Five European Union member countries have reportedly teamed up to prevent the issuance of Facebook’s stablecoin Libra. Private meetings to turn EU against Libra Following a series of private meetings in October, France is reportedly leading the anti-Libra effort with Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, political news publication Politico Europe reports on Oct. 30. Citing sources familiar with the matter, Politico states that the countries’ deputy finance ministers have presented their unified position against Libra to other EU ministers at a private meeting on Oct. 28 in Brussels. According to the report, the group intends to prevent Libra from …

Calibra CEO David Marcus recently claimed that the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards of Libra — Facebook’s proposed stablecoin project — will be better than other payments networks. Citing statements from Marcus’ speech at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas, finance publication Finextra reports on Oct. 29 that he explained the nuances of the project during an interview. He said, ”I want to say that the efficacy of sanction enforcing can be much higher on Libra than other payments networks.” Marcus stated that the network’s underlying blockchain technology will allow regulators to better trace transactions and identify suspicious activities, adding: …

Amid the regulatory storm facing Libra, the project’s hierarchy is looking to change one important detail of the payment system: using fiat-pegged stablecoins rather than a token supported by a basket of national currencies. The Libra Association says such considerations are part of efforts to create a more agile payment platform. Meanwhile, the furor over the controversial Libra has begun to take a more political undertone, both within and outside the United States. Arguments for and against the project now seem to include issues surrounding the trade war between the U.S. and China. In Europe, China’s response to Facebook’s crypto …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Bitcoin price back over $10,000 following 36% gains on the day The world’s largest cryptocurrency has had us all in for a white-knuckle ride this week. Wednesday saw Bitcoin (BTC) crash $500 in a matter of minutes and sink to $7,500 — a five-month low. Saturday was a different story. At one point, BTC had …

Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies are causing some confusion for regulators globally. Designed usually as peer-to-peer payment platforms, cryptocurrencies seek to improve trust, security and privacy by significantly reducing or eliminating third parties. However, by connecting users directly, cryptocurrencies make regulatory oversight far more complex. The regulatory control that most governments seek is generally related to money laundering and illegal activity. While cryptocurrency creators have no desire to foster such practices, many nevertheless hope to move away from the sorts of regulatory controls that are seen as centralized, less cost-efficient and often domineering. To Libra or not to Libra? Facebook founder …

Facebook recently made its entry into the world of institutional blockchain and cryptocurrency with the announcement of Libra. It garnered so much attention that lawmakers in the United States are holding hearings to review the project. Walmart has been flirting with crypto and blockchain for years. At the time of writing, the top crypto exchange handles a volume of around $50 billion, and Bitcoin (BTC) is holding steady around $8,000. This is clearly a new “mainstreaming” of crypto to the masses, but a growing number of major banks, hedge funds and family offices are also turning to digital assets to …

On Oct. 23, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of social media platform Facebook, appeared before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee to testify on the prospective global cryptocurrency Libra, which his company is backing. He ended up enduring almost six hours of mostly critical questioning, as some of the legislators used the occasion to raise their concerns about many problematic aspects of Zuckerberg’s social media empire, even those not directly related to the cryptocurrency’s operation. Those who expected the hearings to shed light on many substantive questions regarding Libra’s design and regulatory status that remain unanswered were likely left disappointed. …

After being banned for more than a month, Cointelegraph is once again accessible via Facebook. There were more questions than answers when the block took effect on September 18. Facebook has a hardline anti-crypto policy when it comes to paid advertisements, but ours was a community page for distributing reported news, boasting more than 700,000 likes. It’s not clear what happened to initiate the block. Facebook’s policy for pages of this kind revolve around prohibiting “misleading, fraudulent or deceptive” information, and they “must not facilitate or promote online gambling, online real money, games of skill, or online lotteries without our …

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, made it crystal clear that Twitter will never join Facebook’s Libra project. "Nothing within Libra had to be a cryptocurrency” On Oct. 24, per a Twitter thread by Hollywood Reporter editor Alex Weprin, who was covering an event at Twitter's New York office, Jack Dorsey made it abundantly clear that Twitter will stay a million miles away from Facebook’s plans to launch its Libra stablecoin in 2020. The Twitter CEO reportedly gave a straightforward answer to the question if Twitter would ever consider joining Facebook’s Libra project. His response was short but all-telling: …

Update: As of 09:30 PM UTC on Oct. 24, Cointelegraph’s access to its Facebook page has been restored. Cointelegraph’s official Facebook page, boasting more than 730,000 followers, has been banned by the social media giant, while the cause remains unclear. On Sept. 18, our page was removed from the platform’s search results. Consequently, Cointelegraph has been unable to publish anything on the account for over a month now, unable to reach the audience. Cointelegraph has reached out to Facebook for additional comments regarding the reason why the page has been unpublished but received no response. Earlier, Cointelegraph’s Facebook page was …

Alfred F. Kelly, CEO of major payment processor Visa, has said that the company is still in discussions with Facebook on the Libra project. In an interview with finance and economics-focused publication Economic Value on Oct. 24, Kelly assured the interviewer that Visa still maintains a close relationship with Facebook on the subject, as it believes that digital currencies provide safer payments to more people and places. Kelly said: “As a curious and open company — and given the leadership we have in the payments ecosystem — we want to engage in everything in the payment space until we reach …

The United States congressman who said the country should ban cryptocurrency returned to publicly slating the phenomenon this week. Sherman: Crypto could “achieve its objectives” During the latest hearing over Facebook’s Libra digital currency on Oct. 23, Brad Sherman used his chance to speak to deliver fresh criticism of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and their alleged use cases. Sherman, who was already well known as an opponent of any money that challenges the U.S. dollar’s role as a global reserve currency, built on his previous claims from May when quizzing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “I’m not here to be …