Monthly Archives: October 2013

How the Air Force blew $1 billion on a dud system [2012]

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“The Air Force’s controller, Jamie Morin, admitted publicly in April that the service spent seven years and $1 billion on a logistics management system that had “negligible” capability. But that’s not what drove Air Force leaders to finally cancel the Expeditionary Combat Support System project this month. And it wasn’t because technical glitches forced the Air Force to repeatedly scale back expectations for the new system — from replacing 240 legacy systems, as originally planned, to just 12. In the end, officials canceled ECSS because continuing it would have cost another $1 billion to gain a quarter of the capability it was originally supposed to have, with fielding delayed until 2020.”

http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20121126/DEPARTMENTS01/311260009/

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NHS pulls the plug on its £11bn IT system [2011]

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“A plan to create the world’s largest single civilian computer system linking all parts of the National Health Service is to be abandoned by the Government after running up billions of pounds in bills. Ministers are expected to announce next month that they are scrapping a central part of the much-delayed and hugely controversial 10-year National Programme for IT.  The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that, while the intention of creating a centralised database of electronic patient records was a ‘worthwhile aim’, a huge amount of money had been wasted.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-pulls-the-plug-on-its-11bn-it-system-2330906.html

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How CEOs are clueless about technology

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“The president is the chief executive of the U.S. government, with its increasing dependence on digital performance. And, in that area, he seems a near-illiterate, or at least a big boob. But then again, he is likely not more boobish than most other chief executives and senior managers on this side of the digital divide: An older establishment that still regards technology as a back-office function, or infrastructure issue, or buyable skill set, vs. an emerging native digital establishment that sees technology as an end in itself, serving a customer base with ever-higher technology expectations and standards.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/wolff/2013/10/27/ceos-are-often-clueless-about-technology/3182203/

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PayPal Urges Regulatory Reform

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“In a new paper, PayPal recommends that regulators use data analytics to measure performance of a company and make regulations based on their findings, instead of basing regulations on design standards as happens today.  The paper advocates for SMART Governance, a decision-making model based on securing data on performance, using machines to organize databases, creating algorithms to derive insights, reassessing results and targeting insights to improve performance. Some players in the money transmitting market have talked about a single uniform license, similar to the EU, instead of the state-by-state licensing currently required in the U.S.”

http://www.paymentssource.com/news/paypal-urges-regulatory-reform-3015862-1.html

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Moneero Turns World’s 6.8 Billion Cell Phones into Mobile Cash Wallets

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“Earth’s 7.1 billion people have 6.8 billion active cell phones. Almost everyone in the world has SMS text-messaging technology, making mobile phones the most popular device ever in history.  South American startup Moneero plans to transform the SMS network into the first truly global payment system by using Bitcoin, a payment technology created in 2009 with virtually no transfer fees. Moneero’s inclusive ecosystem, available in the coming months, also works with the world’s 1.5 billion social media accounts and Moneero’s Bitcoin-specific ATMs.”

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2013/10/28/moneero_turns_the_world_s_6.htm

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How To Sell Bitcoin—Legally

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“Just like every other form of Bitcoin exchange (excepting direct peer-to-peer transactions), there’s nothing anonymous about using a Bitcoin machine. Both Williams and Bitcoiniacs will be monitoring their customers for suspicious activity, including unusually large deposits or very frequent deposits. Just like any bank or other money-related business must.  But even with all these restrictions, wrinkles are sure to appear as soon as Bitcoin machines like these enter public spaces. There’s no doubt that regulations on Bitcoin with shift over time, depending on how these pioneering machines are received.”

http://readwrite.com/2013/10/29/bitcoin-atm-money-services-regulation

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Loophole In Canadian Law: Bitcoin Businesses Aren’t Really Regulated

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“A loophole in Canadian law puts Bitcoin outside the scope of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada (FINTRAC), the agency that monitors money services businesses.  Business in Canada asked FINTRAC spokesman Peter Lamey why bitcoin exchanges and ATMs don’t fall into this category. He told us companies that deal in Bitcoin cannot be considered money services businesses under the current terms of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. As he said, money is defined as the ‘currency of a country’. Bitcoin belongs not to any one country, but to the Internet.”

https://businessincanada.com/2013/10/28/due-to-a-loophole-in-canadian-law-bitcoin-businesses-arent-really-regulated/

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The Future Of Bitcoin Depends On Startups, Regulations And China

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“Khan’s view is that the Bitcoin space is in the second wave of companies — the first wave having mostly been shut down (and some even facing jail time). The current crop includes the likes of BTC exchange Mt.Gox, which he argued now has its own challengers, despite Gox’s early dominance. ‘I’m looking more forward to the next wave of companies. There are teams of entrepreneurs with tier-A VCs, with lawyers, with regulators, sitting in rooms around the world, thinking how do we launch the next generation of digital currency companies. I think that’s where the opportunity is. We’re still very very early in this journey,’ Khan added.”

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/28/the-future-of-bitcoin-will-depend-on-upcoming-startups-regulatory-issues-and-china/

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New UK Bitcoin exchange to bar US clients

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“Coinfloor, which is being pitched by its founders as a forum for high-frequency trading in Bitcoin, will open initially only to customers in the UK and the rest of Europe.  At the same time, the Bitcoin Foundation, which acts as a US trade group for virtual currency businesses and advocates for Bitcoin, is planning to set up a non-US headquarters, to reflect the possibility that the centre of gravity for innovation will shift abroad. Mark Lamb, founder of Coinfloor, said his company had ambitions to move into the US eventually, but ‘legally it is not safe to open up to US customers in the beginning’.”

http://www.euro2day.gr/ftcom_en/article-ft-en/1149488/new-uk-bitcoin-exchange-to-bar-us-clients.html

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This Major Crowdfunding Site Now Accepts Bitcoin Pledges

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“Two hot investment trends have collided: You can now crowdfund your project with Bitcoin.  Australian crowdfunding platform Pozible has begun accepting pledges in Bitcoin, an online-only currency, according to a statement released today. Pozible says the move is a result of both the rapid increase in popularity of the digital currency and the low cost associated with the transaction. The crowdfunding platform says it has received multiple requests from users looking to accept Bitcoin payments. And the low transaction costs of Bitcoin payments make them particularly advantageous for international transactions, which can otherwise be expensive.”

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229638

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