Top Five Stories from The Last Week
Libra hearings: Hostility and criticism as Congress grills Facebook executive
How did it go?
The United States Congress was given two days to grill the head of Facebook's Calibra wallet, David Marcus, over the upcoming Libra cryptocurrency, and it didn't hold back. A godsend to drug dealers. More dangerous than 9/11. A global economic threat - these are just a few of the strongest statements made about Libra. Marcus was asked whether the tech giant will delay Libra's launch until regulatory concerns are addressed. He also ducked a question about whether the coin would be available to people banned from Facebook's platforms.
How did it end?
Overall, it seems that Facebook hasn't lost hope. David Marcus thanked members of the House Financial Services Committee on Twitter "for devoting so much time to discuss Libra," adding "We will take the time to get this right."
John McAfee Doubles Down on $1M 2020 Price Prediction for Bitcoin
What is this all about?
American entrepreneur and vocal crypto advocate John McAfee has doubled down on his $1-million-by-2020 prediction for Bitcoin, saying "Laughing my f*****g ass off." as a defense from pessimism surrounding BTC's.
What is he basing this on?
Ten years from now, John believes "there'll be no fiat anywhere in the world. [...] Everything will be cryptocurrency." According to McAfee, crypto enthusiasts should stop relying on weekly fluctuations and look at the bigger picture. That would mean Bitcoin has just 17 short months to be worth 100 times more than it is now.
BTC Price Reclaims $10K After US Lawmaker Says Bitcoin Can't Be Killed
What happened?
It's been another tumultuous week for Bitcoin. From July 10 to July 16, prices slumped from $13,200 to $9,684. Major exchanges reported a 26.6% drop in just seven days. Saturday saw the market briefly crack $11,000 once again for the first time since Monday, potentially signalling that the storm clouds are starting to part after a turbulent week.
What affected the crypto market?
While some analysts have blamed the decline on technical issues, others believe the downfall is linked to seemingly never-ending criticism of Libra. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry said he thinks BTC cannot be killed and said corporations such as Facebook were trying their hardest to replicate the success of its decentralized, open source network.
Breaking: US Regulator Investigating Crypto Exchange BitMEX — Report
What is this all about?
Bloomberg has claimed derivatives giant BitMEX is being investigated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission amid allegations that it allowed U.S. residents to use its Seychelles-based platform for trading. That would fly in the face of current laws that prevent American citizens from using such crypto-based financial services.
What is going on?
Earlier this month, BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes and Bitcoin naysayer Nouriel Roubini had a ding-dong at the Tangle in Taipei, and the only thing they could agree on was that Libra isn't a cryptocurrency. After a bitter battle over releasing the tape from that debate, Roubini alleged this week that BitMEX insiders had told him the platform is "used daily for money laundering on a massive scale by terrorists and other criminals."
Buterin Proposes Bitcoin Cash Integration to Scale Ethereum in Short Term
What is this all about?
Ethereum's co-founder Vitalik Buterin has come up with a novel, short-term approach for tackling the network's scalability issues: using the Bitcoin Cash blockchain to deal with its backlog. An Ethereum 2.0 could be many months away, and at present, good ol' Ethereum 1.0 is only capable of handling a measly 15 transactions per second.
How was his idea received?
Buterin's big idea didn't necessarily attract the rave reviews he was hoping for. Some crypto commentators warned that it would speed up the demise of both Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, while others said Buterin's remarks amounted to proof that his project had failed. Rather awkwardly, the idea has also put Buterin at odds with fellow co-founder Joseph Lubin, who recently said Ethereum has "already scaled quite significantly."
Check out our latest interview with Tim Draper, who told us about his investments into crypto startups and his vetting process. We also discussed the future of Bitcoin and what role Libra will play in it.
| | | | |
0 Comments
Postingan
