The UK Forces Digital ID’s-What’s Next?

In a bid to curb illegal migration, the UK government, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, plans to introduce a mandatory “Brit card” digital ID for every working adult. The scheme, inspired by Estonia’s system, aims to verify individuals’ rights to live and work in the UK amid rising pressure to address record-high boat crossings and an asylum backlog exceeding 75,000. The initiative, requiring a law change, is driven by the need to tackle illegal work in the black economy and counter the growing influence of Reform UK in polls.

However, civil liberties groups have raised concerns, warning that mandatory digital IDs could exacerbate the plight of unauthorized migrants, pushing them further into the shadows. Critics argue that the policy risks alienating vulnerable populations rather than solving migration challenges, highlighting tensions between security measures and individual freedoms.

More Via Independent

Thailand Government Unleashes AI-Driven AML System, Hilarity Ensues

In Thailand, a full-blown banking crisis has erupted after policymakers enacted an anti-money laundering (AML) initiative using AI and automated systems to detect “unusual” transaction patterns.

The algos seem to have gone bonkers, freezing innumerable accounts of individual citizens and small businesses.

Initial reports were that people whose accounts had been wrongfully frozen were waiting up to two or three weeks to have access restored.

More Via Thai Examiner

Canada’s RCMP Takes Down TradeOgre Crypto Exchange

Earlier this summer, the crypto exchange TradeOgre went off the air, with the website becoming unreachable and users locked out of any funds they had left on the exchange (remember: never leave funds on an exchange, “not your keys = not your coins”).

It’s finally come to light what happened to TradeOgre: they were taken down by the RCMP’s Money Laundering Investigative Team (MLIT) – after a 2024 tip from Europol.

TradeOgre didn’t bother with red-tape like KYC – anybody could open an account, and apparently behind the public facing .com website, they are alleged to have been running an entire money-laundering operation on an .onion domain over Tor.

The mounties have now seized $56 million in exchange funds, alleging it is all illegal proceeds.

I don’t know about that – I had a TradeOgre account myself because they supported all kinds of obscure Proof-Of-Work coins and had a lightweight REST API: this made it easy for me (and countless others) to mine PoW altcoins on my old GPU mining rigs and then convert them into BTC via TradeOgre (but I didn’t leave anything on the exchange.)

Read: https://rcmp.ca/en/news/2025/09/rcmp-executes-record-seizure-more-56-million-dollars-cryptocurrency
And: https://cybersecuritynews.com/canada-police-dismantles-tradeogre-platform/

Vietnam closes 86 million bank accounts for no biometric verification

Vietnam has enacted mandatory biometric verification laws for all bank accounts.

On September 1st, the process began of permanently closing the 86 million of that country’s estimated 200 million bank accounts that had not been verified commenced.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) defended the move as essential for fighting fraud and preparing Vietnam for a “cashless future”.

There is still theoretical recourse to impacted account holders, which involves appearing in person at their bank. It is unclear what will happen in the long term to any remaining funds in the permanently closed accounts.

More via Cointelegraph