 | Presented by
 | | | | | | 1. Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, is bidding to host a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub for digital currency research. In a petition to the Swedish parliament, the central bank states that it "wishes to put itself forward as a candidate for the establishment of such an innovation hub in Sweden and needs to undertake to co-finance the hub's activities." However, it goes on to add that as the Riksbank can't currency finance these activities, it wishes to propose an amendment to the Sveriges Riksbank Act so that it can finance such activities in the country. Turning its attention to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), such as the e-krona, the petition reads: "Given that the Riksbank has already come a long way in analyzing CBDC, it can, just as BIS requires from a hub, quickly supply analyses on the basis of already established collaboration between the public sector, private sector, academics and other central banks." Riksbank is asking parliament to allocate $3,203,500 a year for five years of Innovation Hub operations. -RIKSBANK |     | | | 2. Crypto lender BlockFi is increasing interest rates on Bitcoin and Ether, effective April 1. | | | A MESSAGE FROM LINKEDIN LEARNING | | | Learn In-demand Skills to Achieve Your Professional Goals People who learn are 24% more likely to feel happy at work. Achieve your professional goals by learning practical skills using LinkedIn Learning personalized online courses taught by real-world expert instructors. Start Your Free Trial 
| | 3. Coinbase Card users who have Android phones no longer have to use the physical card. In an announcement from today, crypto platform Coinbase said that this was made possible through an integration with Google Pay. Google Pay copies the physical card for offline buys through the phone's near-field communication (NFC) chip. Both smartphones and smartwatches can be used with it. From today, Coinbase Card payments using Google Pay are available to customers in Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, the Republic of Ireland, and the U.K., according to the announcement. Coinbase adds that it is working to expand to other European countries later this year. The platform said: "With Google Pay, Android users can pay for everything from daily travel to end-of-year getaways using their crypto in the safest possible way." -COINBASE |  | | | | | 5. Opera's mobile and desktop browsers is expanding its crypto payment options for U.S. users, enabling them to purchase Bitcoin and Ether through Apple Pay and debit cards. | | | 6. DomainTool's research team has discovered a fake coronavirus Android app that attempts to claim a Bitcoin ransom. | | | 7. Mike Novogratz, CEO and founder of Galaxy Digital, has said there are three common and costly mistakes traders often make. Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs partner, was highlighting these points during an Off the Chain podcast with host Anthony Pompliano. This is what Novogratz had to say: - "The biggest mistake that people make is that, when a market breaks, everyone thinks it's time to get back in way too early. Shit always gets worse than you think it's going to. I sometimes make the mistake, but I tell myself 'Hey, when you want to buy something, go on a long walk, then come back a week later and look at it,' and it's usually worse off. Once they start going bad, they kind of stay bad for a while."
- "Pick a story where the fundamentals are turning positive, are things getting better at the margins, or worse at the margins? So, if you can see things turning better at the margins, that usually starts the cycle where things get better."
- "This doesn't mean you can't buy bombed out things and sell them, but what you're really trying to do, when there is this evisceration, is buy things that you can hold for a long time."
- Turning his attention to Bitcoin, he said that he doesn't "think we'll see an acceleration of Bitcoin unless we see there's deflation." His remarks come at a time when he claims that investors have lost confidence in Bitcoin. Posting a tweet last Friday, Novogratz said: "$btc was always a confidence game. All crypto is. And it appears global confidence in just about anything has evaporated. What brings it back to $btc." -OFF THE CHAIN/YOUTUBE
|  | | | | | 8. Motor manufacturer Toyota, along with Toyota Financial Services Corporation, has announced that its Toyota Blockchain Lab - first launched last April - is seeking to boost its blockchain technology initiatives. | | | 9. Market participants have said that retail crypto investors are doing most of the buying as institutional investors sell their Bitcoin along with stocks amid the coronavirus global sell-off. | | | 10. In Case You Missed It (ICYMI): There should be a virtual currency for toilet paper. | | | 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. | | | | | | | |
