EncryptoTel weekly digest (3.11.19)

All the same on Libra from Facebook, TON from Telegram and the advantages of B2B over B2C

Facebook refuses to develop Libra without the approval of US regulators

On October 23, Mark Zuckerberg answered to congressmen concerned about the creation of the Libra cryptocurrency during a hearing at the Congressional Financial Services Committee. Zuckerberg noted that Facebook will not launch Libra without the approval of US regulatory authorities. If other members of the Libra Association decide to launch the project without U.S. approval, then Facebook will quit the association, Zuckerberg explained.

One of Zuckerberg’s arguments in defense of the Libra project was the confrontation with China. According to the founder of Facebook, if Libra is banned now, then China will be the first to issue its own digital currency.

The Digital Yuan will be a part of their Silk Road initiative, a kind of foreign economic policy aimed at strengthening influence in Asia, Africa and other regions. Libra will be supported mainly by dollars, and I believe that this will expand America’s financial leadership around the world, as well as our democratic values ​​and influence, ”Zuckerberg suggested.

A similar opinion can be heard in China itself. Tencent, the Chinese Internet giant and creator of WeChat, believes that Libra cryptocurrency launch proposed by Facebook will pose serious risks to existing digital payment systems.

“Any Internet company that has a relatively mature digital payment system, such as WeChat Pay and Alipay, will be threatened by the emergence of stablecoin if it is launched,” the report said.

TON investors agree to postpone the launch of the platform

Most investors who participated in TON’s closed rounds of financing agreed to wait until April 30, 2020. Until this time, they will not require the founders of the TON project to return the invested funds.

If investors refused to postpone the launch of the project, they would be able to return only 77% of the invested amount. In addition, Telegram prescribed in an investor agreement that the decisions of global regulators are force majeure, and therefore investors fund the project at their own risk.

Earlier, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has secured a temporary injunction against two offshore subsidiaries of Telegram Group Inc. and TON Issuer Inc. to launch the platform and sell Gram tokens. Because of this, the launch of TON, scheduled for October 31, 2019, was postponed.

U.S. hearing on the release of Gram and the launch of TON is scheduled for February 18–19, 2020.

The most successful startups from Y Combinator are B2B software and fintech developers

The American venture capital fund and business incubator Y Combinator has updated the list of the most successful graduate companies. The total valuation of 101 companies that went through the incubator is $ 155 billion, and on average they cost from $ 150 million and above. The top 3 included Stripe, a payment solutions developer, Airbnb, an online rental space, and Cruise, a standalone car developer.

52% of the Y Combinator list are B2B software and service developers, fintech — 15%, and consumer market participants — 11%.

Survey: cloud migration has a negative impact on financial companies

A study conducted by Sapio on behalf of CSI showed that 86% of financial companies show that the inability to transfer legacy applications to the cloud negatively affects their business. At the same time, almost the same number — 85% of respondents — declared digital transformation as a key priority for the coming years. An amazing collision arises: legacy systems are so rigid that migration causes more problems than advantages, although everyone understands that the transition is necessary.

The inability to migrate outdated applications leads to the fact that backups and corrections take too much time from more than a third (36%) of the companies surveyed. 36% of IT managers in the financial sector identified cloud-related security issues as an obstacle to change.

FSB allowed to sell eSIM in Russia

Permissions from the Russian special services were obtained by the virtual operator Easy4 (Sonet LLC). Now they will be able to provide communication services using eSim, which allows you to connect to the network without a regular SIM card. This was reported to Vedomosti by the managing director of the Easy4 group of companies Sergey Malyshkin. According to the notification that Easy4 sent to Roskomnadzor, the operator will activate COPM in the fourth quarter of 2019.

eSim from Easy4 differ from other virtual SIM cards in that they can work in several networks at once, Malyshkin said: the card from Easy4 itself selects a network for the best signal quality or price depending on the country or location of the subscriber. To register with eSim, you will need to download the Easy4 mobile application, which is integrated into State Services. The identification of subscribers will be carried out through an electronic signature.

If the subscriber does not have an electronic signature, he can register through the EasyID application: the program will scan the person’s face, passport, ask to sign on the screen and activate eSim.

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