Facebook decided to rebrand and rename the initial Calibra cryptocurrency wallet as the now new Novi cryptocurrency wallet. According to Facebook, the name Novi was inspired by the Latin words “novus” for “new” and “via” for “way.” according to the press release issued by the company on May 26th, 2020.
Libra, as of the date of publishing is not yet available for public use, but according to the information, Novi will be the first (and perhaps only) wallet that will be used with the Libra cryptocurrency.  
The wallet is presented as an easy-to-use integration that will be compatible with all of Facebook’s products, i.e. Messenger, Whatsapp, and a proprietary Novi application. It is expected that sending and receiving money through the Novi wallet will be free of charge, with no hidden costs. 
The statements made by the company in their press release beg the question to understand how Facebook or its subsidiary will profit from the Novi wallet and implementation of the Libra cryptocurrency. At this time it is unclear whether they are even planning on making a profit, or simply paving the way forward to remain the best and most popular social media website on the planet.
Novi users will be verified through government-issued IDs and the platform promises full customer support and fraud protection. On top of that it issues a variety of different privacy promises, the most notable being that “Novi is a regulated financial company from Facebook that will keep your account and financial data confidential and secure. Your Novi transaction history will only be visible to you.” which we find hard to believe.
The company has had it’s own set of issues in regards to the launching of the Libra network and Calibra cryptocurrency wallet, which was cut short by interference from security regulation units, as well as internal investor dynamics. From the 28 financial backers for the Libra project, only 18 remain. The others backtracked on their investment fearing intense regulatory scrutiny and did not want to be publicly associated with Libra or Novi.
Facebook touts Novi as the fastest, safest, and cheapest way for individuals and businesses to store, send and receive money globally. Whether it will become a reality at all is a mystery at the moment. Regardless of Facebook’s optimism, this project may very well be dead in the water. However, we do know that these companies usually get what they want to get, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise if we see our neighbors, family and friends ask us to pay with Novi for a future transaction.
Compared to non-cryptocurrency based solutions, Novi is definitely a step up. However, compared to the decentralized nature of current cryptocurrency systems, there are many red flags for the privacy-minded individual.
If successful, Novi may become the nominal way for most people to exchange money, but it will never be able to substitute “real” decentralized cryptocurrency.

If you have been close to, or participated in the Tezos ICO, you are already aware of the significant amount of disputes and lawsuits that have followed in the wake of the $232 million worth of BTC and ETH raised during the project’s fundraiser.
Today, new information emerged in regards to the court proceedings related to Tezos’ ICO class action lawsuit, where they are being held accountable for violating federal securities laws by offering and selling Tezos tokens without a registration statement with the SEC.
The SEC has proposed a $250 million settlement in cash, which if accepted will be considered to resolve all claims from investors and cover all lawyer fees, according to a press release by the United States District Court of California.
Arthur Breitman and Kathleen Breitman, the leaders of the Tezor project and their lawyers will be able to accept the settlement during a hearing held on 27th of August, 2020. At the same hearing, the judge will determine whether the proposed settlement is fair and reasonable, or if it should be dismissed with prejudice.
If you have participated in the Tezos ICO, you can participate in this litigation. For the best information about this proposed settlement, visit https://www.tezosfoundationsettlement.com/





Previous articleTop 3 Bitcoin mining news stories today Copywriter, Journalist, Blockchain Enthusiast. Writing with Crypto-News.net since 2016. Loves to travel and experience different cultures. Highly ambitious and with an ever-increasing attraction towards quality work, products, services, and experiences. You can find him on Telegram where he has been known to spend his time making friends, and doing business. @ZoranSpirkovski

Binance and WazirX, a subsidiary the world-renown exchange acquired last year will create a $50M USD fund called “Blockchain for India” according to the announcement on Binance’s website.
Following the fact that the Indian Supreme Court Lifted the Central Bank’s Cryptocurrency Ban, this step from Binance is one business savvy way to capitalize on a newly opened market for cryptocurrency and blockchain.
The fund is backed by BNB, BUSD, and WRX digital assets which will be used to make investments in blockchain projects and startups that are trying to solve technical and social issues with blockchain.
“We started WazirX with the aim to involve everyone in this technology revolution, and the Blockchain for India fund marks a big step in this direction. India has the biggest tech talent pool in the world,” said Nischal Shetty, Founder and CEO of WazirX. “With this fund, we want to encourage and enable more and more founders and teams to come in and BUIDL.”
Binance CEO and Founder Changpeng Zhao simply said: “Let’s invest in India.”
According to the announcement, the fund will provide fuel to grow Indian blockchain startups and entrepreneurs in many different areas. This fund will support Stablecoins, DeFi, Apps, payment and remittance solutions, digital asset wallets, and many other types of projects.
The fund will make investments in equity and tokens, in a range between USD 100,000 to USD 5m. Also, it will partner with active local venture funds to co-invest and provide support to the local ecosystem through mentorship and business incubators.
Any participants in the Blockchain for India initiative will get full access to Binance’s global blockchain technology, giving these startups all of the tools they need to succeed within the crypto industry.
The current goals of the fund are two-fold.
The first is to attract blockchain projects and startups to reach out and apply to the fund, asking any interested projects to send an email to [email protected] with their project information and business presentation.
The second goal is concerned with the growth of the fund itself. The fund is looking for new talent to join their ranks, with experience in venture capital, blockchain research, or as a part of their advisory committee. The advisory committee will consist of industry leaders, experts in blockchain technology, business development, and government officials.

The BMW Group has increased its capacities for utilizing blockchain technology to provide its staff with the tools they need to create high-quality vehicles. According to the press release, BMW has faced great difficulty when tracking specific parts that need to be changed or simply weren’t of sufficient quality. Finding the manufacturer often involved a significant amount of manual labour, but now with the implementation of the second stage of their “PartChain” project, BMW and their suppliers are using blockchain systems to help them track parts at the push of a button.
We’ve reached out to BMW Group for comments and more information, but they were unavailable for contact. The extremely complex nature of the automotive industry makes it a prime suspect for blockchain integration. The company has successfully piloted the project in 2019 to track the production, purchase, and delivery of front lights for their vehicles. This year, they want to expand the project to include a variety of different suppliers and parts.
“PartChain enables tamper-proof and consistently verifiable collection and transaction of data in our supply chain,” says Andreas Wendt, a member of the BMW’s Board of Management. “This move is designed to take the digitalisation of purchasing at the BMW Group to the next level. Our vision is to create an open platform that will allow data within supply chains to be exchanged and shared safely and anonymised across the industry.”
Through PartChain, BMW hopes to simplify the incredibly complex international supply chain. This will provide all market participants with a significant amount of transparency, but also provide BMW with a way to easily facilitate changes, report defects, and keep their staff engaged with other activities.
Previous to the PartChain implementation, their partners have managed their own data separately, which is likely a trend that will continue. Now with the help of blockchain, these partners will no longer be exposed to IT systems that don’t want to communicate consistently, improving relations and reliability of the entire network.
The PartChain solution is utilizing cloud services and blockchain technology, making it a consortium network. Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are used for the technology stack that makes it all work.
In the long run, BMW Group hopes to take this all the way to the raw resources being mined from the ground and track them all the way to the smelter where the parts are created. It’s a significant vision, but it is one that a company of the size and capabilities such as BMW can certainly achieve.

by
MinerGate Mining Pool

May, 9, 2019
Dear miner, We are glad to announce that HitBTC will be the first major exchange to list the MG Token. Support from HitBTC is an important step towards developing the MinerGate loyalty tool. HitBTC is one of the most advanced cryptocurrency exchanges out there, providing markets for more than 300 different cryptocurrencies. HitBTC delivers to its users a reliable, powerful and fast platform solution for crypto. The MinerGate token was created as a new way of cooperation between our product and its users. A few tokens have already been delivered to the most active clients as a token of gratitude for their feedback and contribution to the project. Along with being a community endorsement to participate in the project’s growth, the MG Token is designed to be the fuel for the entire MinerGate ecosystem in the future. For more information on HitBTC, please visit: https://hitbtc.com/

The Central Bank of France wants to experiment with digital asset technology to improve interbanking abilities, according to this “Call to Apply” document that came out last Monday, on March 30th.
The document lists all of the desires and goals that the bank has with cryptocurrency. At the moment, they are looking for third party help to drive their understanding of the technologies. They are looking to use blockchain technology for the achievement of a few interests and goals.
Their interest is two-fold. One, to explore the possibilities offered by crypto technology. Two, to identify concrete cases for integrating CBDC (central bank digital currency) in the process of clearing and settlement of tokenized financial assets.
The document continues to list three specific goals that they want to achieve:
Create a system for interbank settlements using CBDC.
Identify benefits of CBDC for the current payments ecosystem
Understand the effects of introducing a CBDC on financial stability, policy, and regulation
From here, we can gather that the bank is seriously considering establishing a digital euro. Naturally, the Bank of France is not the only member of the European Council, so this project is going to be the way that it contributes to the general understanding of all National European Banks.
The Bank of France has stated that no money will be created as a result of this research project.
What are the real motivations for this research project?
Last year’s blockchain rally in China created a significant amount of authenticity for distributed ledgers. Combined with fear of losing currency value for the Euro, the National Banks in Europe seem to be gearing up to launch their digital version of the Euro.
If they launch a Digital Euro that will, in part, safeguard them by providing as much flexibility as the Digital Yuan. However, unlike China, the European Union has no way to drive as much attention to the rapid deployment of resources to the creation of blockchain companies and solutions.
In recent news, records for Chinese blockchain companies show that 70% of them are legally dead, while it is unclear how much blockchain can be found at the rest of them apart from the name.
Considering the landscape of blockchain integration by countries, we believe that China’s interest in establishing their own Digital Yuan and Facebook’s attempts to launch Libra. The general increase of conversation about blockchain in the finance sectors has lead the Bank of France to begin exploring this technology with all seriousness.
There is a lot at stake, and if the European Union and the United States are not ready to go live with their digital currency, China will be in a great position to reap the benefits and bring the Yuan to the front of the currency value markets.

by
MinerGate Mining Pool

May, 16, 2019
Dear Miner, The MinerGate team is pleased to announce that our ultimate loyalty tool, the MG Token, is now available on EOSDAQ, the world’s first on-chain decentralized exchange. EOSDAQ is a platform that supports the peer-to-peer trade of EOS-based tokens. All transactions there are recorded on the blockchain in a transparent manner.  The EOS-based MinerGate token was created as a symbol of reciprocal loyalty between the team and the miners as well as a means of fuel for the whole project. A few tokens have already been delivered to the most active users. The token distribution will be continued, and the further allocation of tokens will be based on the users’ contribution to the project evolution. Both MinerGate’s and EOSDAQ’s top priority is to maximize user experience and security, while contributing to the enhancement of the EOS ecosystem. For more information on EOSDAQ, please visit eosdaq.com.

Canaan Creative, the manufacturers of the Avalon Bitcoin miner series have published their first earnings report since the company’s public stocks sale in the USA, on Thursday, April 9th, as initially reported by Coindesk. During it’s IPO in November 2019, the company raised $90M USD selling 10,000,000 stocks for $9 each. Now investors have lost 61% of their investment at the current price per stock.
Nangeng Zhang, the CEO and founder of Canaan explained that sales of Bitcoin miners considerably dropped since December and he believes the reason is the volatility in BTC’s price. However, at the time BTC’s price movements were small and brief, painting a generally flat and upward curve going into the next year. The company’s revenue in 2019 is down two-fold compared to 2018. At the same time, many expenses have gone up, mainly the general and administrative expenses causing the most significant impact on the recorded loss.
Other reasons for the poor performance is the lower average selling price of TH/s. Bitcoin Miner Manufacturers are also influenced by the price of Bitcoin, and this affects their bottom line. Even though the company sold more units of processing power, accounting for 20% of the BTC processing growth in 2019, it still recorded a loss at the end.
It keeps getting worse, year after year.
On top of a bad year, the company is also being sued by an investor that participated in the IPO, and later accused Canaan of making misleading statements in their data, effectively violating the U.S. securities laws. Wolfie Zhao made a great comparison between the company’s earnings starting from 2017, where their expenses were lowest and in which they got the most profit out of their revenue.
In 2018, expenses rose dramatically, and with the market prices in a long-term freefall, the company started to suffer and they barely made any profit. Now in 2019, it seems that the company didn’t find a way to keep their expenses low enough to make a profit at all. What will happen with Canaan in 2020? Will they find a way to recover, eliminate expenses and get back in the green, or will they go bankrupt?