IMF: Issue CBDCs, Improve Cross-border Payments to Counter Crypto’s ‘Phenomenal Growth’

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has become the latest major global body to wade in with a call for governments of the world to fight back against crypto adoption – or suffer the consequences.

In its new Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF addressed the “financial stability challenges” of the “crypto ecosystem” in a dedicated chapter, and suggested that economic leaders fight back against crypto – by issuing their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

In an accompanying blog post, the IMF conceded that crypto offers “quick and easy payments,” as well as “innovative financial services” and “inclusive access to previously unbanked parts of the world.”

It wrote that the crypto “ecosystem is also flourishing, replete with exchanges, wallets, miners and stablecoin issuers.”

But it also warned that crypto is rife with “consumer protection risks remain substantial given limited or inadequate disclosure and oversight,” noting that some coins were “likely created solely for speculation purposes or even outright fraud.”

The IMF claimed that “cryptoization” was a risk in “emerging economies,” where “crypto adoption” has “outpaced that of advanced economies,” due to factors such as “weak central bank credibility and a vulnerable banking system,” as well as inadequate payments networks.

This cryptoization, the authors added, “can reduce the ability of central banks to effectively implement monetary policy” and bring about “financial stability risks” through “funding and solvency risks arising from currency mismatches.” It could also bring about damages to consumers and compromise financial integrity, they remarked. 

The solution, per the IMF? More regulation, more policing – and more CBDCs.

The report’s authors wrote:

“Policymakers should implement global standards for crypto assets and enhance their ability to monitor the crypto ecosystem by addressing data gaps. Emerging markets faced with cryptoization risks should strengthen macroeconomic policies and consider the benefits of issuing central bank digital currencies.”

On a global scale, the IMF stated that “policymakers should prioritize making cross-border payments faster, cheaper, more transparent and inclusive” – using plans drawn up by the G20.

It also called on national regulators to “prioritize the implementation of existing global standards,” and bolster applicable securities, payments, clearing, and settlements protocols.

Stablecoin issuers were handed yet another warning of a possible regulatory storm ahead, with the authors concluding that “as the role of stablecoins grows,” regulations “should be proportionate to the risks they pose and the economic functions they serve.” Rules “should be aligned,” the body suggested, with “entities that provide similar products,” such as “bank deposits or money market funds.”

A closely followed crypto analyst who accurately predicted Bitcoin’s monthly closing prices says he is expecting the bull market to extend beyond this year.

PlanB tells his 972,800 Twitter followers that he believes Bitcoin is about the kick off the second leg of its bull cycle.ADVERTISEMENT 

“On-chain analyses finished tonight: In my opinion, we are midway. No sign of weakness (red dot) yet. Note color overlay is not months to halving but an on-chain signal. My guess: this 2nd leg of the bull market will have at least 6 more months to go.”

In July, PlanB unveiled his worst-case scenarios for BTC for the months of August and September where Bitcoin would close at $47,000 and $43,000, respectively. His predictions have been spot on as Bitcoin closed August at $47,417 and concluded September at $43,031, according to CoinGecko.

PlanB now predicts that Bitcoin will ignite huge rallies en route to fresh all-time highs.

“Aug>$47,000
Sep>$43,000
Next targets: Oct>$63,000, Nov>$98,000, Dec>$135,000.”

The widely followed analyst also mentions a number of fundamental catalysts that can push the price of Bitcoin to greater heights in the coming months, including the advancement of micropayment solution Lightning Network (LN), the possibility of adoption by big-tech firms and the deployment of smart contracts via the RSK sidechain.

“What will trigger the next leg of the Bitcoin bull market?
– ETF approval (SEC)
– Nation adoption (next El Salvador)
– LN/Strike surprise (Jack Mallers)
– Apple/Amazon/Google/MS adoption
– RSK killer use case (Blockstream)
– Next Michael Saylor/Paul Tudor Jones
– China U-turn?”Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get crypto email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

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Last week, news broke that James Dean will star in a new movie-64 years after his death. A production company called Magic City got the rights to Dean’s image from the late actor’s estate and plans to bring him to the silver screen again thanks to the wonder (or terror) of CGI. Now, Dean, or the digitally resurrected version of Dean or whatever, will play the second lead in a Vietnam War movie called Finding Jack, with a living actor standing in as his voice.

Unsurprisingly, the announcement inspired a wave of immediate backlash around Hollywood.

Chris Evans called it “awful” and “shameful,” and Elijah Wood said, simply, “NOPE.” But it turns out the intense reaction was surprising to at least one person: Magic City’s Anton Ernst, the Finding Jack director.

Ernst told the Hollywood Reporter in a new interview that he’s gotten “positive feedback” about the movie and that the Dean estate has been “supportive,” saying it will inspire “a whole new generation of filmgoers to be aware of James Dean.” He didn’t see the overwhelming negativity coming. Per the Reporter:

Ernst spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the criticisms on social media, saying he was “saddened” and “confused” over the overwhelmingly negative comments. “We don’t really understand it. We never intended for this to be a marketing gimmick,” he said.

He also brought up Carrie Fisher’s appearance in the new Star Wars as an example of a way this posthumous CGI work can be done well, apparently missing the difference between honoring Fisher’s legacy in a role she was already scheduled to play and plopping James Dean in some random war movie half a century after his death.

When discussing whether resurrecting Dean digitally crosses a line with regards to posthumous casting, Ernst explained, “Anyone that is brought back to life – you have to respect them.” He noted Fisher’s posthumous appearances in the Star Wars franchise, saying that if the actress had expressed never wanting to be in a film after her death, or if her legacy or that of the franchise could be “tarnished” because of her casting, “then that should be a line.”

“I think the line should be … you must always honor the deceased’s wishes and try to act in a way that is honorable and full of dignity,” Ernst said.

Again, this is extremely different, since Dean could never have stated he didn’t want to appear in a film after his death because, uh, how would he have imagined that was even a possibility-but whatever. Finding Jack is still headed into production with an expected release on November 11, 2020, whether we like it or not.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen appears on 60 Minutes.

The whistleblower behind the leak of an enormous cache of Facebook documents to the Wall Street Journal, Frances Haugen, went public on 60 Minutes on Sunday, revealing more of the inner workings the most powerful social media platform in the world. Revealing her identity on national television, Haugen described a company so committed to product optimization that it embraced algorithms that amplify hate speech.

“It’s paying for its profits with our safety,” Haugen told 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley.

According to a since deleted LinkedIn profile Haugen was a product manager at Facebook assigned to the Civic Integrity group. She chose to leave the company in 2021 after the dissolving of the group. She said she didn’t “trust that they’re willing to invest what actually needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous.”

Consequently she leaked a cache of internal research to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the hopes of driving better regulation of the company. She noted that she had worked at a number of companies, including Google and Pinterest, but that “it was substantially worse at Facebook” due to the company’s desire to put its profits over the welfare of its users

“There was conflict… between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,” Haugen told Pelley, “and Facebook chose over and over again to optimize for its own interests — like making more money.”

While the company repeatedly claims it is helping stop hate speech, at least on its own products, one internal Facebook document leaked by Haugen says, “We estimate that we may action as little as 3-5% of hate and ~0.6% of V&I [Violence and Incitement] on Facebook despite being the best in the world at it.”

Another document was even more blunt. “We have evidence from a variety of sources that hate speech, divisive political speech, and misinformation on Facebook and the family of apps are affecting societies around the world.”

Haugen claims the root of the problem is the algorithims rolled out in 2018 that govern what you see on the platform. According to her they are meant to drive engagement and the company has found that the best engagement is the kind instilling fear and hate in users. “Its easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions,” Hagen said.

At the time, Mark Zuckerberg presented the algorithm changes as positive. “We feel a responsibility to make sure our services aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people’s well-being.”

But according to the Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Haugen’s concerns, the result was a sharp turn towards anger and hate. “Misinformation, toxicity, and violent content are inordinately prevalent among reshares,” said one internal memo quoted by the Journal, assessing the effects of the change.

The Wall Street Journal began publishing its findings from the cache under the name “The Facebook Files” in September. One report alleging Facebook had research proving Instagram harmed teenage girls has since led to a Congressional hearing. Ahead of the hearing Facebook attempted to change the narrative in a blog post, which reproduced two of the reports referred to in the Journal’s reporting.

Ahead of the 60 Minutes report, Facebook attempted the same deflections in a different form. Facebook Vice President of Global Affair Nick Clegg appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources to defend the company on Sunday afternoon, just hours before Haugen would appear.

“I think that’s ludicrous,” Clegg said of the allegation that social media was responsible for the January 6 riots. “I think it gives people false comfort to assume that there must be a technological, or technical, explanation for the issues of political polarization in the United States.”

Haugen ended the interview by calling for regulation of social networks more broadly, something Facebook itself has called for in more limited form. She is scheduled to appear before a Senate Commerce panel on Tuesday.

Eternals comes to theaters November 5th | Marvel

So we had the big heel turn that’s been hinted at all season, plus some big moments for two of the show’s couples, which made Ted Lasso’s penultimate episode of season two very stressful to watch (for me, at least). I have no idea how they will wrap it all up in the finale; I think we’re headed for a cliffhanger on at least one front.

There’s too much good on streaming right now, it’s really a nice problem to have.

Here’s this week’s trailers roundup:

Eternals

A brand-new trailer for Marvel’s Eternals has some of the action sequences we’ve seen in prior teaser/trailers, plus, a first look at Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, along with his husband and son, apparently the first queer couple in the MCU to appear on the big screen (h/t Gizmodo for that detail). To recap: The Eternals are mega-hero guardians who have been waiting to jump in and help humanity and have decided the time is now. Also starring Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, and Kit Harington, Eternals comes to theaters on November 5th.

Welcome to Earth

Will Smith opens this trailer with a confession: he’s never climbed a mountain or swum in a lake and is beginning to think he might be missing something. Welcome to Earth is a six-part series from National Geographic— with its usual stunning location photography— that follows Smith on a trip around the world to some out-of-the-way places. It arrives on Disney Plus In December.

Sexy Beasts

This … unusual dating show where people wear elaborate animal/monster/creature costumes and makeup to hide their looks from potential suitors so they can be judged only on their personalities is back for a second season for some reason. The trailer leans all the way in to the weirdness, using quotes from reviews like “A sign of the end times” and “the stuff of nightmares, truly,” which sort of begs the question: did we really need a second season? Clearly Netflix thought so. Season two of Sexy Beasts premieres October 7th.

The Girl in the Woods

A girl in the Pacific Northwest escapes from a colony of mysterious people who live behind a door in the woods, and guard the world from monsters. Krysten Ritter signed on to direct some episodes of the series, which stars Stefanie Scott, Misha Osherovich, Sofia Bryant Will Yun Lee, Reed Diamond, and Leonard Roberts. The Girl in The Woods comes to Peacock October 21st.

The Harder They Fall

We got a teaser for this western about rival outlaw gangs back in June, but here’s our first official trailer and a release date for the impossibly star-studded The Harder They Fall. We get a little more backstory for Nat Love and why he’s gunning (literally) for Rufus Buck, who just broke out of a train car where he was imprisoned. Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, Idris Elba, Delroy Lindo, Damon Wayans, Jr. and Regina King star in The Harder They Fall, coming to Netflix November 3rd.

The BepiColombo mission snapped this photo of Mercury on October 1st. | ESA/BepiColombo/MTM

Photos from a fly-by of Mercury, the least-explored planet in our solar system, show ithas a crater-riddled surface that resembles Earth’s Moon.

The photos came from BepiColombo, a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that launched from Europe’s Spaceport in 2018. The mission has two linked orbiting spacecraft, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. The mission is planned to reach Mercury’s orbit in late 2025.

BepiColombo aims to gather more information about Mercury and its composition, and how it evolved so close to our Sun. Temperatures on Mercury can exceed 350 degrees Celsius, or about 660 degrees Fahrenheit.

ESA explains where the craters came from and what the surface of the planet is believed to be like:

One theory is that it may have begun as a larger body that was then stripped of most of its rock by a giant impact. This left it with a relatively large iron core, where its magnetic field is generated, and only a thin rocky outer shell.

Mercury has no equivalent to the ancient bright lunar highlands: its surface is dark almost everywhere, and was formed by vast outpourings of lava billions of years ago. These lava flows bear the scars of craters formed by asteroids and comets crashing onto the surface at speeds of tens of kilometers per hour. The floors of some of the older and larger craters have been flooded by younger lava flows, and there are also more than a hundred sites where volcanic explosions have ruptured the surface from below.

BepiColombo is named for Italian scientist Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo, who helped develop the gravity assist procedure that the first spacecraft sent to Mercury, NASA’s Mariner 10, used in 1974. The fly-bys allow the spacecraft to use Mercury’s gravity to enter the planet’s orbit. Friday’s fly-by of Mercury was the first of six planned before it enters the planet’s orbit for closer study. BepiColombo will also build on data collected by NASA’s Messenger mission, which orbited Mercury between 2011 and 2015.

As the spacecraft get closer to Mercury, it will be able to take higher-res images. More images from Friday’s fly-by will be available in the coming days, ESA said.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft lifts off from the launch pad on July 20th. | Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Saturday Night Live returned this weekend and the show wasted no time taking aim at the weird billionaire space tourism race that unfolded over the past few months. Guest host Owen Wilson played former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a sketch about a fictional new show called Star Trek: Ego Quest, about “the voyages of the SS New Shepard and its crew of random weirdos,” whose mission is “to just sort of fly around space goofing off in a ship that looks like a penis,” according to the voiceover.

You’ll recall the real Bezos traveled to the edge of space in Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket in July, along with a crew that included his brother Mark (played in the sketch by Wilson’s brother Luke), 82-year-old pilot and space legend Wally Funk, and Dutch high school student Oliver Daemen. But Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Galactic, beat Bezos to space by few days when he took a trip aboard his company’s SpaceShipTwo spaceplane. And SpaceX sent its first crew of private citizens into space earlier this month, but CEO Elon Musk didn’t join them for the ride.

In the SNL sketch, Branson (Alex Moffatt), flying nearby in a ship with purple mood lighting, challenges Bezos to a race after they exchange some standard bro greetings for a flight the voiceover refers to as “a midlife crisis of cosmic proportions,” in which they accidentally wreck into the international space station. But wait, danger lurks around every corner: Suddenly Bezos’ ship is being pelted by photon torpedoes and yes of course it’s Elon Musk (Mikey Day, doing a spot-on impression of Musk’s speaking style).

“Space is only big enough for one white, weird billionaire,” “Musk” tells “Bezos.”

In reality, of course, neither Bezos or Musk has had much of a sense of humor about the other’s space aspirations. “You cannot sue your way to the moon,” the real Musk told journalist Kara Swisher in an interview last week while discussing Bezos and Blue Origin. In response, Amazon sent The Verge a 13-page PDF list that included all the times SpaceX has filed lawsuits.

The SNL sketch took one last jab at Bezos before it wrapped: an Amazon employee (Kenan Thompson) beams aboard Bezos’ ship to deliver a package, and before he beams out asks to use the bathroom.

Wilson-as-Bezos tosses him a plastic bottle.

You can watch the full SNL billionaire Star Trek sketch below.

An autonomous Cruise vehicle in San Francisco | Photo by Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images

Ford and General Motors told a federal judge they’re planning to settle a trademark battle over the term “Cruise” to describe hands-free driving. Attorneys for the automakers said they’re working out the terms of the settlement and asked the court for a conditional dismissal. The two sides will report back within 60 days if they’re unable to come to an agreement.

Ford announced BlueCruise as the name for its hands-free driver assist feature in April. The legal skirmish began in July, when GM filed a trademark infringement lawsuit claiming that the name BlueCruise was too close to its autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise, as well as Super Cruise, the name of the hands-free driving tech GM introduced in 2017. GM said in its complaint that the two the companies had been involved in “protracted discussions” over the name but were unable to come to agreement. GM said it introduced Super Cruise in 2012, and its Cruise self-driving subsidiary has been in business since 2013.

In August, Ford filed a motion to have the suit dismissed, arguing that the term “cruise” had been been in “ubiquitous use” for 50 years as a term for driver-assist features, a term that consumers don’t associate with any one carmaker. A Ford spokesperson called GM’s trademark claims “meritless and frivolous,” adding that Ford had petitioned the US Patent and Trademark Office seeking to have GM’s trademarks of “Cruise” and “SuperCruise” rescinded.

Kodiak (Kody) the Steller’s sea eagle, who escaped the National Aviary in Pittsburgh September 29th | National Aviary

A Steller’s sea eagle escaped from its enclosure at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh last Saturday, and despite the valiant efforts of the Aviary staff, and numerous sightings in the local neighborhood posted to social media, Kodiak —Kody to his friends— is still on the loose and we are all a little worried about him, to be perfectly honest.

This is a bird that would be difficult to miss: he’s large (although in Pittsburgh we probably wouldn’t call him “giant” because “Giant Eagle” is a grocery store chain here), with a yellow beak, white tail and white feathers on the tops of his wings. He’s bigger than a bald eagle, and has a wingspan of about six feet. Kody has been spotted in and around the Pittsburgh neighborhood where the Aviary is located, which seems like a good thing. But he’s been tough to catch because you can’t just toss a net over him and call it a day, as licensed falconer Richard Lawson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; a specialized (and obviously humane) trap is going to be necessary.

The Steller’s sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) typically weighs between 13 and 20 pounds, and stands about four feet tall. It has no natural predators, according to the Aviary, but Kody has lived in captivity for 15 of his 16 years, so he may be a little rusty on the whole hunting/prey thing. Steller’s sea eagles eat fish, and more fish, “scavenged mammals” (ew) and even other birds “when fish is in short supply.” And in case you wondered, they’re named for German naturalist Georg W. Steller, who encountered the birds on a visit to Alaska in 1741.

The Aviary has been posting updates to social media and getting tantalizingly close to retrieving Kody, but he’s eluded them so far. I was half-hoping Kody might make some kind of majestic appearance at the Steelers’ game last Sunday since Heinz Field is not far from the Aviary, and the team was at home against the Bengals (we’re not going to talk about that game today, though). Alas, he did not.

On Thursday, the Aviary’s animal care experts camped out to monitor his roost in a high tree in the North Park area of the city, and they confirmed he was in good condition. They tried to entice him with some food, but he didn’t come down. But look at this handsome, handsome boi:

Many people— including me, before I moved to Pittsburgh a thousand years ago— don’t know what a hidden gem the National Aviary is, or, that it’s in Pittsburgh. Their penguins are usually the big celebrities (hi, this is Pittsburgh), but they also have very cute— as well as very large—owls, eagles, flamingos, falcons, and canaries among other birds. You can sign up for educational “animal encounters” with many of the birds— I recall visiting when my son was little; we sat in a large auditorium where some birds of prey were flying around, and we got like a popsicle stick with some food on it (I would prefer not to think about what the food actually was) and you’d hold it up until one of the birds swooped down to eat it. Extremely awesome.

If you are in Pittsburgh and see Kody call the National Aviary at 412-323-7235. Don’t try to approach him, you run the risk of scaring him off. And when the Aviary team shows up, stay out of their way. They want to get him safely home.

A Superman cover that may be among the NFTs available from DC | DC

DC is giving away free non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of its superhero comic book covers to people who register for its October 16th FanDome event. The NFT drop is set for October 5th, and those who register for FanDome will receive one free, randomly-selected NFT, and become eligible for a second free NFT if they post about their first one on social media.

The NFTs will come in three levels of rarity; common, rare, and legendary, and will include Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Harley Quinn options.

DC is working on the NFTs with Palm NFT Studio, which the comic maker chose for its “environmentally sustainable and energy efficient” technology, which let the company mint “millions of NFTs for fans with near zero cost,” according to a news release. The companies aren’t saying how many comic-book cover NFTs are planned. “This drop pays homage to our 87 year history while visualizing a future in which NFTs play a foundational role in novel ways of interacting with DC content and unlocking new experiences,” DC’s Jim Lee said in a statement.

Last year’s virtual FanDome, the first ever for DC Comics and Warner Bros., provided first-look trailers for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad, and Robert Pattison’s turn as The Batman. It drew an estimated 22 million views.

This year’s lineup is expected to include a new trailer for The Batman, as well as previews of upcoming movies Black Adam, The Flash, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, new details about the next seasons for its shows Harley Quinn, Batwoman, Superman & Lois, and Sweet Tooth, and the next chapter of the Fortnite — Batman crossover.