In a recent YouTube stream, Andreas Antolopoulos said that the controversial EARN IT Act might as well be called “Fuck you, Zuckerberg”. The bi-partisan bill was written by Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and if passed, it would: “Create incentives for companies to “earn” liability protection for violations of laws related to online child sexual abuse material”. Antonopoulos: civil rights aren’t EARNed Talking to Cointelegraph, Antonopoulos disagreed with that premise: “The EARN IT act is a backdoor encryption ban disguised as a modification of the DMCA act [Digital Millennium Copyright Act]. Civil rights aren't "EARNed", they are inalienable.” …

In a fresh move to revive Facebook-backed digital currency project Libra, the Libra Association has onboarded another member. British payment startup Checkout.com has joined the Libra Association, becoming the 24th member engaged with the mission of building a better global payment network, Libra tweeted on April 28. Tech advancements would fail without necessary regulatory frameworks Guillaume Pousaz, Checkout.com founder and CEO, officially announced the news in a company statement on Tuesday. The executive outlined that Checkout.com joins Libra’s efforts to not only promote technological advancement but contribute to the formation of necessary regulatory framework to drive mass adoption of better …

Despite existing concerns that blockchain is not mature enough to bring the new era of payments, the technology is being increasingly explored by global central banks. Blockchain technology meanwhile remains at the core of Facebook’s digital currency Libra, according to a top project executive. Since Libra’s white paper release in June 2019, the not-yet-launched stablecoin has continued to rely on blockchain architecture, Libra Association’s vice chair Dante Disparte explained. Blockchain unlocks payment network interoperability In an April 28 interview with financial publication Central Banking, Disparte outlined a number of structural benefits provided by blockchain implementation. As part of the blockchain-powered …

It’s been a good week for Bitcoin. After languishing at around $6,700, the cryptocoin is up more than 6 percent over the last week to take it above $7,000. And the next halving is now less than three weeks away. Changpeng Zhao is looking further ahead. He predicts that in a few months, as governments implement quantitative easing measures to stabilize coronavirus-hit economies, Bitcoin will rise. “Mathematics works, he told BlockDown 2020, a two-day virtual conference. “If you increase supply of the fiat currency and Bitcoin is a limited asset, mathematics will eventually work.” For crypto-ATM services like DigitalMint and …

A recent report from Binance Research claimed Facebook's Libra is as disruptive for the payments industry as SpaceX was for interstellar travel — but why? When it entered the rocket sector, SpaceX found an industry laden with high entry barriers and largely dominated by public market players, a Binance Research representative told Cointelegraph in an email. Therefore, the industry also yielded "little movement, as there were hardly any incentives to innovate beyond incrementally improving the product," the rep said. "The same is true for the current payments landscape." Borders limit the current payment systems In a recent in-depth report on …

Facebook’s Calibra team have published a research paper outlining a new method for Byzantine fault tolerance, or BFT, testing. Dubbed “Twins”, Claibra’s innovation comprises a lightweight method for testing a network’s BFT implementation. Calibra pioneers BFT testing strategy The paper asserts that while BFT systems “have seen extensive study for more than two decades,” the field “lack[s] a principled strategy for testing BFT implementations.” The testing method runs two instances of a node with the same identity to emulate Byzantine behavior — “including equivocation, double voting, and losing internal state.” Calibra asserts that Twins allows its operator to “systematically generate …

Leading figures in India’s crypto industry are reading positive signs from Facebook’s $5.7 billion investment in India's largest mobile operator. First reported on April 22, Facebook’s deal with Jio Platforms — the digital technology unit of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries — represents the largest-ever foreign direct investment in India’s tech sector. Facebook will take a 9.9% stake in the business, whose services include the mobile network Reliance Jio, which has drawn 388 million users to date. Last fall, Reliance Jio Infocomm had installed what Ambani claimed was ostensibly one of the world’s largest blockchain networks “with tens …

Binance Research dove into Libra's most recent whitepaper, surfacing with a lenghty report, in part claiming Facebook's proposed asset could significantly alter the payments world. "Libra’s envisioned global payment system could do to the payment industry what SpaceX did to the space industry: shake the foundations of a well-established sector with high entry barriers," the April 22 report said, adding: "The mere advantage of issuing widely-available programmable money would already initiate manifold efficiency gains." Libra's outlook after a year of regulatory pushback After releasing its initial whitepaper in June 2019, regulating bodies quickly flooded in, putting a halt on the …

Following an overhaul of Libra’s original white paper that was met with strong skepticism from United States policymakers, a member of the House Financial Services Committee — Democrat Rep. Sylvia Garcia from Texas — has come out and stated that the updated version of Facebook’s white paper does not contain any substantive changes and that the token should still fall under the purview of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In Garcia’s view, the newly proposed version of Libra still derives its value from a basket of digitized currencies that are subject to the regulatory whims of the Libra Association, …

Facebook’s Calibra is looking to create 50 new roles for its workforce in Ireland, as the firm seemingly bucks the trend of private-sector layoffs during the coronavirus crisis. An Irish Times report on April 20 revealed that Calibra’s small team in Dublin is set to be significantly expanded this year, with Facebook noting that its Irish operations are “critically important” for its roadmap. Calibra’s Irish expansion still depends on regulators’ cooperation Based in Ireland since 2009, Facebook employs 5,000 people in the country across its various partner firms, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. Founded in 2019, Calibra has been at …

British TV presenter and former X-Factor star, Rylan Clark-Neal, alerted his followers as to “fake interview” claiming that Rylan had made “millions from Bitcoin.” On April 18, the former Celebrity Big Brother star tweeted that a fraudulent interview impersonating U.K. publication, The Daily Mirror, was circulating on Facebook. Rylan warned his followers: “There’s a fake interview going around on Facebook and social platforms claiming to be the daily mirror which isn’t saying how I’ve made millions from Bitcoin. Don’t fall for it.” Scammers promote fake celebrity interviews on Facebook The warning comes amid a steady stream of Bitcoin (BTC) scams …

A United States congresswoman has said that she will keep working to brand Facebook’s planned stablecoin Libra a security. Facebook and the Libra Association may well have to deal with the SEC In an April 16 announcement, Representative Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) denied that recent updates to Libra’s whitepaper had substantively changed the yet-to-be-released stablecoin’s status as a security. Garcia contends that the newly proposed version of Libra still derives value from a “basket of currencies” subject to change from the Libra Association, which hangs the value of the coin on the work of a third party i.e. a security under …