The National Assembly of Ecuador (NAE) has banned Bitcoin and decentralized digital currencies, while establishing guidelines for the creation of a new, state-run currency.

"As such, the law in question allows the government to make payments in e-money, but decentralized digital currencies are banned."

"The currency will operate in tandem with the USD and Ecuador’s official currency, although it is not certain what exchange rate will be established."

"As a result of the adoption of a national digital currency agenda, companies offering digital currency services will have to withdraw from operations or cease entirely, as the bill prohibits the “emission, production, initiation, falsifications, or any other type of [digital currency] simulation, and its circulation through any channel or way of representation” of non-sanctioned digital currencies.

"The amendments laid out the legal framework for those who violate the ban, which establishes the power to confiscate Bitcoins or similar holdings. Those who operate businesses using prohibited digital currencies face the risk of prosecution as well."

More info here.

40% of the US mobile wallet users recently surveyed say they use mobile methods as their primary mode of payment.

"Consumers agreed (69%) that they would convert to mobile payment methods if merchants were to offer discounts specific to purchases made via mobile wallet."

"Men and women are almost equally likely to use a mobile wallet and users span all income levels, the survey also found. Those making less than USD 50,000 a year (32%) and those earning more than USD 100,000 (29%) are the most likely to use a mobile wallet. The majority are aged 18 to 34 (55%), while 35% are aged 35 to 54."

"The most popular mobile payment methods among smartphone payers are bar codes and quick response (QR) codes, which consumers simply display on their device so cashiers can scan them (45%)."

"37% of smartphone payers tap their device on a payment reader using near field communication, while 29% of smartphone payers scan the barcode or QR code using the device’s camera."

More info here.

On a global level, there is a feeling of distrust among consumers in retailers to protect their data.

"Nearly 3 in 10 global consumers to not trust retailers for protecting stored personal and financial data against hacking attempts and data breaches. That is a 29% ratio, while 58% trust financial institutions rather than retailers, government agencies and law enforcement for data security."

"Only 55% of respondents believe stores where they shop use security systems that protect their financial data against hackers and data breaches, as compared to 62% who believe that online shopping websites do provide security for this information."

"4 in 10 global consumers (42%) do not remember receiving any anti-fraud information from their financial institution. Also, theft by a computer hacker is still believed to be the greatest fraud risk, according to 32% of respondents."

"China and India present the highest rates of prepaid card fraud at 17% and 18%, respectively, and very high consumer use rates at 93% and 91%, respectively."

"In countries with use rates of 70% or less, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US, fraud rates are 4% or less, indicating that the fraud rate may rise as more consumers use prepaid cards."

More info here.

Source Econsultancy.com

As you will have seen by now, the Share On interface looks a lot different today than when you first started using it. We have been working away to improve and streamline things and we think that it is looking a lot better and will offer you, the user, a better experience.

Things you will notice most are the additions of Blogs to the top system menu, this will take you through in to the blogging system without the need to go via a the clunky Applications -> Blogs -> Launch , now you simply access blogs via the single link. You can still access Blogs via Applications if you wish. We have also made the Blog Editor a bit prettier and the blog feeds are better formatted and we have introduced filters to allow you to find blogs by date of publication, by Organisation or Group and by Language. Other things that you may not notice but have been improved are the ways in which blog feeds integrate with websites, we now use your OSN rather than Organisation or Group ID.

Next are the new feeds design, we think they look more interesting and are easier to read, the filters for All - Your Organisation and Quite Interesting are now working as intended, we shall be adding Groups to this shortly. The next update will probably include further improvements to the ways in which feeds and posts work, indeed we hope to allow you to post links, images and create events in the not too distant future.

We are continually working away in the background improving, updating and adding new features to Share On. the next major addition to Share On core applications will be the Documents Manager. This will allow you to upload and share files between your organisation, group and the world if you wish. We hope to have this live in the very near future.

We hope you enjoy the new look!

The Share On development Team