Facebook scales back Libra cryptocurrency project, and traders lost $23 million due to bitcoin rise

Facebook scales back Libra cryptocurrency launch

Facebook has changed the concept of creating a digital currency, according to the project’s white paper project.

Instead of a single cryptocurrency Libra, developers will release several stablecoins backed by a fiat currency- the U.S. dollar, euro, British pound and Singapore dollar.

“Each single-currency stablecoin will be fully backed by the Reserve, which will consist of cash or cash equivalents and very short-term government securities denominated in that currency,” the document says.

This will allow for a compromise with national regulators who considered Libra a threat to the financial system. According to the Libra Association, the project is still planned to be launched in 2020.

For the first time, ETH is on par with BTC in terms of value transfer

According to a study by Messari, Ethereum has caught up with Bitcoin in terms of daily value transfer.

This is explained by the sharp increase in the mass of stablecoins issued on the Ethereum blockchain, company analyst Ryan Watkins says. Three of the four most popular stablecoins (USDT, TrueUSD and USD Coin) operate primarily on the ETH network.

Now transactions in stable coins take up 80% of the daily value transfer on the Ethereum network.

Traders lost $23 million due to rising Bitcoin prices

On Thursday, BTC rose in price from $6,650 to $7,150 in a few hours. On the BitMEX exchange, this led to the liquidation of positions in the amount of about $23 million — 93% of them were sales orders.

At the same time, two weeks highest trading volumes were observed, according to the Bitstamp platform.

Coindesk analyst Omkar Godbowle notes that the BTC price continues to correlate with the S&P 500. On Wednesday, Bitcoin fell from $6,900 to $6,600 amid falling stock markets. The next day, the S&P 500 strengthened by 0.8%, which led to an increase in the BTC rate to $7,150, the analyst notes.