G7 report warns against stablecoins until risks are addressed

A report published Thursday by a G7 working group warned against the creation of privately created digital currencies until regulators got to grips with them. 

The group of representatives from major western economies and Japan, led by the European Central Bank board member Benoit Coeuré, said that there are several “legal, regulatory and oversight challenges and risks related” associated with so-called “stablecoins”—digital currencies pegged to fiat values. Amongst the key threats listed were market integrity, data privacy, and terrorist financing.

For those stablecoins that seek access to global markets, the G7 expressed concerns over monetary policy, financial stability, the international monetary system, and fair competition.

“In some designs, agents such as designated market-makers may have significant market power and ability to determine stablecoin prices, with the potential for market abuse,” reads the report.

Binance offers 125X margin borrowing for high-risk traders

Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trade volume, now offers high-risk margin traders up to 125 percent leverage on its derivatives platform, Binance Futures. 

Launched earlier this year, Binance Futures lets traders borrow money against bets on Bitcoin’s future price, amplifying both the losses and gains by the borrowed amount. When a user is unable to pay back the margin, their holdings on the platform are liquidated.  

Binance Futures previously offered up to only twenty-times margin, a far cry from the “100X” margin popularized by derivatives exchanges BitMEX. Now users trading the Bitcoin-USDT pair will be able to borrow up to 125 percent of the funds they hold. USDT is a dollar-denominated digital currency used widely in Asia and currently the subject of an investigation by the New York Attorney General. 

As Binance puts it in today’s announcement, “at 125x leverage, a 100 USDT collateral deposit on Binance Futures will allow users to hold 12,500 USDT in BTC.”

Here are the biggest stories in the cryptoverse:

• Fake Tor Browser quietly stealing bitcoin for years.
• 18 banks sign up for first global tokenized collateral trial.
• Huobi launches Tether trading for Turkish citizens.
• Cryptojackers using fake WordPress plug-ins to mine crypto.

The world is built on a giant $256 trillion pile of assets. Everything from property to art, to stocks to oil. Blockchain wants to change all that. This collection explores the industries being disrupted, by whom, and what that means for both consumers and enterprises. We've delved deep into the tokenized world to uncover the people, the projects and the potential of this technology to change capital forever.

How Hong Kong’s unrest is fueling Ethereum-based Gods Unchained

What you need to know

If the gods were already unchained before, what are they now? 

Gods Unchained, the blockchain-based trading card game in the style of “Magic: The Gathering,” has seen a surge in its popularity among gamers since trolling rival Hearthstone for apparently bowing to Chinese censorship. 

Why it's important

Gods Unchained is now the fourth-most popular Ethereum application over the past seven days, with 1,700 users, according to DappRadar. Those users have done over $207,000 in transaction volume in that span, more than for all other Ethereum games combined. 

While those user numbers may not seem awe-inspiring, it represents a steep increase from where Gods Unchained was several weeks ago.

In a down market, crypto scams are up in Texas

Prices for cryptocurrencies are nowhere near their historic highs, but the crypto ecosystem continues to draw fraudsters into its fold—as evidenced by the latest round of enforcement actions by the Texas Securities Board.

The Board’s first sweep against crypto fraudsters in December 2017 occurred in the aftermath of the cryptocurrency bull run and resulted in 10 enforcement actions. Its second sweep occurred in June 2019 this year, and the number of injunctive actions rose to 22 with 61 involved parties. 

Read more and watch the video here.