Facebook says it wants a ‘fair shot’ in the crypto payments sphere.

Facebook has been locked in a battle with the cryptocurrency community ever since it announced plans to launch its own stable coin, Libra. The social media giant has been under fire from the crypto community for not being transparent about the product, and for considering adding a controversial feature to the digital currency—an option to link a user’s bank account to the blockchain and allow for anonymous transactions. Facebook’s Libra chief David Marcus called the project a “fair shot” in a tweet posted today. “We believe a ‘fair shot’ is making sure financial services and crypto are open to everyone, with strong consumer protections and oversight, and a stable value. We’ll start with a simple and flexible payments infrastructure

Facebook has started testing a new cryptocurrency-related feature for its Messenger app, according to a blog post Friday from David Marcus, the company’s vice president of messaging products. Marcus said that the feature would allow users to send each other “small amounts” of bitcoin, in addition to the crypto’s more widely used cousin, ethereum. The feature will eventually be available in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., Marcus said. The time frame for bringing it to other countries is an “on-going conversation,” he said.

Facebook is planning to enter the cryptocurrency payment landscape, according to a report from Bloomberg. The social media giant has hired a former chief financial officer of PayPal to develop a cryptocurrency called Libra that can be used to send payments or make purchases on the social network.. Read more about says wants fair shot in crypto and let us know what you think.

Briefing on Business Every Day

Updated on August 18, 2021

1:09 p.m. ET, August 18, 2021

In 2019, David Marcus testified in front of Congress regarding Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans. Credit… Shutterstock/EPA/Erik S Lesser

The goal of Facebook is to “bring the world closer together.” It’s increasingly becoming a forum for people’s financial life, rather than simply connecting friends and family to exchange messages.

According to David Marcus, head of Facebook’s financial services division, the firm has facilitated $100 billion in payments in the last year. Mr. Marcus argues in a new document on the country’s “broken” payments system, which was published in the DealBook newsletter, that this is just the beginning of the social network’s ambitions in the financial sector.

Novi, a digital wallet designed to let users transfer money across the globe swiftly and inexpensively, is at the heart of Facebook’s payments effort (free, in many cases). The firm had planned to combine it with a “stablecoin” cryptocurrency called Libra, but that was abandoned due to regulatory concerns, and now the scaled-back project, known as Diem, is being managed by an independent nonprofit organization that is seeking government permissions.

Mr. Marcus portrays Facebook, which is the target of antitrust investigations across the globe, as an underdog in describing some of the company’s failures in attempting to enter into the crypto payments sector.

According to him, Facebook is up against unfair opposition in the banking sector. He added, “I’ve heard numerous discussions about how wonderful this idea would be if only Facebook wasn’t involved.” “Because of our size, I understand and appreciate the necessity for additional scrutiny.”

Mr. Marcus, on the other hand, sees Facebook as a “challenger in the payments industry,” with no particular plans to monetize usage of the Novi wallet, which will not charge for cross-border payments.

Allowing users to pay with dollars, euros, and other fiat currencies via the Novi wallet would be very valuable, he said.

He wrote, “So why not simply do that and call it a day?” “Perhaps,” says the narrator. He doesn’t want to “squander our chance” at integrating stablecoins into a “open, interoperable system” for online payments before making that decision. “Building a closed system utilizing fiat alone wasn’t going to cut it for maximum impact,” he said in the letter.

Crypto supporters claim that blockchain technology enables solutions to be developed that remove intermediaries, credit checks, and fees, as well as allowing individuals who are unable to use conventional financial services to trade at any time and from any location. Mr. Marcus thinks that a well-designed stablecoin linked to a fiat currency and backed 1:1 in cash reserves might provide significant consumer safeguards. It would also be easier to get money than with conventional bank accounts.

Regulators are cautious about stablecoins in reality. The New York attorney general’s office discovered that Tether, a popular stablecoin, issued tokens without sufficient reserves to support them. Janet Yellen, the Secretary of the Treasury, Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, have all expressed worry about crypto tokens in recent weeks.

Mr. Marcus is attempting to assuage such fears. “We will persist and show our ability to be a trusted participant in this industry,” he said, noting that the Novi wallet has licenses or permits in almost every U.S. state and that the Diem stablecoin project “has addressed every valid concern.”

Mr. Marcus said that Facebook’s digital wallet is ready to launch, and that “we deserve a fair chance.” Regulators are still skeptical, based on Facebook’s challenges in getting to this stage.

In Kabul, people congregate in front of a bank to withdraw money. Credit… The New York Times’ Kiana Hayeri

The former acting governor of the Afghan central bank, who has left the country, claimed on Wednesday that the Taliban, who took over the nation’s government over the weekend, could not access almost all of the bank’s $9 billion in reserves.

Nearly all of the money, including $7 billion in assets owned by the Federal Reserve, is kept abroad, according to Ajmal Ahmady, who was appointed to the central bank little over a year ago. Other foreign accounts had $1.3 billion in assets, while the Bank of International Settlements, which is headquartered in Switzerland and serves as a bank for central banks, held approximately $700 million, he said in a series of Twitter postings.

He said, “We may estimate the Taliban’s available finances are probably 0.1-0.2 percent of Afghanistan’s entire foreign reserves.” “Not a lot.”

Access to Afghan central bank reserves stored in the United States has been restricted, according to a Biden administration official. The Treasury Department’s move will put economic pressure on the Taliban as they attempt to maintain public services operational.

Separately, a group of senators wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen on Tuesday, asking her to interfere in the planned release of $650 billion in IMF emergency reserves this month. The granting of so-called special drawing privileges may provide $450 million to Afghanistan and the Taliban.

Mr. Ahmady wrote on Wednesday that Afghanistan was dependent on receiving cash supplies every few weeks due to a huge current account imbalance. (Afghanistan imports about five times as much as it exports.)

Mr. Ahmady said, “The quantity of such currency left is near to zero owing to a halt in shipments as the security situation worsened, particularly in the past few days.”

On Friday, the central banker got a call informing him that the nation would not be receiving any more US dollar shipments, despite the fact that the next one was scheduled to arrive on Sunday. On Saturday, Afghan banks sought significant sums of money in order to keep up with client withdrawals, but Mr. Ahmady said he had to restrict the amount of money that could be transferred to the banks in order to preserve the central bank’s supply. He said that it was the first time he had done so.

Mr. Ahmady went on to say that he informed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani about the cancellation of cash shipments, and that the Afghan president subsequently talked with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. The shipments were authorized “in principle,” but they never came the following day, according to him.

He added, “Please note that Afghanistan’s foreign reserves were never compromised in any way.”

Mr. Ahmady argued that without access to these reserves, the Taliban would be forced to impose capital restrictions and restrict access to dollars, setting off a cycle in which the national currency, the afghani, will devalue and inflation will skyrocket. According to Bloomberg statistics, the Afghani hit a record low of 85.4 to the US dollar on Tuesday, but gained around 3% on Wednesday.

The New York Times’ Adam Macchia is to thank for this.

Airlines are just now starting to recover, but investors seem to believe there is space for at least one more.

Breeze Airways, a low-cost airline that just began flying three months ago, said on Wednesday that it had raised $200 million, increasing its total capital to almost $300 million.

The airline’s founder and CEO, David Neeleman, stated, “It simply speaks a lot about our strategy, our people, and our potential moving ahead.” “It secures our future, and we’re ecstatic.”

Breeze’s business strategy is based on providing flights between locations that aren’t usually served by other airlines. The airline’s maiden flight, from Tampa, Fla., to Charleston, S.C., took place on May 27. New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and Akron, Ohio are among the cities served by the airline, which currently has 39 flights and 16 destinations.

Mr. Neeleman said, “It’s simply simpler to be successful when there’s no competition.”

He is the founder of five airlines, with JetBlue Airways being the most well-known. He claims that the business began flying more than two decades ago with a financial investment of about $135 million. Another airline he established in Brazil, Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras, was founded with $235 million more than a decade ago.

BlackRock and Knighthead Capital Management led Breeze’s financing round, and they also invested in Azul. The investment included contributions from the airline’s previous investors, including Peterson Partners and Sandlot Partners.

Breeze, headquartered in Salt Lake City, claims to be able to provide cheaper prices because it utilizes aircraft and technology more effectively than other airlines. The airline presently operates 13 Embraer aircraft and will begin receiving 60 new Airbus A220 planes in October, with one arriving every month for the following five years. Depending on regulatory clearances, the airline aims to put the first new Airbus aircraft into service early next year.

Breeze’s debut was hampered by the epidemic, but it also aided it in certain ways. As other airlines downsized their fleets to save expenses, the business was able to purchase aircraft at a lower cost. Following extensive immunizations in the spring, it, like the rest of the industry, has had high demand this summer, but travel has slowed lately due to the outbreak of the Delta form of the coronavirus. Breeze intends to devote at least two aircraft to full-time charter service, and it has identified 400 city pairings that are compatible with its strategy.

Mr. Neeleman said, “We have a lot of wonderful things, so having this money in the bank, having this buffer is very beneficial for us.”

Tracy Connor, The Daily Beast’s new editor in chief, stated, “I really want to double down on investigations and impact.” Credit… Ryan The New York Times’ Christopher Jones

Tracy Connor was appointed the next chief editor of the Daily Beast digital news site on Wednesday.

The business said in a statement that Ms. Connor, 54, will take over as editor in chief immediately. Since the departure of Noah Shachtman, who departed for the top position at Rolling Stone magazine, she has been acting in the capacity.

Ms. Connor, a native New Yorker, spent more than a decade at the city’s tabloids, The New York Post and The Daily News. She subsequently joined to NBC News’ investigative team, where she assisted in leading an investigation into former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s serial sexual assault.

She joined The Daily Beast as executive editor in 2018, reporting to Mr. Shachtman. She came to The Daily Beast because it looked like “an almost ideal combination of my tabloid experience and also the enthusiasm that I had acquired for serious digging,” she said in an interview.

Ms. Connor will now be in charge of the publication’s newsroom’s editorial strategy and operations.

“What we want to do is uncover the problem before the scandal breaks,” she said, adding, “I really want to double down on investigations and impact.”

Ms. Connor also said that The Daily Beast’s commentary section will be expanded.

She said, “We’re certainly renowned for our strong political editorials.” “I’d want to extend that ‘vociciness’ into more articles on a wider range of subjects, whether it’s cultural, entertainment, or lifestyle issues, as well as more columns that pivot directly off national events occurring outside of D.C.”

The Daily Beast, which employs 65 people, is renowned for its regular scoops and scrappy tabloid flair. Tina Brown, a former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor, and Barry Diller, the head of IAC, which owns The Daily Beast, founded the website in 2008.

Mr. Diller said in a statement, “I’m always most happy to promote from within, and Tracy Connor is a great illustration of that preference: brilliant, clever, and more than capable of leading the Beast.”

Ms. Connor had a “ferocious hunger for uncovering the greatest stories and an unshakable dedication to quality,” according to Heather Dietrick, CEO of The Daily Beast.

According to an IAC spokesperson, the publication’s total income increased by more than 50% in the past quarter when compared to the same time the previous year. Membership income, which provides extra material, has more than quadrupled year over year, she said. According to her, the website experienced its busiest month ever last month.

At an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, a staffer sorts goods into robots. Credit… The New York Times/Chang W. Lee

According to Wall Street estimates collected by financial research company FactSet, consumers spent more than $610 billion on Amazon in the 12 months ended in June, fueled in part by soaring demand during the epidemic. Walmart reported $566 billion in revenue for the year ended in July on Tuesday.

According to Karen Weise and Michael Corkery of The New York Times, Wall Street companies had expected this retail baton to change hands in the coming years. The epidemic, however, hastened the timeframe since individuals who were stranded at home depended on supplies. During the epidemic, Walmart’s sales increased dramatically, but they did not equal Amazon’s.

Alibaba, the world’s largest online Chinese retailer, is the world’s best-selling product. In China, neither Amazon nor Walmart are major players.

Walmart said Tuesday that its revenues increased by $24 billion in the previous year. Analysts estimate that the overall worth of everything consumers purchased on Amazon increased by almost $200 billion within the same time period.

Analysts often use the numbers as a basic comparison, despite the fact that they are computed differently. Because almost all of Walmart’s sales originate from its own inventory and are reported publicly each quarter, determining the entire worth of the company’s sales is easy. Analysts must, however, estimate the value of Amazon’s total sales since the majority of what consumers purchase on the site are goods that are owned and sold by third parties. The business only discloses the fees it receives from such transactions.

Amazon’s success has resulted in increased scrutiny. And it’s starting to get a lot of the same criticisms that Walmart got during its greatest growth moments more than a decade ago. READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

All workers of the Australian airline Qantas will be required to get vaccines. Pilots, flight attendants, and other airport personnel must be completely vaccinated by Nov. 15, with the rest of the workforce having until March 31 to do so. According to the airline, 89 percent of almost 12,000 workers indicated they were or intended to be vaccinated, with just 4% stating they were reluctant. A mandate was backed by about three-quarters of those polled.

There’s an issue for coffee roasters. This year, the cost of the beans they import has risen dramatically, leaving roasters worried about whether their clients, who range from grocery shops to cafes to individuals seeking for their daily latte, would be willing to pay more.