Social media giant Facebook will unveil the Libra Association, which will operate its bespoke cryptocurrency Libra, on June 18, cryptocurrency news outlet The Block reported on June 14. Per the report, Facebook and dozens of its partners will unveil the Libra Association — which will be based out of Geneva — as the entity that will oversee the company’s Libra cryptocurrency project. During the event, the company is also expected to launch the testnet of its blockchain. The Block claims to have seen an unspecified blog post from Facebook, according to which the Libra crypto asset will be hosted on …

Disclaimer: This article has been updated following revisions. Jack Dorsey, the founder of social media website Twitter and mobile payments provider Square, went into depth on his plans for his new team dedicated to improving the crypto sector at Square in an interview with The Next Web on June 14. According to Dorsey, this initiative, Square Crypto, will add to the fiat payment company’s operations by providing an infrastructure for frictionless internet payments. Right now, he says that regulations and partnerships slow Square down — obstacles that he hopes to avoid in the future with an improved crypto infrastructure: “Just …

Facebook has reportedly hired Standard Chartered Bank’s head of public affairs Ed Bowles for its cryptocurrency project, the Financial Times reports on June 14. Per the report, Facebook hired the senior bank lobbyist in anticipation of the greater regulatory scrutiny in Europe over its plans to launch its own crypto asset and other financial services to its 2.4 billion users. Bowles will join the company in September, and will reportedly be its London-based director of public policy. Earlier today, news broke that Facebook has allegedly sealed backing from over a dozen firms that include Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Uber for …

The former chief technology officer at 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, Hanno Basse, has joined Live Planet as the president of its Decentralized Media Solutions division, according to a press release on June 11. According to the report, Basse is expected to work on the division’s blockchain-based video infrastructure platform, the VideoCoin Network, as well as its virtual reality (VR) streaming and publishing services. Basse has contributed to a number of tech innovations that are now standard in modern media, such as HD, 3D, 4K-UHD Blu-ray Disc format, High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology for consumers and on-demand services, per the …

Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) developer cooperative dOrg has created a limited liability company (LLC) to grant its native DAO legal status, according to a report by independent law firm Gravel & Shea on June 11. As its name implies, a DAO is a firm with no centralization or hierarchy, and is instead governed by open source digital rules on a blockchain — a smart contract — and operated publicly by users via a consensus voting mechanism. According to Gravel & Shea, the native DAO of dOrg, underpinned by the DAOstack framework, is now the first legally established entity of its …

Earlier this week, Dutch billionaire John De Mol launched a lawsuit against Facebook over crypto ads using his image without permission. De Mol claims that consumers have lost as much as 1.7 million euros (over $1.9 million) due to the ads, and his reputation was damaged as a result. It is not the first time the California-based media giant is being sued over fake bitcoin ads — and, despite Facebook’s efforts to eliminate the problem, it seems that the issue persists. Brief introduction to Facebook’s relationship with crypto ads In January 2018, Facebook became the first major social media platform …

More details are now emerging regarding high-level executives for social media giant Facebook’s crypto project, according to a report by CNBC on June 6. According to the report, there are now 100 people known to be working on the crypto project via profiles on professional networking platform LinkedIn. Facebook is also reportedly not done hiring, with over 40 openings still available in the team’s business unit, as per its website listing. The aim of Facebook’s new crypto project, according to advertising on its career descriptions, is to provide a public service centered on accessibility: “Our ultimate goal is to help …

Major Portuguese sports club SL Benfica now accepts cryptocurrency for merchandise and tickets, Verdict reports on June 6. According to the report, SL Benfica partnered with cryptocurrency service Utrust to provide the new payments option. Fans and customers can now buy tickets any products on the club’s website with Utrust’s native token (UTK), or with top cryptocurrencies bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). Utrust purportedly supports instant crypto-to-fiat conversions, allowing SL Benfica to essentially pocket its revenue directly in cash. The press release explains that this allows the club to avoid issues around the volatility of cryptocurrencies, while still making use …

The University of Notre Dame and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) released a study on the speed and scale of cryptocurrency discussions on Reddit on May 13. The paper claims to be “the first to qualitatively measure and contrast discussion growth about three popular cryptocurrencies with key distinctions in motivation, usage, and implementation – Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Monero (XMR) on Reddit.” The study covered Reddit threads created in the official subreddits and the broader cryptocurrencies subs between January 2015 and January 2018. This period of time “includes the record high bitcoin price rise at the end of …

Eos (EOS) parent company Block.one has announced a blockchain-based social media platform called Voice, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on June 1. The firm claims that the platform will use the Eos blockchain to provide transparency on how it operates, without hidden algorithms or content-pushing mechanisms of which the user is unaware. In the press release, the CEO of Block.one, Brendan Blumer, compared Voice with traditional social media platforms, saying: “The truth is, current social media platforms are designed to use their users. Just look at the business model. Our content. Our data. Our attention. These are …

Co-founder of cryptocurrency investment holding firm Primitive Ventures Dovey Wan suggested that fake news circulating in China may be responsible for yesterday’s bitcoin sv (BSV) price surge. Wan posted about the fake news in a tweet on May 29. According to Wan, a screenshot circulating on Chinese social media showed a fake article about self-proclaimed bitcoin creator Craig Wright having transferred 50,000 bitcoin (BTC) from the biggest bitcoin wallet in existence to cryptocurrency exchange Binance. According to the report, the transfer would be proof that Wright is Satoshi Nakamoto and created bitcoin. The fake report posted by Wan also claims …

Mithril, a decentralized platform that rewards content creators on social networks, told Cointelegraph that they are working on expanding the acceptance of its MITH token merchant network into different categories, such as coffee shops, restaurants, sports clothing and adult entertainment platforms. For instance, the team has announced a partnership with AccuPass, a Taiwanese ticket aggregator. According to Mithril, users are now able to purchase concert tickets with its tokens. In March 2019, SWAG, an adult entertainment network that connects amateur porn models and their fans, with more than 1.5 million registered users, started to accept MITH as a payment for …