Crypto-News

🔸According to the WFP, the government of Belgium is making a contribution of €2 mln to promote a blockchain project by the World Food Programme (WFP). The contribution will reportedly allow the United Nations (UN) to use blockchain technology to fight against hunger in impoverished areas.

🔸Japanese police apprehended 12 people who embezzled Bitcoin worth $1.86 million from a middle-aged businessman in July. According to the victim, the delinquents offered to purchase Bitcoin worth $1.76 million for $1.86 million in cash, earning the seller a profit of $93,000. The victim accused the counterparty of providing fake bills, in return for the Bitcoin. 

🔸The current San Francisco Fed President John Williams laid out a case for why cryptocurrencies, the most prominent of which is Bitcoin, cannot replace paper money. Williams noted that cryptocurrencies are volatile, making it difficult to pay the correct price for an item. Thus, while the world’s central banks try to stabilize the economy at times by either increasing or decreasing the amount of cash circulating, Bitcoin has a fixed supply: 20 million. 

🔸Australia’s Hunter Energy has signed a contract with the IOT Group, a cryptocurrency mining firm, in an effort to reopen a coal power plant in the Hunter Valley Region of Australia. The move would sell electricity at wholesale costs to blockchain companies in an effort to encourage blockchain innovation in the country.