PRICE OF SUCCESS: One of bitcoin’s most experimental startups has grown dramatically over the past year, highlighting both the opportunities and pitfalls of open source development. Now Adam Ficsor, co-founder of zkSNACKs – the firm behind the privacy-centric Wasabi Wallet – is stepping down from his role as CTO to focus on research as the company matures. “I was just reviewing other people’s code and managing people, and that’s not what I’m good at. I’m good at coding and researching privacy,” Ficsor said. “It’s getting to the point of being a serious business and we have to be more conservative.” Full story
GEMINI TWINS: Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’ Gemini crypto exchange just added off-chain and over-the-counter (OTC) trade negotiations on its platform. The features come via the new Gemini Clearing service, an electronic settlement system that allows accounts with the exchange to negotiate and settle trades with other Gemini accounts. “Such trades can either be arranged bilaterally between two parties or brokered via a third party,” the company said. In essence, Gemini Clearing acts as an escrow service for cryptocurrency traders looking to take advantage of Gemini’s customer services. Full story
TRUMP FALLOUT: As the Chinese yuan falls in value due to factors like the ongoing trade war with the U.S., there are signs that locals are increasingly moving funds into bitcoin. According to a Bloomberg analysis of prices over 30 days, the negative correlation between the yuan and bitcoin has fallen to a record low in the last seven days. The piece added that further evidence of the trend lies in the fact that bitcoin prices on exchanges such as Huobi that cater more to Chinese traders are trading at a premium. Full story
BEATING FACEBOOK? China's central bank has a new digital currency chief who says its upcoming digital yuan has features not offered by Facebook's Libra. Changchun Mu, who recently stepped into the lead role at the People’s Bank of China’s Digital Currency Research Institute, offered new details of the digital currency, saying it would allow users to transfer tokens between phones, even if no network was available. Full story
RANGE BREAKOUT: Bitcoin has breached the recent $10,400–$10,800 trading range on the higher side and could rise to $11,100 over the next 24 hours. With the breakout, the probability of BTC snapping the three-week losing run has increased. The bullish case would further strengthen if prices print a UTC close above the bearish lower high of $10,956 today. Full story
LIBRA LOBBYISTS: Facebook has hired two more lobbyists to help smooth the path with U.S. lawmakers for the launch of its Libra cryptocurrency, according to Bloomberg. The new hires were revealed in disclosure filings with the U.S. government. One of the lobbyists previously worked for worked for Senator Mike Crapo, head of the Senate Banking Committee that recently quizzed Facebook on its plans, while the other comes from a role as a managing director for Credit Suisse Securities.
China vs. Libra