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October 17, 2019 DIGITAL DOLLAR? A top Federal Reserve official has said the U.S. central bank is talking about the potential issuance of a digital currency, as regulators worry the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency may be at risk. Speaking at a business event in Texas, Rob Kaplan, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said: “We have not at the Fed decided to pursue or drive to develop a digital currency, but it’s something we’re actively looking at and debating.” Full story LE ‘MARE: France’s Finance Minister says Libra is “unacceptable,” calling it an intrusion on state sovereignty. Writing in the Financial Times, Bruno Le Maire said the Facebook-led project is usurping the right of states to issue their own currencies, with dramatic and unforeseen repercussions. He called instead for the development of central bank digital currencies and improvements to payment methods. Full story WARMING UP: Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the U.S., has quietly tested Ripple’s distributed ledger technology and may be planning to do more with it. Ripple identified BoA as a “customer” in a presentation given at a seminar held by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) late last year. Meanwhile, the bank posted a job ad earlier this month detailing a product manager who would lead the team for a “Ripple project.” Full story LAUNCH DELAY: Telegram has notified investors that the TON blockchain project will be launched later than planned: April 30, 2020 instead of Oct. 30 this year. In an email to investors seen by CoinDesk, Telegram cited its recent run-in with the SEC, which obtained a restraining order prohibiting the messenger app company from launching TON and issuing gram tokens. The agency deemed grams to be unregistered securities. Full story NOT AN OPTION: A purported cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investment firm is in hot water with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), accused of operating like a Ponzi scheme and fleecing investors for $11 million. The CFTC said it’s charging Nevada-based Circle Society and its operator David Gilbert Saffron with fraudulently soliciting and misappropriating investor funds over an offering of binary options on forex and cryptocurrency pairs – funds that were not in fact invested. Full story BREXIT BOUNCE? Bitcoin is back above $8,000 and markets are associating the recovery with Brexit optimism after the U.K. government and the EU announced a deal breakthrough. The narrative lacks substance, though, as the deal is yet to be passed by parliament (and that’s looking quite unlikely). The recovery, therefore, could be short-lived and prices remain on track to test recent lows near $7,750. Full story   PRIVACY APPEAL: Brave, the privacy-focused internet browser that blocks web tracking, says it’s now reached 8 million monthly active users. The company also launched its Brave Ads product earlier this year, with which users are rewarded with BAT tokens for choosing to view advertising. Brave said there’s been a “surge in partnerships” for the ad product, with 385 campaigns resulting in 97 million ad confirmation events to date.   WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   Copyright © 2019 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.  Our mailing address is:  250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US  Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

South Korean charged / Venezuela's Petro-backed funds / CFTC takes action

Inside Bitcoin presented by The Ascent.

Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Market Watch: Market prices remain largely unmoved today. Bitcoin is still in over $8,000, but it's slipping closer to below this figure. Bitcoin: $8,092 (⬆️ 0.73%) // $145.6 billion market cap. Ethereum: $177 (⬆️ 1.20%) // $19.2 billion market cap. XRP: $0.296 (⬆️ 4.34%) // $12.7 billion market cap. Tether: $1 (⬇️ 0.06%) // $4.1 billion market cap. Bitcoin Cash: $219 (⬆️ 0.20%) // $3.9 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: Synthetix Network Token: $0.684 (⬆️ 34.45%) // $94 million market cap. Top 100 Loser: V Systems: $0.067 (⬇️ 6.18%) // $123 million market cap. Prices are as of 1:22 p.m. EDT.       1. A 23-year-old South Korean man has been charged and convicted for allegedly operating the largest child porn site in the world. Jong Woo Son was the operator of the site called Welcome to Video, which distributed over one million videos involving children. Authorities were able to use de-anonymized bitcoin transactions to find users. In its years of operation, the site accepted billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to view illegal content. According to the Department of Justice, since closing the site in March 2018, agents have arrested more than 300 users in 11 countries including Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the U.K. Around 23 minor victims have been rescued in Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. who were being abused by users. –BLOOMBERG       2. Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro has announced that the government will soon create six-backed Petro funds to help boost the country's economy. The move is also designed to help Venezuela become less reliant on the U.S. The Petro was originally created to overcome U.S. sanctions. News of this comes at a time when Maduro admitted to stockpiling cryptocurrencies as part of its international reserves. Speaking last month in a televised press conference, Maduro said that "new instruments" would be activated soon so that people could do banking transactions as well as make national and international payments. –DECRYPT Why It Matters: It demonstrates that the Venezuelan government will go to any length to avoid U.S. sanctions and to remove their dependence on the country. Considering the Petro is not a recognized currency, it remains to be seen whether this will help the nation's economy or not.       A MESSAGE FROM THE ASCENT 0% APR is 100% an insane deal If you've been dreaming of a "one-card wallet", it's time to wake up and get your hands on this one that offers 0% intro APR for more than a year, and the highest cash back rate we've come across. Oh yeah, that includes double cash back in the first year, and no annual fee. Click to learn more.  3. Throwback Thursday: $13 billion loss Last October, the crypto market saw around $13 billion wiped off market prices in just three hours as major coins dropped in value. Following the boom of 2017, 2018 was a year of reckoning for the industry as holders sold their coins to reap their rewards. On October 10, Bitcoin's value fell around five percent to $6,303 while XRP and Ethereum both declined by 10 percent. According to a report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the time, they warned that the growth of the coins could present a potential threat to the global economy. Following the bull run of 2017, many were hoping that 2018 would be the year when regulators finally softened their stance toward the industry and that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Both, however, have yet to come true.       4. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has taken action against an alleged crypto Ponzi scheme. In a press release, the agency said that it was charging Nevada-based Circle Society and its operator David Gilbert Saffron with fraud and misappropriating investors funds relating to an $11 million binary options scheme. Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada ordered a freezing assets order controlled by the defendants. –COIN DESK       5. Cryptocurrency-powered web browser Brave​​​​ has announced that it has hit 8 million monthly active users. In a blog post, the platform noted that it had also reached 2.8 million daily active users and that there were now more than 290,000 Brave verified publishers. Since the launch of Brave's opt-in Brave Ads less than six months ago, it has seen 385 ad campaigns on its platform, bringing in 97 million ad confirmation events. –BRAVE BLOG       6. Bitcoin critic and economist Nouriel Roubini, also known as "Dr. Doom," has admitted that Bitcoin is "a partial store of value." He made his remark during a panel alongside the likes of Bobby Lee, Brock Pierce, and Tone Vays at the CC Forum conference in London yesterday. However, while he did concede it had some value, he went on to state that "it's not a unit of account, it's not a means of payment [and] it's not scalable." Vays later went on to Twitter to note that Roubini's comments were "baby steps" toward his opinion of cryptocurrencies. –YOUTUBE       7. In an opinion piece, Bruno Le Maire, France's economy and finance minister, has said that he "cannot countenance" Facebook's Libra. According to Le Maire, if Libra comes to fruition, it would take the power of currency away from governments. He argued that he couldn't see the monetary policy of a sovereign state falling under the control of an entity not subject to "democratic control." Germany's finance minister, Olaf Scholz, has echoed similar feelings toward Libra in the past. –FINANCIAL TIMES       8. Changpeng Zhao, CEO and founder of crypto exchange Binance, has said that the Binance Coin's (BNB) more than 50 percent price drop from its all-time high in June, doesn't "make much sense" to him. According to Zhao, the last quarter has been "very productive" with the addition of services such as peer-to-peer (P2P) trading and futures trading. However, despite this the coin's price has still dropped, something the CEO isn't sure as to why. –COINTELEGRAPH       9. IBM is teaming up with Raw Seafoods Inc. to improve seafood safety with the use of the blockchain. Starting with scallops, IBM will work with a number of boats out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who will share data about their catches. This will enable people to see exactly where and when the catch took place. It's hoped that the partnership will tackle the three concerns the deter people from eating seafood: safety, sustainability, and authenticity. –TECH CRUNCH       10. Telegram's TON blockchain will launch later than projected. The platform has informed investors that rather than the expected October 30 deadline, it has now moved its launch to April 30, 2020. The decision to move the launch follows after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained an order stopping it from issuing its Gram tokens, which the agency stated were unregistered securities. –THE BLOCK       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 For those who dream of a one-card wallet. Learn more here.

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