Simon Morris, the head of product at the Libra Association, has left the project within five months of joining, according to his LinkedIn profile accessed on Oct. 9. The Switzerland-registered Libra Association is a not-for-profit membership organization established to govern the network for Facebook’s planned stablecoin. A BitTorrent veteran and fleeting Libra contributor Morris’s LinkedIn page indicates that he left the association in August — roughly two months after the social media giant announced its Libra plans. Prior to his work on Libra, Morris was a BitTorrent veteran, working there for almost nine years across multiple roles until 2016, followed …

Three backers thought to be reconsidering their involvement in Facebook’s digital currency Libra have received warnings from the United States politicians over their participation. Senate letter: Facebook’s problems are your problems According to a Bloomberg article published on Oct. 9, a letter to Visa, Mastercard and Stripe was sent by two U.S. senators. In it, they are reportedly pressuring the three payment giants to look closer at the regulatory implications of Libra. The report comes a week after the rumors started to spread about the companies’ cold feet over Facebook’s digital currency. PayPal, formerly a member of Libra, then officially …

The European Union’s finance commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has pledged to propose new rules to regulate cryptocurrencies such as Facebook’s Libra. As Reuters reports, speaking before EU lawmakers on Oct. 8, Dombrovskis said: “Europe needs a common approach on crypto-assets such as Libra. I intend to propose new legislation on this.” Dombrovskis’s role Having served as Latvia’s prime minister and finance minister and as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009, Dombrovskis now seeks reappointment as the executive vice president of the European Commission. If reappointed, he would be tasked with a brief labelled "An Economy that Works …

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of blockchain payments network Ripple, thinks that Facebook will fail to launch its Libra digital currency before 2023. Garlinghouse bets on a three-year Libra delay Speaking in an interview with Fortune on Oct. 7, Brad Garlinghouse argued that regulatory pushback would continue to plague the project that was only announced in June, noting: “I would bet that Libra… let's say, by the end of 2022, I think Libra will not have launched.” Garlinghouse also noted the various problems that governments around the world have raised with Facebook over its digital currency plans. As Cointelegraph reported, it …

Ex-federal prosecutor and now Andreessen Horowitz partner Katie Haun has argued that the United States blocking Facebook’s Libra digital currency will have national security implications. Haun’s comments were reported in a CNBC profile published on Oct. 6. “Frankly a dangerous precedent” to shut Libra down Andreessen Horowitz is a founding member of the Libra Association, the Switzerland-headquartered nonprofit consortium established to govern the Libra token. Speaking of the planned cryptocurrency, Haun noted that the social media titan’s project was facing “the same criticisms” and misperceptions that the asset class faces more broadly. She noted: “They were just heightened and they …

A crypto derivatives exchange is launching physically delivered futures contracts that will be settled based on whether Facebook’s Libra launches in 2020. According to Bloomberg’s report on Oct. 7, the new offering is slated for launch by the Seychelles-registered CoinFlex exchange via an “initial futures opening” (IFO) on Oct. 24. The IFO concept: betting on tokens that don’t exist yet CoinFlex’s IFO will set the price of a futures contract at 30 cents — reflecting a roughly 30% likelihood that Libra will launch by December 2020. The exchange’s CEO Mark Lamb has told Bloomberg that the price had been set …

Germany’s finance minister Olaf Scholz sees uses for an electronic version of the euro but believes Facebook should stay away from money issuance. Scholz: Germany wants E-euros, not Libra Speaking to local financial news outlet WirtschaftsWoche on Oct. 3, Scholz revealed that he would be keen on seeing a so-called E-euro, adding: “A payment system like that would be good for Europe as a financial center and its integration into the world financial system.” By contrast, Scholz has stated that he is “very, very skeptical” of Facebook’s digital currency, Libra, mimicking its hostile reception in France previously. He continued: “A …

Stablecoins attempt to be fiat currencies among cryptos. They can be a medium of exchange, a means of storing value and a unit of account. Unlike other digital coins, stablecoins are tied to some kind of stable asset — such as the United States dollar, euro or even gold. Linking to such assets confirms the coin’s stability and mitigating the volatility of cryptocurrencies. Related: Stablecoins Explained With this type of a token, an equal amount of fiat currency should be stored by the issuing company to back the value of the token. The owner of this token should be able …

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 PayPal officially pulls out of the Libra Association It’s official: PayPal has left the Libra Association — the governing body of Facebook’s embattled digital currency. Although the payment processing giant says it remains supportive of the stablecoin’s aspirations, the company was absent from a meeting of 28 Libra backers on Thursday. Others may follow suit. …

Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder of major crypto exchange Coinbase, tweeted on Oct. 5 that he expects the United States government to react to China’s stablecoin project by reconsidering its “ridiculous” response to Facebook’s Libra digital currency. The U.S. government wants to be left behind In his tweet, Armstrong said he believes that “the way the U.S. government reacted it's like they almost want to be left behind.” He also voiced overall concerns over the United States possibly becoming obsolete due to innovation obstruction in a subsequent tweet: “The way for countries to remain relevant over the long term and …

Randall Quarles, chair of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), has claimed that the potential scale of stablecoins such as Facebook’s Libra could present future “regulatory challenges.” Quarles voiced his opinion during a presentation at the European Banking Summit in Belgium on Oct. 3. FSB leads G20’s work on stablecoins going forward Quarles specifically highlighted yet unreleased Libra stablecoin as the catalyst that has significantly increased public interest in the subject. This could potentially bring a new scale and scope to the space, which the financial regulatory community must carefully consider. Quarles stated: “Although there is a small risk to financial …

The United States House Financial Services Committee has reportedly invited Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to testify on Oct. 29 about the company’s plans for its Libra stablecoin. According to a report from The Information on Oct. 3, the invitation comes with a key condition: that CEO Mark Zuckerberg consent to appear before the committee before January 2020. Sandberg would follow David Marcus’s testimony The Committee, chaired by Rep. Maxine Waters, has recently announced its plans to prioritize scrutiny of Facebook’s proposal for Libra and corresponding digital wallet Calibra as part of its fall 2019 agenda. According to The Information’s sources, …