The process of understanding digital currencies began in China all the way back in 2014, when the Chinese Central Bank conducted basic, preliminary 'studies' - just so they would know what they were dealing with.

But lately, China has made it clear they're done learning.  The student may soon become the teacher.  That is, China is on a path to lead the world as the first country with true digital national currency.

While Venesuala's Petro is technically issued by the government, that nation's political issues stopped the Petro from being a functional  currency used in the global market. Because the nations rejecting it would still be rejecting it whether it was a cryptocurrency or not, so we can't consider the Petro an example of how a national cryptocurrency would function.

One of my sources, an analyst within a well known firm in the blockchain space has had the Chinese government as a client for awhile now, but only lately have they stepped things up, he explained: "Actions accelerated last October when they wanted to know every possible outcome of replacing the renminbi with a cryptocurrency.  Their goal being to reduce the costs inherent to issuance of paper money." 

He continued, touching on their general sentiment currently "They seem convinced of the advantages of crypto, and still debating potential disadvantages.  We're one of a few outlets providing a neutral 3rd party opinion.' 

Looking in to what was happening publicly around this time in October, we saw the approval of a new law for the use of cryptography, and President Xi Jinping offered statements in favor of considering some blockchains central technologies for "important and innovative advances".

Why the sudden acceleration? China's Fear Of Facebook.

Everyone I spoke to that I consider an expert on China said the same thing - they looked at Facebook's plans for Libra, and went into panic mode. 

Facebook and China have consistently clashed - they're very aware that Facebook is outside of their sphere of control.

"To them, the plans for Libra could have been presented by a US Government official and it would have been received the same - that's how they view Facebook. An American company, that tried to bring their platform to China but still wanted to follow US rules - not conform to China's" a contact who works inside a Hong Kong based crypto exchange told me.

There's a disaster coming if things don't change...

While Libra may have lit the fire that put China into overdrive, Facebook's fire here has been snuffed out by the US Government.

I'm no fan of Facebook, but I also never viewed Libra as a threat to other cryptocurrencies, if anything, it would serve as an easy first step into the cryptocurrency world, where people could get their feet wet.  Libra users would soon wander deeper into the waters, having gotten over the initial fear of using cypto for the first time.

American politicians actions against Libra may end with a global coin that isn't bound to USD, but the Yuen instead.

The clips I've seen of elderly US politicians who clearly lack any basic knowledge of how cryptocurrencies work, grandstanding and flexing their authority to Zuckerberg on TV seem dead set on hauling Libra.

Meaning China could end up first to market with a big global cryptocurreny, while the US is at a complete stand-still.

Like it or not, the combination of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and the ability to aggressively push the users of these apps to try Libra, is a shortcut to 'mass adoption' no one else can mimic.

I get not liking Facebook, but I don't get stopping them just to allow China to do it instead.

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Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk

Sources inside an Amazon research department, not related to the online retail business they're best known for, but within the AWS (Amazon Web Services) branch of the company says - they've spent the last couple weeks focused on gathering data related the cryptocurrencies.

Speaking to the Crypto Press Association, the source shares:

"I want to be clear, i'm not making or implying any product or feature is coming because that would be jumping to conclusions I don't have.  Equally, I can't rule that out either." they continued "With that said, this is the type of data the leadership here requests before deciding *if* we'll be launching something new."

Asking for what types of data we're talking about here "I think 'a general overview' would be the right term to use.  Basically, the current most used cryptocurrencies, reasons people choose one over another, any additional advantages and disadvantages, and the technical specs - transactions per second, security, anonymity, total tokens circulating now, total still to be mined, etc."

This source is someone I worked with on a project here in Silicon Valley years ago, before they were with Amazon, and before I owned any cryptocurrency - so I felt comfortable enough to pester them to speculate what this is all about.

It took awhile, but they gave in.   As long as I promised to put this disclaimer in bold - this is nothing more than a guess, they said:

"When the Facebook Libra thing was what everyone was talking about, there was a sentiment around here that Amazon would be infinitely more qualified to take the lead on a project like that, compared to Facebook. We don't have their track record for privacy violations, and in my opinion that alone means a lot of people will never touch it. But mainly, if the purpose is to improve how transactions are done, well, literally no one does more transactions than us.  We alone could accomplish what Facebook needs dozens retail partners for."

I think this sentence was a great summary of the point "Think about it - if Amazon is on board you're talking about almost every product out there now available to be purchased with the cryptocurrency."

In closing, I was given a reminder "Remember, like any office building full of millennial tech professionals there's no shortage of people who own cryptocurrency inside of Amazon.   Remember, we registered AmazonBitcoin.com years ago and it still forwards people to the regular homepage.  Don't think we're just discovering the crypto world now." 

Could it happen?!

Facebook recently warned investors that 'Libra may never see the light of day' - could Amazon rise up as a better qualified choice to execute something similar?

Or if Libra happens, will Amazon be competing?

Tell us what you think, Tweet us @GlobalCryptoDev

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Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk

US Crypto Traders - Claim Your $25 BTC...

Well, I sure feel silly.

I confess - I was thinking like a conspiracy theorist when I learned the final details around Libra, the upcoming cryptocurrency led by Facebook and backed by dozens of other major corporations.

Libra's entire model is so dependent on the US Dollar, that together with their plans to be used world wide - I thought "Surely this was planned WITH the US Government" or at least while consulting with them.

But I couldn't have been more wrong, as we learned this week that isn't the case, when US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin instead came out and expressed huge concern over the whole thing.

The fact is, and i'll explain why - this could only strengthen the USD if it succeeds, and have no effect on it if fails.  Hardly cause for huge concern.

So is the word 'cryptocurrency' really just so confusing, that it can create reactions like this?

Let's compare these fears, with the simple truth.

If you're catching up, here's the basics:

Libra is a 'stable coin' so it will always be worth exactly $1, every 1 Libra = $1 USD.  So unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum and others - this won't be a coin you find people investing in for profit.  It's only use is transnational.

They will then hold USD reserves to back up each Libra coin in circulation.

Now let's look at the two categories the Treasury Department's concerns fall under.

1) Integrity of the US Dollar...

A Libra token represents literally nothing more than a US Dollar, no different from one in your bank.

This is the main reason i'm stunned by Secretary Mnuchin's reaction. 

One huge reason for the strength of the US Dollar, is that it is the global standard currency for buying oil.  There's a reason the US uses every trick in the book, and writes a few of their own to keep it this way.

On that note, the USD has likely already gotten a boost from being the dominate crypto-to-fiat pairing on exchanges with an international user base, it's commonly the only fiat currency someone can 'cash out' to, regardless of where they're located.

Now imagine if Libra is successfully adopted around the world. USD is suddenly involved in a lot of transactions it wouldn't have been in before.

For example, perhaps some retailers here in the UK begin accepting Libra.  At the same time, it begins to catch on with the public.

Like me, while in your home country you probably use your nation's currency. So here, 99% of my transactions are done using the Pound (£) along with those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Now throw a USD backed coin like Libra into the mix.

Suddenly transactions that would have never involved the US Dollar, are completely dependent on it. Every purchase I make here, Libra will need to hold an equal amount in USD there.

2) Illegal Usage...
The other concerns expressed are the usual "Libra could be misused by money launderers and terrorist financiers” babble we've all heard before, typically about Bitcoin.

There is no honest way to disagree with the following point:  Cryptocurrencies are infinitely more traceable than fiat currency.

Another plus: funds can be tracked outside of US borders even when they enter a hostile nation.  This is thanks to a public ledger, there is no cooperation needed.

But paper cash is completely untraceable.

Even digitally - you can buy a pre-paid Visa or Mastercard with paper cash, giving someone totally anonymous electronic transfers.

This means the truth is, cryptocurrencies do not offer a single, real advantage for criminals that they cannot find elsewhere. 

In closing....

While I can't say i'm thrilled Facebook is making it's entry into the sector, I can say between them, and the other companies involved in Libra, they have the lobbying power to basically force members of the US Government to get educated on the topic.

Because hearing leaders standing in front of microphones, saying things so inaccurate they should be embarrassed to say them, is getting old.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk

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As we said in the report we published the day Facebook officially announced everything - we've been covering Facebook's entry into cryptocurrency before they even knew they were getting into it... that's explained better here.

Honestly, after that announcement it was being talked about at every turn -  and I needed a break from the Libra buzz and everyone sharing their predictions, doomsday warnings, whatever.

But I feel a little less overloaded with Libra hype this week, so having caught my breath I thought now would be a good time to check in with some of our sources closer to the project. 

With most of the details now being public I wasn't expecting much other than to say hi.  However, I got some unexpected interesting information instead.

My source (who asked to remain unnamed) isn't part of the Libra project, but does hold a management position in a department Libra and Calibra will be heavily integrated into. For that reason, his team is 'kept in the loop' .

First he pointed out to me "Everyone has been focusing entirely on the Libra coin, they passed over the other big part of the announcement - the wallet, aka Calibra" - he's right, i'm guilty.

The only details we had so far was that this would first appear inside of WhatsApp in 2020, it will send and store the Libra coin. But to be fair, they didn't say that's all it would do.

According to this source, one feature still being kept under wraps - "Support for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies".

Asking for as many details as possible, he explained "When it comes to the core group making the decisions, I think the cryptocurrency community is underestimating them a bit.  Seriously, the Libra team members I've met so far aren't a bunch of crypto newbies.

I'll put it this way, so far of the few i've met, if they weren't working in crypto or blockchain before coming to facebook, they've at least owned and traded crypto long enough to get it.  

So to me this wasn't really a surprise. I can't imagine many people who are into cryptocurrency (casually or professionally) developing a cryptocurrency wallet without Bitcoin support. 

The Libra team knows this. There's no demand for a 1 coin wallet, that would just lead to people looking for a 3rd party wallet with Libra support."

But the most interesting part of this - his theory on how it could be implemented...

"I think this may be where we see Coinbase's partnership in the project come in to play.  With Coinbase facilitating the trade, any BTC held in the Calibra wallet could be instantly swapped for Libra and sent as a payment

Instant Bitcoin payments via Libra - think about it, if the BTC is in the Calibra wallet there's no need for us to wait for transactions to confirm on Bitcoin's blockchain. The wallet would confirm the user owns the necessary amount of Bitcoin, so we could swap out any BTC with Libra, and if the actual transaction behind that takes 30 minutes, who cares? We know it's coming, and the payment is done."

It's clear a lot is in the works, and I would like to emphasize - anything can change.

This source has been 100% accurate in the past so i'm fully convinced this is the current plan of the Libra team members he's talked to. But any feature on the table now, but not officially announced publicly, could still go.

I will say, stepping back and looking at the big picture - the big players in the smartphone industry keep inching towards cryptocurrency wallets becoming a standard feature. 

Unlike Google, Apple, and Samsung - Facebook can't simply decide their wallet will be included on millions of phones, their wallet needs to be good enough that people choose to install it.

A lot can happen between now and 2020 - and we'll keep you updated.

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Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk

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