prevent bots from posing and posting as humans.
In an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk suggested that the monthly fee would be lower than the $8 per month that X currently charges for Blue, its premium subscription service.
“It’s a longer discussion, but in my view this is the only defence against vast armies of bots, because as AI gets very, very good, it’s actually able to pass these sort of CAPTCHA tests better than humans,” he said.
In August, it was revealed that X has partnered with Israeli company Au10tix on an automated ID verification service for subscribers.
The feature, which launched in several markets this month, is optional, and requires users to take a selfie and a photo of a government-issued ID.
FedNow Has 'Much To Learn' From India’s UPI, Says Bolt CEO
The CEO of ride-hailing app Bolt has said the US should look to India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as it rolls out FedNow, its long-awaited instant payments system.
Writing in an op-ed for Fortune, Maju Kuruvilla said the success of UPI in India can be attributed to technological simplicity, interoperability and its mobile-first approach — all of which can be emulated by FedNow.
He added that if FedNow succeeds in gaining similar levels of adoption as UPI, it could eventually serve as the United States' “speedy payments backbone”.
“FedNow is designed to accelerate transactions for the digital age, bringing to businesses and banks the fast payments that consumers enjoy through mobile services such as Zelle or Venmo,” he said.
“Perhaps most importantly, UPI shows that a government can get substantial things done, even with widespread public skepticism and within a boisterous democracy.”
EBANX Expansion Looks To Tap Into India’s 'Booming' Digital Payments Market
EBANX, a fintech that specialises in providing payment services in developing markets, has announced that it will be expanding its operations to India.
In a statement, EBANX said it will enable global merchants to offer their Indian customers the most-used local payment methods, starting with UPI instant payments and card payments.
“EBANX aims to bridge the gap between global businesses and Indian customers, enabling secure, convenient and localised payment experiences across industry verticals like SaaS, digital gaming, social media, digital ads, streaming and online retail,” it said.
“As the company continues its mission of expanding into rising markets, this strategic move reinforces EBANX's commitment to empowering businesses, customers and entire ecosystems worldwide.”
After growing its footprint to 15 Latin American countries over the past decade, and, more recently, to three countries in Africa, EBANX said the India entry will be followed by further expansion in Asia.
Three Arrows Co-Founders Hit By Nine-Year Prohibition Orders
The co-founders of bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) have been issued nine-year prohibition orders by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Under the prohibition orders, Zhu Su and Kyle Davies are banned from performing any regulated activity and from taking part in the management of any firm that is regulated under the Securities and Futures Act 2001 (SFA).
According to the MAS, Su and Davies failed to put in place a framework to identify, monitor and address risks associated with the crypto investments that were under their management.
The prohibition orders build on reprimands that were already handed to Su and Davies for providing false information to the MAS and exceeding the maximum threshold of assets under management for a registered fund company.
Last summer, 3AC fell into bankruptcy following the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin, as covered by Vixio.
Peru Achieves QR Code Interoperability
Peru’s private clearing house, the Cámara de Compensación Electrónica (CCE), has announced that QR codes are now interoperable across all payment processors.
As reported by Vixio, digital payments in Peru have faced several challenges. Sending money is often too costly, electronic money acceptance is low and digital wallets do not interoperate with each other.
For example, last May, regulators pointed out that Yape, the largest digital wallet in the country, was interoperable with only 20 percent of other financial system participants and its closest competitor, Plin, could interoperate with 15 percent only.
For years, the CCE has been working to promote digital payments and break down these barriers.
Last September, the clearing house said it was working on a Pix-like payment service, which has “an experience very similar to that of a digital wallet”.
According to the CCE, digital wallets can now process all QR codes which will help increase financial inclusion in the country.
TikTok Fined Over GDPR Non-Compliance In Ireland
The Irish Data Protection Commission has announced a €345m fine for TikTok.
The fine is due to its handling of children’s personal data between July 31 and December 31, 2020.
The DPC has also reprimanded the Chinese tech company and given it three months to fully comply with its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The DPC is also investigating TikTok over the transfer of personal data to China, something being probed by authorities in the US as well.
