TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Square hires former Google director for its crypto team. Google integrates Chainlink and Ethereum contracts for building hybrid blockchain/cloud apps. IRS licensed neutrino tech to track blockchain transactions. Fundstrat announces new bull market period. CENTRE stablecoin network launched by Coinbase and Circle. Venezuela issues new banknotes for second time this year, and the SEC is looking for blockchain experts as visiting scholars.
Square Hires Former Google Director
Hey guys. Management again. Unfortunately, things didn't work out with Gary. However, we think we've found somebody who can live up to his commitment to decentralization. Please welcome Steve Lee, aka @moneyball, to the Square Crypto team.
— Square Crypto (@sqcrypto) June 12, 2019
Square hires former Google Director Steve Lee, and it does appear they’re beginning to take cryptocurrency more serious. The payment company founded by Jack Dorsey of Twitter fame, announced they hired Lee, known as Moneyball, who will occupy a still unidentified role in the company. Square has more than $60 million in revenue just in the first quarter, so assembling a team of people knowledgeable about the cryptocurrency space is a very important. Dorsey announced this team would be working for the good of the whole cryptocurrency space instead of focusing upon his company alone.
Google Integrates Chainlink Smart Contract Focus for Cloud Apps
We're thrilled to share that Google is one of the great companies integrating #Chainlink into their approach to smart contract adoption. Here's how @GCPcloud users can use Chainlink to connect to BigQuery, one of Google's most popular cloud services. https://t.co/TfaGPP5TlS
— Chainlink – Official Channel (@chainlink) June 13, 2019
Google published an article detailing use of Chainlink smart contracts to build hybrid blockchain and cloud applications. Chainlink Oracle contracts are tools used to bring data on chain, making the communication between cloud and blockchain bidirectional, allowing for powerful applications to be created with the aid of Ethereum. The article states that “this interoperability technique will lead developers to create hybrid applications that take the best of what smart contract platforms and cloud platforms have to offer,” using Ethereum, Google Cloud and Chainlink.
IRS Licensed Neutrino’s Tech to Track Crypto
Surprise surprise, IRS licensed some of Neutrino’s tech back in 2018 to track crypto transactions for “actionable insights on the whole blockchain ecosystem.” Wondering what actions they had taken since then 🤔 pic.twitter.com/aufGOcqSju
— Celia Wan (@celiawan2) June 13, 2019
US tax agency, the Internal Revenue Service revealed it licensed Neutrino tech to track cryptocurrency movements across blockchains and provide “actionable” insight on these movements. Neutrino, the startup purchased by Coinbase earlier this year, was criticized for their poor record of key employees, believed to sell human rights and freedom activist information using their tracking technology.
Fundstrat Announces New Bull Period
Fundstrat, cryptocurrency investment and legacy financial advice boutique, is now declaring the little bear period the market faced over the last three weeks is over. Rob Sluymer, a tech analyst at Fundstrat, is now recommending customers buy cryptocurrencies, after having called for patience when the latest bull run was brought to a halt with BTC hitting strong resistance at $8K. Sluymer predicted BTC could get to 8.8K-9K levels during this month.
CENTRE Stablecoin Network Launched by Coinbase and Circle
Coinbase and Circle, two cryptocurrency and payment behemoths, have partnered to launch an open network to issue stablecoins all over the world: CENTRE. CENTRE is a network that will permit its members to act as USDC (Circle Dollar) issuers, having to comply with certain requirements to do so. This presents a clear and regulated alternative to USDT, the stablecoin issued by Tether, that has been reported to divert collateral funds to Bitfinex, a partner exchange currently being sued by the NY Attorney General.
Venezuela Issues New Banknotes for the Second Time This Year
Venezuela’s inflation has not stopped, and is still reaching peak record levels. That is the reason why the government has been pushed to issue a new set of banknotes after a monetary re-conversion that deleted 5 zeroes from the original currency, the bolivar fuerte (Strong Bolivar). The new banknotes will have values of 10k, 20K and 50K bolivares, while a kilogram of meat is worth around 30K bolivares, half of the legal monthly minimum wage. Intermediate value banknotes, between 500 and 5K VES, have not been announced yet.
SEC is Looking for Blockchain Visiting Scholars
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is searching for visiting scholars well versed in cryptocurrency and blockchain matters to apply for a year-long program during. The interested parties must have expertise in the areas of Distributed Ledger Technology, Digital Asset Trading, and Digital Asset Private Funds. The experts selected will work in its FinHub, and will coordinate with the SEC staff to identify emerging trends and offer consulting services as data reviewers and analysts.
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