Month: January 2020

Vodafone Becomes Latest Big Name Backer to Quit Libra

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British telecom giant Vodafone is the latest firm to pull out of the Libra Association, the non-profit body overseeing the Facebook-led digital coin, bringing the total number of early backers to withdraw from the project to eight. Vodafone Walks Away Both Vodafone and Libra confirmed the news last week with the departure appearing to be amicable, despite several high profile withdrawals last year coming across as less than friendly. The telecom company now says it intends to dedicate resources previously allocated for the project to its own well-established digital payment…

Kik Adviser to Face Deposition From SEC This Week

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The US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested the deposition of a representative from Kik, the former messaging app that now focuses on cryptocurrency, in its longstanding wrangle, which claims that the Canadian company violated securities laws when it carried out an ICO in 2017. On January 23, a judge in the Southern District of New York ordered Kik to divulge information detailing how its business has changed since 2018, with the company shutting down its messaging service in order to focus on cryptocurrency. Initially hoping to hear from Kik…

Bank of England is Planing to Adopt Digital Currency

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It seems like the banking industry is slowly adopting cryptocurrencies. A group of central banks has come together to assess the potential pitfalls of relying on digital currency, and one of them is the Bank of England. Central Banks Considering Idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency The Bank of England is examining how it can adopt Bitcoin, and a delegation will be meeting other officials from various banks to review this. They will be meeting the European Central Bank, Swiss National Bank, Bank of International Settlements, the Bank of…

Square Wins US Patent for Fiat-to-Crypto Payments Network

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Square, the payment services provider founded and run by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, has won a US patent to launch a new network that enables crypto-to-fiat transactions. Square was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey in their hometown of St. Louis, around the same time as Dorsey’s other company, Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), was beginning to take off. In the intervening year, Square’s white payment terminals have become synonymous with the advent of contactless payment. The new patent covers a payment system that allows users holding different assets to transact with…

Cryptocurrency Not Banned in India, According to RBI

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Over the course of the past half-decade or so, the cryptocurrency space has grown at a breakneck pace, and it is believed that it is going to keep expanding in the years to come. However, in this regard, it is also important to note that it has thrived because many nations have not outlawed crypto tokens. In this regard, India, one of the world’s biggest economies, cleared the air about its stance on cryptocurrencies. The central bank of the country, the Reserve Bank of India, stated that despite reports to…

Libra Still Faces Uphill Battle Despite Softened Swiss Stance

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A Swiss government memo appears to show a softening in the nation’s stance towards Libra, the proposed digital coin led by Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), just weeks after its former president described the project as a failure. The memo, seen by Bloomberg, shows the Swiss government refusing to rule out the possibility that Libra may one day be granted regulatory approval in Switzerland, despite major reservations being held by EU regulators. Government officials will continue to monitor the progress of the project, paying particular attention to “the form which Libra may take…

Tether and Bitfinex Unopposed to Lawsuit Consolidation

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Three plaintiffs who have been involved in three separate lawsuits against Tether and its sister company Bitfinex have moved to consolidate their cases into one class-action suit. Court filings by David Leibowitz et al., Eric Young et al., and Bryan Faubus et al., accuse Tether and Bitfinex of creating “the largest bubble in human history” after they allegedly manipulated the crypto market out of up to US$1.4 trillion. All three cases were brought against the companies off the back of longstanding claims that Tether essentially printed billions of dollars worth…

Libra Association Sets Up Five Member Oversight Committee

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The Libra Association, the non-profit organization overseeing Libra, has established a five-member Technical Steering Committee (TSC) to oversee and coordinate the technical design and development of the Libra network. The responsibilities of the TSC are to direct the technical roadmap of the Libra network, form working groups to fast track research into specific issues, guide codebase development, and build a healthy and engaged community of developers. The association has said that the establishment of the oversight committee is an important step forward in realizing its vision of a self-governing and…

Telegram Token Sales Canceled By Liquid Exchange

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Japan-based Liquid Exchange has canceled the sale of Telegram’s Gram tokens and returned funds to customers as the messaging app company remains embroiled in an SEC lawsuit. The exchange has said that it is acting in compliance with the investor agreement, which states that Telegram’s Open Network (TON) should have been launched by October 31, 2019; otherwise it must initiate the process of returning funds to investors. As a result of the longstanding lawsuit brought against the messaging app by the SEC, an injunction has been brought out to prevent…

Telegram Hit By New SEC Evidence Showing Token Trading After ICO

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The SEC has produced new evidence in its case against Telegram, which shows that the company was engaged in trading Gram tokens several months after its initial coin offering (ICO). Messaging app Telegram has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission, which alleges that US$1.7 billion raised from the sale of Gram tokens between January and March 2018 should have been registered with the authority because the tokens constitute a security. Telegram has consistently refuted these claims and published a statement last week to address…