China aims to stop Facebook from surveilling your money, so it can do it first

If the possibility of Facebook and friends controlling your private data and financial history is a little too cringy for you, you’re not alone: China shares your concerns.

"No digital currency can make the entire currency and financial world as nervous as Libra," Mu Changchun, deputy director of the People's Bank of China's payments department, told Chinese media outlet Sina last week.

Changchun explained to Sina that China has basically decided to combat the perceived threat of Facebook’s Libra by creating it’s very own state-backed Libra clone.

Changchun also said that China’s Libra-esqe crypto will be compatible with Wechat and Alipay (the closest thing in the country to Whatsapp and Paypal). However, as opposed to Libra, this digital currency "would be a centrally controlled currency," which is... great?

China's move to unleash its own version of Libra before Facebook and its consortium of Silicon Valley partners can get past regulators does seem to support the argument put forth by Libra co-creator David Marcus. In late August, Marcus warned that if legislators didn’t let Libra off the ground soon, actors outside of “the free world” (i.e. China) would do it first.

Bancor unloads some $2.3 million ether on users to encourage decentralized governance 

Decentralised exchange protocol Bancor will soon be airdropping what could amount to millions of dollars’ worth of ether onto holders of its proprietary token, BNT. 

Through a complex mechanism known as “staking,” the ether gifted will allow users to essentially run their own micro-exchanges on the platform. The idea is to jumpstart a colorful—and more importantly, liquid—economy of crypto-tokens, and onboard new users from outside of crypto. 

Bancor hopes that by freely granting these privileges, users will better understand the possibilities of—and profit to be gained from—having a stake in a decentralized liquidity network. In turn that could encourage them to stake funds in other pools, expanding the network and allowing even obscure tokens to flourish. 

And that all plays into a new platform, Creator, developed by Bancor’s core developer LocalCoin, which allows digital “content creators” to create their own tokens to fund their work. Each “creator” token uses BNT, so can be traded for tokens and regular currency. A freelance blogger could, for instance, launch a token accessible only to those holding a certain number of tokens (similar to what LocalCoin’s co-founder is doing). The hope is that the economics of supply and demand would play out, generating dividends for the creator’s audience.

Here are the biggest stories in the cryptoverse:

• Binance launches futures platform.   
• Nasdaq creates index for MakerDao and Augur.
• Stellar announces 2 billion XLM airdrop.
• Facebook adds Singapore dollar to list of backed currencies.

Lack of privacy is one of the main reasons enterprise is choosing private over public blockchains, says Chainlink CEO Sergey Nazarov.

What you need to know

Chainlink wants to make smart contracts more attractive for enterprise. The oracleprovider is tackling the privacy concerns companies cite for choosing a private chain over a public one, such as Ethereum. Its secret weapon is a new, game-changing, decentralized finance (DeFi) tool called “Mixicles.” 

Speaking exclusively to Decrypt, the company’s CEO Sergey Nazarov explained how Mixicles, launched last Tuesday, is breaking new ground in enabling the uptake of public blockchains by enterprise. He also touched on the importance of oracles in the blockchain ecosystem and hinted at future projects the company is working on. 

Why it's important

“If we can get privacy working on public chains, it can create an entirely new level of consumption, because a lot of contracts simply cannot be placed on a public chain environment like Ethereum,” said Nazarov. “No matter how good it is, they can't be made private. That's the reality.”

But, with Mixicles, Chainlink is striving to demonstrate how oracles can change that, alongside other ills that prevent public blockchains becoming a viable choice for enterprise.   

Gemini launches new custody service for big business

Crypto exchange Gemini—owned by the Winklevoss twins—has today created an insured custody service for 18 cryptocurrencies. The offering will expand on the five cryptocurrencies already listed on the exchange, adding a variety of Ethereum-based tokens.

These will include Gemini’s own stablecoin GUSD, Augur’s utility token REP, and Kyber Network’s KNC.

The custody service will allow Gemini exchange users—particularly institutions—to store large amounts of their coins at the exchange. These will be held securely off-line, in order to prevent the risk of funds being stolen in a crypto exchange hack—a common occurrence for many exchanges.
 

Read more here.