President Donald Trump on Thursday night warned Facebook over its plan to create digital currency Libra, a move that poses a new obstacle to the company’s cryptocurrency ambitions. From a report: “Facebook Libra’s ‘virtual currency’ will have little standing or dependability. If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject…
Tag: cryptocurrencies
Hong Kong Protests ‘Show The Dangers of a Cashless Society’
“Allowing cash to die would be a grave mistake. A cashless society is a surveillance society,” writes Reason, adding that “The recent round of protests in Hong Kong highlights exactly what we have to lose…” schwit1 shared their report: [T]ens of thousands of Hongkongers took to the streets to protest what they saw as creeping tyranny from a powerful threat. But…
Iran Seizes 1,000 Bitcoin Mining Machines Using Subsidized Power
Iranian authorities have seized about 1,000 bitcoin mining machines in two abandoned factories, after warnings that the activity had led to a spike in consumption of government-subsidized electricity. Reuters reports: “Two of these bitcoin farms have been identified, with a consumption of one megawatt,”; Arash Navab, a power official in the central province of Yazd, told the television. The machines, which…
Bitcoin Surges Past $11K. Is It Finally Gaining Acceptance?
The price of Bitcoin surged past $11,000 today — less than 24 hours after surging past $10,000. Ars Technica points out Bitcoin’s price has tripled in less than six months, “after crashing from an all-time high around $19,500 in December 2017.” And as the price of Ethereum rose above $300 for the first time in nearly a year, Mashable writes that…
Report Finds Quadriga Founder Stole Clients’ Cryptocurrency Before Death
lazarus writes: As part of the investigation being done by Ernst & Young into the mismanagement of client’s cash and cryptocurrency at Quadriga Fintech Solutions Corp they have found that the late founder and CEO Gerald Cotten transferred client’s cryptocurrency to personal accounts on rival exchanges and heavily traded on them. “Competitor exchanges received multiple forms of cryptocurrencies from Quadriga wallets…
Bank of America CEO: ‘We Want a Cashless Society’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Yahoo Finance: Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan embraced the digital money movement on Wednesday, saying his firm has “more to gain than anybody” from the booming trend of non-cash transactions. “We want a cashless society,” Moynihan, who heads up the second largest U.S. bank, told attendees at Fortune’s Brainstorm Finance conference. He pointed…
Calibra Wallet Won’t Launch in India, Facebook’s Biggest Market
An anonymous reader shares a report: Facebook unveiled its audacious Libra cryptocurrency and Calibra digital wallet on Tuesday through which it plans to transform financial services across the globe. The social juggernaut made clear of its ambitions when it said that it wishes to empower more than 1.7 billion people around the world who currently do not have a bank account….
Facebook Announces Libra Cryptocurrency
Facebook has finally revealed the details of its cryptocurrency Libra. From a blog post: Today we’re sharing plans for Calibra, a newly formed Facebook subsidiary whose goal is to provide financial services that will let people access and participate in the Libra network. The first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra, a new global currency powered by…
Proposed Law in India Would Imprison Anyone Who Uses Cryptocurrency
Holding, selling or dealing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin could soon land people in India in jail for 10 years. From a report: The “Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019” draft in the nation has proposed 10-year prison sentence for persons who “mine, generate, hold, sell, transfer, dispose, issue or deal in cryptocurrencies.” Besides making it…
Bitcoin’s Rally Masks Uncomfortable Fact: Almost Nobody Uses It
Bitcoin has a lingering problem that few people are talking about amid the renewed exuberance of the recent price surge. From a report: Hardly anyone is using the world’s largest cryptocurrency for anything beyond speculation. Data from New York-based blockchain researcher Chainalysis show that only 1.3% of economic transactions came from merchants in the first four months of 2019, little changed…