137. Can central banks kill crypto?

Simon Taylor is back this week to talk about the latest and greatest news in blockchain, Bitcoin and crypto. Of course, he is not alone, and in this episode, Simon is joined remotely by Blockchain Insider returners: Lex Sokolin - Fintech Co-head at ConsenSys Olivia Vinden - Head of Fintech and Innovation UK at Alpha FMC It's a big week for cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin Cash sees it's first halving, resulting in each new transaction block being reduced from 12.5 BCH to 6.25 BCH. On the other side of the crypto spectrum, Ether is on a high with prices rising by 20% ahead of their upgrade. Whilst France experiments with a digital Euro, we also get into a discussion about how CBDCs might be moving us further away from the goals of cryptocurrencies. A lot can happen in a few weeks, and in this episode, we continue to dig into the latest blockchain and crypto news including: Programmable fintech payments startup Sila raises $7.7M seed to wipe out ACH (01:55) Bitcoin Cash just went through its first halving (08:23) Ether Rises to 28-Day High Amid Positive Sentiment for Coming ‘Eth 2.0’ Upgrade (14:33) France's central bank begins experimenting with digital euro (23:01) Paxful launches peer-to-peer trading between gold and Bitcoin (35:22) The Tweet of the Week comes from @Melt_Dem about the future of CBDCs. Why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! Love fintech? Then sign up for our newsletter, Fintech in Five. A snack-sized selection of the week's biggest stories, longer reads, soundbites and more. Just visit this link to sign up! 11fs.com/newsletter If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review! Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show at: www.twitter.com/bchaininsider Special Guests: Lex Sokolin and Olivia Vinden. Links: Programmable fintech payments startup Sila raises $7.7M seed to wipe out ACH Bitcoin Cash just went through its first halving Ether Rises to 28-Day High Amid Positive Sentiment for Coming ‘Eth 2.0’ Upgrade France's central bank begins experimenting with digital euro Paxful launches peer-to-peer trading between gold and Bitcoin