Fintech Daily Digest

At the heart of the initiative, under way for more than a year and code-named Project Libra, is a digital coin that its users could send to each other and use to make purchases both on Facebook and across the internet, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Bank of Thailand prototype solution will enable the central bank to settle interbank transactions using a wholesale central bank digital currency among its eight commercial bank partners on the R3 on Corda blockchain platform.

Blockchain developer Pieter Wuille unveiled two Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) that offers new plans for bitcoin's next big upgrade or "soft fork." The two proposals describe Taproot, a code change increasing bitcoin's privacy, and paving the way for privacy and scalability improvements to bitcoin.

This column explains how mobile money potentially helps ameliorate several areas of market failure in developing economies, including saving, insurance, and the empowerment of women. It illustrates these effects using examples from a burgeoning empirical literature and concludes that the system-wide effects of mobile money may be even greater than current studies suggest.

The new Azure Blockchain Development Kit for Ethereum will help developers create and deploy ethereum-based apps on Azure Blockchain Service or the ethereum blockchain

Swiss stock exchange SIX's digital exchange will go live with a native token and an "initial digital offering" (IDO) service in 2020. That would follow a trial expected to be completed late this summer. https://www.coindesk.com/six-stock-exchange-may-issue-its-own-token-says-exec

A Bloomberg report on Monday, citing "a person familiar with the matter," said that Fidelity will roll out the service for trading bitcoin "within a few weeks" and will focus on institutional, not retail, customers.

Transactors can use the smartwatch app to generate a QR code - a square-shaped barcode - that someone else can then scan with their smartphone to send over a payment.

Combining a self-sovereign digital identity system with a system of consent receipts not only ensures that a company handles its customers' personal data correctly, but also that a company can now recognise its customers no matter what products they buy.

Bitfinex's parent company, iFinex, has come up with a brilliant scheme to plug the gaping hole in its balance sheet. Why not sell some new tokens? Rather a lot of tokens, in fact - a cool 1 billion of them.

As speculation and impatience arises over the upcoming Bitfinex token sale, opportunistic fakers are creating bogus white papers that purport to describe the details of the upcoming sale. Why? To scam potential buyers out of their cash.

"Buffett's characterization of Bitcoin as a fraud-filled arena is particularly rich given the plethora of indictments against Wells Fargo, a bank which Berkshire Hathaway owns almost 10 percent."

A data-driven look at global financial technology investment trends, top deals, active investors, and corporate activity in Q1 2019.

New details are emerging about a planned $1B token sale by iFinex, the parent company of Bitfinex and Tether, who are being sued by the state of New York for covering up a $850M loss in customer funds.

Blockchains remain high-cost solutions, often beset by chaotic competition, and they exist in ecosystems beset with dishonesty, fraud and human error. Blockchains might have a chance to change the world someday, but there's also a chance they will prove useless.

Crypto Capital founder Reggie Fowler is being charged by the SDNY with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and of running an unlicensed money transmission business and conspiracy related to its operation. Crypto Capital were the money transmitters for Bitfinex and Tether.

Crypto Capital were the money transmitters for Bitfinex and Tether. They operated in the US through Global Trading Solutions. The founder of GTS, Reggie Fowler, was indicted on Tuesday. The US Government has filed a motion to detain Fowler as a flight risk.

"The mobile phone allows financial products to be linked with other services in novel ways."

Token sales haven't stopped since the 2017 boom. They've just changed names. Initial exchange offerings (IEOs) - where a cryptocurrency exchange offers a direct listing and launch campaign for a new startup token - are earning blockchain companies millions in 2019.

The South Korean Financial Services Commission has authorized nine fintech companies to operate in the country as part of its regulatory sandbox. Over 100 companies have applied for the program since its January launch.