EU regulators criticize Facebook over latest data leak

Facebook has suffered another major data breach, exposing the personal information of 210 million Facebook users.

The majority of the records were from US users—133 million—while 50 million records were on Vietnamese users and a further 18 million from the UK. Overall, it was one of the largest data breaches in history.

“The biggest companies need to do more to protect the personal data of their users,” Assistant Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski of the European Data Protection Supervisor, told Decrypt, in response to questions over the data breach.

Following the scandal, Silvia Chiofalo, a spokesperson at The Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner—the regulatory body for personal data in Switzerland—told Decrypt that ultimately, it’s down to individual users to take responsibility for their own data, because “the more personal data a company processes, the greater the data protection risk.”

And this is certainly the case with Libra—a mingling of personal and financial data, held in the hands of Big Tech. While the Libra blockchain itself will only contain pseudonymous addresses—like Bitcoin does—the Facebook-owned Calibra wallet will maintain customers’ financial data.

BitMEX traders are betting more than a $1 billion on bitcoin

Bitcoin traders are gradually increasing their exposure to Bitcoin on futures trading platform BitMEX. 

BitMEX's main trading pair—XBT (which represents Bitcoin) against USD—has a current open-interest of $1.06 billion. It has risen by over $250 million in the last 10 days, soaring past the $1 billion mark. Open interest is the total number of "open" trading positions on a particular pair.

The trading pair is also approaching its all-time high of $1.22 billion—set just a few months ago on July 10. BitMEX has the lion's share of bitcoin futures trading, and as such is seen as a bellwether for the market's overall health. It also makes up 90% of BitMEX's daily trading volume.

The increase in open-interest on BitMEX over the last few months shows that traders are willing to risk more of their money on the future outcome of Bitcoin's price. But, there is no clear consensus on which way they think the price will move.

Here are the biggest stories in the cryptoverse:

• Bakkt warehouse goes live.   
• Catalonia announces decentralized ID system the government can't control.
• UK fund specializing in crypto volatility raises $50 million. 
• LG allegedly working on crypto smartphone.

Binance US to launch in “coming weeks” says CEO

What you need to know

Binance US, the American expansion of crypto exchange giant Binance will launch in the “coming weeks”, according to CEO Catherine Coley.

Binance US is essentially the same Binance but with the approval of US regulators. Binance never officially operated in the US–but US citizens could still access the service–and has cracked down on US users who still accessed the exchange, in order to appease regulators. 

Why it's important

The outpost will be operated by BAM Trading Services—a newly launched company with little information known about it—and run by Coley, who was previously an executive at Ripple. 

As part of the deal with regulators, customers will have to pass stringent know-your-customer (KYC) checks to use the exchange. New accounts will require a valid government ID and a social security number. 

Telegram releases code for TON

Telegram, the team behind the 365 million-strong encrypted messaging app, is getting ready to release its upcoming blockchain, called TON, which is scheduled for next month. It released code and documentation for a testnet version of the blockchain on Friday.

Developers can now download a version of the TON Blockchain Software, which includes support for nodes and validators—computers that help to run the network—in order to check for bugs and other problems. The package also includes a block explorer that can be used to observe the network.

Read more here.