Bitcoin Crossed $11,000, Facebook Releases Cryptocurrency White Paper for Libra, & Other News

Top Five Stories from The Last Week


Four big reasons bitcoin's price will probably not stop at $20K this time What happened? Bitcoin crossed $11,000 in under 24 hours after breaking the important level of $10,000 on Friday, ETH hit a 10-month high, while crypto markets see solid green by the end of the week. Why did this happen? Cointelegraph explores the main factors driving the rally this time, and why they are very different than they were in late 2017. Thus, bitcoin futures show growing signs of institutional interest, Bitcoin's hash rate hit a new all-time high at over 65,000,000 TH/s, and the planned Bitcoin block reward halving set for May 2020 is still 333 days away, while the overall microeconomic picture sees investors dumping ever-depreciating fiat currencies for hard-capped "digital gold." Read the full analysis here. Facebook releases cryptocurrency white paper for libra currency What happened? Facebook released the white paper for its long-awaited, highly secretive cryptocurrency and blockchain-based infrastructure. The global stablecoin, dubbed "libra," will operate on the native and scalable Libra blockchain and be backed by a reserve of assets that will give the coin intrinsic value as well as mitigate volatility fluctuations.   How would this work? Facebook's new crypto will be governed by a Swiss-based not-for-profit consortium called the Libra Association, which already has Mastercard, PayPal, Visa, Stripe, eBay, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Uber among its founding members. The association will have around 100 members in total, each with a $10 million investment securing the entity one vote on the Libra council. Read more here. However, not everyone is excited about Libra. Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Philip Lowe cautions that Facebook's announced virtual currency — Libra — may not attain mainstream usage in the near future. Details here. Ripple to invest up to $50M in MoneyGram following new partnership What is this all about? MoneyGram, a major money transmission network, has partnered with blockchain-based payments firm Ripple in order to work on cross-border payments and foreign exchange settlements with digital assets. According to their two-year agreement, MoneyGram will be able to draw as much as $50 million from Ripple in exchange for equity and will reportedly use Ripple's xRapid liquidity product.    What is this for? By using the Ripple-launched XRP token, the process of sending money in one currency to be instantly settled in the destination currency will be faster than with fiat or other digital assets. According to MoneyGram's chairman and CEO, Alex Holmes, the ability to instantly settle funds in this manner could "dramatically streamline our global liquidity management." Read more here. QuadrigaCX co-founder used user deposits for his own trading, created fake accounts What happened? According to a new report from EY, the deceased owner of now-defunct Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, Gerald Cotten, had been transferring users funds off the exchange in order to use them as securities for his own personal margin trading on other platforms. What does it mean? According to EY's fifth report to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, there was neither segregation between duties and basic internal controls, nor was there any delineation between Quadriga's and user funds. As well, EY noted that Cotten had reportedly created fake "identified" accounts on the platform under multiple alias in order to trade within the platform. Read more here.               Big Four auditing firm PwC releases cryptocurrency auditing software What is this all about? Big Four auditing firm PwC released a cryptocurrency auditing software solution this week, which has been added to the PwC Halo auditing suite and can be used to "provide assurance services for entities engaging in cryptocurrency transactions." How does it work? According to PwC, the Halo suite will allow for the provision of independent evidence of private-public key pairing, as well as the gathering of information about transactions and balances from blockchains. The new addition will support a variety of cryptocurrencies, including BTC, BCH, ETH and XRP. Details here.                                                                                       This was a pretty exciting week for crypto enthusiasts, wasn't it? Check out our latest Hodler's Digest. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. COINTELEGRAPH LIMITED · Shelton Street, Covent Garden · London