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Hacking into payment systems
Tim Yunusov is hacker with a special interest in banking and payment systems. He’s also written a series of articles on hacking for New Money Review.He’s been hired by financial institutions to see if he could breach their online banking systems and mobile apps, their card payment systems or their automated teller machines (ATMs).In many cases he could. In 2019, for example, he showed how to get around the limit on contactless card payments (£30 at the time in the UK) by altering the information exchanged by the contactless device and the card reader.In a more recent case, Tim went around UK petrol stations using cryptocurrency-based payment cards and found he could refuel for free.Tim has also written articles on faking digital identity, how to steal money from buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) schemes and whether someone in possession of your mobile phone can drain your bank account (spoiler: the answer is yes).His article on BNPL fraud didn’t go down well with one of the main lenders, who complained to me by email that it was “a step-by-step guide that will encourage criminals further in their activity of stealing money from consumers”.I responded that Tim was showing BNPL’s security flaws in the public’s interest.But there’s clearly a fine line between ethical hacking and breaching systems with malicious intent. So I asked Tim onto the New Money Review podcast to talk more about his work. In the podcast, we discuss:Why cybercriminals love cards and paymentsWhy every new technology comes with its own security risksWhy the US and Latin America are honeypots for payments fraudstersWhy ransomware led to a boom in cybercrimeWhy fintechs and crypto firms are more prone to fraud than banksWhy combining crypto and payment card technology created security risksThe global divergence in payments systemsFake IDs and the future of hackingHow to stay safe when making digital payments
AI’s shady links to cryptocurrency
In this episode I’m joined by Kyle Gibson, a senior staff researcher and writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Open Learning initiative.I’ve been following Kyle on Twitter for years, where he has been a consistently funny and well-informed critic of the crazy world of cryptocurrency.Today he joins the podcast to talk about another tech utopia that’s in the headlines: artificial intelligence or ‘AI’.Are the claims made for AI overblown? How are AI models developed? What human inputs are required? Who funds AI? What’s the link between AI and cryptocurrency? Can cryptocurrency fix AI? And what’s AI got to do with geopolitics?Listen in for the next thirty minutes to hear more.
2023—year of bank runs
2023 has been a year of bank runs, most notably in the US. What’s going on? And how should we invest in response?In the latest New Money Review podcast, I talk money, credit, banking and markets with Alex Gloy, founder and chief executive of Lighthouse Investment Management.Listen in to hear us discuss:What is money?The role of credit in the monetary systemInterest and the sustainability of debtWhy a bitcoin-based monetary system can’t workDigital bank runs and the stability of banksShould governments underwrite all bank deposits?Why markets believe interest rates have peakedHow Facebook jump-started central bank digital currencies (CBDC)Why central banks are walking a tightrope with CBDCWhy investors should prefer real assets to bonds
Regulate crypto or let it burn?
Former banker Sean Tuffy tracks the impact of global financial regulation on the investment business. In recent years he’s been paying a lot of attention to cryptocurrencies, digital assets and tokenisation. In the latest New Money Review podcast we cover:How the FTX collapse will impact financial regulationWhy the US is playing catch-up over crypto rulesComparing the Bankman-Fried and Madoff fraudsWhy crypto bankruptcies are so complexShould we regulate crypto or let it burn?Why the EU is a test case for crypto regulationStablecoins, money market funds and regulatory arbitrageCrypto FOMO and the regulatory perimeter
Time to derail digital payments
Since the coronavirus pandemic, many of us have switched from paying by cash to paying almost exclusively by card or digital wallet.My guest on the latest New Money Review podcast is someone who argues that, contrary to the mainstream narrative, the boom in digital payments hasn’t benefited either businesses or consumers.Management consultant Bob Lyddon says that UK payments have become the domain of a technocratic elite, which is working in tandem with big tech firms and the major payment card brands.According to Lyddon , digital payments have enabled a new kind of fraud, taken an increasing cut of businesses’ revenue and made the use of cash increasingly difficult. If the UK goes down the road of introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC)—as most people expect—consumers could suffer further, says Lyddon, while the Bank of England and tech company insiders will become even more powerful.It’s time to derail the digital payments boom, says Lyddon. Consumers can fight back by paying in cash and dealing only with local businesses.Listen to the podcast to hear more on:How the UK payments industry got round regulations capping intermediaries’ feesWhy digital payments cost businesses up to 7% of the face value of salesHow faster payments have enabled authorised push payments fraud (APPF)Why consumer protections in digital payments are inadequateHow Open Banking failed to achieve its main objective—account switchingWhat explains Rishi Sunak’s enthusiasm for fintech and cryptoassetsWhy the “Britcoin” (UK CBDC) project is shot through with vested interestsThe bypassing of democratic process in the digitisation of moneyThe flaws in the e-money “safeguarding” regime for client funds
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