An Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) testnet beacon blockchain is now live. Preston Van Loon, co-founder of sharding development firm Prysmatic Labs, announced the development in a Medium post on May 7.

Ethereum 2.0 is an upcoming new Ethereum chain featuring improvements in security, scalability, and decentralization. Ethereum 2.0 would not be introduced to the current Ethereum network by means of a hard fork. Instead, users will be able to transfer value from the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) chain via a one-way smart contract.

The announcement also notes that shards are a core concept behind Ethereum 2.0. Shards are individual chains that manage smart contracts, transactions and stay coordinated by a root chain known as the beacon chain. In the post, Van Loon explains the advantages of sharding implementation:

    “Having shards allows for horizontal scalability of the system, as transactions can be processed in parallel compared to the current Ethereum Proof-of-Work chain.”

Loon claims that the testnet is publicly accessible and links to a dedicated guide website, which explains how to start staking. The current version of the testnet does not include smart contract support, has only one client and features a configuration different from what is expected from mainnet ETH 2.0.

Ethereum core developers already stated last week that code for the first-stage transition to a PoS consensus algorithm could be completed by the end of June.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier this week, the volume of ether on decentralized applications (DApps) registered a new high last month, but new DApps coming on-chain are significantly low.

Ads pertaining to blockchain tech, industry news, as well as events and educational materials for cryptocurrencies can now be displayed on Facebook without prior approval. The social media giant announced the development on Facebook Business on May 8.

This marks a change from last year, when Facebook implemented a policy that required crypto and blockchain promoters to get prior consent before they could run advertisements. The press release goes on to specify that this change will not apply to advertisements that seek to promote a particular cryptocurrency, and ads for initial coin offerings (ICOs) remain forbidden.

The stated purpose of such restrictions is to prevent Facebook users from falling prey to misleading advertisements. Advertisers who wish to promote a specific product, such as a particular cryptocurrency, a cryptocurrency exchange, or mining software and hardware will have to undergo a rigorous background screening which includes the following:

    “...licenses they have obtained, whether they are traded on a public stock exchange (or are a subsidiary of a public company) and other relevant public background on their business.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Facebook’s decision to ban cryptocurrency and ICO advertisements altogether in January of 2018 was criticized as unnecessary and bad for technological development. Dejun Qian, Founder of FUSION, had commented that:

    “This policy will definitely protect people from the scams of predatory projects. However announcing an ‘intentionally broad’ policy is always the easiest way and not necessarily the best route for technology development. I don’t believe that banning e-commerce ads just because people face the risk of buying counterfeited products is a good idea.”

Earlier this week, Facebook reportedly acquired rights to the “Libra” trademark for its secretive cryptocurrency project. The firm is supposedly seeking $1 billion in investments for a native token which could purportedly be used on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

The CCO of BitPay Sonny Singh said that cryptocurrency markets are now on the threshold of a new stage of progress, which requires a certain “defining moment,” or a “catalyst.” According to Singh, that “defining moment” will come when big institutional investors, such as Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, “become real” in 2019.

    “But next year you'll see the talk of the big entrants become real, where you’ll see Goldman does launch a trading desk, Fidelity does launch a Bitcoin product, Square offers Bitcoin processing for merchants, BlackRock launches an ETF... So all that will become real, and you’ll see some adoption actually. And then [...] the price [will bounce] back up again.”

However, while predicting that Bitcoin “will rebound next year,” Singh was mostly bearish on altcoins. Singh said that altcoins “will never come back” to their previous levels, stating that firms like Fidelity and BlackRock are “not going to launch altcoin products, they’re going to launch Bitcoin products.”

France’s Minister for the Economy and Finance has announced that the government has accepted an article of the Business Growth and Transformation bill (PACTE) dedicated to Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), according to a tweet posted Wednesday, September 12.

As finance Minister Bruno Le Maire states, the French stock markets regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is now empowered to give licenses to companies that want to raise funds via an ICO, with the legislation aiming to help protect contributors’ interests.

Le Maire also hopes that the current legal framework for ICOs in France will “attract investors from all over the world.”

According to the PACTE project published by the National Assembly (lower party of the French parliament), prior to any token issuances, a company must apply for a license from the AMF providing detailed information on the offer and issuer. The measures will provide additional guarantees for ICOs, which AMF had previously considered risky.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has historically been bullish on emerging innovative technologies, last year proposing to convert France into a "startup nation." Later in 2018, in line with Macron’s words, Le Maire introduced his PACTE bill, which aims to transform and innovate the French economy, in March stating France was ready for a “blockchain revolution”.

This year, France has also seen changes in rules surrounding crypto taxation, though in a more stringent direction. As Cointelegraph reported in May, the French Council of State clarified the specifics of Bitcoin taxation in France to move the tax for Bitcoin trading from a progressive taxation (between 14 and 45 percent) to a fixed taxation of 19 percent.

In terms of the wider European context, as Cointelegraph reported earlier this month, European Parliament members held a meeting with blockchain experts on ICO regulation in early September.

Later Belgian think tank Bruegel released a report that called for unified legislation on cryptocurrencies in the EU and more scrutiny on how they were distributed to investors.

Nicolás Maduro has ordered every Venezuelan bank to adopt his pet cryptocurrency, the Petro, which is now tied to and completely interchangeable with the new “sovereign Bolivar.”

Both public and private banks must now use his dodgy cryptocurrency in all financial reports. For almost a year, this has been Maduro’s plan to pull Venezuela out of financial turmoil. Last month, its highest ever inflation rate was recorded, with prices for goods and services rising by at least 82,766 percent.

As of last week, Venezuela has two national currencies: the “sovereign Bolivar” and the Petro. The new sovereign Bolivar is effectively same as the old one – but with a fancy new stamp and a lower valuation. Venezuelans were asked to exchange 100,000 old-school Bolivar for just one sovereign Bolivar.

Even after the creation of a new Bolivar, Maduro is still obsessed with pushing his cryptocurrency onto his subjects. The oil industry has previously been ordered to use it for business transactions – now, his focus has been drawn to the banking system.

Maduro’s new economic plan is also meant to include a 3,400 percent increase to the minimum wage, bitcoin">Bitcoin News reports. That being said, the current minimum monthly wage is 0.5 Petro – or just $30.

The Petro is touted as a ‘stablecoin’ for the new sovereign Bolivar, each being of equal value. One Petro is worth around $60, and the sovereign Bolivar is tied to the price of the Petro. When it was first launched, the Petro was just a token backed by a barrel of oil. Now, it’s a national currency.

It has long been speculated that the Petro is really just Maduro’s way of skirting strict international sanctions, exploiting the unregulated nature of cryptocurrency to sell oil.

It doesn’t stop there: he also launched new government bonds backed by gold. France 24 reports that Maduro claims it will promote savings for Venezuelans, who have become disenfranchised by the continued devaluation of their national currencies.

“No one can say that gold loses its value,” declared Maduro.

For the sake of the Venezuelan people, I sure hope it doesn’t.