Cryptocurrency

Libra Cryptocurrency: Facebook Unveils Global Money

Published

4 years ago

June 19, 2019

Samed Olukoya

Libra Cryptocurrency: Facebook Unveils Global Money

Facebook Inc has finally unveiled its much-awaited cryptocurrency on Tuesday.

The cryptocurrency called Libra will be managed by Libra Association, an independent group formed to ensure its transparency and evolve the new ecosystem.

According to Libra Association, global internet connectivity has empowered billions of people globally and with just $40 smartphone, people can access numerous information, high-fidelity communications, and a wide range of lower-cost convenient services.

While this connectivity has helped more people access the global financial system, 1.7 billion adults remained outside the financial system with no access to traditional bank. That is 31 percent of global population.

Again, for those who have access to financial services, transfers are slow and take an average of 3 to 5 working days for a single international transfer to be completed.

On cost, the company said it cost 7 percent on average to send money internationally and for unbanked, they pay $4 more to access cash. Meaning, more transactions are cash-based. To be precise, about 85 percent.

This explains why U.S. retail businesses lose an estimated $40 billion annually to cash theft.

According to the company, by addressing all the aforementioned, about $3.7 trillion will be added to developing economies and 95 million new jobs will be created. People’s earnings potential will increase by 20 percent while extreme poverty will drop by at least 22 percent.

Facebook and Libra Association plans to address these issues with Libra, a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that can empower billions of people.

The association on its new website said: “Moving money around the world should be as easy and cheap as sending a text message. No matter where you live, what you do, or how much you earn.”

What is Libra?

Libra, has explained by Investors King, is a stablecoin version of cryptocurrency built on blockchain technology.

Libra will be tied to a basket of fiat currency to regulate its movement and help eliminate challenges currently hurting Bitcoin and the rest of unregulated cryptocurrencies.

The team hope to push cryptocurrency to mainstream and allow comprehensive regulatory control while maintaining its unique decentralise nature.

Calibra, Libra Digital Wallet

Facebook established a new subsidiary, Calibra, to provide financial services that will allow people access and participate in the Libra network.

Like other cryptocurrencies, Libra needs a digital wallet, therefore the first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra. The digital wallet will be available in Messenger, WhatsApp and as a standalone app.

The company expects to launch the app in the first half of 2020, the same period Libra will be officially launched.

Libra Association said the service will eliminate financial bottleneck and reduce cost of global transfer, currently put at an average of $25 billion yearly.

All these, the association said it hopes to address with Calibra, a digital wallet that people can use to save, send and spend.

Libra Association

Members of the Libra association will be responsible for managing Libra Reserve and development of Libra Blockchain.

The Founding Members of Libra Association that will work together to finalise the association’s charter and become “Founding Members” upon its completion are, by industry:

• Payments: Mastercard, PayPal, PayU (Naspers’ fintech arm), Stripe, Visa
• Technology and marketplaces: Booking Holdings, eBay, Facebook/Calibra, Farfetch, Lyft,
Mercado Pago, Spotify AB, Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Telecommunications: Iliad, Vodafone Group
• Blockchain: Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase, Inc., Xapo Holdings Limited
• Venture Capital: Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital,
Union Square Ventures
• Nonprofit and multilateral organizations, and academic institutions: Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Women’s World Banking

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Samed Olukoya

Is the CEO/Founder of Investors King Limited. A proven foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and many more. He has over two decades of experience in global financial markets.

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Cryptocurrency

Mixin Network Halts Services After $200 Million Security Breach; Recovery Plan in Progress

Published

3 days ago

September 25, 2023

Investors King

Mixin Network, a prominent decentralized wallet service provider, has been rocked by a massive security breach resulting in a loss of $200 million.

The breach, attributed to vulnerabilities in its cloud service provider’s database, has raised questions about the platform’s dependence on centralized infrastructure.

Mixin Network, known for its support of 48 public blockchains and an impressive total network asset value exceeding $1 billion, halted deposit and withdrawal services following the breach.

This incident has prompted discussions within the crypto community regarding the risks associated with centralization in decentralized platforms.

In response to the breach, Mixin Network has taken swift action, enlisting the expertise of blockchain security specialists from SlowMist.

The company has pledged to resume services only after thoroughly addressing identified vulnerabilities, a decision reached through consensus among all network nodes.

The plan for asset recovery will be announced in due course, and Mixin founder Feng Xiaodong will provide a detailed explanation in a public livestream.

The Mixin incident follows closely on the heels of the JPEX cryptocurrency exchange scandal in Hong Kong, which has left countless individuals reeling from financial losses totaling $178 million.

Experts now speculate that these recent setbacks may lead the Hong Kong government to reconsider its enthusiastic promotion of Web3 technologies, as concerns over security and public sentiment cast a shadow on the region’s cryptocurrency ambitions.

Carlton Lai, head of blockchain and cryptocurrency research at Daiwa Capital Markets, said, “I think this scandal will have a pretty sizeable negative impact on retail sentiment, given its significant local presence and the various celebrities involved.”

As Hong Kong grapples with the fallout from these high-profile incidents, the future of cryptocurrency in the region remains uncertain, with questions of regulation and security taking center stage.

Cryptocurrency

Dallas Mavericks Owner and Billionaire Tech Investor, Mark Cuban, Falls Victim to Phishing Attack, Losing $870,000 in Crypto Assets

Published

1 week ago

September 18, 2023

Samed Olukoya

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a prominent billionaire technology investor, recently fell prey to a phishing attack, resulting in a loss of approximately $870,000 worth of tokens.

The incident occurred over the weekend after months of inactivity on Cuban’s crypto wallet.

Phishing attacks, a prevalent threat in the crypto industry, deceive users into revealing sensitive information, downloading malicious software, and exposing their private data.

These attacks exploit users’ trust, often causing them to overlook the authenticity of incoming requests on their crypto wallets or unwittingly download counterfeit applications designed solely to pilfer their assets.

Cuban’s crypto wallet was emptied of various assets, including U.S.-pegged stablecoins, staked ETH (stETH), SuperRare (RARE) tokens, and some Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains, according to blockchain data.

The initial discovery of these suspicious transactions was made by the vigilant on-chain investigator @wazzcrypto.

Fortunately, Cuban was alerted to these transactions, and he managed to safeguard over $2.5 million worth of Polygon’s MATIC tokens.

He accomplished this by promptly logging into his wallet and transferring the tokens to a secure Coinbase exchange address.

Cuban revealed that the phishing attack was apparently initiated through a fraudulent MetaMask wallet application that he had unwittingly downloaded.

This incident marks the second high-profile phishing attack in as many weeks, following Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s experience in early September. Buterin’s X account was compromised in a phishing attack, although he did not appear to lose any of his own funds.

Nevertheless, unsuspecting users collectively suffered losses of up to $700,000 by sending tokens to a malicious link that falsely appeared to have Buterin’s endorsement.

As the crypto industry continues to thrive, it is crucial for users to exercise caution and remain vigilant to safeguard their digital assets from the ever-present threat of phishing attacks.

Ethereum

RxR Analysis Reveals: Ether’s True Worth 27% Higher than Market Price

Published

1 week ago

September 18, 2023

Samed Olukoya

RxR, a research-driven partnership between Republic Crypto and Re7 Capital, has revealed that Ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is currently trading at a 27% discount to its actual fair value.

This revelation comes as a result of RxR’s innovative approach to evaluating the worth of cryptocurrencies. Instead of relying solely on traditional metrics, RxR’s methodology incorporates a blended version of the Metcalfe law that takes into account both the active user base on the continuously expanding Ethereum scaling networks and the users on the Ethereum mainnet.

Ether, as a fundamental component of the Ethereum ecosystem, facilitates a wide range of activities, from simple transactions to participating in network security through staking, earning interest, and even storing non-fungible tokens. As such, the value of Ether has long been intertwined with Ethereum’s network usage.

Lewis Harland, an analyst at RxR, explained the significance of this approach, stating, “Ethereum’s network valuation exhibits a closer alignment with the updated Metcalfe law index when the active user base of Ethereum’s scaling networks is included in the model, in contrast to when it is omitted.”

Harland continued, “The updated model, which factors in these networks, places ETH’s valuation at $275 billion, indicating that the current market capitalization is trading at a substantial 27% discount.”

Ether’s market capitalization consistently tracks the blended Metcalfe law model more accurately than the traditional model, which fails to consider the growing activity on layer 2 networks or offchain solutions built atop the Ethereum mainnet.

In essence, this analysis challenges the perception that Ether might be overvalued, as suggested by the traditional Metcalfe law Model.

The emergence of Layer 2 technology has undoubtedly become one of the most dynamic and exciting developments in the crypto market. Key protocols, such as Coinbase’s BASE, Arbitrum, and Optimism, have found their unique niches within this landscape.

According to data from L2Beat, the total value locked in layer 2 protocols has surged more than threefold in just two years, reaching an impressive milestone of over $9 billion.