Earlier this week, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) reportedly approved the virtual currency and money transmitter license applications of a leading online personal finance company that offers student loan refinancing, mortgages and personal loans. According to reports, the two licenses allow the firm to offer its New York customers the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrency – the company is currently authorized to support bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, ether classic, litecoin and Stellar lumens. Late last week, reports surfaced regarding a new bipartisan bill called the Managed Stablecoins Are Securities Act of 2019. While the bill is still in its primary stages, reports note that it may eventually provide regulatory clarity for stablecoins.

In other recent news, the British Virgin Islands, in partnership with LIFELabs.io, reportedly presented details of its new national digital currency rollout. According to reports, the British Virgin Islands aims to implement a national digital currency, BVI~LIFE, powered by LIFEtoken and pegged 1:1 against the U.S. dollar. LIFELabs.io will also reportedly offer LIFElabs – a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model that provides blockchain solutions (e.g., merchant services, peer-to-peer transactions and cross-border payments) to businesses in the British Virgin Islands as a turnkey solution. According to the governor of Ghana, Ghana's central bank is also considering the launch of a national digital currency due to the recent increase in volume of mobile money transactions. In related news, Paxful, a peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace, has also seen a recent surge in weekly traded volume according to a new report. Paxful is a decentralized and noncustodial service that connects users offering to buy and sell bitcoin using gift cards, Internet payment providers, domestic bank transfers and other payment methods.

In mining news, a recent report provided details on Bitriver, the largest data center in Russia. The data center's proximity to one of the largest hydropower plants in Russia, En+, allows it to receive cheap and stable power. En+ reportedly supplies up to 100 megawatts of power to the facility, enough energy to sustain 100,000 homes. A report noted that Bitriver currently hosts more than 20,000 bitcoin mining devices but has the capacity to host up to 67,000 units. According to reports, Bitriver does not directly engage in mining but rather provides equipment and technical services for cryptocurrency mining. Low temperatures in the Siberian city of Bratsk are ideal for the data center equipment—mining hardware can work at higher efficiency rates while cutting cooling costs. Meanwhile, Great North Data, a data center in Labrador, Canada, reportedly filed for bankruptcy last week. Great North Data hosted bitcoin mining operations and processed artificial intelligence algorithms at facilities in Labrador City and Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

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