Yves Mersch, European Central Bank’s key legal official, said that Facebook’s Libra stablecoin is “beguiling but treacherous” during a speech at the ECB’s legal conference in Frankfurt on Monday. Bloomberg reported on Mersch’s remarks in an article published on Sept. 2. Per the report, he said that private currencies have little or no prospect of establishing themselves as viable alternatives to centrally-issued legal tenders. Mersch: Only central banks can be trusted He believes that only independent central banks can grant sufficient institutional banking to make a currency reliable and win public trust. He further noted: “I sincerely hope that the …

With each passing day, Craig S. Wright’s reputation continues to take a bigger beating. This time around, a Florida court has found the self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin (BTC) to be guilty of not only submitting false documents as part of an earlier testimony but also lying about a legal dispute (related to the estate of his former partner, David Kleiman) to the United States justice system. Related: Bitcoin Creator and Superagent: What You Should Know About Craig Wright The presiding judge, Bruce Reinhart, concluded the latest hearing by ordering Wright to surrender more than $4 billion worth of cryptocurrency in …

Major file sharing company BitTorrent, a subsidiary of blockchain company Tron, is going to internally test its blockchain-based live streaming platform in Q3 2019. Platform overview BitTorrent announced the news in an official blog post on Aug. 27. According to the announcement, the streaming platform — called BitTorrent Live (BLive) — supports live video content and an instant messaging service. Additionally, its underlying system reportedly contains a top user chart and a user relationship feature. BitTorrent intends to roll out BLive in alpha, beta and full versions from Q3 2019 to Q1 2020. The current alpha version features a small …

Social media organization Kik has responded to a United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC’s) complaint alleging that Kik violated securities laws in its 2017 token fundraiser. In a court filing dated Aug. 6, Kik’s lawyers state that the SEC relied on taking quotes out of context and twisting facts in order to support their allegations. Kik further wrote that the SEC resorted to misrepresenting the facts because they have no strong evidence to support their claims: “If the Commission had strong evidence that Kik offered or promised TDE purchasers an opportunity to profit from Kik’s efforts, as part 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 …

A social media application “rewards users for their time and creativity” spent on online content. The team says it has amassed an extensive network of influencers and celebrities — as well as more than 120 global ambassadors in 20 countries. “Superfood hunter” Darin Olien, YouTube comedian Bart Baker and choreographer Antoine Troupe are among those confirmed to be joining the network. After being in invite-only mode, Appics says the beta version of its platform has opened to crypto enthusiasts and early adopters. This summer, it is planning to launch to the public at large — and hopes to build upon …

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 …

Since Bitcoin (BTC) came into the world back in 2009, the digital asset industry as a whole has grown quite exponentially — with the market reaching its apex on the break of 2017-2018. Additionally, in the midst of all this, there has been a rise in the crypto trading sector, with the total capitalization of this domain currently pegged around the $277.90 billion mark. In its most basic sense, cryptocurrency trading can be compared to forex trading because it allows enthusiasts to purchase digital assets using fiat currencies. Not only that, investors can also choose to make use of a …

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company will work as long as it takes to appease regulators’ concerns over its Libra stablecoin. Zuckerberg delivered his statements during the firms Q2 results conference call on July 24. During the call, Zuckerberg said that — some years ago — Facebook would have just released a new product without prior warning, but now the company has changed. More precisely, he stated: “We've opened a period of – however long it takes to address regulators and different experts and constituents’ questions about this and then figure out what the best way …

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 …

Bank of Thailand governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said that the institution is open to discussing Facebook’s Libra stablecoin with the company, Chinese state-run press agency Xinhuanet reported on July 19. Per the report, Santiprabhob made his remarks at the Bangkok FinTech Fair on July 19, pointing out that Facebook had already contacted the central bank many times. He also noted that the institution had established a new team to study Libra’s whitepaper, but their analysis will take time. “We are not going to rush into a decision of Libra as yet,” Santiprabhob reportedly said, continuing to emphasize the importance of security: …

Chief strategy officer at blockchain development firm Blockstream, Samson Mow, declared that he believes that Facebook should have used Bitcoin (BTC) instead of developing its own stablecoin in a series of tweets published on July 16. ‘Libra can’t be everything for everyone’ In his tweets, Mow noted that — after watching the entirety of today’s senate banking committee hearings dedicated to Libra — he came to the conclusion that “Libra is so screwed.” He explained that he had the impression that Mark Zuckerberg had no clear idea of what he is building. Mow added: “Libra can't be everything for everyone, …