“The patent describes a tool that tracks and compares the financial transactions of users against other users, purportedly to better help them manage their spending and note trends based on their demographics.
…obtains financial transaction activity for its users and allows its users to obtain reports of their spending compared to various benchmarks.”
“A senior United States federal official has argued that Facebook’s Libra highlights the need for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to act urgently and launch its own real-time payments system.
As large private firms on Wall Street and Silicon Valley seek to leverage their market power through control of critical infrastructure, it is more important than ever for the Board to implement this proposal quickly.“
“A rough translation of Zhou Xiaochuan’s remarks reveals that his take on Libra is guided by concerns surrounding the implications of the asset being governed by a consortium of private-sector firms.
The former governor stressed that the general public will inevitably question the motivations of the Libra Association and argued that more trust would be afforded to the initiative if it was in the hands of an international organization such as the IMF.”
“The MakerDAO loan system hit its debt ceiling Wednesday with roughly $100 million worth of the stablecoin DAI issued and more than $339 million worth of ethereum locked up as collateral.
On Thursday, the Maker Foundation proposed a new debt ceiling of 120 million DAI, which will now be voted on by holders of MKR governance tokens. This follows the previous raise in 2018, which doubled the DAI debt ceiling from 50 to 100 million stablecoins.
MakerDAO has hit that limit and no more [DAI] can be generated until that debt limit is increased.
Back in July, the MakerDAO Foundation’s Joe Quintilian stated he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the first $3 million loan was issued by 2020. As of November, there are at least five loans exceeding that amount, including two loans over $8 million each.”
“Standard Chartered said the move would allow it to expand its client offerings across its 60 international markets. Standard Chartered has already made inroads into blockchain utilization, [such as] a recently completed a supply chain financing scheme.
We are excited to be a part of the EEA and look forward to opportunities where we can collaborate with other leading industry players to deepen blockchain research and application in the banking sector.”
“Istanbul promises to make the network more secure and efficient.
The update, which delivers major fixes and upgrades to the world’s second-largest blockchain network, will be implemented in two parts. The first update, Istanbul, will take place later this year, and the second, dubbed Berlin, sometime in the first quarter of 2020.
Improvements due to role out on December 4 are intended to optimize and lower gas costs, increase compatibility with Zcash, address scalability, as well as allowing contracts to introduce more creative functions.”
See Also: Eth2.0 Update #3
“Morgan Creek Digital now takes up around 1 percent of the assets of two Fairfax Retirement System pension funds – an investment which has more than doubled since taking their first position in the fund that closed in February.
As pension funds suffer from low interest rates, technology venture capital funds become more attractive to funds trying to meet their return targets.“
“Electric Coin Company (ECC) has donated the Zcash trademark to the Zcash Foundation. ECC created and launched the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) in 2016, and will now own the trademark bilaterally with the corresponding foundation.
The firm said Zcash’s trademark protects the community from scams and brings legal power to Zcash’s blockchain governance.“
See Also: Zcash Trademark Talks Were About More Than a Logo
“All Tether tokens are fully backed by reserves.
Tether’s “Transparency” page says the company currently holds more than $4.6 billion in total assets, including $4.56 billion in U.S. dollars, $44 million in euros and $3.3 million in Chinese renminbi. [Tether] declined to detail the breakdown between Tether’s actual cash holdings and the cash equivalents.
Our reserves include traditional currency and cash equivalents and, from time to time, may include other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties.”
“Global banking regulator the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) is working to establish how much capital lenders should hold to cover the risks generated by dealing with cryptocurrencies.
The Committee reiterated its view that the prudential treatment of banks’ crypto asset exposures should appropriately reflect the high degree of risk of crypto assets.”
“Unlike other ETF applications, Wilshire Phoenix’s ETF will invest in both bitcoin and U.S. Treasury securities, commonly referred to as T-bills. The Trust itself will automatically rebalance itself monthly to address possible concerns about bitcoin’s price volatility.
Wilshire Phoenix is also hoping to address SEC concerns about market manipulation by using a surveillance sharing agreement, one component the regulator stressed was needed when rejecting a recent bitcoin ETF application.
The SEC began accepting comments on the proposal in June, though a final decision is still months away.”
“VeChain has unveiled a new blockchain tracking system for the food and beverage industry. The company confirmed it was working with food certification group DNV GL and supply chain specialist ASI Group on the project, known as Foodgates.
VeChain revealed Foodgates had already been put to work, importing French beef to China for an event attended by French president Emmanuel Macron and China’s Xi Jinping.“
“Australian blockchain energy firm Power Ledger has partnered with a local energy retailer to roll out its technology in South Australia. Power Ledger said that the new commercial deal is the first large-scale roll out of its energy trading technology.
Power Ledger’s blockchain-based software will allow Australians to pool their excess solar and battery storage to a Virtual Power Plant for greater control and management over their energy. The technology is expected to enable Australians to gain control over when they use energy and how much they pay.“
“The measures will apply to all transactions involving physical cash, including payments for goods and services. The limit of 25,000 Malaysian ringgits ($6,048) will also apply to donations and transfers between entities like people and businesses.
Rasheed highlighted the need for a cash transaction limit in the country, given the anonymous nature of cash transactions.“
“The number of bitcoin, blockchain and crypto-related employment ads in shares per million on the popular job listing site rose by 26 percent from 2018–2019, following a four-year trend of 1,457 percent growth in the sector.
The top 5 employers listing blockchain jobs are Deloitte, IBM, Accenture, Cisco and Collins Aerospace, coming in 1st through 5th, respectively. “Big Four” firm Ernst & Young joins Deloitte in the top 10.”
The Disrupt 