Roundup: for the week ending 1 January 2023

A roundup of the latest ICT/technology news from across the Caribbean region for the period Monday 26 December 2022 to Sunday 1 January 2023.

Monday, 26 December 2021

Lynk plans new features for 2023

Jamaica – As the digital payments market continues to heat up locally, digital wallet Lynk plans to add more features as it positions to engage a larger percentage of the unbanked population in the coming year… more

The holiday romance scam

Trinidad and Tobago – The evolution of romance and relationship related con artistry online has been a long one… more

Tuesday, 27 December 2021

Court filing sheds light on FTX fund transfers

Bahamas – FTX’s Chapter 11 lawyers applied for a motion for the enforcement of an automatic stay from creditors in FTX proceedings due to shuffling of funds days prior to the chapter 11 filing, new court filings state… more

Starlink getting thumbs up from early users

Jamaica – More than a thousand persons have so far signed up for Starlink’s satellite-based internet serve, following the green light for its operation in Jamaica in October. The company has no known store presence in Jamaica… more

Wednesday, 28 December 2021

FTX lawyers apply for creditors stay

Three file lawsuit against FTX founder

Bahamas – THREE people have filed a local lawsuit against disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his associated companies… more

Caribbean ICT watch: Puerto Rico, Dominican Rep, St Kitts and Nevis

Caribbean – The US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) allocated US$5.78mn to Puerto Rico’s plan for the development of high-speed internet services… more

Everyone is using Google Photos wrong — Pt1

Caribbean – EVERY year, more than a billion people use the Google Photos app to upload and store billions of pictures and videos. For many, the process is likely identical: You snap some photos with your phone and they’re automatically uploaded to Google’s cloud service… more

‘We’re an e-commerce and logistics business’

Jamaica – IMAGINE trying to find a solution that could meet the needs of people who either don’t cook or rarely do so due to work constraints. In creating such a solution, or even building it, one would need to help people order food from a variety of restaurants in their locale after scanning the respective menus, and provide a means for the restaurants to deliver the food… more

TSTT Christmas poem

Trinidad and Tobago – Strung from poles with lack of care… more

Thursday, 29 December 2021

Cable Bahamas accuses broadcasting corporation of breaching terms

Bahamas – CABLE Bahamas Ltd has accused the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas of breaching the terms of its broadcasting conditions for the Boxing Day Junkanoo Parade… more

Central Bank releases digital asset use guidelines for SFIs

Bahamas – The Central Bank of The Bahamas (CBOB) released its Draft Digital Assets Guidelines yesterday for a 60-day consultation period. The paper provides the CBOB’s supervised financial institutions (SFIs) with a look at what is expected if financial institutions engage with digital asset and digital asset providers… more

Central Bank wants stricter due diligence to stop another FTX

Bahamas – The Central Bank of The Bahamas has called for stricter due diligence on the transfer of funds in the wake of the FTX collapse… more

Educators complete Blockchain Essentials course

Bahamas – More than nine teachers recently completed the Blockchain Essentials ‘Teach-the-Teacher’ course hosted by the Bahamas Blockchain Business School (BBS), a local nonprofit dedicated to providing educational experiences about emerging technologies, including blockchain, Web 3.0, artificial intelligence, and other 21st-century human skills… more

FTX debtors want donations returned

Bahamas – The US arm of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, wants everyone who received contributions from FTX to either voluntarily return the money or face legal action… more

FTX email response

Bahamas – EDITOR, The Tribune. This letter to the Editor refers to the Editorial published in The Tribune of an email from Sam Berkman-Friedman, CEO of FTX, asking Attorney General Ryan Pinder of the Bahamas permission to liquidate assets held by Bahamians or residents of the Bahamas. He further tells Attorney General Ryan Pinder that if he does not get a response he is going to do it anyway and the amount mentioned is $100,000,000… more

SBF will be arraigned next week

Bahamas – Sam Bankman-Fried, the former white knight of crypto who was indicted on fraud charges in the US, will be arraigned in a New York court next Tuesday, according to court documents… more

Ministries of E-Governance and Home Affairs Team Up to Promote Cyber Crime Security among Children

Belize – The Internet – it’s a medium that we take for granted to stay in contact with one another from across the oceans or just across the street at the convenience of having a cell phone or an I-pad. But that same medium can be used to tarnish one’s reputation… more

10 types of content business owners should create

Caribbean – As we inch closer to 2023, most business owners are in the process of coming up with new plans and strategies for how they want their business to show up to the public in the new year… more

Friday, 30 December 2021

Call to digitise NIB and raise age of retirement

Bahamas – THE National Insurance Board (NIB) must be digitised and the age of retirement raised to save the fund from collapse, a top insurance executive has warned… more

Charity alarm at bid to take back FTX donations

Bahamas – LOCAL charities are shocked to learn that the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has announced they are seeking the return of donations made by its former management… more

FTX’S $3.5BN HELD ‘FOR SAFEKEEPING’: Value of assets controlled by Securities Commission is confirmed in statement

Bahamas – MORE than $3.5bn worth of digital assets from FTX Digital Markets have been transferred to digital wallets that are now under the control of the Securities Commission of The Bahamas “for safekeeping”, it was revealed last night… more

SCB has $3.5 bil. of FTX’s assets

Bahamas – The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) is holding $3.5 billion worth of digital assets it recovered from FTX Digital Markets (FTXDM) with the help of FTX founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang in the days after FTX’s collapse in early November, SCB Executive Director Christina Rolle said in a court document… more

Govt hires US law firm to do PR over FTX

Bahamas – The Davis administration has hired a US law firm to help it with public relations and communications regarding the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX… more

SCB seeks court direction regarding disclosure of information

Bahamas – On December 29, 2022, the Securities Commission of The Bahamas announced that it applied for directions from the Supreme Court in light of the dispute between the court-appointed joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) of FTX Digital Markets Ltd (FTXDM) and the US debtors over the JPLs’ rights of access to the records of FTXDM… more

Ten percent cost cut for digital payments planned

Bahamas – A digital payments provider is targeting 10 percent reduction in merchant service cost for the 1,5000 merchants signed up with the Lotus Rewards programme within the first year… more

The 2022 Samsung Galaxy of Christmas Gifts Raffle

Belize – If you purchased a Samsung device, at any value, with a one-year warranty at any of the authorized stores, your name was entered into the Galaxy of Christmas Gifts Raffle by Samsung. Today, five lucky winners were chosen from hundreds of tickets and they walked away with a Samsung S22 Ultra phone or a Galaxy E-Fold Force… more

CIMA cancels crypto fraudster’s director registration, fund licences

Cayman Islands – The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority has cancelled the fund licences and director registration of Australian fraudster Stefan Qin, who stole more than US$50 million from investors in his Cayman-based Virgil Sigma and VQR Multistrategy funds… more

CARDTP pushes digital transformation in Eastern Caribbean

Jamaica – Almost two years into its implementation, the Caribbean Digital Transformation Project (CARDTP) continues to build on the objective of enhancing the use of technology, building a robust and resilient information technology infrastructure and developing modern platforms for business transactions across the Eastern Caribbean… more

Gov’t partners with Lynk to disburse payments

Jamaica – The government has partnered with digital wallet provider Lynk to facilitate payments… more

Saturday, 31 December 2022

– Nil –

Sunday, 1 January 2023

Keiva Reyes finds comfort in e-mail communication

Trinidad and Tobago – Effective communication is one of Keiva Reyes’ strengths. So when she decided to combine that skill with her love for marketing, she found herself in a place that allowed her flexibility, comfort and self sufficiency… more

Images credit: cottonbro studio: (Pexels); Wikimedia Commons; Central Bank of The Bahamas (Twitter); Wikipedia