The supply of the Coinbase-backed stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) has grown by 250% since the start of 2020, including an 80% expansion in just the past two months. After starting the year with a nearly $520 million market cap, USDC now ranks as the 16th-largest crypto asset with a $1.86 billion capitalization — beating out all other major stablecoins except for the $14.5 billion Tether (USDT) by at least four times. Meanwhile, other stablecoins (most of which are pegged to the value of $1 US) have also seen significant growth this year, with DAI and Binance USD expanding by 970% …

Stevan Bunnel, former general counsel for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been revealed as the Libra Association’s new leading lawyer. Since leaving the Homeland Security Department in 2017, Bunnell co-chaired the data privacy-focused legal practice O’Melveny & Myers until joining the Libra Association this month. The association’s former general counsel, Robert Werner told Bloomberg Law that he chose to depart from the position after it became clear it meant he would have to relinquish an existing position on the boards of directors for Deutsche Bank Trust Co. “Steve is an outstanding lawyer and a great guy,” Werner …

The former governor of Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan, said that private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Facebook’s Libra may have a future even when central banks roll out their own digital currencies. Rajan, who was also the Chief Economist and Research Director at the International Monetary Fund from 2003–2006, said during a CNBC podcast that one of these digital currencies might only become problematic if it were to hold a monopoly. However, he believes that there will be other private digital currencies that will play different roles and provide strong competition to existing ones. The former central banker …

While Facebook’s Libra project might have shaken the United States government the most, the aftershocks were felt all over the world. The European Union was no exception: The publication of the first Libra white paper in 2019 led to the acknowledgment that the EU was not prepared for what appeared to be the first global stablecoin that would have a direct effect on the European financial market, retail payments and its overall economy. In the words of both the European Council and the European Commission (the EU’s supreme political body and executive arm, respectively), “No global ’stablecoin’ arrangement should begin …

Despite regulators across the board giving a cold shoulder to Facebook’s ambitious plan to install a worldwide crypto-based payment system called Libra, the company’s enthusiasm for moving into the digital payments space is only mounting. Earlier this week, reports emerged that the social media hegemon has realigned its forces on this front, arranging all its payments-related subsidiaries into a single group called Facebook Financial. David Marcus, co-creator of Libra and head of the Novi (formerly Calibra) project, will take command of the new division while continuing to directly oversee the crypto effort. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also tapped former Upwork …

Facebook has launched a new product group to promote “payments and commerce opportunities” with David Marcus, Libra’s co-creator, in charge of the division. The group, called Facebook Financial — or “F2” —will run its payments projects, including a planned Facebook Pay, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The division appears to be incorporating Facebook’s previous adventures in fintech under a single umbrella, with Marcus reportedly being in charge of both Novi, the wallet for Libra previously known as Calibra, as well as recent attempts to bring payments to the WhatsApp messenger. The launch of a dedicated division suggests that the company intends …

Facing rising accusations of running monopolies, the CEOs of four of the world’s biggest tech firms are testifying before the Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee today, July 29. The hearing was originally scheduled for July 27 and was moved to 12PM EST today. It is seeing further delays today and as of 12:25 had not been called to order. Global monopolies The hearing is entitled “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 6: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.” It continues a lengthy series of investigations into the role these giant companies play. All of these firms except for …

Japan is behind the curve on the establishment of a central bank digital currency and should throw its weight behind the United States establishing a digital dollar, says Takaya Nakamura, an executive from Japanese crypto exchange Fisco. The Japanese government is reportedly planning to include consideration of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in its official economic plan soon but the country is considerably behind China’s efforts with the digital yuan. In the global competition for supremacy in digital currencies, Japan's role should be to urge the United States to take a CBDC more seriously, Nakamura told Cointegraph. “Japan no …

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 Which way Bitcoin price? Current “stablecoin” period mimics early 2017 Bitcoin’s price has hardly moved an inch in the last six weeks — barely moving 2% in either direction from its average. This long period of stagnation resembles what happened in early 2017. BTC stayed around $900 for the first three months of the year, …

UC Berkeley professor Barry Eichengreen argues that Facebook’s planned Libra stablecoin faces too many “insoluble” problems, and too much resistance from governments, to ever launch. “Libra is an interesting idea that will never see the light of day,” he told the Unitize conference on July 10. Eichengreen asserts that the stablecoin sector is largely ignorant of monetary economics and history. He said his economic work had led to invitations “to a series of lunches at excellent San Francisco restaurants with the founders and funders of prospective stablecoins.” “My conclusion was that my luncheon companions knew all about blockchain, but they …

A crypto-sympathetic official has been named as the next leader of Japan`s Financial Services Agency. Jiji Press reported on July 7 that the Japanese government has decided to appoint Ryozo Himino to the next commissioner of Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA). The official announcement will be made this month. Cointelegraph has reached out to FSA to confirm the news but has not received replies yet. Himino, currently the International Financial Deputy Counselor, is known on the international stage. Last September, he became the first Japanese Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). FSA’s new leader and …

In a June 24 webinar put on by the Chamber of Digital Commerce, major figures from the crypto community spoke about the growing role of stablecoins. Long-term view of stablecoins One of the guests was Jeremy Allaire, the founder of Circle, which is behind USD-backed stablecoin USDC. On the subject of stablecoins simplifying payments all over the world, Allaire compared the prospective upgrades to many relatively recent developments that we take for granted: “We’ll look back in the same way that we look back at long-distance calls or the way we look back at snail mail or the way we …