About 71% of German citizens are skeptical about Facebook’s Libra stablecoin, while only 12% welcome it, according to a survey published by German financial association Bürgerbewegung Finanzwende on July 23. Most Germans already have an opinion Notably, the survey also showed that almost every one of the 2,093 German adults surveyed had an opinion on the matter, with only 17% saying that they are not sure what to think about the stablecoin. Furthermore, 52% of the respondents also pointed out that Facebook’s impact on society is already problematic today, and over a quarter (26%) stated that they believe further growth …
Swiss privacy regulators have said that social media titan Facebook is lagging in its response to requests for more liaison. An unanswered letter As Cointelegraph reported, a Reuters report published on July 23 revealed that the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) sent a letter to the Libra Association on July 17 but has not as of yet received any response. The Libra Association is a newly-established, independent governance consortium for Facebook’s planned cryptocurrency, dubbed Libra. Notably, David Marcus, chief of Facebook’s Calibra wallet service, has previously indicated that the corporation expects the FDPIC will serve as data …
The United States Senate Banking Committee is set to hold a broader debate on crypto and blockchain regulatory frameworks next week. An official committee announcement indicates the hearing — entitled “Examining Regulatory Frameworks for Digital Currencies and Blockchain” — will take place on July 30. The planned witnesses will be Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of payments company Circle, who will speak on behalf of The Blockchain Association; Rebecca M. Nelson, a specialist in International Trade and Finance at “Congress’s think tank,” the Congressional Research Service; and Professor of Law Mehrsa Baradaran, from the Irvine School of Law at the …
The Swiss data protection regulator is waiting for Facebook to provide it with particulars on data protection risks associated with the forthcoming Libra digital currency, Reuters reported on July 23. The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) — the competent authority for data processing by federal bodies and individuals in Switzerland — sent a letter to Libra Association on July 17, asking for details about Libra. The FDPIC stated: “The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner has noted the remarks made by Mr. David Marcus at his hearing before a U.S. Senate committee. The FDPIC stated in his letter …
Digital currencies are generating increasing interest from investors and traders, says the CEO of United States brokerage giant TD Ameritrade. The executive’s comments were reported by financial news and services outlet TheStreet on July 23. In an interview with TheStreet, TD Ameritrade CEO, Tim Hockey, explains that customers are showing increasing demand for cryptocurrencies and willingness to trade it. Hockey notes lack of consternation among investors Unlike American lawmakers, active investors do not fret over cryptocurrencies' purported potential to undermine the existing financial system and the U.S. dollar as they are constantly looking for new asset classes to profit from, …
While Facebook is struggling to agree on its crypto project Libra, a wave of fake Libra accounts have come up online, including on Facebook itself. According to a report by The Washington Post on July 22, nearly a dozen fake Libra pages have circulated across Facebook and its social photo-sharing app Instagram, posing as official entities for the much-discussed digital currency. Facebook removed Libra scam pages only after alerted by Washington Post As said in the report, a number of those fake Facebook and Instagram accounts were removed on July 22 only after The Washington Post reported on them to …
Almost half of Americans and Brits would not trust Facebook in regards to its long-awaited stablecoin Libra, technology and market-focused news platform Telecoms.com reported on July 22. Facebook’s trust issues could hurt Libra project Citing a survey from instant messaging application Viber, the news outlet reveals that 49% of users in the United Kingdom and the United States said that they would not put trust in the social media giant when it comes to its own digital currency. Those respondents specified that they would not trust Facebook at all in regards to keeping their private information secure when using Libra. …
Potential benefits of Facebook’s Libra should be made possible despite the existing regulatory uncertainty and associated risks, Germany's central bank said. In a monthly bulletin called “Crypto tokens in payment transactions and in securities settlement” released on July 22, the Bundesbank evaluated potential advantages and shortcomings of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), as well as stablecoins such as Facebook’s widely-discussed crypto project Libra. Regulation of Libra should be as technology-neutral as possible, Bundesbank says In the document, Germany's central bank stated that global innovative projects such as Libra should not be made impossible as they aim to increase prosperity and …
Damian Collins, a senior official at the British Parliament and known critic of Facebook, wants to probe the firm’s crypto project Libra. Damian Collins says Libra is going to be open to massive fraud Collins, chairman of the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, who led an 18-month investigation into the company following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, reiterated his negative stance to Facebook in an interview with Financial News, a London-focused financial news outlet, on July 22. A Member of Parliament (MP) at the lower house of the United Kingdom’s Parliament, Collins pointed out that Libra would …
Bitcoin (BTC) will be the ultimate benefactor from interest in Facebook Libra and cryptocurrencies, billionaire Tim Draper has said. Bridges to a ‘Bitcoin environment’ Speaking to CNBC in an interview on July 19, Draper, who is well known as a Bitcoin advocate, defended both Libra and Bitcoin against recent pressure from governments, particularly in the United States. Asked whether the world was now in a post-Bitcoin environment, he argued that Bitcoin represented the true innovation from the cryptocurrency world, and would ultimately be the tool that reshaped borders, finance and government power. “I think all these other cryptos are bridges …
Benoit Coeure, a board member of the European Central Bank, said that Facebook’s Libra coin will not launch until global regulators are satisfied. Speaking to Reuters at the G7 summit in Chantilly, France on July 18, Coeure said that the proposed stablecoin must be guaranteed to be safe for users before it can launch: “You’ve got to be safe, robust and resilient from day one. It’s not a learning process: either it works or it doesn’t.” Coeure stated that guaranteeing the protection of user privacy and ownership rights may require significant consideration and lengthy discussion by regulators: “Down the road …
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 Libra hearings: Hostility and criticism as Congress grills Facebook executive A godsend to drug dealers. More dangerous than 9/11. A global economic threat. Congress was given two days to grill the head of Facebook’s Calibra wallet, David Marcus, over the upcoming Libra cryptocurrency, and it didn’t hold back. The Senate Banking Committee went first on …