Libra could displace dollar / Telegram investors vote no / Banks need to support crypto

Inside Bitcoin presented by Odoo.

Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Market Watch: Bitcoin saw its value drop $500 yesterday, which happened to coincide with Mark Zuckerberg's Libra hearing in front of Congress. It has yet to recover as it hovers below $7,500 during Thursday trading. Bitcoin: $7,492 (⬇️ 2.10%) // $134.9 billion market cap. Ethereum: $162 (⬇️ 0.02%) // $17.5 billion market cap. XRP: $0.274 (⬇️ 1.55%) // $11.8 billion market cap. Tether: $1.01 (⬇️ 0.02%) // $4.1 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: iExec RLC: $0.398 (⬆️ 24.60%) // $31.8 million market cap. Top 100 Loser: Newton: $0.003 (⬇️ 5.79%) // $44 million market cap. Prices are as of 12:30 p.m. EDT.       1. U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman (D-California), who is known for his negative views on crypto, has returned to voice his opinion again. Speaking during the latest hearing over Facebook's Libra stablecoin yesterday, Sherman warned that if crypto achieved its objectives it could displace or interfere with the U.S. dollar. Back in May, Sherman called on colleagues to ban cryptocurrencies, stating during remarks at the time that cryptocurrencies threaten to take power away from American foreign policy and to reduce the rule of law. –YOUTUBE       2. Investors in Telegram's blockchain network and its Gram token sale have voted against the return of their money despite the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declaring the token offering illegal. As per the vote, investors agreed to the postponing of the Telegram Open Network (TON) until April 30. It was originally projected to launch by October 31, which was when it was expected to issue the Gram tokens. Yesterday was, reportedly, the deadline that investors had to decide whether they wanted a 77 percent refund of their investment. However, now that they have chosen to vote against the refund, Telegram can spend a further $80 million of the $1.7 billion it had already raised. –FORBES RUSSIA       A MESSAGE FROM ODOO New Conference: Odoo Connect 2019 [Business Software]   Business leaders, entrepreneurs, CEOs/Founders, IT professionals, and developers from around the world come together for 3 days of workshops, presentations, and business software demos to help businesses connect their teams and scale their growth. Inside subscribers are invited to get a free pass! Free Pass   3. Throwback Thursday: the creation of Bitcoin Gold On October 24, 2017, a hard fork of Bitcoin was created. This was the second in the space of two months and produced Bitcoin Gold. On August 1, 2017, Bitcoin Cash was born. Bitcoin Gold's main purpose was to change the proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm used in mining, meaning that the process of mining couldn't run faster on specialized equipment compared to standard computer systems. In July 2018, a new mining algorithm was introduced. Prior to implementing the algorithm, Bitcoin Gold was hit by a 51 percent hashing attack in May. As a result, hackers were able to falsify the currency's ledger and steal $18 million from online exchanges. Platforms such as Bittrex later delisted it. A 51 percent attack stems from a malicious actor who is able to obtain over half of the mining power on a crypto network. In this case, those involved were able to do so by using superior computing power.       4. Zeeshan Feroz, U.K. CEO of Coinbase, has said that centralized organizations such as central banks need to support the crypto space. In his opinion, two avenues can assist crypto in becoming mainstream: central banks and Facebook's Libra. He argued that a central bank digital currency could "catalyze adoption" that Silicon Valley isn't able to do. Whereas, Facebook "with the billions of users that they have," could help to challenge what people already know and help bring in something new. He went on to say that people can't purchase crypto if there isn't a centralized company to maintain relationships with banks. –CNBC       5. Germany's finance ministry has said that so-called privacy coins such as Monero are more likely to be used for illegal purposes than Bitcoin. According to a report it published, Monero better enables anonymous transaction opportunities in terrorist financing and money laundering. It further noted that due to the coin's increasing popularity, it's likely that it "will gain more practical relevance in the future." –DECRYPT       6. U.S. Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina) has said that he wants regulators' default answer to crypto innovation to be "yes." He said that it was better for those on Capitol Hill to learn as much as they can about the industry rather than rushing to stamp it out. In his opinion, the market has evolved where it now needs smarter regulation. –UNCHAINED PODCAST       7. Tencent has admitted that Facebook's proposed Libra stablecoin would be a serious threat to its payment service WeChat Pay. In a blockchain whitepaper released this week, Tencent stated that if Libra launched, it would not only affect traditional finance, but also internet companies that have payment ecosystems. Tencent, however, didn't provide any insight as to how it could mitigate the potential threat. –EJINSIGHT       8. Since launching in 2012, Coinbase has generated near to $2 billion in trading fees. Speaking Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit yesterday, co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the crypto platform had become profitable since 2017. Calling what he has helped create as the "anti-unicorn unicorn," Armstrong said that most of the profit has been put back into the company to create new products. Aside from that he spoke about Facebook's Libra, which Coinbase is backing, and said that he couldn't see why the reaction was a negative one from global regulators. In his opinion, he wants to see America "embrace this area of innovation." –VANITY FAIR       9. Research shows that 42 percent of blockchain industry employees work for exchanges. The research looked at 158 companies, with nearly 7,700 people working at 30 different platforms. Out of the 158 firms, Bitmain, Coinbase, Huobi, and OKEx take the lead, with 1,500, 1,300, 1,000, and 950 people, respectively. –THE BLOCK       10. Business 5.0 expert John Straw has said that the blockchain could kill off the City of London and the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS). According to him, if someone builds a blockchain peer-to-peer (P2P) financial system that scales, there won't be a need for banks. He went on to say that if there are no clearing houses and no tax is paid, who will pay for the NHS? –COMPUTING       This newsletter was written and curated by Rebecca Campbell. She has been writing and reporting on various industries for the past 10 years, more specifically tech in the last three. Connect with her on Twitter. Editor: David Stegon (senior editor at Inside, whose reporting experience includes cryptocurrency and technology).       Ad Want to attend Odoo Connect? Visit the event page to get a free ticket at odoo.com/inside

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