As Facebook continues in the effort to launch its Libra cryptocurrency, the social media giant is likely to rely more heavily on paid lobbyists and the persuasion powers of its senior executives. Mark Zuckerberg prefers closed-door approach In a leaked audiotape of a Facebook town hall released by The Verge, the co-founder and CEO of...Read More
Reports indicate that the U.S. dollar will have the largest representation in the basket of currencies that will underpin Facebook’s forthcoming Libra cryptocurrency, sparking renewed fears that the greenback’s reserve-currency status will be upended by the social media network. Dollar Will Dominate Libra’s Basket of Currencies According to Spiegel Online, the U.S. dollar will make...Read More
The results of a cryptocurrency survey conducted by the Dutch banking group, ING, revealed a significant lack of appetite for Facebook’s Libra, and its designated use case: Sending payments across social media. Taking 15,000 Europeans, from 15 distinct countries, the survey collated Europe’s sentiment around digital currencies. Questions ranged from the future of cryptocurrencies to...Read More
Bertrand Perez, the general director of the Libra Association, has expressed confidence that Facebook’s stablecoin will launch during 2020. Speaking to French publication Les Echos, Perez indicated that while the Libra Association is expecting talks with regulators to continue, the project is slated for launch during the second half of next year. Perez also stated...Read More
Switzerland’s financial regulator has indicated that Facebook’s cryptocurrency project Libra will be required to meet additional requirements besides getting a payment system license prior to starting operations. In a press release, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) stated that the various services planned by Facebook’s cryptocurrency initiative had necessitated extra requirements being imposed: Due...Read More
Digital currency provides unprecedented abilities to spy on and control what people do, and having that power in the hands of a few people is very dangerous. The Big Tech monopolies of Silicon Valley are building a future where your every action is monitored, and giving Facebook control over what you can and can’t do...Read More
If it wasn’t for Bitcoin there would be no Libra. That much is self-evident, since Satoshi’s creation laid the groundwork for every crypto asset that’s followed. The extent to which Bitcoin was responsible for spawning Facebook’s currency has now been made brutally clear in an interview with Abra’s Bill Barhydt. The investment platform’s CEO claims...Read More
2019 has been an incredibly important year for digital currencies. The collective cryptocurrency market broke away from the bearish winter and digital assets have again started to gain attention from various financial institutions and personalities. In fact, the President of the United States also called out Bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra at one point of time,...Read More
Facebook Dating is now available in the U.S., and even though it is a separate app from Facebook, it still somehow – isn’t separate at all. Privacy advocates say users are likely better off meeting potential love interests on other apps. It seems that Facebook realized that money can’t buy you love so, without further...Read More
The introduction of Facebook’s Libra has been one of the highlights of 2019, but it was not smooth-sailing for the virtual asset. The Facebook-backed stablecoin received collective criticism from government officials, crypto-personalities and a majority of the community, with many questioning its potential use cases and characteristics as a cryptocurrency. In the latest edition of...Read More
Switzerland’s central bank is running scared over its control on monetary policies in the face of stablecoins pegged to foreign currencies. | Source: Shutterstock; Edited by CCN Switzerland’s central bank is fretting over the possibility of stablecoins pegged to foreign currencies eroding its ability to use its monetary policy tools effectively, further complicating the path...Read More
Facebook’s crypto scheme appears to have spurred regulators to take the social media giant’s privacy scandals more seriously. | Source: REUTERS / Aaron P. Bernstein Following reports earlier today that dozens of state attorney generals were set to officially commence antitrust investigations into Big Tech behemoths Facebook and Google, New York Attorney General Letitia James...Read More
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is afraid that digital currencies like Facebook’s Libra might impede the central bank’s capability to initiate and implement monetary policy. This is the conclusion of Thomas Jordan, chairman of SNB’s governing board. Libra Might Impair SNB’s Monetary Policy While the discussions around Libra tailed off, the SNB chairman found it...Read More
China’s proposed new digital currency would be better than Facebook’s Libra coin and would be able to be used across major payment platforms such as WeChat and Alipay, a senior central bank official said. People Bank of China announced enthroning their new digital currency chief who claims their upcoming digital yuan has features that are...Read More
If Andreessen Horowitz has any say in the matter, crypto regulation could be just around the corner. As unsavory as it may sound, Washington tends to be more swayed by powerful interest groups than the will of the general public. And if any sector of the American economy needs a lobbyist to represent its interests,...Read More
BUSD will be available for direct purchase and redemption 1:1 for U.S. dollars on the Paxos platform and for trading against Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB) and Ripple’s XRP on Binance.com. Paxos Trust Company, a regulated financial institution that digitizes and mobilizes assets, and global cryptocurrency exchange and blockchain ecosystem, Binance, announced their partnership regarding...Read More
The European Union’s AntiTrust Chief is scrutinizing Facebook’s much-publicized crypto, Libra. | Source: Shutterstock EU regulators are investigating if the Facebook Libra “cryptocurrency” poses a threat to competition by being a potential monopoly. Margrethe Vestager is the outgoing antitrust chief of the European Union. She’s gravely concerned that Libra could violate antitrust laws. EU: Facebook...Read More
As Buterin said, Ethereum 2.0 aims to run ‘tens of thousands of transactions per second’ and he is sure that the new network will facilitate a number of on-chain transactions while maintaining key aspects of decentralization and security. At the beginning of next year, the launch of the initial phase of Ethereum 2.0 is taking place....Read More
A database with personal data of hundreds of millions of Facebook users has been found online by a security researcher. Facebook has since taken it down, declaring that no accounts were breached. Facebook is in the middle of another serious problem of a security breach involving a feature that the company had disabled more than...Read More
A devoted team of the PBOC’s Digital Currency Research Lab is currently setting up its digital currency system in a restricted environment aiming to launch it before Facebook’s Libra enters the market. After Facebook unveiled the white paper for its Libra Project in June, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) got working. The PBoC is...Read More
Elliptic, a British company providing crypto-asset risk management solutions, announced today a successful raise of $23M in a Series B funding round, led by Tokyo-based SBI Holdings. AlbionVC and existing investors such as SignalFire, Octopus Ventures and Santander Innoventures have also contributed to the round. Tomoyuki Nii from SBI Holdings will be joining the Board...Read More
Even though Amazon is yet to announce any plans for its own digital assets, a new report which surveyed opinions from several analysts, has claimed that Amazon is very likely to announce a Libra competitor. A few months ago, Facebook revealed plans for its own cryptocurrency called the Libra, and also announced the Libra Association....Read More
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has appointed Ryozo Himino, Japan’s top cryptocurrency regulator, as the new head of its Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation. FSA Cryptocurrency Regulator Joins FSB In a press statement issued on Monday (September 2, 2019), the international financial system watchdog announced Himino’s appointment. According to the press statement, the...Read More
Facebook’s much-publicized and criticized crypto ‘Libra’ will see competition by one of the world’s biggest tech companies, Amazon, a report has claimed. | Source: Shutterstock; edited by CCN. Since Facebook announced the Libra cryptocurrency, a couple of other similar projects have been unveiled with all of them being dubbed potential ‘Libra-killers’. They include Venus, an...Read More
Yves Mersch, a member of the European Central Bank’s executive board, warned of the dangers of the “cartel-like, “treacherous” Facebook Libra crypto. | Source: AFP PHOTO / DANIEL ROLAND A member of the European Central Bank’s executive board sounded the alarm on the “treacherous, cartel-like” Facebook Libra cryptocurrency. Yves Mersch issued a damning warning to...Read More
Obviously, it’s still just about the end of summer, so French air traffic controllers have decided to go on strike. Maybe there would be less annual havoc across Europe’s skies if they ‘paid them in Bitcoin’? Bitcoin Price: Yet More Consolidation So BTC has spent another week trading sideways in a band around $10k. Whilst...Read More
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) central bank digital currency (CBDC) will allegedly be backed 1:1 by renminbi fiat as well as follow a two-tiered structured system with the bank, commercial banks, and retail market participants. This week China fixed the daily midpoint rate for the yuan at levels that haven’t been seen for more than...Read More
China has rubbished reports going rounds in a section of the media that its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is all set for a launch after nearly half a decade of thorough research and development. A Chinese state-owned media outlet “The Global Times” took to Twitter to deny a widely-circulated Forbes report that the People’s...Read More
Facebook is offering thousands of dollars as a reward for those testers who find bugs in its upcoming Libra cryptocurrency. Libra Invites Your Security and Privacy Review of its Architecture and Design Facebook envisages empowering billions of people all over the world through its single global ‘cryptocurrency’, Libra. It will be supported by a simple...Read More
Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project is offering up to $10,000 to security researchers to find security flaws in its testnet. | Source: Shutterstock Facebook’s cryptocurrency project is offering security researchers from anywhere in the world thousands of dollars to find bugs in its Libra cryptocurrency testnet. The Libra Association, which is in charge of the cryptocurrency...Read More
