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The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has announced that it is exploring the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), often referred to as “digital cash.” This move comes as the RBNZ aims to address the challenges posed by innovations in money and payments to New Zealand’s monetary sovereignty.
According to Ian Woolford, the RBNZ’s director of money and cash, the digital cash would coexist with physical cash options and would not require a commercial bank account for usage. Instead, users would only need a digital wallet, payment card, or mobile app. Woolford claimed that the digital cash would enhance privacy, security, and trust for users, and noted that the central bank “will not control or see how you spend your money.” Woolford also explained that it would work offline:
It would also work via Bluetooth, so you could make payments without connecting to internet. This would be useful in an emergency, or when the power is out.
The RBNZ has launched a consultation period, which will last until July 26, 2024, to gather public input on the high-level design of the digital cash. This marks the initial phase of a multi-stage exploration process that is expected to extend until approximately 2030, with ongoing opportunities for public engagement.
The decision to explore a CBDC follows comments made by Adrian Orr, the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, who has been critical of stablecoins. Orr has described stablecoins as “the biggest misnomers” and “oxymorons,” expressing skepticism about their ability to replace traditional currency and their inherent instability.
The RBNZ’s exploration of a CBDC aligns with a growing global trend, as central banks around the world are investigating the potential benefits and challenges of issuing their own digital currencies. As the financial landscape continues to evolve, the RBNZ’s move to explore a CBDC underscores its commitment to maintaining New Zealand’s monetary sovereignty and ensuring the resilience of its financial system.
What is a CBDC?
A CBDC is a digital form of a traditional currency, issued and backed by the central bank. Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are decentralized and not controlled by any central authority, a CBDC is a centralized digital currency that is fully integrated with the traditional financial system.
The key features of a CBDC include its digital form, issuance and control by the central bank, legal tender status, centralized control, and potential to improve financial inclusion. The primary goals of a CBDC are to modernize the financial system, enhance payment efficiency, improve financial inclusion, and maintain the central bank’s control over monetary policy in the face of challenges posed by new digital payment technologies.
The introduction of a CBDC is being considered or actively worked on by countries including the United Kingdom, China and the European Union.
The post RBNZ Explores Introduction of Central Bank Digital Currency appeared first on ReadWrite.
Gameloft may reverse course on Disney Speedstorm following major backlash regarding changes to the game’s monetization strategy.
Previously, players could earn the game’s “Golden Pass” — also known as its Season Pass — by accumulating Tokens, an in-game currency that can be freely earned. However, with the launch of the next season, the Golden Pass will only be available by purchasing it for $9.99.
"Starting in Season 7, significant structural changes will be coming to both Golden Passes and the Season Tour," Gameloft announced in an April 9 blog post about Speedstorm. "Our goals with the changes are: make our Golden Passes more engaging and faster to complete for players, allow players to focus more on which Racers they wish to unlock via Golden Passes, [and] give more rewards to players that can be used on any Racer in the game."
Gameloft then confirmed the following changes as part of the update: "Golden Passes will no longer be purchasable with Tokens, only as a direct purchase." It was also announced that for the first time Season 7 of Speedstorm would be divided into two parts, with each segment lasting a month and featuring its own Golden Pass. Each part will have a premium Golden Pass Bundle for $19.99.
This decision has led to frustration among Disney Speedstorm players, especially those who purchased an early access Founder’s Pack. This pack included a substantial number of Tokens, which were promised to hold value for the future of the game. One user said: "That is possibly the WORSE change you could make! We’ve been saving up tokens BECAUSE of the pass!" Another added: "Are you making an actual effort to try and lose players?"
The Golden Pass will no longer be purchasable with tokens?! That is possibly the WORSE change you could make! We've been saving up tokens BECAUSE of the pass!
— Durand Lewis (@Durand70660996) April 9, 2024
So you can't buy golden passes with tokens, only money, and there are now 2 per season? Are you making an actual effort to try and lose players?
— Tom Payne (@tompain100) April 9, 2024
Gameloft's response
Gameloft subsequently shared a statement on the official X account of the game, recognizing the response to its strategies and indicating potential adjustments ahead. "We would like to thank all of our fans for providing feedback over the past week", the message reads. "We appreciate having such a passionate community. We will provide an update soon and appreciate your patience."
A message from the #DisneySpeedstorm team pic.twitter.com/HltBMMYzBN
— Disney Speedstorm (@SpeedstormGame) April 16, 2024
Given that Season 7 is due to start on Thursday, there's likely more to come on this development. However, it is unclear whether the season will be delayed or if the changes will take place at a later date.
Featured image: Gameloft
The post Disney Speedstorm’s Golden Pass controversy moves Gameloft to consider changes appeared first on ReadWrite.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), a prominent Bitcoin investment product, has seen a significant decline in its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings. This is despite the outflows recently slowing down.
According to the data shared by K33Research senior analist Vetle Lunde, the GBTC’s spot Bitcoin ETF holdings have dropped by 50%, from 619,220 BTC on the first day of trading on January 11 to 309,871 BTC on April 16.
GBTC has officially halved ahead of the halving.
Grayscale has seen net outflows of 310,611 BTC in the 66 trading days since its conversion. That's a 50.16% reduction in Bitcoins Under Management since January 10. pic.twitter.com/zghV2fiasf
— Vetle Lunde (@VetleLunde) April 17, 2024
The substantial reduction in GBTC’s Bitcoin holdings occurred just two days before the highly anticipated Bitcoin halving event, which is scheduled to take place on April 18. The halving event will reduce the Bitcoin mining reward by 50%, from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
A curious coincidence
The GBTC’s drop in Bitcoin holdings is not directly correlated with the upcoming halving event, but the timing of the two events is noteworthy. Historically, Bitcoin halvings have been followed by market rallies, though the relationship is not guaranteed.
The outflows from GBTC have been largely attributed to the fund’s high trading fees, which were the highest among the 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States at the time of launch, at 1.5%. In contrast, many other Bitcoin ETFs have lowered their fees to remain competitive, with trading commissions ranging from 0.2% to 0.4%.
GBTC’s biggest rival, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), offered a lower fee of 0.25% at the trading start, not including a 0.12% discount for the first $5 billion of traded assets during the waiver period. As a result, IBIT has attracted significant inflows, with its Bitcoin holdings surging more than 10,000% from just 2,621 BTC on the trading debut to 272,548 BTC on April 16.
While IBIT’s growth has been impressive, it has not been able to fully absorb the outflows from GBTC, which have totaled 309,349 BTC. However, the overall spot Bitcoin ETF market has seen a collective accumulation of around 224,552 BTC, excluding GBTC, since the trading launch.
As of April 16, 2024, the 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively held around 862,162 BTC, worth $54.7 billion.
The post GBTC Bitcoin ETF holdings drop before halving appeared first on ReadWrite.
By now we all know that there is literally too much to make in Infinite Craft than we will ever have time to see. In our continuing series, we like to group similar items together as often some of the initial crafting blocks are the same. Seeing as we all love Readwrite Gaming so much, today feels like a good day to craft the current generation of consoles.
Next week we might find out how to make Industry layoffs in Infinite Craft to complete the set.
How to craft Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch
Xbox
Okay, let's start with making ourselves an Xbox, we can perhaps later make some exclusive games for it, then after a while make them for the other consoles (ooh, salty video gaming satire there, you can't teach this stuff.)
To get an Xbox we need a Microsoft and also a Game. Let's get cracking.
- Earth + Earth = Mountain
- Mountain + Wind = Avalanche
- Avalanche + Avalanche = Snow
- Snow + Wind = Blizzard
- Earth + Wind = Dust
- Dust + Earth = Planet
- Planet + Fire = Sun
- Sun + Fire = Solar
- Solar + Planet = System
- Blizzard + System = Windows
- System + System = Universe
- Windows + Universe = Microsoft
- System + Fire = Computer
- Computer + System = Software
- Software + Earth =Game
- Microsoft + Game = Xbox
PlayStation
Some of the parts such as System you will already have if you have just followed the above. Let's make ourselves a PlayStation next.
- Fire + Water = Steam
- Steam + Fire = Engine
- Earth + Fire = Lava
- Lava + Water = Stone
- Engine + Stone = Steamroller
- Steamroller + Earth = Flat Earth
- Flat Earth + Wind = Frisbee
- Frisbee + Earth = Disc
- Disc + System = PlayStation
Nintendo Switch
And now to complete the trilogy let's put the Switch together. Joycon drift optional. Once again we need the System from the Xbox creation above. In this section, we also get to make Super Mario and the WiiU
- Fire + Wind = Smoke
- Smoke + Water = Fog
- Earth + Water = Plant
- Fog + Plant = Mushroom
- Water + Wind = Wave
- Wave + Wave = Tsunami
- Tsunami + Mushroom = Mario
- Mario + Mushroom = Super Mario
- Super Mario + Wind = Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros + Dust = Nintendo
- Nintendo + System = Switch
- Nintendo + Frisbee = Wii
- Wii + Switch = Wii U
- Wii U + Switch = Nintendo Switch
Featured Image: AI-Generated in Ideogram
You may like these other Infinite Craft guides
- How to make Billie Eilish in Infinite Craft
- How to make Taylor Swift in Infinite Craft
- How to make Harry Potter and Hogwarts in Infinite Craft
- How to make Pokemon and Peter Griffin in Infinite Craft
- How to make Donald Trump in Infinite Craft
- How to make cool monsters in Infinite Craft
- How to make disasters in Infinite Craft
- How to make Superheroes (Batman, Wonder-Woman and Superman) in Infinite Craft
- How to make Spongebob Squarepants in Infinite Craft
- How to make religion, Islam and Christianity in Infinite Craft
- How to make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Infinite Craft
- How to make a Nuclear Bomb in Infinite Craft
- How to make AI in Infinite Craft
- How to make Infinite Craft in Infinite Craft
- How to cheat at Infinite Craft
- How to make the Internet in Infinite Craft
- How to make Apollo 13, Saturn V, and NASA in Infinite Craft
- How to make Rambo in Infinite Craft
- How to make Britney Spears in Infinite Craft
- How to get The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything in Infinite Craft
- How to make Death in Infinite Craft
- How to make Japan in Infinite Craft
The post How to make a PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox in Infinite Craft appeared first on ReadWrite.
The Meta Quest 3 has really upped the game when it comes to standalone VR. We finally have a headset that not only can play games on the move completely untethered but if you use its clever Air Link function either with a USB cable or even on fast wifi to play PCVR games or use the Unreal Engine VR hack to play countless Unreal Engine games in VR that were never, ever intended for medium.
Today however, as much as we like using our Quest 3 to watch 3D movies and the like, we are going to be looking at some of the cool games that will be heading to Quest 3 in Standalone form over the rest of the year.
We will of course keep this updated as time passes so be sure to check back regularly, but right now, let's take a look at what we are looking forward to in the coming weeks and months.
New Quest 3 games
New games are getting announced for the Quest 3 all the time, mainly because it is growing in popularity. We already saw it outsell the PSVR2 last year by 30 headsets to one at one stage. We took a deeper dive into the headset in general in our recent Is the Meta Quest 3 worth it article. Spoiler alert, it was a resounding yes but it all means nothing if the supply of quality games dries up. Fortunately, there is no sign of that on the horizon for the newly released hardware so here are some titles you need to be wishlisting.
Arcade Paradise VR
We can tell from how many of you were interested in our news piece announcing Arcade Paradise VR that this is going to be popular when it releases shortly. The original Arcade Paradise was a great success too but the prospect of re-living that retro feel in virtual reality is surely going to take this to the next level.
A lot of new content is being added specifically to the VR version so even if you hammered the life out of the original release, there will still be plenty of new stuff here for you. And it's in VR.
Ultimate Swing Golf
Only announced this week the fun golf game geniuses of the past 30-plus years, stretching way back to the original Playstation, Clap Hanz are bringing their unique take on clubbing to the Quest 3 and already it is going to be amazing. If you have never been lucky enough to play an Everybody's Golf or even Easy Come Easy Golf on Apple Arcade you should make it your mission to do so before this 1-4 player VR version hits the Quest Store.
Contractors Showdown
Contractors was a huge Quest success for those who wanted to bring their FPS Call of Duty fetish into VR and now the follow-up, Contractors Showdown, is slated for a release this spring and you can get a decent pre-order price if you jump in early.
It's being tagged as the biggest Battle Royale in VR to date and it is going to be an instant hit, there is no doubt about that.
VR shooters are serious business though and certainly not for anybody who might suffer the effects of motion sickness, but if you get into this you will be 3D printing gun stocks for your Meta Quest 3 controllers before you know it.
Taskmaster VR
Taskmaster is my favorite funny show on TV and I am both thrilled and scared to see it approaching a release on the Quest 3. The show is out and out hilarious and the premise of making five comedians do stupid tasks the best over a ten-week season just works.
So, the chance to have a go at those tasks myself is pretty exciting, especially as it has motion-captured the hosts, comedians Greg Davies and Alex Horne as well. But it is going to live and die on the quality, and possibly even the number of tasks we get.
Taskmaster VR is definitely going to be a fun party game at first, I just hope it can keep it up.
Homeworld Vast Reaches
The mainline release of Homeworld 3 may have been put back at the last minute, and it may also be about 20 years since we got the last Homeworld release but now we are soon going to be able to play a version of the game on a technology that didn't even exist when the previous game was released.
Vast Reaches will have us commanding our fleet of starships in real time all around us in virtual space and it really might be very cool to be commanding the battles from right in the middle of the action. Hopefully, it won't get the same kind of delay Homeworld 3 has suffered from.
There are lots more games worth keeping an eye out for so make sure you bookmark this page and we can keep you fully up to date.
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