FairAscent

Swift, the messaging network that underpins most bank-to-bank transfers worldwide, has announced a project connecting three domestic pay-by-alias systems to its cross-border infrastructure: Bizum in Spain, PayID in Australia, and Pix in Brazil. These systems already let people send money domestically using a mobile number or email address rather than a full bank account number and sort code or routing details. The new initiative extends that convenience to international transfers made through banks that support these services. In practical terms, this means someone sending money from a participating Spanish bank to a recipient in Brazil could, in theory, use the recipient's registered phone number or email instead of tracking down their full IBAN or account details. Swift is positioning this as a way to reduce friction and errors in cross-border payments, since mistyped account numbers are a common cause of delays and failed transfers. It is worth being clear about what this chang...

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget has temporarily paused customer withdrawals after suspected hackers, believed by the exchange to have ties to North Korea, stole more than $380 million in digital assets. The exchange has said it is investigating the breach and working to restore normal operations, but the incident is one of the largest crypto thefts reported this year and adds to a long list of exchange hacks that have cost users billions of dollars over the past decade. Details of exactly how the funds were taken have not been fully disclosed, but large-scale exchange hacks typically involve either a breach of hot wallets (the online wallets exchanges use to process withdrawals quickly) or vulnerabilities in internal systems and permissions. North Korea-linked groups have been blamed for a number of major crypto thefts in recent years, with stolen funds reportedly used to help fund the country's weapons programs, according to United Nations investigators. For everyday users, the pr...