VODAFONE'S EXIT: Vodafone is the eighth company to pull out of the Libra Association, the governing council for the Facebook-created global digital currency initiative. The telecommunications giant will now dedicate resources set aside for Libra to M-Pesa, an African digital payment service. Full story
CBDC STUDY: Six central banks including Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, the U.K. and Japan, as well as the European Central Bank (ECB), have formed a working group with the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) to share findings as each investigates potential cases for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Full story
CLEAN BREAK: DigixDAO investors have voted to liquidate its $64 million treasury, after Digix CEO Kai Cheng Chng floated the idea this winter. "One recurring comment was for a mechanism for dissatisfied DGD token holders to make a clean break from DigixDAO,” he wrote in a blog post. The decentralized autonomous organization will return 0.19 ETH per DGD token to holders. Full story
DIGITAL FENCE: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) admitted to "ringfencing" financial institutions from dealing with cryptocurrencies. In an affidavit, the RBI said it has “not prohibited VCs (virtual currencies) in the country,” though it has prevented its regulated counterparties from providing “services to those persons or entities dealing in or settling VCs.” Full story
CANADA CHAIN: The Canadian government awarded enterprise blockchain startup Mavennet a CD$169,427 contract to develop an on-chain steel-tracking platform. The funds will support R&D behind a blockchain prototype that will track and share real-time data across the Canadian steel industry. Full story | 