Kiffmeister’s Fintech Daily Digest 03/15/2020

“We now live in an increasingly digital world, in which technical progress makes it possible to market new goods and services that claim to simplify and enrich our lives. In the area of finance, like elsewhere, innovation seems to have followed a historical process rendering it practically invisible: As St Exupéry writes in Wind, Sand and Stars “Thus, precisely because it is perfect the machine dissembles its own existence”. Behind this apparent simplification, however, lies a profound change in financial activities, their ecosystem and their international integration. This change raises many challenges for our national and European sovereignty, which fundamentally means our ability to preserve and impose our collective choices in terms of stability, efficiency and fairness of the financial system.”

The halving may turn out to be negative for Bitcoin (BTC) prices, as analysts suspect the recent price slide was triggered by a “miner capitulation.” A signal based on hash ribbons, a measure of mining activity, signals more selling may be in store.

The budding market for cryptocurrency-backed loans met its first big stress test this week as bitcoin (BTC) dropped 40 percent and lenders demanded additional collateral from borrowers.

Backers of the EARN IT Act focus on protecting children from being exploited, but security experts say the bill actually chips away at your encrypted messages.