The FEDNOW payment system is a new instant payment infrastructure developed by the Federal Reserve that allows financial institutions of every size across the U.S. to provide safe and efficient instant payment services.
Live system
It went live on July 20, 2023 and enables individuals and businesses to send and receive money in near real-time, 24/7/365, through their depository institution accounts.
The service is a flexible, neutral platform that supports a broad variety of instant payments and offers optional features such as fraud prevention tools, request for payment capability, and tools to support payment inquiries.
FedNow is the first new payment rail in the United States since the introduction of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) in the early 1970s.
Digital Dollar?
Is this a possibly a pre-emptive strike to get ahead of international digital currency deployment and set the scene to adopt a digital payment structure of a new ‘crypto coin system’ for the future – the digital dollar?
XRP, the native token of the blockchain company Ripple, soared more than 60% on Thursday after a U.S. judge delivered a major victory to the firm in its legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC had sued Ripple in December 2020, alleging that it had raised over $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP in an unregistered securities offering. The SEC claimed that XRP was an investment contract that gave buyers the expectation of profits based on Ripple’s efforts.
However, the Judge ruled that XRP was not a security “on its face” and that some aspects of its sale did not violate the federal securities laws.
Digital coin
The judge drew a distinction between the sales of XRP to institutional investors, which she said could constitute investment contracts, and the sales of XRP to the general public on exchanges, which did not.
Argument
The judge also denied Ripple’s argument that the SEC lacked jurisdiction over XRP transactions because they were not domestic, and agreed with the SEC that the Howey test, a four-pronged criteria to determine whether an asset is a security, applied to cryptocurrency transactions.
The ruling was welcomed by Ripple and its supporters, who argued that XRP was a utility token that facilitated cross-border payments and did not depend on Ripple’s efforts for its value.
Ripple’s chief legal officer, reportedly tweeted: “A huge win today – as a matter of law – XRP is not a security. Also, a matter of law – sales on exchanges are not securities. Sales by executives are not securities. Other XRP distributions – to developers, charities, and employees- are not securities.”
A lawyer representing over 19,000 XRP holders who intervened in the case, reportedly called on U.S. exchanges to relist XRP in solidarity with the decision.
Crypyo boost
The ruling also boosted the sentiment in the broader crypto market, as it suggested that the SEC did not have unlimited authority over digital assets and that some tokens could escape the securities classification.
‘Have you seen the news? Crypto might possibly could be going manstream.’ ‘Oh WOW! – What’s crypto?’
Crypto-related stocks such as Coinbase and crypto-coins such as ADA, HBAR, BITCOIN & ETH surged following the news.
More to come?
However, the case is not quite over yet, as the SEC said it would continue to review the decision and pursue its claims against Ripple for the sales of XRP to institutional investors.
The SEC also responded to the judge’s ruling by saying that it did not change its position that XRP was a security and that it would seek to prove that Ripple violated the securities laws in certain circumstances.
The outcome of the case could have significant implications for the crypto industry, as it could set a precedent for how other tokens are regulated and how other lawsuits are resolved.
There are eight billion people living on Earth today, according to the United Nations (UN).
It’s hard to calculate the number of people in the world accurately, and the UN admits its calculations could be out by a year or two – but it estimated that in November 2022 the eight billion line was crossed.
It is only 11 years since the population hit seven billion, and experts say this huge growth is because of many reasons including better health, nutrition and medicine.
One billion in 1800
The world reached one billion people in around 1800, then it took about another 100 years to get to the second billion – but since the 1950s the popultion growth has sped up dramatically.
Countries in Asia, including India, were responsible for a large amount of population growth over the last ten years.
The increase in population shows more children are being born, surviving adulthood and having children of their own.
People are also living longer because of better medicine and nutrition.
Greater population in India than China
If you saw a picture of every person on the planet every second, it would take 253 years.
Middle-income countries, mostly in Asia, accounted for most of the growth over the past decade, with 700 million more people since 2011.
India has increased by roughly 180 million people, and is set to surpass China as the world’s most populous nation next year for the first time in almost 2,000 years.
Birth rates in China have decreased since 1980 when the country’s one-child policy was introduced, and more women have also been having children later in life to focus on their education and career opportunities.
Sub-Saharan Africa population to grow the fastest in coming years
When it comes comes to which countries are likely to grow more in the future, the UN says that most of the 2.4 billion people to be added before the global population peaks are likely to be born in sub-Saharan Africa. This includes countries like Angola, Botswana, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.
But experts say that the rate of rapid growth is starting to slow down, meaning it will take about 15 years for the population to reach nine billion – which wouldn’t be until the year 2037.
One of the main reasons for this is that people in many parts of the world are having less children. In the 1960s five births per woman was the global average, now it’s nearly half at 2.4 per woman.
The UN is predicting that the global population will rise to around 10.4 billion people in the 2080s and remain at that level until 2100.
Does it matter?
The population growing is seen as a success by the UN because it shows how much public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine has improved – but it can also present challenges.
Population pressure
Having more people on Earth puts more pressure on nature, with people in competition with wildlife for water, food and space, as well as with each other. Also, growing food as fuel creates immense infrastructure pressure.
This could lead to mass migration and conflict in coming decades, experts say, particularly as extreme climate change could make parts of Africa and countries so hot they could be unsuitable for people to live in.
More people means there are less resources to go around, and so governments will also need to think about how the way people and countries use what the world currently has and how this can this should be used.
This also includes how we are using energy and the impact on climate change if big countries with growing populations continue to use fossil fuels.
Although having more people on the planet will impact the environment, in fact it is the increase in producing and using materials which creates dramatic pollution increases that causes more of an impact to our immediate environment.
The UN Secretary General António Guterres said: ‘…it is a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet and a moment to reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another.’
Twitter rebrands as X and kills off blue bird logo
Twitter, the social media platform, has undergone a major rebranding, changing its name to X and replacing its iconic blue bird logo with a simple black-and-white X. The move was announced by the company’s owner, Elon Musk, who reportedly said he wanted to create a “super app” that would transform the global ‘town square’.
New Logo
Musk and Twitter’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, posted pictures of the new logo projected on the side of Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco, California. They also changed profile pictures and bios to reflect the new brand identity. The desktop version of the app has already switched to the new logo, while the mobile version is expected to follow soon.
My last tweet – says the BLUE bird
Musk is reported to have said he was looking to change Twitter’s logo because he wanted to “embody the imperfections in us all that make us unique”. He also said he had a personal affinity for the letter X, which he also used for his other ventures, such as SpaceX and X.com. Yaccarino said the rebrand was an exciting new opportunity to make a fresh “big impression” and go further than Twitter.
Rebranding
The rebranding of Twitter marks the biggest change to the platform since Musk began his tumultuous tenure. Among the changes have been sacking thousands of staff, locking verification checkmarks behind a paywall, reinstating banned accounts like those of Andrew Tate and Donald Trump, and applying reading limits.
The reaction from users and marketers has been mixed, with some praising the bold move and others criticising it as unnecessary and confusing. Some have also questioned whether the new logo infringes on the trademarks of other companies that use similar designs, such as Tesla and Xbox.
The company has not yet revealed whether other aspects of the platform, such as tweets, hashtags, and handles, will also be changed to match the new brand name.
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink, has revealed his latest venture: xAI, a new artificial intelligence company that aims to “understand the true nature of the universe”.
Musk announced the formation of xAI on Wednesday on Twitter and on the company’s official website, which features a minimalist design and a brief introduction.
“Today we announce the formation of xAI,” the website states. “The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe.”
AI
The website also lists 12 members of the xAI team, including Musk himself as the director. The team consists of researchers and engineers who have worked at leading AI firms such as Google’s DeepMind, OpenAI, Microsoft Research and Tesla.
Power
It was reported that xAI was incorporated in Nevada in June 2023 and Musk has purchased thousands of graphic processing units (GPUs) to power his AI vision. The company also has a Twitter account, @xAI, which has gained over 300,000 followers in less than a day.
Musk invited the public to ask questions about xAI on a Twitter Space – this was scheduled for 1h. July 2023. He has not provided any further details about the company’s mission, vision or products.
However, based on Musk’s previous comments and involvement in AI, it is likely that xAI will focus on developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), or human-level intelligence that can perform any task across any domain.
AI Critic
Musk has been a vocal critic of OpenAI, the AI research organization that he co-founded in 2015 but left in 2018. He has accused OpenAI of becoming too secretive, too commercial and too “woke”, especially after the launch of its popular chatbot ChatGPT.
Musk has also expressed his concerns about the potential dangers of AI, warning that it could pose an existential threat to humanity if not aligned with human values and goals. He has advocated for ethical and responsible development of AI, as well as global cooperation and regulation.
With xAI, Musk may be trying to create an alternative to OpenAI that is more aligned with his vision and values. He may also be aiming to achieve breakthroughs in AI that could benefit his other ventures, such as Tesla’s self-driving cars, SpaceX’s reusable rockets and Neuralink’s brain-computer interfaces.
AI Robots at a bar
However, xAI will also face many challenges and uncertainties in its quest to understand reality. AI is a complex and rapidly evolving field that requires massive amounts of data, computing power and talent. It also raises many ethical, social and philosophical questions that are not easy to answer.
Moreover, xAI will have to compete with other established and emerging players in the AI space, such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Meta. These companies have invested billions of dollars in AI research and development and have access to vast amounts of data and resources.
It remains to be seen whether xAI will be able to achieve its ambitious goal and how it will impact the AI industry and society at large.
Baidu said its AI system called Ernie 3.5 outperformed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT4 in several key areas.
The Chat Bot was revealed in March 2023 and has since been publicly testing it in China. The chatbot is based on Baidu’s foundational AI model called ERNIE.
Baidu’s advancements underscore the intense competition taking place in the area of generative AI with technology giants in the US and China rapidly advancing their AI models.
ERNIE – Enhanced Language RepresentatioN with Informative Entities
US and China AI Bots go head to head
Ernie was first introduced in 2019, and since then, Baidu has been improving and upgrading it with new versions. The latest version, Ernie 3.5, was announced in June 2023, and it claims to outperform OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT 4 in several key areas
Baidu’s Ernie is an artificial intelligence (AI) model that powers the company’s chatbot service, Ernie Bot. Ernie stands for Enhanced Language RepresentatioN with Informative Entities, and it is a natural language processing (NLP) deep-learning model that can understand and generate natural language.
Trained on large data sets
Ernie 3.5 is based on Baidu’s foundational AI model, which is trained on huge amounts of data from various domains, such as news, social media, encyclopedias, books, and more. Ernie 3.5 can handle various NLP tasks, such as question answering, dialogue generation, text summarization, sentiment analysis, and more.
According to a test by the China Science Daily journal, Ernie 3.5 surpassed ChatGPT and GPT 4 in general abilities and outperformed the more advanced GPT 4 on several Chinese-language capabilities.
ERNIE version 3.5 boosted its training and efficiency, making it faster and cheaper to upgrade to future versions. Baidu hopes that ERNIE Bot will become the next must-have app in China’s internet market, attracting users because of its natural and engaging conversations.
Intergration
Baidu has been integrating ERNIE Bot across multiple business applications, ranging from cloud computing to smart speakers.
AI Chatbot
ERNIE Bot is one of the examples of how Baidu is investing in AI technology and competing with other tech giants in the US and China. Baidu’s founder Robin Li, reportedly said that ‘foundation models are an engine driving global economic growth and represent a major strategic opportunity that cannot be missed‘.
The major BIG players, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft & META all have their own versions of AI. Hopefully it will be used ‘intelligently’.
AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, which is the ability of machines to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. AI can involve various aspects of cognition, such as perceiving, reasoning, learning, problem-solving, and even creativity.
Types of AI
AI can be classified into different types based on the level of intelligence and the scope of tasks that machines can perform. One common way to categorise AI is by using the following four types:
Narrow AI: This is the most common and basic type of AI, which refers to machines that can perform specific tasks very well, but cannot generalize to other domains or situations. Examples of narrow AI include speech recognition, face recognition, web search engines, recommendation systems, self-driving cars, and chess-playing programs.
General AI: This is the type of AI that aims to achieve human-like intelligence across a wide range of domains and tasks. General AI would be able to understand and learn from any kind of data, reason and solve problems, communicate and interact with humans, and exhibit common sense and creativity. However, general AI does not exist yet, and it is considered a long-term goal of AI research.
Super AI: This is the type of AI that would surpass human intelligence in all aspects, including speed, memory, knowledge, creativity, and wisdom. Super AI would be able to outperform humans in any task and domain, and potentially pose existential risks to humanity. Super AI is also a hypothetical concept that has not been achieved or proven yet.
Artificial neural networks: This is a type of AI that mimics the structure and function of biological neural networks, which are the basis of human brain activity. Artificial neural networks consist of layers of interconnected nodes that process information and learn from data. Artificial neural networks are widely used for various applications of AI, such as computer vision, natural language processing, machine learning, and deep learning.
Applications of AI
AI has many applications in various fields and industries, such as:
Healthcare: AI can help diagnose diseases, analyze medical images, design drugs, assist surgeries, monitor patients, and provide personalized care.
Education: AI can help personalize learning, assess students’ progress, provide feedback, tutor students, grade assignments, and create educational content.
Business: AI can help optimize operations, enhance customer service, automate tasks, analyze data, generate insights, improve decision making, and increase productivity.
Entertainment: AI can help create music, art, games, movies, and other forms of entertainment.
AI can also help recommend content to users based on their preferences and behaviour.
Security: AI can help detect threats, prevent cyberattacks, enhance surveillance, identify frauds, enforce laws, and protect privacy.
Social: AI can help communicate with humans through natural language processing and speech synthesis. AI can also help understand human emotions and behavior through sentiment analysis and facial expression recognition.
Challenges and limitations of AI
AI also faces many challenges and limitations that need to be addressed by researchers and users. Some of these include:
Ethical: AI raises many ethical issues such as bias, fairness, accountability, transparency, privacy, human dignity, and social impact. How can we ensure that AI is aligned with human values and does not harm humans or society?
Technical: AI still faces many technical challenges such as scalability, robustness, explainability, interpretability, generalization, and adversarial attacks. How can we improve the performance, reliability, and security of AI systems?
Societal: AI also has many societal implications such as employment, education, regulation, governance, and collaboration. How can we adapt to the changes and opportunities that AI brings to our lives, work, and society?
AI is here to stay – it’s all about how we use it for the betterment of ‘humankind’. Please, let’s use it safely, responsibly and for the good!
Big tech companies heavily involved in the development of AI products
Compound interest is simply interest added back to the original or principal sum and then more interest is earned or calculated on ‘that’ added interest over the next compounding period.
Like this…Year one…
Over a one year period: Take £1000 capital and add 5% interest (lucky if you can get it). That equals to £1050. That’s 1000 x 5% over 1 year = £1050.
‘But Miss, you said we were learning about gravity and apples and things today.’ ‘No, it’s something far more important – today we are learning about … COMPOUND INTEREST!’
Now this is the best bit…
Take your £1050 from the first year (original capital plus interest). Now, in year two it goes like this…
Year two…
Take the new value £1050 capital add 5% interest again (but this time it is added to £1050 not just the original £1000).
That’s 1050 x 5% equals £1102.50 we’re compounding the interest on the £50 earned in the first year as well as the original capital.
In the third year…
It will be £1102.50 x 5% = £1157.63 and so on.
You can clearly see why it is important to take advantage of compound interest. Leaving your money in a savings account right now with such low interest rates isn’t a wise option. But when/if you can find a sensible interest rate COMPOUND interest will be your best friend.
Don’t just take my word for it. Compound interest is in very good company.
Albert Einstein said this about it…
‘Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.’
He called it, ‘the greatest mathematical discovery of all time.’
Look at this table. It shows what £100,000.00 over 10 years will be worth if you add the interest back to the capital every year and compound it for 10 years.
Capital of £100,000.00 with 5% compound interest added over 10 year period
Start £100,000.00 Year 1 £105,000.00 Year 2 £110,250.00 Year 3 £115,762.50 Year 4 £121,550.63 Year 5 £127,628.16 Year 6 £134,009.56 Year 7 £140,710.04 Year 8 £147,745.54 Year 9 £155,132.82 Year 10 £162,889.46
Interest at 5% compounded over 10 years
Year 1 £5,000.00 Year 2 £5,250.00 Year 3 £5,512.50 Year 4 £5,788.13 Year 5 £6,077.53 Year 6 £6,381.41 Year 7 £6,700.48 Year 8 £7,035.50 Year 9 £7,387.28 Year 10 £7,756.64
Other types of interest are available – but compound is the best.
Crypto, short for cryptocurrency, is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and operates independently of a central bank. Cryptocurrencies are decentralised currencies, meaning they’re neither issued nor governed by a central bank.
Some cryptocurrencies are issued by their developers, while others are generated by their respective network algorithms. They exist and operate on a public ledger called a blockchain, which records all crypto transactions. Blockchain encryption is designed to make all transactions safe and secure from tampering, counterfeit, and other forms of fraudulent transactions.
‘Do you know what crypto is? Nope, absolutely no idea, do I need to?’
Digital Wallet
Cryptocurrencies can be stored in a ‘digital wallet’ on a smartphone or computer, and owners can send them to people to buy things. Although we can’t see or touch cryptocurrencies, they do hold value. Cryptocurrencies are now being used to purchase many different products and services, and some people are even buying cars and houses with their digital assets. They’re not widely used at the moment, but many believe the use of cryptocurrencies could one day become a common way to trade.
Is there a future for a digital currency?
However, the future of cryptocurrency is uncertain and opinions are divided. Some predict that institutional money entering the market and the possibility of crypto being floated on the Nasdaq could add credibility to blockchain and its uses as an alternative to conventional currencies. Others predict that regulators around the world might come together on a global framework for crypto regulation, but this looks unlikely right now. It is impossible to predict the future of the crypto market with absolute certainty.
Despite a strong start to 2023, some analysts remain cautious on growth and predict pressure for digital assets. Cryptography and blockchains will continue to be integral parts of the modern economic toolkit.
In conclusion, while there is no consensus on whether crypto is the future of currency, it is clear that it has the potential to play a significant role in the future of finance.
Stop crypto?
There is evidence to suggest that the US, EU, UK and other nations are trying to regulate the crypto market. Some people in the crypto world believe that recent attempts to ring fence the crypto industry and cut off its connectivity to the banking system are reminiscent of a little-known Obama-era program called ‘Operation Choke Point’. This refers to a 2013 US government initiative that sought to cut off undesirable industries from banking services.
Meltdown
The sector was already under pressure, after prices of virtual currencies collapsed last year. Further damage came from the meltdown of several high-profile firms, including FTX, run by the so-called ‘Crypto King’ Sam Bankman-Fried, whom prosecutors have accused of conducting ‘one of the biggest financial frauds’ in US history. Jolted by the turmoil, US regulators stepped up their policing of the sector, which authorities say has been on notice since at least 2017 and that their activity runs afoul of US financial rules intended to protect US investors.
Crackdown?
The campaign has yielded a steady drumbeat of charges against crypto firms and executives, alleging violations ranging from failing to register properly with authorities and provide adequate disclosure of their activity to, in some cases, more damaging claims such as mishandling of consumer funds and fraud. The crackdown culminated this month in legal actions against two of the biggest platforms: Coinbase and Binance.
However, during a hearing on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology regulation, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo shared his belief that the United States would not be able to succeed in banning Bitcoin.
In conclusion, while there is evidence that the US is trying to regulate the crypto market, it is not clear if they are trying to stop it completely and there is also evidence that suggests that the US would not be able to succeed in banning Bitcoin.
What was operation choke point?
‘Operation Choke Point’ was allegedly an initiative of the United States Department of Justice that began in 2013 under the Obama administration. The program investigated banks in the United States and the business they did with firearm dealers, payday lenders, and other companies believed to be at a high risk for fraud and money laundering. It was an attempt by President Obama’s Department of Justice, the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other government agencies to cut off banking and financial services for small businesses and industries that they deemed to be illegal enterprises or otherwise undesirable.
The current interest rate in the UK is 5% as of June 2023.
This is the Bank Rate set by the Bank of England (BoE), which influences the interest rates that other banks charge borrowers and pay savers. The BoE has raised the Bank Rate 13 times in a row from 0.1% to 5% in a bid to control inflation, which is the rate at which the prices of goods and services increase over time. The BoE has a target of keeping inflation at 2%, but the current inflation rate is 8.7%, which is much higher than the target. This means that the purchasing power of money is decreasing and people have to pay more for the same things.
Summary
The Bank of England has increased the base rate to 5% – up from 4.5% in June 2023
It’s a bigger increase than most forecasters expected
The last time the base rate was 5% or higher was in 2008
Higher interest rates are intended to lower inflation, by giving mortgage-holders and consumers less to spend
The government’s target is to have inflation down to 5% by the end of the year
Rishi Sunak said: ‘I always said this would be hard – and clearly it’s got harder over the past few months’ – I am totally, 100%, on it, and it’s going to be OK‘
Seven of the nine members of the bank’s committee voted for the 5% rate – two wanted no change at all
Bank of England mission statement
Promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.
Meet our new policy adviser
Well, the BoE has clearly done a good job here then with the UK interest rate now at 5%, again… and inflation at 8.7% after peaking at 11.1% in November 2022, a 41 year high! Great job!
And the UK PM said, ‘I always said this would be hard – and clearly it’s got harder over the past few months. I am totally, 100%, on it, and it’s going to be OK‘.
That’s good to know then – it’s going to be OK – so reassuring for borrowers! It’s going to be OK, so don’t worry!
Sorry PM, but that is so weak it’s bordering pathetic. Weren’t you the chancellor too?
