This week is crucial for the future of Libra: Facebook's cryptocurrency project will be subject to two back-to-back hearings in the United States Congress. First, the Senate Banking Committee will discuss the token on July 16. Then, on the following day, Libra will be reviewed by the House Financial Services Committee. The cryptocurrency’s co-creator, David Marcus, has announced that he will testify at both hearings. Libra has been making waves worldwide since its white paper was unveiled in June. Specifically, the project has been experiencing massive political and regulatory pushback. Financial institutions of numerous countries, including the U.S., Japan, China, …

United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin shares President Donald Trump’s concerns on the use of cryptocurrency to finance illicit activity, and stresses the role of enforcing FinCEN regulations with respect to crypto-dealing organizations. Mnuchin made his remarks at a press conference on July 15. Mnuchin called the use of cryptocurrencies to fund illicit activity a national security issue, saying that billions of dollars have been used for this purpose: “Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have been exploited to support billions of dollars of illicit activity, like cybercrime, tax evasion, extortion, randomware, illicit drugs, human trafficking […] This is indeed a national …

The United Kingdom Finance Minister Philip Hammond said that regulators and not lawmakers should decide on how to regulate Facebook’s stablecoin Libra, CNBC reported on July 15. In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Hammond said that lawmakers should not decide to require the social media giant Facebook to acquire a bank license as it is “an issue for regulators to determine, not for politicians to determine.” Hammond said that Libra could be “a very positive thing” once it is properly regulated, and added: “We’re not going to turn our back to it or try to stop it. We’re going …

The United States Senate Banking Committee has released the opening statements of David Marcus, head of Facebook’s crypto wallet Calibra today, July 15. The statements come ahead of a hearing on the Libra cryptocurrency project tomorrow in the Senate, in which Marcus will testify. In his testimony, Marcus raised the issue of Facebook’s upcoming stablecoin Libra and its associated digital wallet Calibra, which have previously drawn criticism from both community members, lawmakers and leading industry players. Specifically, Marcus delivered comments on the structure and management of Libra and Calibra and their implications for commerce and consumers. Marcus writes that no …

Coming every Sunday, the 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 Trump tweets opposition to crypto, specifically Libra and Bitcoin Shrinking violet Donald Trump doesn’t often share his views, so it was refreshing to see him share an opinion for once on Twitter. The United States president declared that he isn’t a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — telling his 61.9 million followers they …

A drafted bill entitled “Keep Big Tech out of Finance” has surfaced online, allegedly deriving from within the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. The document’s metadata dates it July 12. The bill’s provenance is unconfirmed, but crypto news site The Block quotes an inside source as saying it is with the Financial Services Committee. The document reads: “A large platform utility may not establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset that is intended to be widely used as medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value, or any other similar function, as defined by the Board …

Japanese authorities are investigating the impact of Facebook’s Libra stablecoin, Cointelegraph Japan reported on July 12. Per the report, Japanese authorities have set up a liaison conference tasked with investigating the impact of Facebook’s stablecoin on monetary policy and financial stability. The conference will reportedly consist of the Bank of Japan, the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency and has already started meeting this week. The report claims that the objective of the newly formed group is to coordinate policies that would address the consequences of Libra’s implementation on regulation, tax, monetary policy, and payments settlement. Unspecified officials …

Ethereum’s co-founder Mihai Alisie is extremely concerned that Facebook is attempting to hoodwink regulators into approving a centralized “cryptocurrency,” according to a report by Bloomberg on July 11. In an interview with Bloomberg, Alisie stressed that Facebook is attempting to get regulator approval for its yet-to-be-released virtual currency Libra by claiming that it will not be centrally controlled by Facebook, or other business giants, five years down the line. Alisie reportedly said that Facebook intends "to mislead the regulators who have learned in the last few years that blockchain is not something that can easily be regulated [...] It should …

When people outside of crypto think of John McAfee, they think computers, cybersecurity, anti-virus software. But in the world of crypto and blockchain, you think of a yacht in tropical waters, passionate — and sometimes, admittedly, inebriated — tweets on tech and crypto... and an enviable amount of partying. When I called McAfee to talk on record, he was sitting at a table outside a cafe in Cuba with palm trees and patches of blue sky behind him. We talked about McAfee’s presidential campaign in the United States, his relationship with the U.S. government, cryptocurrency mass adoption and why he’s …

Dallas Mavericks basketball team owner and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban defined Facebook’s Libra stablecoin a big mistake in an interview with CNBC published on July 12. During his interview, Cuban commented on the social media giant’s cryptocurrency endeavors. He said: “I’m not a big fan of what they’re doing there. [...] I think it’s a big mistake.” Cuban reportedly explained that he is more concerned about Libra’s global impact than the impact it will have in the United States. Per the report, he noted that “globally and in countries where there isn’t a lot of rule of law, or a …

The Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve has said that a globally adopted cryptocurrency system could conceivably remove the need for reserve currencies. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee on July 11, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell gave his analysis of whether a cryptocurrency system with global prevalence could diminish — or even go so far as to remove the need for — so-called anchor currencies. With the U.S. dollar de facto the world’s dominant reserve currency, Powell acknowledged the possibility of a preeminent cryptocurrency redrawing the current financial landscape — yet noted that as of yet, this has stopped …

Bank of England governor Mark Carney said that people need to acknowledge the issues Facebook is attempting to solve with Libra, regardless of the project’s potential downsides. Carney delivered his remarks at the Financial Stability Report press conference as seen on the Bank of England’s YouTube channel on July 11. Carney said: “It’s way too expensive to do domestic payments. It’s way too slow, and that hurts consumers and businesses. It stifles innovation, and it’s far too expensive to send money cross-border, and there are huge financial inclusion issues related to that and costs related to that. So, while we …