A delegation of the United States House of Representatives will visit Switzerland on cryptocurrency concerns, with Facebook’s not-yet-released stablecoin Libra being in the focus. As local weekly news outlet NZZ am Sonntag reported on Aug. 17, a six-member delegation from the House Financial Services Committee is going to meet with Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) Adrian Lobsiger to exchange views about digital currencies. A spokesperson told NZZ am Sonntag that Libra will be the focal point of the dialogue between the regulator and U.S. lawmakers. The delegation is led by the chairwoman of the House Financial Services …

A decentralized public network that aims to ensure the internet belongs to its users is taking Facebook to task — and alleges “it’s been their internet for too long” in reference to the social media giant. Hedera, “the only public decentralized network that utilizes the hashgraph consensus algorithm,” has recently paid for a full-page ad in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal that said: “Thank you Facebook Libra. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Mance Harmon, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said he shared his vision for Hedera with Facebook’s David Marcus in February 2018 — setting …

The growing popularity of cryptocurrency has led to a revolution in the digital currency industry. Enterprises that were of noncrypto origin now have or plan to have their own crypto product. The 10 years of cryptocurrency’s existence has led to an unprecedented ease of transactions. It has also brought transparency into the e-commerce world. This article discusses 10 of the biggest enterprises in the world, without a cryptocurrency background, that have already created or are in the process of investing resources to develop a digital currency they can call their own. 1. Facebook Facebook is reportedly completing efforts to release …

David Marcus, the man spearheading Facebook’s blockchain effort, has gotten a tremendous amount of spotlight lately. The rapid emergence of Libra has dominated the coverage of other crypto-related developments, as it became apparent that the social media giant’s inroad into the realm of digital assets will have most serious consequences for both the blockchain sector and the global financial system in general. While previously the crypto industry has hardly ever had one key spokesperson — which is perhaps a natural and welcome state of affairs for a domain wherein decentralization is the most cherished of values — Libra’s newfound position …

Last month, Facebook rocked the world with its blockbuster Libra announcement. Even a year ago, the idea that an iconic United States company would launch a digital currency or that a sitting president would tweet about it seemed insane. Welcome to the new normal. The Libra announcement sent politicians scrambling, hit the mainstream media like a hurricane, and left many crypto influencers wondering if the social network giant just turned 90% of altcoins worthless. What tiny crypto project with a few dozen programmers can stand against the combined might of not just Facebook but also the titans of the tech …

The Bureau of Securities in New Jersey has issued two emergency orders to the companies Zoptax and Unocall to end their initial coin offerings (ICOs). The Bureau alleges that the token offerings qualify as fraudulent unregistered securities offerings. The Office of the Attorney General in New Jersey announced the Bureau's orders in a news release on Aug. 7. In the case of Zoptax, the report states that the company is offering the cryptocurrency Zoptax Coins through a website-conducted ICO. The website apparently states that the ICO has a soft cap of $500,000, as well as a hard cap goal of …

Despite all of the bad press that the digital asset industry continues to receive on an almost daily basis, it appears as though the overall sentiment of the online communities in regard to this burgeoning domain is still pretty positive. For example, Comparitech — a research firm that provides its consumers with a host of specialized data that allows one to make more informed decisions — recently used a machine learning-based analysis tool to study more than 48K Reddit posts to determine which cryptocurrencies were viewed most favorably by the masses. Not only that, the study also took into consideration …

Facebook hired former assistant of United States Republican senator Mike Crapo, Susan Stoner Zook, to join the lobbying team for its Libra stablecoin. Facebook doubles down on Libra lobbying News outlet Politico reported on Aug. 5 that Zook had been hired onto Facebook’s team of lobbyists working to win lawmakers over to Libra. Per the report, she wrote in an email that she will focus her work at the company on lobbying Republican senators. As Cointelegraph reported in July, Crapo stressed the importance of building an overarching regulatory framework for data protection — not just for Facebook, but for all …

A senior policy analyst at investment banking corporation Cowen, Jaret Seiberg, said that Walmart’s proposed digital coin should not face as much regulatory pushback as Libra, Facebook’s proposed virtual currency. As Bloomberg reports on Aug. 5, Seiberg also added that Walmart’s crypto may have a demographic appeal to Democratic legislators who are keen to find an alternative financial infrastructure for people who do not regularly use banks. According to Seiberg, Libra and Walmart’s crypto proposal differ in scale. Seiberg comments that Facebook has global intentions which do not appear to be shared by Walmart. Possible regulatory hangups However, Seiberg noted …

The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has requested, along with a number of other jurisdictions, that the companies in the Libra Association provide details on how they plan to protect user data. The ICO has released a joint statement on global privacy expectations of the Libra network on Aug. 5 that is addressed to Facebook and 28 other organizations behind the Libra and Calibra projects. The letter specifically asks the companies to explain how they plan to collect and process users’ personal data according to data protection laws. The letter notes that the Libra Association will become a custodian …

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 Facebook warns investors that the Libra stablecoin may never launch The Libra storyline is fast becoming a never-ending soap opera — and we might be reaching the season finale. Facebook used its latest quarterly report to warn investors that its controversial cryptocurrency may never launch at all. The admission at least shows that the social …

United States-based cryptocurrency index fund provider Bitwise declared that Facebook’s Libra stablecoin accelerated Bitcoin’s (BTC) progress by three years in a letter to investors published on its website on August 1. Libra attracted attention to Bitcoin In the letter, Bitwise’s global head of research Matt Hougan said on behalf of the company: “Thanks to Facebook’s Libra and Congress, we have just fast-forwarded two or three years into crypto’s future, accelerating all the conversations, debates, and mainstream discussions into the present day.” Increasing regulatory scrutiny The firm claims that, as a consequence of Libra’s development and the crypto hearings with the …