Fintech Daily Digest

Libra, unlike other stablecoins, is intended to complement national currencies rather than replace them. This doesn't mean, however, that Facebook understands monetary economics any better than my 24-year-old [Silicon Valley] luncheon companions.

Facebook is looking to hire more than 30 professionals to ramp up its blockchain work, including the Libra cryptocurrency.

The Libra investment tokens will give founding members the right to a portion of funds from a future reserve as well as incentives in Libra coin. The Libra Association is clear that it intends for the Libra coin sold to users on its blockchain to be a currency. However, the intermingling of the Libra coin as incentives for the founding members may be viewed by the SEC as integrating the offerings of the Libra investment tokens and the Libra coin, making the Libra coin a security as well from the SEC's viewpoint.

The IMF finds that "risks in Switzerland's rapidly growing fintech space may not be well understood due to data gaps, resource constraints, and the authorities' liberal approach."

The IMF and World Bank surveyed the authorities in 189 countries on a range of Fintech-related topics and received 96 responses. They suggest that countries are broadly embracing the opportunities of fintech to boost economic growth and inclusion, while balancing risks to stability and integrity.

The unbanked do not have bank account numbers and they may not have credit cards, either. They have cash. There's nothing in the Libra white paper about how Libra will lower fees to convert fiat cash into Libra, which is both the essential challenge of consumer banking and an explicit part of Libra's problem statement.

For hundreds of millions of citizens across the world, digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ripple, and potentially even the Libra don't pose a threat to financial stability. They offer an escape from chronic financial instability and high and variable rates of inflation that result from poorly managed government monies.

The Swiss stock exchange SIX wants the Swiss National Bank to issue a wholesale central bank digital currency to settle payments on its new digital securities trading platform. The SNB has been cool on retail CBDC, but the proposed SDX stablecoin would apply only to inter-banks payments.

Binance and stablecoin issuer Paxos announced a partnership to integrate a new deposit gateway on Binance.com that will allow traders to exchange fiat directly for PAX on the Paxos platform and benefit from the stablecoin's liquidity on the Binance exchange.

"I suspect that Libra is very much a work-in-progress. The current whitepaper seems to give only a hint of what the project might become. If so, one of the changes I suspect Facebook will have to make if it wants to get traction is to link the Libra network to already-existing units of account. A new unit of account is just too Utopian."

The ITW Global Leaders' Forum (GLF), which is a network of leaders from the world's largest wholesale carriers, announced Monday the launch of a blockchain-based platform. Known as the Communications Blockchain Network (CBN), this will revolutionize the ICT Service Provider industry's commercial settlement infrastructure, representing an opportunity worth billions to the global industry.

The payment system remains one of the last true monopolies of a modern economy. Financial technology startups and cryptocurrencies have all sought to bust up that monopoly. With its new digital currency, Libra, Facebook may actually succeed by doing what none others have: by creating a de facto central bank to issue it.

Facebook's Libra white paper includes a brief but potentially seismic nod to digital identity standards. With 2 billion users worldwide, Facebook may be able to succeed where others have failed in jump-starting a globally accepted digital ID. Some identity experts say this is even more important than the cryptocurrency, but others question how much control Libra would give users and find its approach overbearing."

Facebook published plans for the Libra cryptocurrency in seven languages, including Indonesia's Bahasa - a move that offers perhaps the clearest glimpse of what Facebook's fintech ascent might look like.

Square Cash App users will now be able to deposit bitcoins from external wallets into their app bitcoin address. According to Square's announcement, deposits are limited to $10,000 worth of bitcoin in a seven day period.

Payments company Square is rolling out bitcoin deposits for at least some users. Previously, users could purchase or sell bitcoin, as well as transfer the cryptos to another wallet.

TrueHKD is the first major expansion for TrustToken into the Asian market after launching TrueUSD, TrueGBP, TrueCAD, and TrueAUD with custody providers based in the US.

"This article is about: 1) Understanding the investors and people around this project, 2) Understanding the technology of Libra, and 3) Some possible future implications in Bank, Crypto and Financial industries.

Humaniq is a new generation financial services with its own cryptocurrency, which is aimed at eradicating poverty amongst millions of people living in the emerging economies.

Swiss-based fintech firm Amun AG has released plans to launch a new exchange-traded product (ETP) that will use the Bitwise 10 Select Large Cap Crypto Index as a benchmark. This is the fifth ETP the Swiss SIX Exchange has permitted.