Fintech Daily Digest

"We expect that the evolution of payment infrastructure will accelerate. All actors are grappling with what is at stake. For governments and central banks, regulating this transformation will be a prerequisite to avoiding a possible privatization of monetary policy, and for banks and other financial services providers, keeping up with evolving customer preferences and further adjusting the pricing of payments and transfers appears unavoidable."

"Facebook need not create a new bank. And it might avoid banking regulation. But its goal would still be achieved: the power of the state to manage the economy of a nation could be critically undermined in those places where it still exists by the existence of its currency. And, I would suggest this is precisely what the goal of this policy is.

Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency has taken a lot of criticism from Western government officials and media commentators - but it's not meant for them. A major target market for the Libra is users in developing countries.

Over the past month, $600 million worth of "tethers," a cryptocurrency supposedly pegged to the dollar, have been minted into existence. Seemingly in tandem, Bitcoin's price has climbed up from $8,500 to $11,000. Are the two events connected? 

The vast majority of money moving into bitcoin is coming from Tether, a stable coin used by traders to hold crypto at a stable value.

For now, PwC can audit eight tokens, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Each cryptographic requires its own audit tool given the different blockchains they use, Weinberger said, one reason it took so long to design the technology.

Neutral's stablecoin basket instrument has added a new layer or reliability and security to the space. By combining stablecoins together, represented by one overarching coin, Neutral reduces the overall risk exposure to one individual coin's volatility and can produce a more stable token that fluctuates more closely to the intended value.

Martin Wolf: "At worst, the world might have a Facebook-dominated mono-bank. The risks of that are huge: potential monetary and financial instability, concentrated economic and political power, lack of privacy and many other issues."

The U.S. SEC is kicking off the public comment period for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) backed by bitcoin and Treasury bills proposed by Wilshire Phoenix Funds to be listed on the NYSE Arca exchange.

The Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on Facebook's Project Libra on July 17. The Senate Banking Committee will hold its own hearing on the social media giant's crypto project the previous day.

The U.S. CFTC has cleared LedgerX to offer physically settled bitcoin futures contracts. Unlike the cash-settled futures listed by the CME, when the contract expires, the buyer will receive bitcoin rather than the fiat equivalent.

This book addresses core components of crypto-assets within the Maqasid al-Shari'ah to understand Shari'ah cryptocurrency and its practical mechanisms, and establishes a Halal alternative model of crypto-asset management within the Maqasid al-Shari'ah.

"A wider use of new types of crypto-assets for retail payment purposes would warrant close scrutiny by authorities to ensure that that they are subject to high standards of regulation. The FSB and standard-setting bodies will monitor risks very closely and in a coordinated fashion, and consider additional multilateral responses as needed."

Thomas Moser, alternate member of the Swiss National Bank governing board, suggested that Facebook's recently announced cryptocurrency project, Libra, is not ruffling any feathers with the regulator ("I think it's an interesting development and I'm pretty relaxed about it").

Economist Stephen Moore, who recently lost out on a bid to join the board of the Federal Reserve, is joining the "Decentral" algorithmic stablecoin team. Decentral bills itself as "the world's decentralized central bank."

JPMorgan Chase is to start trials of its "JPM Coin" cryptocurrency in conjunction with corporate clients.

While there have been incredibly successful crypto projects that have leveraged either a capped or uncapped sale, several prominent crypto projects such as the Algorand Foundation are turning to a Dutch Auction for their token distribution with the hopes of bringing more transparency to the process.

Fitch ratings believes that Libra represents a step toward a potentially viable cryptocurrency. It incorporates and improves upon elements of existing blockchain technology, while resolving certain inherent drawbacks, such as price instability and governance challenges. Libra also seems to be designed with regulatory acceptance and lawfulness in mind.

La Banque de la République d'Haiti is considering a pilot to create a digital version of the Haitian Gourde, aiming to improve the domestic payments system and promote financial inclusion in Haiti.