The Libra Association has a new CEO while Animal Crossing: New Horizons players can build replica “bitcoin farms.”
At-A-Glance
- The Libra Association announces that former Undersecretary for Terrorism Stuart Levey will become its first CEO.
- Staffers on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations propose blockchain voting as a remote solution for the US Senate during COVID-19.
- One Animal Crossing: New Horizons player passes the time by creating a replica “bitcoin farm” in his digital home.
- The Zoom video conferencing platform acquires Keybase – a crypto key directory and secure messaging service – to provide end-to-end encryption for video calls.
Obama’s Under Secretary for Terrorism Appointed CEO of Libra
Cointelegraph
Facebook and the Libra Association are doing everything they can to ensure the Libra token lines up with regulatory expectations. To that end, the Libra Association announced that Stuart Levey – Undersecretary for Terrorism under Presidents Obama and W. Bush – will be its first CEO. Levey received bipartisan support during his time in office, which he dedicated towards anti-money laundering efforts.
“I am honored to join the Libra Association as it charts a bold path forward to harness the power of technology to transform the global payments landscape. Technology provides us with the opportunity to make it easier for individuals and businesses to send and receive money, and to empower more than a billion people who have been left on the sidelines of the financial system.”
US Senate Staffers Float Blockchain Voting if Chamber Goes Remote
Coindesk
Thanks to COVID-19, any large gathering of individuals can pose a significant health risk – and the US Senate is no exception. In response, staffers on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations have proposed blockchain voting as a remote solution. The proposal memo also recommended “end-to-end encryption platforms … via a military-esque ‘air-gapped’ communications system akin to those presidents and generals use.”
Blockchain is perhaps the most controversial of the three suggestions when it comes to remote voting. Over the past year researchers have blasted blockchain and internet-backed voting platforms as insecure and prone to bugs, prompting some election authorities to pull out of plans to use them.
Staffers did not share researchers’ fears.
“Although some have raised concerns about the use of online systems for voting, those concerns are more specific to secret ballot elections than they are to public Senate votes,” they wrote.
Someone built a Bitcoin mining farm in Animal Crossing
Decrypt
With so many people in isolation, at least one crypto trader is combining the practice with a love of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This popular Nintendo Switch game – released just after the pandemic hit North America – offers players simple-yet-relaxing challenges to earn in-game currency and items. Reddit user “stholli” used this opportunity to create a replica bitcoin farm in his home, complete with an extra investment of gold bars.
According to VillagerDB, an online catalog of Animal Crossing New Horizons items, each Server item sells for 100,000 bells (the in-game currency). At a going market rate of around $2.90 per million bells, this means stholli’s setup costs at least $4.06 worth of bells—and with no real mining operation, it will never break even. That’s not including the cost of the gold bars or computer, both of which somehow cost less than the server racks.
Zoom Seeks to Deflect Privacy, Security Concerns With Keybase Buy
Coindesk
As you can imagine, the need for remote-yet-secure workplace communication solutions has increased exponentially over the past two months. To that end, the Zoom video conferencing platform has purchased Keybase, a crypto key directory and secure messaging service. Keybase’s current objective will be to provide end-to-end encryption for Zoom calls before expanding its services.
“Initially, our single top priority is helping to make Zoom even more secure,” Keybase said. “There are no specific plans for the Keybase app yet. Ultimately, Keybase’s future is in Zoom’s hands, and we’ll see where that takes us. Of course, if anything changes about Keybase’s availability our users will get plenty of notice.”
The post adds the most immediate actions will be to significantly improve “our security effectiveness, by working on a product that’s much bigger than Keybase. We can’t be more specific than that because we’re just diving in.”
That’s the crypto news roundup for May 9, 2020. Check in next week for the latest news of cryptocurrency innovation and regulation around the world!
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