The Data Game | News that You must Know

Hello 👋, fellow humans from all over the world!

How are you doing? It's been more than a week since we met here. 

The last few weeks have been a tremendous learning experience for me and a little reminder that we are all trying our best on different paths☺️. 

I travelled to Amsterdam to attend Sibos 2022, featuring over 500 speakers debating major industry topics, including embracing the digital landscape, succeeding in uncertain times, and driving sustainability and ethics centered around the theme of ‘Progressive finance for a changing world.'

Beginning news from the Nordic Fintech Week; was an exhilarating blend of Fintech vision and innovation. Over our two conference days, we heard 75+ sessions from over 100 world-class speakers on Embedded Finance, Ethical Finance, Democratizing Finance, The Future of Finance, and Decentralized Finance💫.

I moderated the panel The Future of Financial Crime in the Metaverse: Fighting Crypto Crime in Web3, which discussed how cutting-edge technologies in the anti-money laundering, verification, and regulation space collaborated to stay one step ahead of criminals in the hope of finding new ways to launder money and mobilize resources to fund illegal operations. Let me share with you the amazing people I met, Luida Kanapienis from Ondato, Marcus Mølleskov from Januar, Hannah Becher from Pleo, and Julia Ront from Vespia. ⚡Here are the highlights from the Nordic Fintech Week-

Going forward, it was a great honour to be the Emcee for the first-ever Fintech Island event in beautiful Barbados🌴! Of the many great experiences I had during the event, meeting the Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, was the most inspiring. She is a “Time 100 honouree” and a genuine, caring human being. Her words touched my heart and supported my purpose. Being a sustainability “Ambassador” for Barbados, I can only be thankful and hopeful that this new wave of leadership and opportunity not only arises on the beautiful islands of Barbados but also surrounds us all.

Here are the highlights from the Fintech Islands Barbados-

I wrapped up Sibos 2022, where I spoke on “Metaverses to wallets: How to avoid an identity crisis,” explaining digital identity, Ethereum token standards, carbon credits, DeFi, and ReFi. Later, I presided over the Swift Innotribe: Closing session with David Birch from 15Mb Ltd., Leda Glyptis PhD from 10x Banking, Caitlin E McDonald, PhD from the University of Edinburgh, and David Wood from Delta Wisdom. ✨Here are a few clicks from Sibos2022-

A lot has happened! Let me take a breath and bring you news from the world that made headlines, curated by the incredible Rooh team and myself. For you, I have collated news across Finance, Identity, Web 3, Open banking, Trust, and Regulatory frameworks.  Please don't forget to share your favourite parts or ideas for what else you'd like to learn; I'm eager to learn as much as I am to share, so please accept my thanks in advance for all your comments.

We at Rooh wish you a great week ahead. Here is the news digest collated for you-

💻Identity + Web 3 and Web 5

An existential crisis for banks

Banking, after all, is the most regulated industry in the world, shielding it from fast-paced disruption. Crypto has changed that equation. Consider stablecoins. From a consumer perspective, it’s a product that’s vastly superior in every way. It’s accessible, always on, fast, cheap, and yours to own through self-custody. For a generation of iPhone users, it meets contemporary expectations. Meanwhile, the Fed doesn’t plan to release its real-time payments solution until next year.

Remote Banking Requires Digital Identity Authentication

Governments and banks worldwide sponsor various digital identity projects to make identity more convenient for consumers and businesses. This digital approach — being touted as the future of identity — combines all an individual’s disparate identifying information into one account, or “digital wallet,” that the individual controls via a smartphone.

💸Open Banking

Open banking’s ‘90-day’ rule finally comes to an end.

After years of lobbying from banks, open banking providers, and companies, the FCA first revealed it would scrap the rule in November 2021. Still, the initial deadline of March 2022 for banks to comply was extended by six months to 30 September 2022.

There will still be a ‘90-day’ reauthorization requirement. However, apps and third-party providers can now fulfil this within their apps.

Four years on - where is open banking today?

The use of open banking by corporates, banks, start-ups, brokers, and lenders has certainly gained traction. It was reported that open banking payments are growing at a rate in the UK of 500% year-on-year, with five million transactions made in May 2022 alone, with around 26 million payments made in 2021.  Open banking allows banks to open up their APIs, which creates opportunities for these non-banks to offer apps that provide fast payments, helpful account information, and other services. How does it affect regulations and growth?

⚖️Trust Frameworks

India's mobile regulator proposes mandatory KYC rules.

TRAI, India's telecommunications industry regulatory body, is set to propose a unified #KYC system for all mobile operators. In remarks at India Mobile Congress, chairman PD Vaghela stated that such a platform is the only way to tackle fraudulent calls and SMS messages. No formal recommendation has yet been made, but we expect any proposed system to lean heavily on the Aadhar identity scheme as managing agency Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) pushes for #eKYC integrations with the platform across the economy.

TikTok facing the UK fine over child data protection

The UK Information Commissioner's Office has served social media giant TikTok with a "notice of intent," a prelude to fines being issued. According to the notice, an ICO investigation uncovered that TikTok processed the data of children under the age of 13 without appropriate parental consent, failed to provide accurate information to its users in a concise, transparent, and easily understood way, and processed special category data, without legal grounds to do so. While the rumoured £27 million fine is a slap on the wrist, we view this as a glimpse of the future for US platforms under the California Age Appropriate Design Act. PMs across the country should take notice.

A failed gaming platform's lessons for digital identity

Google announced last week the shuttering of its game-streaming platform Stadia, a move that came as little surprise to those who saw it approaching the traditional 4-year lifespan of many Google products. Don't worry; this isn't devolving into a video gaming newsletter. What's relevant to digital identity practitioners is the key lesson behind Stadia's failure: a lack of trust. Neither developers nor users believed that Google would back their investment in the platform. With network effects critical to launching digital identity products at scale, earning trust will separate winners from losers. Take this lesson to heart. 

💡Regulation

MFA 'fatigue' attacks highlight the need for user education.

Further details have emerged regarding recent enterprise breaches, and a clear trend line is emerging. Hackers have gained entry to systems not through zero-day exploits but by badgering employees with spoofed authentication request messages until they relentlessly give up a valid authentication code. Whether a hacker's target is an enterprise or consumer user, no technology can defeat a user willingly surrendering their credentials. As the deployment of next-generation auth technology ramps up, it will be imperative for platforms to educate their user base on proper cybersecurity precautions. Whether a flawed human being is responsible for clicking the wrong link will prove cold comfort to an authentication platform with its name in the headlines over a customer breach.

Blowfish seed round highlights Web3 fraud opportunities.

Crypto and NFT transaction fraud detection platform Blowfish emerged from stealth last week with the announcement of an $11M seed raise. Paradigm took the lead in the round, with participation from Dragonfly, Uniswap Labs, Hypersphere Ventures, 0x Labs, and a slew of Web3-focused angels. Blowfish applies the network-centric approach that's proven effective at fighting "traditional" eCommerce fraud to Web3 transactions, prompting users with warnings that the transaction they're about to initiate is linked to a wallet tied to previous fraud. We expect to see the emergence of similar platforms across the #web3 space as the immutability of #blockchain transactions. 

♻️Sustainability

Fresh Del Monte invests in a blockchain food traceability platform

Together, the companies plan to roll out Decapolis Food Guard across all Fresh Del Monte Foods, Inc., starting with its pineapple operations in Costa Rica. Products will contain QR codes enabling consumers to see the entire production history from farm to fork. Additionally, the aim is to provide solutions to other businesses.

Thank you for reading this week's edition of The Data Game. I hope this week's curated edition energized you with the news you can use. If so, please feel free to e-mail or share with your friends and connections who might enjoy the information we have bought together here :) 

Made with Love💛, 

Best regards from 

Bianca & Team at Rooh Ventures.