Facebook alters Libra plans / New BoE governor was suspicious of Libra / Libra to benefit from India's crypto ban lift

Inside Libra.

Presented by Subscribe | View in browser Dear subscribers, Here at Inside.com, we have decided to merge the Inside Libra newsletter with Inside Bitcoin. This means from next Wednesday (March 11) onward, you will no longer receive Inside Libra to your inboxes. In order for our readers to continue receiving news from the crypto industry, we will be merging readers' emails into the Inside Bitcoin list from today. If, however, you'd like to unsubscribe, you can use the link at the bottom of this email or hit reply in this message and let me know. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's continue with today's Inside Libra... 1. Facebook is reportedly altering is plans for its Libra stablecoin project following months of increasing global regulatory pressure. According to three people familiar with the matter, the social media platform has decided to offer users digital versions of government-backed currencies such as the U.S. dollar and the euro, alongside its Libra token. A report from The Information points out that Facebook will be delaying the launch of its Calibra digital wallet, which would enable users to make purchases and send and receive money, by several months. It is now expected to launch in October instead of the summer. However, when it finally launches, the wallet may have its availability restricted to whichever government-backed currencies Libra supports within the app. Reports stating that Facebook was no longer planning to support the Libra token in its digital wallet have been corrected. A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement that the company "remains fully committed to the project." Since Facebook announced Libra last June, with the aim of changing the monetary system, it has faced criticism across the globe with many concerned that it could threaten the "monetary sovereignty" of governments. With increasing pressure from regulators, several founding members of the Libra Association have bowed out, including Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Stripe, and Vodafone. -THE INFORMATION 2. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has indicated that it's confident it's well-prepared to regulate new payment technologies such as Facebook's Libra as they enter the Australian market. RBA head of payments policy Tony Richards said that the likes of Apple and Google introducing payment solutions "raise[s] the question of whether or not a domestic regulator has got sufficient influence over what's happening in our market when large global players are involved." Richards added that the RBA is being tested for the possible introduction of Libra, adding "We're getting a test of this currently with the proposal via Facebook for its new Libra coin, but that's a problem I think we can solve." -ZDNet 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. Andrew Bailey, the next governor of the Bank of England (BoE), has said he was suspicious of Facebook's Libra due to the fact that it wasn't clear whether the project was backed by assets. Bailey, who is due to start as BoE's governor on March 16, was speaking in front of the U.K. parliament recently when he made his comments. He noted that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the central bank had questioned Libra developers on whether the people owning it would have a direct claim on the assets that underpinned it. Bailey went on to say that "you could never get a completely clear answer to that question, consequence of which is I remain pretty suspicious." -REUTERS 4. According to this article, Libra and Bitcoin are to benefit from India's Supreme Court overturning a ban on crypto. The Supreme Court bench, which was headed by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman, agreed with petitioners in its 180-page ruling, stating that the ban on banks dealing with traders and companies was unreasonable. According to Jamal Hassim, founder and CEO of Bolt.Global, a cryptocurrency platform and provider of Bolt Tokens, there is now an opportunity for India to catch up and create "innovative solutions to digitize the Indian economy." He added that "the potential is innumerable. We can expect Bitcoin and other major currencies to receive a shot in the arm in the coming days as a new investor and innovator market opens up." -PAYMENTS SOURCE A MESSAGE FROM SALESFORCE The Best of Dreamforce: get how-to resources to help you drive digital transformation with the Customer 360 Platform. Whether you’re trying to connect every customer, empower every employee, or create a company culture of innovation, Dreamforce-in-a-box will show you how the Customer 360 Platform can help you reach your biggest goals. Learn More Here 5. In Case You Missed It (ICYMI): The Bank of Canada has said that it won't launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) unless Facebook's Libra succeeds. Canadian central bank officials have stated that a CBDC is only necessary if private crypto coins threaten the current financial system. According to the bank, it said: "If one or more alternative digital currencies threatened to become used widely as an alternative to the Canadian dollar [then] there would be an argument for the Bank of Canada to step in." For the Bank of Canada, if Libra, a private coin, is successful, then this would give it the push it needs to boost plans to launch a CBDC. -BLOCKONOMI 6. ICYMI: Crypto broker Tagomi has joined the Libra Association, despite several big names bowing out of the project. Tagomi is the newest member to join the organization, which has 25 employees across five offices. Tagomi will reportedly provide policy and technical support to the stablecoin project in order to make digital currency safer and to ensure it complies with global rules. Another new member of the Libra Association is eCommerce platform Shopify, which stated that it joined "to make commerce better in parts of the world where money and banking could be far better." -PYMNTS.COM 7. ICYMI: European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis released a memo toward the end of last month, noting that the European Union is unsure as to how it should proceed with Libra. In the one-page memo, it stated that "there is a need to ensure clarity about the legal status of the Libra initiative." However, it added that the information "available information on Libra and the Libra ecosystem lacks detail." In order to obtain more information, the Commission sent the Libra Association a set of questions regarding the project. The memo goes on to say that the "information provided remains insufficient" to help determine the nature of Libra and how it applies to EU law. -COIN DESK 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. 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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Bank ban busted

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March 4, 2020 BAN BUSTED: The Supreme Court of India has ruled against a decision imposed by the country's central bank nearly two years ago that stifled crypto trading in Asia's third-largest economy. The court opted Wednesday to overturn the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) ban on domestic financial institutions from providing banking services to crypto exchanges. Full story IMMEDIATE CONVENIENCE: Hours after the RBI's ban was overturned, Mumbai-based CoinDCX announced it has added support for bank account transfers, becoming the first platform in India to let users purchase cryptocurrency with Rupees directly from their bank accounts. "With renewed accessibility and convenience in purchasing cryptocurrencies, we believe that this change will have a dramatic effect in accelerating crypto adoption in India," Sumit Gupta, CoinDCX co-founder and CEO, said. Full story FORGET FINANCE? A trio of heavy hitters in the enterprise blockchain space think it’s time for big business to embrace the public ethereum blockchain, as a coordination tool rather than for large-scale financial transactions. EY, ConsenSys and Microsoft announced a new way of using ethereum to connect firms’ internal systems for resource planning. Full story HASHING REBOUND: The bitcoin network's computer processing power is growing again as major Chinese miner manufacturers gradually recover from coronavirus-prompted delays. Average hashing power over the past seven days has reached a new high of around 117.5 exahashes per second (EH/s). Full story GREEN LEDGERS: This year’s annual Hyperledger Global Forum has seen an emphasis on how blockchain can help tackle climate change. Taking center stage were discussions on how the tech can help with processes such as tracking emissions and carbon credits, or the carbon footprints of materials like cobalt for car batteries across supply chains. Full story    FRAUD WARNING: Scammers have been sending fake versions of CoinDesk's daily newsletter to try to trick recipients into visiting a suspicious "XRP giveaway" site. If you received this message, which copied our logo and design and even used our executive editor's name in the "from" field, know that it did not come from us. (Note that the actual sender's address is not a CoinDesk.com domain.) Please forward to fraud@coindesk.com and nik@coindesk.com, and block the sender if received.   LOSING GRIP? Bitcoin is just managing to keep gains above the 200-day average and may drop to recent lows near $8,400, if sellers manage to establish a foothold below the long-term support. Full story   COLLISION COURSE: CoinDesk features editor Ben Schiller and privacy-beat reporter Benjamin Powers join Markets Daily to discuss the the U.S. election in the age of bitcoin. The candidates have been largely silent on the issue of cryptocurrencies, but with trust in traditional institutions waning, the rise of a digital national currency in China, and whispers of the same in the U.S., the world of cryptocurrency is seemingly on a collision course with politics. Listen in WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER Copyright © 2020 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