Best Stories of the Week

Bitcoin halving doesn’t prompt a huge price jump

This week was the moment cryptocurrency fans have all been waiting for. The once every four-year halving was upon us and many expected a big reaction from the pioneer token. Yet, the fallout was not quite as large as many had expected. Bitcoin’s price, which was thought to be due a dramatic fall as miners abandoned their posts, actually held firm, nearing the $10,000 dollar mark towards the week’s end. Investor Tim Draper believes that we will see the true effects of the halving in six months time. Others are buoyed by the halving and Gemini exchange founders Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss who think Bitcoin’s price coil go as high as $100,000. “Each [halving], the cryptocurrency becomes exponentially bigger than we could imagine,” they explained. 

Cambodia Launches DLT Payments Network

Cambodia is looking to a distributed ledger technology (DLT) network to build their country’s payments and rid themselves of their US dollar reliance. While at the Consensus Distributed event, the assistant governor and director-general of the National Bank of Cambodia, Serey Chea, outlined the initial plans and set out the goals of the network.

The central bank director claimed 12 other banks were trialling the new platform, which could arrive by the end of 2020. The DLT network according to Chea was made to make the cohesion between banks, E-wallet providers and customers more efficient. The network could also be the basis for the nation’s proposed digital currency called Project Bakong. 

China’s Bitcoin Legislation Issue

Bitcoin is proving a difficult entity for Chinese courts to rule on it was revealed this week. The dilemma was shown in court documents released on May 13th in Fujian province where a man named Liao was the victim of a Bitcoin-related Ponzi scheme. The Chinese national invested 500,000 yuan ($70,500) into a Bitcoin themed club but never received the high return expected. He took his scammers to court but the case was dismissed as the Changting’s People Court said Bitcoin was not an asset and not protected by law. However, just this month a court in Shanghai declared Bitcoin to be a digital asset following the theft of BTC and Skytokens and made the perpetrators pay back the 18 BTC stolen. Legislative clarity is clearly needed. 

Telegram ends Telegram Open Network and Gram token plans

Telegram is in the crypto news again, but this time it could be the last as the messaging app announced the termination of their open network and Gram token plans. Both Telegram and the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have been in a long protracted battle for months and this regulatory issue has delayed various attempts at a launch. The SEC had most recently prohibited Telegram from releasing their Gram token to the world.

An incensed Pavel Durov, the Telegram founder, released a statement about the issue, saying: “This court decision implies that other countries don’t have the sovereignty to decide what is good and what is bad for their own citizens. If the US suddenly decided to ban coffee and demanded coffee shops in Italy be closed because some American might come there — we doubt anyone would agree.” There may be more issues for Durov as investors contemplate lawsuits against his company. 

Author JK Rowling tweets asking for Bitcoin Explanation

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling sent crypto Twitter into a storm after replying to a cryptocurrency advocate asking for an explanation on Bitcoin. Various pundits, cryptocurrency celebrities and media sites gave their responses. Many used amusing Harry Potter related analogies. However, it was all too much for Rowling, who said she still didn’t understand it. Perhaps, as our feature article asserts, this should warrant inward reflection on the community’s part.

Whilst some, like Rowling, have looked to welcome in Bitcoin, it would seem that Youtube is not. CoinTelegraph has been vocally sharing the disturbing news that Youtube cancelled their Bitcoin halving Livestream as it was deemed “harmful content”. What this signifies to the industry is shocking and many will once again call into question the power which these huge internet companies now wield on our freedoms of expression.