 | Presented by
 | | | | | | 1. Italy's Banco Sella is to launch a Bitcoin trading service to 1.2 million during the coronavirus pandemic. While the country is in lockdown, the bank is turning its attention to Bitcoin, which is seeing increased interest from citizens who view it as a safe way to transfer money internationally. The bank is offering digital currency trading services on its Hype platform, with the bank acting as an intermediary to prevent potential security risks with crypto exchanges. Speaking of the decision, Antonio Valitutti, general manager at Hype, said: "The cryptocurrency and Bitcoin market in particular continues to arouse interest, especially among the public that constitutes our customer base - by definition young and smart and who, increasingly, expect to be able to access this world through the tool that they use to manage money on a daily basis." Crypto company Conio has also announced that they will be offering an additional Bitcoin wallet on the Hype platform. This is alongside of buying and selling, and the safe custody of digital assets. -FINANCE MAGNATES |  |     | | | 2. India is planning to regulate crypto. That's according to a new report from Bloomberg Quint, which we cover more in depth in today's report. | Notably, though, even if they are regulated, they may not be allowed for use in payment systems, and they won't be permitted as legal tender. To read the full story, click below to subscribe to our premium edition of Inside Cryptocurrency. SUBSCRIBE TO PREMIUM  | | | | A MESSAGE FROM LINKEDIN LEARNING | | | Learn In-demand Technology Skills To Achieve Your Goals Stay on top of rapidly changing technology advancements with LinkedIn Learning online courses taught by real-world expert instructors. From certification preparation training to learning the fundamentals on topics such as Network Administration, Cloud Computing and more. Start Your Free Trial 
| | 3. Follow Friday: Journalist Leigh Cuen Cuen is a technology reporter at CoinDesk. She's also written for Newsweek Japan, International Business Times, and Racked, and her work has also been published by Teen Vogue, Al Jazeera English, The Jerusalem Post, Mic, and Salon. Since 2018, Cuen has focused on the crypto and blockchain space and in that time she has become a well-known journalist in the industry. Cuen's work focuses on a range of issues such as political, social, and cultural issues that focus on how people adapt to the systems in their lives. Some of her recent articles cover medical equipment in Iran during the coronavirus lockdown, or the cost of coronavirus if someone doesn't have medical insurance. You can follow her on Twitter @La__Cuen. 
| | | | | 5. PAX Gold (PAXG), a major cryptocurrency pegged to physical gold, has rolled out trading against the Swiss franc and the British pound, which will be available for trading on Smart Valor, a digital asset exchange. PAX Gold is available to be traded against four fiat currencies: the Swiss Franc, the British pound, the euro, and the U.S. dollar. It is also trading against Bitcoin and Tether. Kyle Libra, Product Director at Paxos, said: "Given the volatile market environment, it's important that investors around the world can access this safe haven asset quickly and easily," adding that PAX Gold does this. According to Olga Feldmeier, CEO of Smart Valor, the listing of PAX Gold came amid increasing financial pressure, which has been intensified with the coronavirus outbreak. -PAXOS | | | | | 6. A study by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has found that while 80 percent of Australians know about cryptocurrency, only 1 percent use it. The study's findings were revealed in its Consumer Payment Behaviour in Australia report. Looking at new payment methods, the report's authors state that a majority of the respondents had heard of newer means of payment, with the highest awareness around buy now, pay later (BNPL) services and the ability to tap and go with their phones or various wearables. However, turning to crypto, the report said: "Although many respondents had heard of 'cryptocurrencies', very few had used a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin to actually make a consumer payment over the past year," adding that less than 1 percent had done so. Cash, on the other hand, has seen a drop in use to 27 percent in 2019, compared to 37 percent in 2016. -RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA |  | | | | | 7. Authorities in India have arrested a woman who allegedly stole 64 Bitcoins, worth around $430,000, from her former employee. Ayushi Jain, who worked for Bengaluru-based Bitcipher Labs, is reported to have stolen the Bitcoins earlier this year. Ashish Singhal, the co-founder of the company, noticed the irregularity and filed a complaint with police, which eventually led to the arrest of Jain. Singhal is reported as saying: "Me, Vimal Sagar Tiwari and Govind Kumar Soni hold a hard wallet on behalf of BitCipher Labs. The private keys were held among the three of us. Recently, we found that 63.5 bitcoins (Rs 36,662,259) were stolen and transferred through the exchange of SwapLab between January 11 and March 11." Police took the woman into custody on Wednesday and have recovered the stolen funds. Another report suggests that she stole the coins in order to start her own crypto exchange. -THE TIMES OF INDIA | | | | | 8. A key government figure in Japan has said that the country needs a central bank digital currency (CBDC) so that the Japanese yen isn't forgotten. In an interview, Kozo Yamamoto, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Member of the House of Representatives and a former official at the Ministry of Finance, spoke about the three roles of money: a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. According to him, companies such as Facebook should be able to issue tokens, controlling the medium of exchange and store of value. However, when it came to the unit of account, this should be controlled by the government. Explaining further, he said: "If Japan doesn't issue a digital currency and people in the world use other digital currencies, the Japanese yen will be forgotten and lose its sovereignty." Last month, Yamamoto said in an interview that Japan should create its own yen digital currency, hopefully "within two to three years." -COINTELEGRAPH |  | | | | | 9. Tezos Foundation, a non-profit behind the development of the Tezos protocol, had $635 million in total assets as of January, of which 47 percent of these were held in Bitcoin. The information, which was published in its second biannual report, also showed that it held 23 percent of its Tezos token, XTZ, and a stability fund, which amounted to 15 percent that consists of bonds, commodities, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). You can download the report here. -TEZOS FOUNDATION | | | | | 10. Blockchain may still have a chance to flourish during these difficult times, according to Yu Jianing, a Huobi University Principal. In a live broadcast, titled "Global Financial Storm Siren, How to Use the New Thinking of Blockchain to Turn Crisis into Opportunity," Jianing said: "Without the financial crisis of 2008, there would be no birth of Bitcoin and again without the financial crisis of 2020, there will be no prosperity of blockchain." Jianing explained further by stating that the coronavirus crisis, which is impacting global markets, is the end of the old model and the beginning of a new one. "For true innovators, the best time to act is always now," Jianing added. -COIN WORLD NEWS | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | |
