TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Federal Reserve to add $500 billion in liquidity to financial institutions. Coinbase executive chosen as COO of the US Office Comptroller of the Currency. Zimbabwe to regulate cryptocurrencies. BitMEX updates users on March 13 downtime. Brave files complaint against Google’s GPRD violations, and HONK token betting bot goes live.

Federal Reserve to Add $500 Billion in Short Term Lending

The US Federal Reserve announced it will add $500 billion more in short term lending to the financial industry with the objective of keeping money flowing and adding liquidity to the system. Banks that decide to take these loans will have to use treasury bonds and other high-quality collateral assets to qualify. This is a most-recent measure announced by the Federal Reserve, which also lowered interest rates to zero just a few days ago to minimize the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the national economy.

Coinbase Exec Appointed as COO of the US Office Comptroller of the Currency

Brian Brooks, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, has been nabbed to work as the next chief operating officer of the US Office Comptroller of the Currency, an institution that regulates the actions of local banks in the country, answering directly to the Treasury Department. The announcement was made by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who stated Brooks was a “strong leader with extensive experience in the financial services sector.” Brooks will have to leave his duties as Coinbase CLO to dedicate fully to his new obligations.

Zimbabwe Planning to Regulate Cryptocurrencies

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe started to formulate a legal framework to regulate the activity of cryptocurrency-related companies in the country, according to Chronicle, a local online news portal. Josephat Mutepfa, the deputy director of financial markets and national payment systems of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, declared the framework is a sandbox that will force companies to partner with banks or other financial institutions. Zimbabwe took an anti-crypto stance in the past, but it is now opening to new fintech developments.

BitMEX Updates Information on Downtime

So here's what we know so far: on Mar 13 at both 02:15 UTC and 12:56 UTC, we came under attack from a botnet that appears to have been probing the system for some time. This botnet was also responsible for an attack on Feb 15. — Samuel Reed (@STRML_) March 16, 2020

BitMEX, a very popular cryptocurrency exchange, updated its customers on the reasons they experienced an unexpected downtime during the last cryptocurrency market dump on March 13. Samuel Reed, BitMEX’s CTO, stated the event was the consequence of the attack of a botnet that had been “probing” the system for some time that would have caused the DDoS affecting trading systems. Arthur Hayes, BitMEX CEO, declared they will be addressing all concerns regarding these developments over the coming days.

Brave Files GDPR Complaint Against Google

Brave, the cryptocurrency-friendly browser, filed a legal complaint against Google for supposed violations of the GDPR. According to a press release, the complaint states the “free for all” data stance of the search giant violates the “purpose limitation” principle, stating every bit of personal data must be used for the purpose it was collected. The complaint was filed by Dr Johnny Ryan, Brave’s Chief Policy & Industry Relations Officer, who asked Google about information on data management with no concrete answer for six months.

HONK Token Betting Bot Goes Live

HonkBetBot, a Telegram bot that lets users make sports bets using HONK, an SLP-based token, is leveraging the easy interface of a Telegram conversation. It is now live according to statements from Keith Patrick, HONK project manager. The bot is connected to the Bet 365 API, so it is being fed with lots of different sporting events and leagues to wager on. HONK token is listed on two exchanges: Altilly and the Bitcoin.com exchange, and it is also available in the memo.cash social trading platform.

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