As Russia’s cryptocurrency bill slowly inches forward, a government official has hinted at what may lie ahead when the legislation is finally passed.

According to a report from local news source Interfax.ru, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev told journalists on Friday that among the options currently being discussed is to allow the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. Crypto payments are not on the table, however.

Worryingly for the country’s crypto community, the bill could still see cryptocurrency use banned outright.

Moiseyev said that the finance ministry had met with the Russian central bank and the Federal Security Service, the nation’s security agency, to discuss the bill.

“There is a range [of possibilities] from prohibition to the possibility of purchase,” he explained. “Like with foreign currency, it would be possible to buy and sell [cryptocurrencies], but impossible to use them for payments. After a political decision is made on this issue, we will have the responsibility.”

Russia’s bill on digital financial assets was expected to be considered at the plenary session of the State Duma on March 19, but was postponed.

According to the report, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Duma Financial Market Committee, has said that Russia must adopt a bill on cryptocurrency before the end of this year in order to comply with recommendations from international watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In related news, FATF announced new standards on Friday that include a controversial requirement that “virtual asset service providers,” including crypto exchanges, pass information about their customers to one another when transferring funds between firms. Its 37 member nations are not obliged to apply its guidance, but non complying countries can be blacklisted, which would be harmful financially.

State Duma image via Shutterstock

Propy, a blockchain based real estate platform, announced the sale of a $1.6 million San Francisco property owned by the venture capital fund CrunchFund, co-founded by Michael Arrington.

The announcement follows news of Propy’s highest cost transaction to date, a $2.4 million duplex in San Francisco, completed entirely on the platform.

Propy is a real-estate transaction platform that empowers buyers, sellers, their agents, and escrow agents to close a traditional real estate deal entirely online. The purchase offer, payment and deeds are uploaded to an immutable blockchain.

“The traditional real estate sale process is arduous and broken. Buyers, sellers, and their professional support struggle with overly complex interactions – it’s an opaque, dated, and unnecessarily lengthy process, full of risks such as wire fraud,” said Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, whose most recent venture is into blockchain capital investments and management with his $100m firm, Arrington XRP Capital.

“When it comes to expensive property or other expensive goods, these normally already have digital presentation of ownership, that’s why blockchain is applicable to space,” said CEO Natalia Karayaneva. “Blockchain’s main implications, after [virtual] money, is as a technology that enables ownership transfers… it aligns the entire process of any value transfer including real estate.”

Propy completed its first deal in 2017, and its first US transaction in Vermont 12 months ago. Worldwide, they have assisted in some form in over 60 real estate transfers. This includes auctioning a 17th century Italian mansion and UNESCO site on its blockchain.

The median price of a house sold on its platform is around $1.5 million, said Karayaneva, though the value of the houses is steadily increasing. About 20 realtors have closed deals on the platform, though 3,000 have signed up.

Karayaneva believes in two or three years the majority of real estate transactions will be entirely digitized. The company is working with county governments to provide technology that automatically and immediately reports the transfer of title deeds.

“We don’t want to work against them. Either we help them or will eliminate them,” she said.

The venture capital arm of the U.S. National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently invested an undisclosed amount in Propy via its REACH accelerator program. The company also raised $15.5 million via an initial coin offering in 2017.

Arrington previously purchased a $60,000 apartment in Kiev through Propy, using ethereum and smart contracts to settle the deal.

Sold house image via Shutterstock

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Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be powering to the best second quarter price gain on record and the best quarterly performance overall since late 2017.

At press time, the 165 percent gain on the April 1 opening price of $4,092 is the biggest percentage rise observed in May to June to date, going by Bitstamp data.

Further, bitcoin’s triple-digit gain so far for Q2 is the best quarterly rise overall since the fourth quarter of 2017. Over that period, the cryptocurrency rose 230 percent, propelling prices to a lifetime high of $20,000 in December.

Monthly chart

With the 165 percent price rise, BTC seems to have left the bear market far behind. In fact, the bearish-to-bullish trend change was confirmed on April 2, when prices rallied $1,000 to levels above $5,000.

The cryptocurrency then rose above $8,000 in the run-up to New York Blockchain Week held from May 10 to May 18 and remained bid after the event to hit highs near $9,100 on May 30.

The two-month double-digit winning streak has now extended into June, with prices briefly hitting 15-month highs above $11,000 over the weekend. The recent leg higher from $7,500 to $10,000 could be associated with Facebook’s foray into cryptocurrencies.

Observers believe that Facebook’s Libra project will not only boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies, but will also strengthen bitcoin’s appeal as an anti-establishment asset.

Further, the leading cryptocurrency by market value is set to undergo a mining reward halving in May next year. Therefore, the long-term price prospects look bright.

In the short run, however, a repeated failure to hold onto gains above $11,000 could yield a correction. As of writing, BTC is changing hands at $10,880, representing 2.4 percent gains on the day.

Weekly, 3-day and daily charts

The RSIs on the weekly, 3-day and daily charts are reporting overbought conditions with above-70 readings.

So far, however, prices aren’t showing any signs of bullish exhaustion. The bullish structure of higher lows and higher highs is intact and the 5-and 10-candle moving averages (MA) on all three charts continue to trend north.

The overbought readings on the RSIs would gain credence only if signs of bull exhaustion emerge in the form of candlestick patterns such as doji, bearish engulfing, hanging man, etc.

The bullish outlook would be invalidated only if and when prices drop below $9,097 (May 30 high), invalidating the bullish higher lows and higher highs pattern.

On the higher side, resistance is seen at $11,247 (Sunday’s high) and $11,394 (50 percent Fibonacci retracement of the bear market drop).

4-hour chart

BTC has failed twice over the weekend to hold onto gains above $10,000 with the RSI charting lower highs (bearish divergence).

That RSI pattern would gain credence if the cryptocurrency again fades a break above $10,000, leading to a drop toward $10,000 – the support of the ascending trendline.

BTC was expected to put on a good show in the three months to June 30 this year, as a number of technical indicators had turned bullish in February and March.

Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing

Bitcoin image via CoinDesk archives; charts by TradingView

Social media giant Facebook, which recently revealed details of an ambitious plan to roll out a cryptocurrency called Libra, is seeking a data professional to work on the new network’s wallet data, as well as a policy specialist to help with potential regulatory hurdles.

In one job description posted Monday, Facebook indicated it’s looking for a head of data science at Calibra wallet – an app that’s being developed for the Libra project. The new role is focused on analyzing how customers are using Calibra and making decisions based on that data across Facebook’s teams and products.

The data engineer will need to use “quantitative analysis, data mining, and the presentation of data to see beyond the numbers and understand how our users interact with our core products,” the ad says. They must also “drive data quality across the product vertical and related business areas,” working with the product and engineering teams to make sure the data is properly understood and utilized.

The engineer will also manage the proper service-level agreements – that is, the agreements between Facebook’s services and its customers on what the company will do to provide the services and what the customers should expect.

Lending and wealth management

The job description also gives some specifics on Facebook’s ambitions regarding the future developments of Calibra, including banking and financial services:

“The wallet will be the delivery vehicle for many financial services starting with personal payments, but expanding to online and offline commerce and eventually lending and personal financial management. We are very focused on the mission of creating opportunities for the billions of people around the world that are excluded or are underserved by the incumbent financial players.”

This is the second job for Calibra posted by Facebook so far. On Friday, the company announced it was seeking a finance program manager to plan, lead and execute “on global, cross-functional finance projects,” CoinDesk reported. The job description didn’t specify that the manager will be working for Calibra, but Facebook spokesperson Elka Looks later told CoinDesk in an email that the new position was meant for the wallet app.

In total, Facebook’s career website now has over two dozen blockchain-related jobs, as the company looks to grow the team working on Libra – an initiative that picked up pace with the hiring of former staffers at blockchain startup Chainspace earlier this year.

Data privacy concerns

Libra became the biggest blockchain-related news in recent months, reaching a peak with Facebook’s publication of the project’s white paper last week. The company announced partnerships with companies including Uber, Lyft, PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard, who have all joined the Libra Association, a non-profit dedicated to the network’s development. Crypto-oriented companies like Bison Trails, Coinbase and Xapo are also on board.

However, the way Facebook is handling users’ data has been a point of concern for the blockchain and crypto community when talking about Libra. In particular, startups like Stellar, Tendermint and MobileCoin declined to work with Facebook, according to CoinDesk sources, because of the enormous control over users’ financial information that the Libra Association will have.

ConsenSys founder Joe Lubin warned about trusting Facebook with wallet data in an op-ed for Quartz on Friday, saying:

“That our digital identity will never merge with Libra’s financial data is a hard perception to shake. It is almost a given, even if they have the best of intentions — ‘accidents’ and incursions happen when relying on centralized architectures.”

To address potential policy risks for the Libra project, Facebook is looking to fill another post for a public policy manager.

The role includes analyzing possible policy risks and “responding strategically to related legislative and regulatory initiatives.” The candidate should have experience in “emerging payments, commerce, blockchain, digital identity, cryptocurrency, and related policy issues, as well as experience working on technology policy issues generally,” the ad says.

Members of the U.S. Congress also voiced some concerns over the greater power Facebook will acquire once it’s in charge of a global financial network. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Yahoo Finance: “I’m concerned about their size, I’m concerned about their anti-competitive conduct, I’m concerned about their rampant violations of privacy.”

Congress has already spent quite some time trying to figure out how Facebook is handling its users’ data after the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica – the private company that used large amounts of Facebook’s users data to influence the voters’ moods during the 2016 presidential election.

Now, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has scheduled a hearing on July 16 focused on Libra and named “Examining Facebook’s Proposed Digital Currency and Data Privacy Considerations.”

Calibra app preview image courtesy of Facebook

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), often described as the bank for central banks, has issued its annual report for 2019, expressing concerns over the expected disruption as big tech firms like Facebook enter the financial space.

While titled “Big tech in finance: opportunities and risks,” the report looks at the risks and challenges posed by companies such as Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Tencent, rather than paying lip service to the potential benefits of this building fintech revolution.

These firms have developed huge customer bases, says BIS, and have the benefit of a “data-network-activities loop” which gives them ” the potential to become dominant.”

While the encroach of such companies into payments, money management, insurance and lending has only just started, it brings the potential for major change in the finance industry.

On the benefits, BIS writes:

“Big techs’ low-cost structure business can easily be scaled up to provide basic financial services, especially in places where a large part of the population remains unbanked. Using big data and analysis of the network structure in their established platforms, big techs can assess the riskiness of borrowers, reducing the need for collateral to assure repayment. As such, big techs stand to enhance the efficiency of financial services provision, promote financial inclusion and allow associated gains in economic activity.”

However, such change brings new risks, according to the report. As well as the old issues of financial stability and consumer protection, “big techs have the potential to loom large very quickly as systemically relevant financial institutions.” At this point, BIS specifically raises the recent reports of Facebook’s new Libra project, which sees the social media giant “considering offering payment services for their customers on a global basis.”

There are also “important new and unfamiliar challenges” that, BIS suggests, go beyond the remit of current regulations. The report says that “Big techs have the potential to become dominant through the advantages afforded by the data-network-activities loop, raising competition and data privacy issues.”

As such, policies will be needed for a “comprehensive approach” on financial regulation, competition policy and data privacy regulation.

“The aim should be to respond to big techs’ entry into financial services so as to benefit from the gains while limiting the risks. As the operations of big techs straddle regulatory perimeters and geographical borders, coordination among authorities – national and international – is crucial,” according to the report.

In a somewhat telling statement, BIS further reveals its fears that banks could lose ground to the new big tech disruptors saying:

“Regulators need to ensure a level playing field between big techs and banks, taking into account big techs’ wide customer base, access to information and broad-ranging business models.”

And with such major companies having the ability to work across borders, international coordination is needed on rules and standards to address the potential shift in the “risk-benefit balance,” says BIS.

As the report suggests, Facebook’s crypto project may not have an easy time with the world’s regulators as the firm seeks to launch financial services for its billions of users.

France has already moved to create a task force within the G7 nations to examine the issues raised by Libra, while U.S. lawmakers have also expressed concerns over the project.

BIS headquarters image via Shutterstock