MUST READS

Major Backers of Facebook’s Libra May be Getting Cold Feet

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, some early supporters of Libra are reconsidering their positions following backlash from global governments. The report specifically mentions credit networks Visa and Mastercard as firms that are rethinking their involvement in the controversial stablecoin.

U.S. Crypto Exchanges Form Council to Evaluate Digital Assets

The U.S.’ top crypto wizards are forming a council of elders. Formally called the Crypto Rating Council, these cryptomancers are banding together to communally decide which digital assets are likely to raise red flags with regulators.

It’s already publishing ratings: See for yourself.

This technology is more important than electricity?

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai has already spent $3.9 billion on this unproven technology. He’s recently said this breakthrough tech “is more important than electricity.” Even the Harvard Business Review says companies who fail to implement this technology will never catch up.

Because without this new tech, Google could be bankrupt in the next 10 years. But there is one little-known company that holds the key to Google’s future… And a chance for you to make massive profits.

Click here to learn more.

DEEP DIVE

Central Banks Don’t Need Their Own Digital Currencies

Whether central banks should issue their own digital currencies may sound like an arcane debate. But allowing them to do so could have a profound impact on a nation’s economic and financial landscape — and not for the better.

Bitcoin Equals Freedom

This is a very basic take on Bitcoin and its ethos but the message is clear and concise.

Interesting too – a note on freedom from the words of an unfree man.

REGULATORY FRONT

SEC Fines Block.one (...Kind Of)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Monday that it has settled charges against blockchain builder Block.one for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO). The firm has agreed to pay a $24 million penalty. To catch you all up – Block.one is the company behind the EOS blockchain that conducted an ICO between 2017-2018 in which it raised an iconic $4.1 billion.

The biggest takeaway from the report is that the pre-launch ERC-20 version of the EOS token was a security... and that the post-launch EOS token is not a security.

Here's what some of the experts had to say about the news:

CoinCenter on the SECs reasonable approach
Nic Carter on why there was such a small fine
And Marco Santori on all the meaty details in between

Here's the entire settlement doc, dissected and annotated by Katherine Wu.

Venezuela’s Central Bank Holding Bitcoin is Just Crazy Enough to Work

Venezuela's dreams of becoming a crypto nation evidently extend beyond just the state-backed petro.

Last week, it was reported that Venezuela’s central bank could soon be holding an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin and Ethereum as part of its international reserves.

This news broke days before Venezuela President, Nicolas Maduro, stated that the country’s government will activate a cryptocurrency payment method for citizens “very soon."