71% of Germans Distrust the Stability of Libra

Maria Rodríguez
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71% of Germans Distrust the Stability of Libra

Only 4% of respondents said they trust large companies like Facebook, Apple or Amazon more than central banks. On the contrary, 64% said they trust central banks more than large companies

With the controversy generated by the new method of payment Libra, which was developed by the social media giant Facebook, some users, analysts and government representatives from different countries have shown themselves in favor and others, mostly, against the future launch of this digital asset.

In this sense, a German financial association conducted a survey to know the opinion of some citizens. The study was conducted on 2,093 German adults. The results show that about 71% of the interviewed distrust the stability of Libra, due to the recent news around that cryptoactive. According to the studies, most Germans are skeptical about the stability of Libra.

The survey was published by the German Financial Association Bürgerbewegung Finanzwende. The survey revealed that only 12% of respondents actually accept Libra; whilst 17% said they were not sure what to think about stablecoins.

In the other hand, 52% of respondents said that the impact of Facebook on society is already problematic today, and more than 26% said they believe that the growth of Facebook in more fields would increase “even more its negative influence.

These opinions collected through the survey show that there are two problems that Libra must face: the first one is the common distrust that users can have on any digital asset; and the second one, the little confidence that the German people have towards Facebook, the main investor of the token.

A Possible Bad Influence

Citizens also opined regarding the influence of Facebook in German society and in all the society in general. In this way, 78% of respondents believe that the influence of the social media giant is negative; 15% of the people consulted said they did not have an opinion about this point, whilst only 7% believe that Facebook does not cause problems in society.

A similar and curious fact is that when only the German Facebook users were asked for their opinion about Libra, the pollsters discovered that 68% of users were skeptical about Libra, about 18% still did not have an opinion respect it, and nothing more than 14% welcomed its development.

In another part of the survey, participants were asked their opinion about whether they would feel more confident of trusting a digital asset issued by large corporations such as Facebook.

In response to this question, only 4% of respondents said they trust large companies like Facebook, Apple or Amazon more than central banks. However, 64% said they trust central banks more than large companies, whilst 10% trust both equally, and 22% does not have a clear opinion about it.

Little Certainty about Libra’s Future

In response to these results, the Bürgerbewegung Finanzwende association asked the European Commission and the European Central Bank to mediate with the aim to stop the development of Libra. The European non-governmental organization Finance Watch also participated in this request.

Despite the statements by different sectors of the United States, The United Kingdom and even Russia, nothing ensures that the development of the digital currency will stop or not until now.

Recently, the Head of the Central Bank of Germany spoke favorably about Libra. In fact, Libra´s Co-creator David Marcus talked at the US Congress about the project. He answered some questions, something that was demanded by senators last June. The expectation around Libra continues with the passing of days.

By María Rodríguez

New Brazilian Diplomats Must Know about Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain

Maria Rodríguez
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New Brazilian Diplomats Must Know about Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain

The educational establishment will offer 20 new places and the initial salary would be 5,045 dollars, according to a notice

The Rio Branco Institute, the diplomats’ training academy in Brazil, has begun to require new diplomats to know about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, according to local reports. The study of this area, as the information shows, is obligatory for new candidates.

The school of International Relations and diplomatic academy located in Brasilia recently included a new requirement in its latest offer for the selection of new diplomats. Candidates to study must have knowledge about cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the underlying technology of these digital assets.

Currently, all Brazilian diplomatic candidates must pass a test which consists of two phases. As part of the new measure, they will have to demonstrate knowledge about these two disciplines in both stages of study.

According to the information, the institute plans to teach two courses related to this subject. Those courses will focus mainly on the operation of blockchain technology, as well as on the definition and characteristics of cryptocurrencies.

An Attractive Reward

The notice informs that the educational establishment will offer 20 new places and that the initial salary will be 5,045 dollars. This is an incentive to prepare and study about cryptocurrencies to enter to the Rio Branco Institute.

Last June, different Brazilian government and financial authorities came together to develop a regulatory framework model which proposed that new technologies, such as blockchain, would allow different sectors to adapt to digital transformation.

In addition, the Brazilian government announced it will study a bill that forces all units of local public administrations to promote new technologies, including blockchain.

If approved, the bill will require that the divisions of the federal and state governments apply emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), in order to improve public services.

Adopting Blockchain

Brazil is one of the countries that has opened the doors to cryptocurrencies. Due to this, it is important that governors, diplomats and other officials and representatives of the national economic sector get involved with cryptoactives mining process and the transactions made with them.

In mid-June, the Department of Federal Revenue of Brazil (RFB) published new rules that require cryptocurrency exchanges to inform the regulator about users’ transactions, in order to identify tax fraud.

Another step taken by Brazil is using blockchain technology in the registry control of companies. The intention is to take care of the information and registration of all its companies, keep a better record of the institutions and associations which “make life” in the country, update specific data, among other pieces of information of value for the fiscal entity.

Currently, Brazilian institutions are making efforts to promote a regulatory framework that benefits users and all the industry. The idea is to face the user’s needs but also to avoid scams and other types of crimes.

The Rio Branco Institute was created in 1945 to offer advanced courses for diplomats. Since 1946, the institute is responsible for the selection and training of career diplomats of the Brazilian State. The entrance in the institute is possible by public contest.

To enter the institute, applicants must participate in the public contest that now requires knowledge about blockchain. The goal is to continue preparing diplomats for the responsible use of new technologies.

By María Rodríguez

Peñarol Football Club Plans to Launch its Own Cryptocurrency

Maria Rodríguez
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Peñarol Football Club Plans to Launch its Own Cryptocurrency

The club explains that the Board of Directors is evaluating the project, but it did not give more details about in which blockchain the cryptoactive will work

The Athletic Club Peñarol, one of the most recognized football clubs in Uruguay, is considering creating its own cryptocurrency. This news was confirmed recently by the club through a publication in its official Twitter account.

The publication is the answer to a wave of rumors around the club. Some days ago, users of social networks commented that the club would launch its own cryptocurrency. Due to these rumors, the club representatives clarified the information.

“In the last hours, a video has gone viral in the social networks. The video alluded to the launching of a cryptocurrency by our institution. The initiative to create this cryptocurrency was presented some days ago to the authorities of the club”, says the document.

In the statement shared on Twitter, the club explains that the Board of Directors is evaluating the project.

The message issued by Peñarol does not give more information about the characteristics of what would be its cryptocurrency, in case the board of directors reaches agreements and approves it.

Similarly, it is unknown in which blockchain the cryptoactive will work or in which field the digital currency will be used for. Clubs in other countries use these assets generally as payment for tickets to different parties or for the sale of products related to the selection.

On the other hand, regarding Peñarol´s case, there is no information about possible dates for the approval of the project or for its hypothetical implementation until now.

This lack of information generated criticism from various fans of the Uruguayan club. In the comments section, some fans claimed the lack of “recruitment”of new players and considered that the announcement of a possible cryptocurrency is like a curtain of “smoke”, presumably to distract attention from the lack of hiring.

A group of workers of an English railway company that worked in Uruguay founded the Peñarol team in 1981. Since then, the team has won a total of 52 Uruguayan championships and more than 40 local trophies. Internationally, it has 5 Copa Libertadores and 3 Intercontinental Cups.

Other Teams Using Cryptocurrencies

In the last months, the uses of cryptocurrencies have been popularized in different Latin American clubs. One of the most recent and outstanding cases in the region is Brazil.

Among the teams in this country that have used cryptocurrencies is Corinthians, one of the most important clubs in São Paulo.

The club officially announced its plans to launch its own digital asset last March, when it announced in a statement that it would launch the Timãocoin token (SCC). With that cryptoactive, club fans could access goods and services related to Corinthians.

Another Brazilian club that was looking to have its own cryptocurrency is the Athletico Paranaense, although the project has not been completed due to the rupture of the team with the company that was in charge of developing the IVI token for Paranaense, presumably because the company did not pay its obligations.

The Litecoin Foundation recently announced that Litecoin is the new official cryptocurrency of the American professional football team The Miami Dolphins. Fans could pay with Litecoin and Bitcoin to buy tickets and collaborate with charitable causes. This plan will be ready for the 2019 NFL season.

In Europe, clubs such as Gibraltar United have also adopted the use of cryptocurrencies. Last year, the team partnered with the cryptocurrency ecosystem company Quantocoin. The goal was not only to pay salaries with cryptocurrencies, but also to use them to sign new figures.

By María Rodríguez

Trump Declares He Is Not a Fan of Cryptocurrencies and Criticizes Libra

Andres Chavez
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Trump Declares He Is Not a Fan of Cryptocurrencies and Criticizes Libra

Whilst several countries have shown marked interest in crypto assets, central bank digital currencies, stablecoins, and other related offerings, the President of the United States of America Donald Trump expressed his thoughts this week, mostly criticizing the crypto space and, most notably, Bitcoin.

Via his official Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump (later retweeted by the official account of the US Presidency, @POTUS) Trump said that is not a fan of cryptocurrencies. He also stated that they cannot be considered money and criticized the price volatility in correlation to the US dollar.

“Bitcoins and Cryptocurrencies Are Not Money”

President Trump had not, to this point, talked about his stance towards cryptocurrencies very much. In fact, this week’s tweets represent the first time he opens himself and talks about the matter since he took position as the 45th president of the United States of America.

“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity,” was his first tweet about the subject, and the replies, retweets and favorites took the scene.

Trump also wrote that “we have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!”

“Libra Will Have little Standing or Dependability”

The president took advantage of the occasion to offer his opinion about Facebook’s crypto project, Libra, which was unveiled last month. The ecosystem, wallet, and coin will be available in the first half of 2020, and a white paper is already available. However, Trump does not seem to like it.

“Facebook Libra’s “virtual currency” will have little standing or dependability. If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National and International.”

In related news to Trump’s remarks, it should be noted that Calibra, which is expected to be the Libra coin open source wallet, recently registered as a money services business with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Libra and the Attention from Regulators

It is evident that Trump and Facebook are not the best friends in the world, as the former has criticized the latter for bans to right-wing prominent people in the past. The United States’ leader held a social media summit earlier in the week.

Naturally, the appearance of Libra and Facebook onto the scene has earned extra attention from law enforcement agencies, regulators, and lawmakers around America. Facebook’s David Marcus already has hearings booked for next week with the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.

Facebook and Libra have the difficult task to ease people’s concerns about the company’s privacy practices and user data management.

By Andres Chavez

Huobi Reports Successful Quarter and Burns 14 Million Tokens

Andres Chavez
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Huobi Reports Successful Quarter and Burns 14 Million Tokens

In an event performed quarterly, Huobi, which is one of the most widely used cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has decided to reduce the existing supply of the HB, or Huobi Token, which is the one associated with its decentralized platform.

Huobi is among the oldest crypto exchange platforms in the planet, which makes the news noteworthy. The development was made public by the company itself this week via a statement, in which it detailed that it “burned” (meaning that they removed them from circulation) 14,011,700 tokens from a 310,318,300 market supply.

A 116% Increase in Burning Rate

The removal of the aforementioned coins was performed at a higher rate than it was done in the last quarter, at precisely 116% more. When discussing the reasons behind this, Huobi stated that the primary factor was “improving market conditions” and a marked growth in the sales department.

According to reports swirling around the company, the burning event is performed with the intention of finding stability when it comes to the currency’s price. Similarly, Huobi looks to incentive customers and users to hold HT by curbing inflation out of the equation. Ever since the start of 2018, Huobi has spent roughly 20% of its quarterly profit in acquiring outstanding tokens.

And, since the revenue numbers can fluctuate between quarters depending, among other factors, on the market conditions; the crypto exchange does not always “burn” the same consistent amount of tokens. In this case, the company experienced a good quarter and used that as a foundation to report a 232% quarter to quarter increase in the revenues destined to the burning schedule.

Eight Burning Events since April 15

Since April 15th, the Singapore-based platform has performed as much as eight burning events in which 21,356,800 HT were repurchased, a number that surpassed last quarter by 6,474,800 HT. These re-acquired HT are kept in an Ethereum address named the Huobi Investor Protection Fund.

According to Leon Li, who is the Founder and current CEO of the company, “there are two big trends reflecting the size of this quarter’s buyback. The first is a rapidly strengthening market for digital assets and the other is the increasing popularity of our entire product line.”

More to Come

Speaking of the Huobi product line, the platform referred to the increasing upgrades in membership to Huobi Prime and Huobi FastTrack services, which generate lots of fees, as critical developments for the reported success, as well as the productive spring that Huobi DM had when it comes to trading volume, with $504 billion.

“The rest of 2019 will see even more improvements and innovations coming from Huobi,” according to Li, who stated that there were some crucial updates coming to the Huobi Finance Chain, which is a decentralized finance public blockchain.

The company also informed, in a separate piece of news, that the present burning event “will be the last time HT tokens will be destroyed using the traditional buyback method.” In the future, Huobi will burn tokens directly through the profit generated in the Tiered Fee deduction program.

By Andres Chavez

Facebook Will Not Launch Calibra in India Due to the Country’s Anti-Crypto Stance

Andres Chavez
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Facebook Will Not Launch Calibra in India Due to the Country’s Anti-Crypto Stance

Facebook Will Not Launch Calibra in India Due to the Country’s Anti-Crypto Stance

India, the country with the second heftiest population in the world, would ideally represent a fantastic market for Facebook and the Libra Association to offer the Calibra wallet, and therefore, the Libra cryptocurrency, which was unveiled last month by the prominent social network.

However, Facebook decided that it will not launch its digital wallet in one of the biggest markets (an argument can be made that it is, in fact, the largest, with a total population of 1,366,417,754 as of this year,) just a few days after the government expressed discomfort about the social app’s plans.

“No Plans to Offer Libra”

A Facebook representative that did not provide its name expressed to the Economic Times that the company had “no plans to offer” Libra or Calibra, the digital wallet that will hold the cryptocurrency, in Indian soil, much to the disappointment of an ever-growing community of interested investors.

According to the cited spokesperson, India’s harsh attitude towards crypto assets at the moment of making the laws is the main driver in Facebook’s plans to avoid the country altogether, despite it being such a promising location.

India has made no secret of its anti-crypto stance: the country currently has local restrictions that make it impossible for a project like Calibra to succeed, and it is clearly uncomfortable with all private crypto assets, not just Facebook’s project.

The development comes as no surprise, as earlier this week, it was reported on a prominent crypto news site that India’s Economics Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg said that the government was not likely to give Libra the green light to function in the nation, noting that it would be treated as any other private cryptocurrency, with no special concessions.

A History of Crypto Loathing

Investors and the crypto community in general may be very interested in these assets, but the government has a totally different say in the matter, and it is not new. Ever from the very beginning of 2018, officials in the nation have taken decisions that have affected the industry, like ordering institutions under the watch of the Reserve Bank of India not to offer their services to crypto-related businesses.

Naturally, such a decision will negatively impact the field, directly and indirectly: crypto-related enterprises and firms have had to put a halt on their operations, scale them back, or relocate, because people have lost interest due to the fear of the possible repercussions that their actions can result in.

For instance, we have the case of Koinex, which is a crypto exchange. In June, it had to close shop before turning two years old as a project. Zebpay, another trading platform, closed its operations in the country last September.

Zebpay has since relocated and has managed to survive, but it is not yet clear what is next for Koinex. Of course, there is also the proposed legal document called “Banning of Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of Official Digital Currencies Bill 2019”, which has the goal of criminalizing cryptocurrency mining, buying, holding or selling.

People that incur in those acts could be facing prison time, for a maximum of ten years. Of course, the law is not official as of now, but the impact of the possibility of it coming to fruition has already been felt. Rahul Raj, the CEO of Koinex, expressed that “a proposed piece of legislation called the ‘Banning of Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of Official Digital Currencies Bill 2019’ has created enough FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) in the Indian crypto trading community to result into a sharp decline in trading volumes and instil a clear discomfort for all the law-abiding citizens of this great nation.”

By Andres Chavez

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