The world of business is highly dynamic and in a state of flux, especially in the digital age, with digital currencies playing a major role. However, ‘trust and transparency’ still remain the basic pillars of any business organization, large or small, and some enterprises attach great importance to these principles. Ripple is one such organization that values these foundational principles from the sharing of XRP market reports to seeking regulatory clarity across the industry. The company has recently come in the news owing to the lawsuit it has filed against video giant YouTube for alleged scams. The need to maintain the security of customers and sensitive data from perilous online scams and false impersonifications across social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have prompted strict action. 

Ripple believes that taking prompt legal action would set an exemplary standard for industry-wide regulations, behavioral changes, and improved expectations of accountability. This would also send across a warning against such scamsters spread across various platforms as ‘giveaway scams‘ is on the rise.

Giveaway scam is an industry term that relates to attempts to defraud money from unassuming consumers via social media impersonation, by convincing people that if they send money, they will receive more funds in return—typically through airdrop.

A typical characteristic of these scams is the impersonification of individuals or companies through the creation of fake profiles on social media platforms. It is already being anticipated that the world economy has been entering into a deep crisis, where people are worried about losing their livelihoods along with a dire need to protect their health. Such scams add to the anxiety and inconvenience of users and Ripple is making sincere efforts to create awareness by coming up with a guide to identify and spot such giveaway scams and ensure user safety.

The lawsuit has demanded that YouTube has to take a more aggressive stand to spot such scams before they are posted on any public platform. The crisis owing to COVID-19 has given rise to new kinds of scams and the Federal Trade Commission has recently brought out the very many COVID-19 scams in a report. A loss amounting to almost $13 million has been pointed out by consumers due to frauds related to COVID-19 and the number is growing every day. Lack of information is far less harmful than misinformation, which can have serious adverse effects or short term positive effects, whose bubble would soon burst. The Blockchain and Crypto industry are particularly susceptible to misleading information as information plays a decisive role in an innovation-based sector. Such giveaways not only affect a single organization but creates obstacles for the industry as a whole. Thus Ripple has decided to take strong steps to prevent such impediments in the future, and the lawsuit is a necessary step in that direction. 

The company has hired external cybersecurity and digital intelligence vendor to deal with scams specific to Ripple through reporting and taking down. Besides, XRP has come up with its own submission form to help the members of the community to report any unusual activity. However, in the lawsuit against the video platform, Ripple and Garlinghouse have blamed the former for denigrating the company’s image and reputation. They demanded a specific amount of financial compensation and that YouTube should be prohibited from making further profits from the scams and immediately take them down. In such scams the fraudsters ask for small amounts from their targets in return of enormous returns, and later escape with the amount made. To do so, they use the image of important business leaders like Bill Gates and offer “giveaways,” and buy keywords like Ripple and Brad Garlinghouse so that people searching for these can be made easy targets.

Although many search results with such terms have yielded correct information, there are a number of videos that have used Garlinghouse’s image to entrap victims.

In this case, the complaint cites numerous instances where hackers took over the channels of legitimate creators and replaced their videos with ones advertising Ripple-related scams. The scammy Ripple videos often show media interviews with Garlinghouse lifted from reputable sources and overlaid with invitations to participate in “giveaways” of the cryptocurrency XRP.

The complaint also accuses YouTube of allowing such videos to spread and gaining profits from their promotions instead of restricting them. YouTube has responded by saying,

We take abuse of our platform seriously, and take action quickly when we detect violations of our policies, such as scams or impersonation.

The crypto community has come in support of Ripple in increasing numbers, including young entrepreneurs like Nischal Shetty, founder of WazirXIndia, and Crowdfire. Many have condemned social media platforms for accommodating such scams even if they compromise with user safety, as it increases “engagement on their platform.”  Financial Analyst and YouTuber Tone Vays has also tweeted about the scam and asked YouTube to take down all such “scammy” videos. The crypto community is hopeful that this step would serve as a good example, increasing caution among users and social media platforms who are expected to be careful with their content and its purpose.

The mega-companies like PwC and EY are facing bad times. The companies have to deal with troubles with their London Capital and Finance office. They are right now face-to-face with the Financial Reporting Council or FRC interrogation. The reputation of these two audit firms is at stake. The London mini-bond specialist-auditing firm crumbled last year due to its high-risk products. FRC has put on this order on the London audit firm of both EY and PwC. PwC audit firm’s auditing reports from 30 April 2016 to 30 April 2017 is under scanning.

The investigation is on the way

According to the FRC update and today finance news, these two firms will go through the investigation. The enforcement division will make sure to follow all the ethical procedures to find out the truth and facts. Pieces of evidence claim that the London Capital & Finance is a mini-bond investment firm. They unethically sold mini-bonds of high risks. According to the administration, the firm had eleven thousand and six hundred savers who lost around two hundred and thirty-seven million pounds in January 2019.

FCA’s curiosity

The collapse was the reason behind attracting too many eyes within a short period. The FCA or Financial Conduct Authority noticed such a crash and became curious enough to investigate. This was back in December 2018. The firm, at that time, decided to retreat all the materials and products related to the promotions of the mini-bonds. This happened, especially after people started commenting regarding the marketing being absolutely misleading, unclear, and very unfair.

Answer to Treasury Committee

There were many queries put forward by the Treasury select committee. According to the committee, there are doubtful points of FCA’s dealing with the collapse. They charged the FCA of regulating the promotional materials. Although the committee was not able to charge FCA of regulating the mini-bonds, the question remains.

EY in Trouble

EY, on the other hand, is facing charges on collaborating with Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook is a travel operator on an international basis, which collapsed in 2019. EY was also involved with NMC and the hospital crashed last year too. NMC had a hidden debt of 2.7 billion dollars. There has been a connection of EY with Wirecard, a German company with a massive scandal on the financial term.

As of now, both EY and PwC are under scrutinization and both of them are answerable to the FRC.

Amid the ongoing trade war prevailing between the US and China, Taiwanese Apple partner Pegatron has decided to set up its production base in Vietnam, claimed recent reports. The world’s two largest economies are locked in a severe trade war and it has already begun showing an impact on electronic companies.

With this move, Pegatron will emerge as the latest Apple assembly partner to make its presence felt in Vietnam as many companies are striving to diversify beyond China, according to highly placed sources. Due to the current tussle between the two countries, companies are exploring alternatives to China so that they can evade US tariffs.

According to the latest developments, the Taipei listed Pegatron has also rented a base in the Haiphong’s northern city where it is expected to make styluses for Samsung Electronic’s smartphones, claimed people familiar with the matter.

Apart from Pegatron, two separate leading iPhone assemblers, known as Wistron and Hon Hai Precision Industry, have also chalked out plans to develop manufacturing facilities or establishing additional capacity in Vietnam. As of now, all three companies are not making iPhones in Vietnam and there are no forthcoming plans as well, as per finance news today.

It is interesting to note that GoerTek has begun to make AirPods in Vietnam. Meanwhile, two more assembly partners of Apple, known as Compal Electronics and Luxshare Precision Industry, have already made their presence felt in the country.

According to reports, the nearly two-year-long battle in trade between the US and China put a huge dent on the image of China. However, a few days back, Beijing and Washington inked a phase one trade pact but a broadening of the supply chain is important in the long run as labor costs have begun to surge in China.

The Japan-based global payment network operator JCB Co., Ltd. and blockchain technology provider, Keychain, today signed a strategic agreement. The companies announced that they are going to collaborate to leverage the power of blockchain in the payments space.

Keychain has developed its range of services in the blockchain space considerably and some of its services include customization of digital assets as well as settlements. The main product is the solution accelerator and helps its clients to build new applications.

JCB, which has grown into a sizeable payments company, will try to bolster its cybersecurity, as well as the integrity of its operations by using services from Keychain. On the other hand, JCB will also leverage Keychain’s expertise with blockchain technology to provide its customers with new ways of making payments. Either of the two companies didn’t mention the financial details of the deal.

Multinational chemical firm BASF will sell its subsidiary BASF Construction Chemicals to an affiliate of global private equity fund Lone Star for euro 3.17 billion on a cash and debt-free basis.

The deal will be completed by Q3 of 2020, subject to approval from relevant authorities.

Member of Board of Executive Directors BASF SE Saori Dubourg said,

Under the umbrella of Lone Star, the Construction Chemicals team can focus on a growth path with an industry-specific approach.

The BASF Construction Chemicals business operates production sites and sales offices in 60 countries and employs over 7000 people. It generated sales of euro 2.5bn in 2018.

Lone Star President of Europe Donald Quintin said that the BASF Construction Chemical business fit into their overall strategy and would complement their other investments in the construction materials sector.

Praising the quality manpower at BASF, Quintin said,

We highly value the industry-wide recognized knowledge and competence of BASF’s Construction Chemicals experts, backed by a strong track record in innovative products and a compelling R&D pipeline. We look forward to jointly pursuing a growth-oriented business approach.

In India, the BASF Construction Chemicals business is merged with the surface technologies sector. It generated sales of INR 484 crore in 2018–2019.

The sanctions in the United States have made Chinese telecom giant Huawei look at South Korea for its rising demand for telecom and smartphone equipment. The company has also vowed to raise its investments in South Korea, according to the head of global media and communications at the company Karl Song Kai.

Huawei is the world’s second-biggest smartphone manufacturer and number 1 when it comes to telecom equipment. However, US sanctions have disrupted its operations considerably. The company announced that it is going to bump up its purchases from South Korea to $11.1 billion this year from $10.6 billion in 2018.

Karl Song Kai stated,

As (the) U.S. (is) getting close-minded, I believe this is an opportunity for other countries such as South Korea. In 2020, we’ll buy more Korean-made products and invest more in South Korea.

While Huawei has been banned from the United States, additional sanctions barred American companies from selling chips and other materials.

Hence, Huawei has found it increasingly more logical to source those products from South Korea. Other than South Korea, vendors from many other nations have also been roped in by the company. The head of the company’s operations in South Korea, Shawn Meng, stated that the country is one of the most important markets for Huawei.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Pentagon, has taken note of the advances made by Russia and China in hypersonic missiles technology. Accordingly, it is developing a space sensor system to intercept hypersonic missiles in the air.

The US aims to develop space sensor technology for tracking incoming hypersonic missiles. This technology is called Hypersonic Ballistic Missile Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS).

The US Missile Agency is currently testing Phase IIa of HBTSS.

According to Missile Defence Agency spokeswoman Maria Njoku, the HBTSS will be integrated with the National Space Defence Architecture, which deploys different systems in different orbits to detect and track conventional ballistic missiles as well as other threats like ICBMs.

Explaining how HBTSS will work, Njoku said,

HBTSS will be a network of sensors on a constellation of satellites in orbit around the Earth with the ability to observe global threats without the line of site limitations of ground-based radars.

The Missile Defence Agency has also awarded Phase II development projects for HBTSS to L3Harris, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and Leidos.

The main difference in intercepting ballistic missiles and ICBMs compared to hypersonic missiles is the response time. ICBMs allow a response time of 20 minutes, which allows firing of 1 or 2 interceptors.

Hypersonic missiles travel at five times the speed of sound and can be maneuvered in flight to travel close to the earth to escape radar detection. Added to this is the fact that they can be fired from mobile launchers or warships.

Hypersonic missiles are of two types, the Hypersonic Glide Missiles (HGV) and the Hypersonic Cruise Missiles (HCM). HGVs are carried by rockets and released 40-50 km above the earth. HCMs have engines mounted on them and are released 20-30 km above the ground.

The radars deployed today do not have the range to detect incoming hypersonic missiles in time to launch interceptors to destroy them. The radar systems require airborne sensor node to extend their range. By the time you detect an incoming missile, it is already too late. Detection is required at the launch itself.

HBTSS is being designed to detect and continuously track hypersonic threats with a single sensor payload. It will give time to military commanders on the ground to take countermeasures to destroy the missiles in the air.

Amazon has termed the claims made by consulting firm ShipMatrix “inaccurate.” ShipMatrix claims that Amazon’s on-time delivery rates had fallen to 93.7% in the week ending December 7 compared to 98.2% during the previous week, which also included Thanksgiving.

Amazon spokeswoman Rena Lunak admitted that some deliveries were delayed due to bad weather but asserted that the company had regained control of the situation.

The on-time delivery rate for Amazon van drivers is important because they account for the major chunk of deliveries of Amazon products.

Amazon charges its Prime users $119 per year with free delivery within 1 or 2 days. It said in April that it would spend $800M to cut delivery times from 2 days to 1 for them. Its network of van drivers is expected to deliver 275M packages this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is double that in 2018. Analysts have warned that Amazon’s delivery times leave very little room for error and failure to meet the deadlines.

ShipMatrix President Satish Jindel has pointed out that other carriers like UPS, FedEx transfer Amazon products by air over long distances, but still, their on-time delivery rates are similar to that of Amazon van drivers. Thus, just bad weather cannot be alone held responsible for the drop in on-time delivery rates. Satish said that as Amazon is a retailer, supplier and delivery firm the company might be facing problems in fulfilling the rush of orders in the festive season. In other words, it may be blaming the weather for covering up its failures in fulfilling orders on time.

Amazon began its involvement in the delivery of goods after a massive upswing in orders in 2013 which had caused a breakdown in its supply chain. This resulted in delayed delivery of products and upset the customers. Amazon’s logistics unit has many warehouses, almost 50 planes on lease and 30,000 delivery vans.

Leading comparison platform SingSaver has announced that it has secured a brokerage license from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) here on Thursday. Now, after this move it will be able to offer more than 100 insurance policies from 12 providers at its platform.

SingSaver will now provide instant digital comparisons of insurance products in various categories that may include travel, home, and maid. The new broking team of the company will now be able to offer their advice to consumers on insurance.

SingSaver’s new license as an insurance broker is nothing less than a landmark achievement as it will now spread its wings beyond credit cards and personal loans.

Meanwhile, SingSaver.com.sg has been assisting Singaporeans in discovering the correct credit cards, personal loans, along with various other financial products with convenient comparison tools.  It strives to offer the most updated correct data and personal finance guides.

Earlier this year in August, SingSaver’s parent group CompareAsiaGroup secured US$20 million in Series B1 investment. CompareAsiaGroup has the backing of IFC World Bank, Alibaba, Experian, and Goldman Sachs.

Payoneer, one of the leading cross-border payment services providers headquartered in New York, has acquired Optile, an open platform of payment orchestration based in Germany’s Munich. The move was announced yesterday on December 10, 2019, through a press release. However, the terms of the acquisition have not been revealed.

Payoneer also took to the micro-blogging site Twitter to announce its latest acquisition to update the larger community about the new development.

Payoneer acquires open #payment orchestration platform, optile, and enters the world of merchant services! https://t.co/pNtZed3xWm #optile #payoneer pic.twitter.com/NdhKGdXyQM

— Payoneer (@Payoneer) December 10, 2019

Talking about their recent acquisition, Payoneer’s CEO, Scott Galit, expressed their excitement on welcoming the team of Optile into the Payoneer family. Continuing further, Galit stated that the enterprise-level technology and partner-friendly approach of Optile is a substantial addition to Payoneer’s global platform.

Galit also pointed out the shared belief by both the companies in this rapidly-changing world, where businesses seek an open platform that allows them to associate with providers who could meet their increasing demands.

On the other hand, Optile’s Founder and CEO, Daniel Smeds, also shared how thrilled they were on joining hands with a global platform like Payoneer. In a statement, Smeds said that the move would provide them with the opportunity of leveraging Payoneer’s global team and infrastructure for continually developing the prominent open payment orchestration platform of the world.

Talking about Payoneer, Smeds added that Payoneer shares Optile’s obsession with consumer experience and fulfilling their requirements today while making them ready for tomorrow. He also added that Payoneer is equally dedicated to bringing flexibility, scale, and simplicity to digital businesses of today.

As per the press release, Optile’s team of 75 people will continue operating as a distinct group within Payoneer. They will continue to work towards advancing Optile’s platform of payment orchestration with the merchant autonomy as its central offering.

The reports also noted that Payoneer’s decision to acquire Optile is in line with its own desire to build a foundation that culminates in global growth for marketplaces, SMBs (small and midsize businesses), and business ventures. The company hopes to reduce the plight and balance options in the undefined environment of today’s time.

About Optile

Optile was established in 2010. It streamlines the tedious process of payment acceptance for merchants and sellers all over the world. The sellers can steer their own businesses on Optile’s open network of payment, where they can add payment options, as well as partners, as required.

About Payoneer

Payoneer is a financial services firm making digital payment services and online money transfer a hassle-free process for global consumers. With its services, it empowers businesses across the world to grow at a global level.