-
For the first time, it seems, a sitting US president has acknowledged Bitcoin as a threat. Ironically, this indicates progress for crypto. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Mahatma Gandhi
-
“The move from $4k-$10k was based on a confluence of real factors (Yuan depreciating, the Fed, etc), but the move from $10k to $14k, and back to $10k and back to $13k, and back to $11k was all based on leverage.”
-
The BoJ is continuing to examine CBDC. Recent intiatives include continuing DLT research (eg Project Stella with the ECB) and an internal study group on potential legal issues around BoJ CBDC issuance (a report will be released in due course).
-
An urgent priority for the Fed and other central banks is to move ahead with the provision of digital cash as a means of mitigating the effective lower bound. This approach will ensure that monetary policy will be systematic, transparent, and effective during normal times and in responding to severe adverse shocks.
-
CBDC can leverage the decentralized and secure advantages of blockchain. This enables P2P transactions, offers a more resilient payment infrastructure, reduces transaction costs, enhances information sharing capabilities and facilitates data reconciliation. Blockchain enabled payment solutions have been rigorously tested by central banks across North America, Europe and Asia.
-
Libra’s future remains murky. Facebook is months away—at least—from actually launching a network. The documents Facebook released in June left a lot of unanswered questions about how the network will actually work—and in particular, how the network will deal with the wide range of legal and regulatory requirements that apply to payment networks.
-
Facebook is seeking a professional researcher with a PhD degree in economics to “initiate and execute projects around topics such as auction design, economic incentives in consensus protocols, market concentration, and macroeconomic aspects of the Libra currency,”
-
Former Banque de France deputy governor Jean-Pierre Landau argues that the network effects created by the aggregation of a vast range of activities in financial “platforms” create externalities very similar to those that underlie the creation of money. The report highlights three implications. First, the financial system could become “payment centric” – with bank deposits no longer the dominant form of private money. Second, digital interconnectedness may create around such networks digital currency areas, a development that could fragment some monetary systems. Third, national borders may not constrain such digital currency areas, and the currencies of those countries where digitalisation proceeds fastest (and where networks become the biggest) may become more widely used internationally – “digital dollarisation”.
-
Philippines’ central bank reported that e-wallet penetration is growing faster in the Philippines and has surpassed credit card numbers.
-
Goldman Sachs is now hiring a cryptocurrency project manager. The firm wants their new project manager to lead the development of Distributed Ledger Technology. The Wall Street bank’s foray into cryptocurrency is part of its GS Accelerate initiative.
-
Japanese crypto exchange Bitpoint has suspended all services after losing $32 million in a hack involving XRP, Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.
