A bit of historical research was making the rounds on social media recently, a monograph that compares the 21st century emergence of Bitcoin, encryption, the internet and millennials with the Protestant Reformation that shook Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. The two events have similar dynamics, argues Tuur Demeester, whose white paper, “The Bitcoin Reformation,” is packed with bold predictions about the crypto and blockchain future, such as, “Bitcoin savers could accelerate a revolution in the history of thought.” The report had 7,000 visits and was downloaded 2,800 times in the first 24 hours of its publishing, announced the …

Stablecoins could “complement” other payment systems and improve conditions for consumers, but need constant checks, says the United States Federal Reserve. In its November 2019 Financial Stability Report released on Nov. 15, the Fed highlights stablecoins and their potential impact on the U.S. and beyond. Fed: Unregulated stablecoins “pose risks” Rather than dismissing the phenomenon, officials eye potential use cases for the future but insist any stablecoin must adhere to regulatory demands. “Innovations that foster faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payments could complement existing payment systems and improve consumer welfare if appropriately designed and regulated,” the report explains. At the …

Back in the early days, when Bitcoin (BTC) was but a niche experiment for cypherpunks and basement-dwelling hobbyists, the process of its creation required little more than a budget CPU. Since that time, however, an entire industry has sprung forth and a quasi-gold rush rivaling that of the 1850s has taken the world by storm. As a direct result of both the increasing difficulty of Bitcoin mining and the decreasing profitability of mining solo, the current mining industry has become dominated by huge conglomerates. Ostensibly known as Bitcoin’s industrial revolution, the rise of mining collaborations changed the game for everyone. …

The United States Federal Reserve is hiring a manager for its Retail Payments section in Washington, D.C. On Nov. 3, the U.S central bank posted a new job opening to its website, looking for a new manager who is expected to contribute to the research of digital currencies, stablecoins and distributed ledger technologies. Besides the principal duties and responsibilities, the position also requires the manager to promote and contribute to the development and implementation of new policies, regulations and research in relation to retail payment systems. The new hire will be part of the Retail Payments section, which oversees the …

Recently, the National People’s Congress in China cleared a new law that will allow local authorities to start regulating all of the country’s cryptography-related activities starting from Jan. 1, 2020. By creating a new regulatory framework, the Chinese government is looking to establish a uniform standard for mainstream application of cryptographic techniques and the management of passwords and other sensitive data. The initial proposal for the law was published all the way back in May. At the time, the rough draft focused quite strongly on government-centralized password management and did not mention crypto-related matters in detail, although, it is believed …

A member of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors has said that Facebook's Libra could pose risks to consumers due to a lack of clarity over their rights with respect to the token’s underlying assets and to the system overall. Lael Brainard — who chairs several Fed committees — outlined her critique of Libra during a speech delivered at The Future of Money in the Digital Age forum in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 16. Consumer rights remain opaque Brainard took stock of a number of existing payments networks on digital platforms, such as Alibaba and WeChat, noting that by some …

Facebook’s crypto project Libra will potentially create a “shadow banking” system, according to the banks at the Federal Advisory Council (FAC). U.S. banks fear Libra will reduce payment volumes After the United States Federal Reserve asked some of the nation’s largest banks about Libra, the banks expressed their negative stance towards the project, outlining the risks of potential decline in demand-deposit accounts and bank payment volumes, Bloomberg reports Sept. 30. Libra and similar stablecoin projects, where a digital coin is pegged to an underlying value consisting of one or more fiat currencies, also pose a possible challenge to the bank …

In 2018, the executive on the board for the European Central Bank (ECB) declared Bitcoin, “the evil spawn of the financial crisis” — referring, of course, to the economic disaster 10 years prior. Interestingly, also born from the ashes of the mortgage crisis was the United States government’s adoption and unabated use of quantitative easing (QE). However, according to some, there’s more of a connection between Bitcoin (BTC) and the government’s use of QE than just their origins. A recent tweet from BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes highlighted this supposed correlation: “QE4eva is coming. Once the Fed gets religion again, get …

Veteran frontier markets investor Mark Mobius suggested that cryptocurrencies will boost the price of gold. Canadian finance news outlet BNN Bloomberg interviewed Mark Mobius on Aug. 20. The legendary investor believes cryptocurrencies will help the rise of gold. He explained: “You have all these currencies, new currencies coming into play. [...] I call them ‘psycho currencies,’ because it’s a matter of faith whether you believe in Bitcoin or any of the other cyber-currencies. I think with the rise of that, there’s going to be a demand for real, hard assets, and that includes gold.” “Gold’s prospect long-term is up, up …

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 U.S. Federal Reserve launching payment system, crypto bulls nonplussed The United States Federal Reserve left some crypto enthusiasts unimpressed this week when it unveiled plans to release a real-time payments and settlements service. Known as FedNow, it is hoped the infrastructure will lead to faster transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Presently, …

The United States Federal Reserve Board is planning to release a real-time payments and settlements service in order to boost the payments infrastructure in the country. A press release published on Aug. 5 reads that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has requested that Federal Reserve Banks develop a new interbank real-time settlement service to support faster payments in the U.S. The payment system is called FedNow and will purportedly launch in 2023 or 2024. By launching FedNow, the Fed aims to modernize the country's payment system with a real-time service that can transfer funds around the …

Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder Tom Lee believes that recent interest rate cuts in the United States by the Federal Reserve are a boon for Bitcoin (BTC). Lee remarked on how the rate cuts positively impact Bitcoin investment in an interview with Fox Business on July 31, saying: “Bitcoin’s becoming increasingly a macrohedge for investors against things that could go wrong. Rate cuts are adding liquidity. Liquidity is pushing money into all these risk assets and also hedges, which is helping Bitcoin.” Lee delivered a couple more general remarks about Bitcoin, which climbed back above the $10,000 mark earlier today. In …