The Bank of Canada says no thank you to crypocurrencies, Walmart is working on its own version of Amazon Prime, and the CEO of Reddit has some harsh words for TikTok.
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The Bank of Canada says it will not launch a digital currency for at least several years. The bank says there was “not a compelling case” to do so after extensive research. The bank will, however, continue to prioritize digital currency research, keeping possibilities open for e-money down the road, according to reports that everyone on LinkedIn is now talking about. The bank also says it’s developing a “contingency plan” for a cash-like central bank digital currency. In other crypto news, earlier this week, Shopify announced it will join the Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra Association.
Amazon Prime has forever changed traditional retail, but Walmart is about to fight back. Wal-Mart’s on-demand delivery service could launch as early as next month, with plans “to add more perks that Amazon can’t easily match”, according to Recode. The membership program will be called Walmart+. Amazon now accounts for nearly 40 per cent of all online retail sales in the US, according to eMarketer, and Prime is a huge reason why. Walmart is a distant No. 2 with only a little more than 5 per cent of the US e-commerce market.
TikTok is the hot new thing on the block, but CEO of Reddit had some harsh words for the app, calling it “fundamentally parasitic” at an event this week. Steve Huffman said “Because I look at that app as so fundamentally parasitic, that it’s always listening, the fingerprinting technology they use is truly terrifying, and I could not bring myself to install an app like that on my phone.” The comments have spread rapidly on Reddit, where a lot of users were quick to point out that Reddit is not much better. Reddit is badmouthing a competitor but “blatantly also abuses the permission system and sells our data,” one commenter read.
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