Sweden tests e-krona / Brazil's instant payment system / Video of Ripple CEO interview

Inside Bitcoin.

Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Market Watch: Coin prices have taken a tumble during Thursday trading. Reports suggest a 20-minute bearish sell-off took the market by surprise. Bitcoin: $9,624 (⬇️ 4.61%) // $175.4 billion market cap. Ethereum: $261 (⬇️ 6.24%) // $28.6 billion market cap. XRP: $0.276 (⬇️ 5.99%) // $12.1 billion market cap. Bitcoin Cash: $380 (⬇️ 8.35%) // $6.9 billion market cap. Top 100 Winner: Kyber Network: $0.548 (⬆️ 22.18%) // $95 million market cap.  Top 100 Loser: WAX: $0.046 (⬇️ 21.81%) // $48 million market cap.  Prices are as of 15:20 p.m. ET. 1. Sweden has reportedly started testing an e-krona. The pilot program will be in operation until February 2021. According to reports, if and when the coin is released, it would boost traditional payments and banking activities. Sweden's pilot program brings it one step closer to the release of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which has gained momentum following the release of Facebook's Libra white paper project last June. Aside from Sweden, the Bahamas is another country that rolled out its digital dollar pilot program in December. The country is planning to introduce the coin throughout the second half of 2020. -COINTELEGRAPH 2. The Central Bank of Brazil has announced it is planning to launch an instant payment system, which will be in operation in November 2020. The system called the Brazilian Instant Payment Scheme (PIX) is designed to perform business-to-business and peer-to-peer transactions in 10 seconds via mobile, internet banking, or ATMs. According to an announcement from the central bank, "it is mandatory for all financial institutions and payment institutions licensed by the BCB, with more than 500,000 active customer accounts, to participate in PIX." -BCB A MESSAGE FROM VIRTWAY Virtual 3D Business Events: Cutting costs and sky-rocketing results with Virtway Events’ Technology Traditional events are expensive, time-consuming and their environmental cost is high. Virtway Events' 3D technology is invigorating corporate events of all sizes allowing people to connect with a personal device, network in real-time and engage in a life-like way. Meetings, conferences or fairs, the possibilities are endless. Ask For a Free Demo Now! 3. Throwback Thursday: Bitcoin tops $1,000 Back on Feb. 21, 2017, Bitcoin enjoyed its longest-ever stretch above $1,000, providing traders with evidence of support at this price, according to Coin Desk data at the time. It had been trading over this level since February 14. Prior to that run, Bitcoin's longest time above the $1,000 mark was from Feb. 2 to Feb. 9, 2017. At the time, Petar Zivkovski, COO of leveraged cryptocurrency trading platform Whaleclub, spoke of the coin's strong performance, stating: "The only pullback we've seen on the rise above $1,000 is from $1,070 to $1,040, which is a healthy sign of bullishness." During the bull run of December 2017, Bitcoin would go on to reach heights of over $20,000. 4. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said in an interview that while at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, someone pointed out to him that "crypto is still a bad word here." Speaking with CNN, Garlinghouse went on to say that he is doing a lot of work meeting with regulators, explaining how crypto can be used and how it can solve a "real problem." He added that "once regulators understand you're not circumventing regulatory frameworks they get very comfortable very quickly." -@JCHATTERLEYCNN/TWITTER A MESSAGE FROM SALESFORCE Drive Productivity for Enterprise Employees with Salesforce Learn how savvy IT departments can provide better workplace technology as the key to improving employee experience and driving organizationwide growth. Learn More 5. In an earnings call, Ewen Stevenson, group chief financial officer at HSBC, has revealed that the bank plans to cut 35,000 jobs by the end of 2022 while continuing to invest in digital systems and solutions. Adding to this, Noel Quinn, group chief executive, said: "In Retail Banking, we will expand our products offering and increase our investment in digital. We'll refocus our Retail Banking presence to serve globally mobile clients, reducing our branch network in the US by around 30%." -THE MOTLEY FOOL 6. Bitcoin Gold is reportedly being held by a single group of people who are controlling nearly half of its circulating supply. That's according to an analyst, who has decided to remain anonymous in a blog post. According to the person's findings, they have been watching Bitcoin Gold for about a year, stating that around 5,000 to 10,000 BTGs were being taken off the market daily. Explaining matters further, the individual said that from Aug. 16, 2018, to July 22, 2019, a person or persons entered margin long positions for the asset on Bitfinex, amounting to almost 2 million Bitcoin Gold coins. According to the analyst, the 1.9 million BTG coins held on Bitfinex represents between 38 percent and 48 percent of Bitcoin Gold's total supply. -ONLY FORESIGHT 7. Crypto exchange Coinbase is searching for a head of stablecoin to join the company and refine its roadmap for its USDC coin. Jacob Horne, product manager at the San Franciso-based company, posted the announcement on his Twitter page with a link to the job posting. Managed by Coinbase and payments technology company Circle, USDC is described in the job ad as "one of the world's largest stablecoins and critical infrastructure for the open financial system." The successful candidate will write specifications and manage engineering teams to create a platform that others want to build on, manage relationships with key partners, and work with internal teams to provide features of the stablecoin. Coinbase is asking for six years of total experience, with two years in crypto. -@JS_HORNE/TWITTER As one Twitter user said, they "wouldn't accept a position in SF unless it paid half a million a year and a $25k relocation package." Do you think you could make the move to San Francisco to take up the role? Hit reply and let us know. 8. Coinbase has said that it has become the "first pure-play crypto company" and been approved by Visa as a principal member. The membership will enable the crypto platform to "further improve the customer experience making it easier to spend cryptocurrency in everyday situations." Coinbase has been working with Visa since 2019 with the launch of its Coinbase Card in the U.K. The Visa debit card enables customers to spend their crypto as they would if it was money in their bank accounts. Since its launch, the card has been made available in 29 markets who are able to spend 10 cryptocurrencies in millions of retailer locations. -COINBASE/MEDIUM 9. South Korean crypto startup Contents Protocol has announced that it is shutting down following "regulatory uncertainties in cryptocurrency and [a] lack of business prospect." In a post on the company's website, it said that based on legal opinion and advice from law firms in Korea and Singapore, it will refund investors as much as $7.5 million worth of Ether raised during its initial coin offering (ICO). Contents Protocol, which was designed to incentivize content sharing by rewarding users who rated and reviewed films and TV on its platform, noted in its announcement that it had faced "numerous difficulties in encouraging participation" due to "negative perception toward cryptocurrency, price volatility and complex user experience." -CONTENTS PROTOCOL 10. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is inviting crypto companies and advocates to attend a March 3 summit, where they will have the chance to talk about how the agency can "balance taxpayer service with regulatory enforcement." It's not known who will be in attendance; however, according to an invitation, panelists from the private sector and the government "will share their views and engage with the audience, which will include IRS personnel from across the spectrum of tax administration, and individuals from other bureaus or offices within the Department of Treasury." The summit will include four 90-minute panels focusing on technology updates, issues for cryptocurrency exchanges, tax return preparation, and regulatory guidance and compliance. -BLOOMBERG TAX 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. Edited by Beth Duckett, staff writer at Inside. Ad Your 3D Space for Conferences. Ad Empower everyone to build apps fast with low code on the Lightning Platform.

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