DFC

The Libra Association is thinking of radical approaches to reach the unbanked in certain locations, including a “step-ladder” approach to KYC regulations. The FATF said it is open to working with Libra about potentially building new forms of digital identity. Libra believes blockchain forensics firms like Chainalysis, Elliptic and Coinfirm will help strengthen the case for “tiered KYC” by monitoring wallet profiles and transaction histories. Non-profits in the Libra Association like the Kiva Foundation may play a key role.

Aggarwal, Chainlink, Web3 Foundation and Hashed say their names were used without their permission on the OpenLibra slide deck presented at Devcon. The OpenLibra project aims to ensure that access to the Libra stablecoin and its technology remains free from corporate control.

EBay, Stripe and Mastercard are abandoning Facebook’s cryptocurrency project Libra, the latest blow to the troubled effort that has drawn criticism from lawmakers and lost other early partners such as PayPal

Mastercard, Visa, eBay and payments company Stripe are dropping out of the coalition of companies Facebook enlisted to launch its Libra global cryptocurrency-based payments network.

"Stablecoin projects of potentially global reach and magnitude must meet the highest regulatory standards and be subject to prudential supervision and oversight. Possible regulatory gaps should be assessed and addressed as a matter of priority. "

Online travel company Booking.com joins PayPal, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, MercadoLibre and EBay on withdrawing from participation in the Libra Association.

Working with wallet provider Blockchain and precious medal trader MKS (Switzerland) SA, Coinshares announced a gold-backed network for trading tokens representing digitized physical gold. The network launches with more than $20 million in gold held in a Swiss vault to back up its tokens. Each DGLD token is backed by 1/10th troy ounce.

Libra coin will be backed by assets held in the Libra Reserve. This Reserve will be managed by the Libra Association - in order to become part of the Association, applicants have to buy at least $10M of Libra Investment Tokens. These tokens will produce dividends for the holders; dividends generated by the yield of assets held in the Reserve.

The Government of Bermuda announced Wednesday it will accept payments in USD Coin (USDC) “for taxes, fees and other government services,” according to a press release by crypto finance startup Circle.

Momentum for TON has been building over the past few months and the token distribution set for Oct. 16 was drawing ever nearer. In August and September, Telegram released the TON testnet for both explorer and node software, launched a free wallet service for its 300 million users, and announced a controversial $400,000 bug bounty. Just as everything was falling into place for the company — the SEC stepped in.

Telegram has notified investors that the TON blockchain project will be launched later than planned, pushing the deadline from Oct. 30 to April 30, 2020.

Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard delivered a sharp critique of Libra on Wednesday, stating the Facebook-led project would need to resolve a number of regulatory hurdles before going live.

With its Libra plan for a global digital currency, Facebook has shown both economic and political ambitions. The project would mean a private company controlling a common good and taking over tasks normally discharged by states. This is unacceptable for both economic and political reasons.

Telegram filed a response to the SEC writing that the SEC’s emergency injunction is unwarranted. Telegram is asking a federal court to deny the regulator’s motion to enforce a subpoena. Further, Telegram argued its upcoming gram token is not a security, and the SEC should not be able to force the company to produce documents or witnesses about its blockchain project

"This G7 report lays out initial recommendations for both private sector stablecoin developers and public sector authorities to address the challenges and risks. Finally, the report suggests that authorities could develop road maps for improving the efficiency and lowering the cost of payments and financial services."

A report published on Thursday by the G7 warned that stablecoins that reach a global scale could “undermine competition in financial markets”, as well as threaten financial stability and monetary policy.

The Libra Association is pleased that the G7 Working Group report, ‘Investigating the Impact of Global Stablecoins (GSCs),’ recognizes the potential to improve access to fast, secure and inexpensive payment technology.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) today published an issues note on regulatory issues of stablecoins. The paper was delivered to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors for their meeting in Washington D.C this week.

Telegram will have to wait to make its case to the U.S. SEC that its Gram token is not a security. According to the latest court filing, the hearing on the case has been postponed until Feb. 18–19, 2020, pushed forward from an Oct. 24. slot.

“The IMF should take over Libra with a view to reinventing the international monetary system in a manner reflecting John Maynard Keynes’ rejected proposal at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference for an International Clearing Union.”

Calibra’s David Marcus told a banking seminar hosted by the Group of 30 in Washington that instead of having a synthetic unit...Libra could be a series of stablecoins: a dollar stablecoin, a euro stablecoin, a sterling pound stablecoin, etc.

This filing is reportedly only the latest part of Bitfinex’ ongoing initiative to recover $880 million that were held at Crypto Capital when the payment processor was seized by authorities in Poland in April of last year as part of a money-laundering investigation.

"Industry sources have told the FT that the decisive factor was a letter that Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown and Brian Schatz sent to Mastercard, Visa and Stripe. It warned that proceeding with the project would expose even their non-Libra businesses to heavier regulatory scrutiny."

Ex-Fed Chair nominee Stephen Moore is part of a group that will launch a USD-pegged stablecoin called Frax. It will be fractionally-backed and use algorithms to loan out its reserves and collect interest to maintain the peg.

After the PBoC ICO/exchange ban, the most convenient way to buy cryptos in China, is to buy stable coins like USDT first using OTC, and then trade it into any cryptos you want in exchanges.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has agreed on how it will assess whether countries have taken the necessary steps to implement the crypto-related requirements. “Given the global nature of the virtual asset industry, it is essential that countries implement these requirements swiftly,” the FATF emphasized.

Bitfinex, the controversial Hong Kong based exchange at the heart of ongoing investigations against Tether, has been one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world since its launch in 2012. But recently there are signs that its market share may finally be slipping.

A Russian government official says the nation will ban Facebook if the US decides to block the company’s Libra cryptocurrency.

None of Libra's founding partners have anted up their $10m entry fee. So far no agreement has been made, and the fee was not discussed at the Libra Association’s first general assembly last week.

In China, where cryptocurrency exchanges are banned, people can pay cash over the counter to get Tether with few questions asked and from there trade Tether for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.