PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($11,027): +20% / +194%
- ETH ($314): +16% / +135%
- LTC ($141): +3% / +362%
- XRP ($0.48): +12% / +36%
- Crypto Market Cap ($332B): +17% / +164%
- BTC Dominance: 59%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Facebook revealed the details of its cryptocurrency, Libra, which will let users buy things or send money with nearly zero fees. Users will be able to to buy or cash out Libra online or at local exchange points like grocery stores, and spend it using third party wallet apps or Facebook's own Calibra wallet that will be built into WhatsApp, Messenger, and its own app. Calibra is a subsidiary to Facebook that handles crypto wallets and protects users' privacy by never mingling Libra payments with a user's Facebook data. The Libra blockchain is expected to be ready for public launch in the first half of 2020. Link.  

- Facebook won't fully control Libra but will get a single vote in its governance with other founding members of the Libra Association including Visa, Uber and Andreessen Horowitz, which have invested at least $10 million each into the project's operations. Initial members of the Libra Association will be running validator nodes and offer governance diversification that could ease regulators. Link. 

- Libra is a stablecoin tied to a basket of bank deposits and short term government securities for historically stable international currencies, including the dollar, pound, euro, Swiss franc, and yen. The basket is maintained by the Libra Association which meets biannually. Link. 

- The Libra blockchain is designed to handle 1,000 transactions per second-- much faster than bitcoin's 7 transactions per second or ethereum's 15. The Libra blockchain is a "permissioned" blockchain meaning only entities that fulfill certain requirements are admitted to the Libra Association for defining consensus and controlling governance. The blockchain uses a Byzantine Fault Tolerance system, where just two-thirds of the nodes must come to a consensus that the transaction is legitimate for it to be executed and written to the blockchain. If an attack compromises over one-third of the validator nodes causing a fork in the blockchain, the Libra Association says it will temporarily halt transactions and recommend software updates to resolve the fork. Link. 

- Facebook's announcement of its cryptocurrency called Libra drew worried reactions from governments and banks around the world. France is creating a G7 task force to study how central banks ensure cryptocurrencies like Facebook's Libra are governed by regulations ranging from money-laundering laws to consumer protection rules. The US Senate Banking Committee also said it would hold a hearing on the plans next month. David Marcus, who oversees Facebook's blockchain efforts, is expected to testify. Link. 

- Lightning Labs, the startup focused on a second layer scaling solution for bitcoin, released its first mobile app last week. The app was downloaded by almost 2,000 users across both iOS and Android devices. For now users will rely on the startup's nodes to send bitcoin, though some tech-savvy users can build out manual functions for setting up their own payment channels and connecting to their own nodes. Link. 

- China-based crypto mining firm Bitmain plans to launch an IPO in the US as bitcoin climbs to a one-year high. The company plans to file with the SEC as early as next month. Bitmain previously made plans to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, but allowed its listing application to lapse earlier this year. Bitmain was valued at about $15 billion in a private funding round last year. Link. 

- Cryptocurrency company Ripple announced an investment of up to $50 million into money transfer company MoneyGram, which will utilize Ripple's token XRP in its core money transfer business. Ripple has long sought to drive adoption of the XRP cryptocurrency, which makes global money transfers faster and cheaper. Link. 

- BitGo's vice president of sales, Josh Schwartz, is leaving the company just a year after joining. According to sources Schwartz played a key role in transforming BitGo from a software-as-a-service company to a financial-services firm. He was also behind the settlement and clearing solution service BitGo is rolling out next month - this will enable BitGo clients to transfer coins among themselves without moving them out of cold storage. Link. 

- Japanese messaging giant LINE is likely to get regulatory approval to launch a crypto exchange in the country as early as this month. The pending exchange, called BitMax, will allow LINE's 80 million users in Japan to trade cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and LINE's own token Link. LINE started as a messaging app but has been gradually moving into the fintech space; it eventually plans to offer stock brokerage and banking services. Link. 

- Livepeer, a decentralized video encoding platform built on ethereum, raised $8 million in Series A funding from Northzone. Livepeer has built video streaming infrastructure that functions as a "token coordinating network", incentivizing those with computing power to join and match the needs of those looking to stream, by offering the ability to get paid for idle processing power in ethereum. Livepeer's technology drives down the price for encoding, in some cases making it 10x cheaper than incumbent streaming providers. The company has more than 30 providers of compute power on the platform, and more than 100 events have streamed video through Livepeer. Link. 

- Two blockchain-focused startups are partnering to enable Amazon purchases with ethereum via a browser extension, even though Amazon itself does not accept cryptocurrencies. The effort will be based on Plasma Cash, a technology outlined by ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, which is a payments scaling solution similar to bitcoin's lightning network. Link. 

- A new study estimates that Bitcoin mining generates as much as carbon dioxide as a small country. Bitcoin mining drives about 22 megatons in emissions per year, approximately equivalent to the carbon footprint of Jordan, Sri Lanka, and Kansas City. When other cryptocurrencies are taken into account that figure doubles. Link. 

- A new crypto exchange service is available on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, with the aim of helping refugees fleeing Venezuela. Refugees are able to use a point-of-sale service to buy goods with cryptocurrencies, eliminating the need to exchange into Colombian Pesos which often represents a major FX loss. Link. 

- BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen has stepped in as CEO of Chia Network following the departure of Ryan Singer. Cohen, who co-founded Chia after leaving BitTorrent, is hoping to create a less energy-intensive alternative to bitcoin. Chia's tokens are generated through "farming" as opposed to "mining". The company has raised $3.4 million from investors like Greylock Partners, Naval Ravikant, and Andreessen Horowtiz. Link.