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A Closer Look at the Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining
11.4.2021
Christopher Bendiksen, Head of Research at CoinShares, major European major digital asset manager.
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Bitcoin (BTC) is a settlement system like FedWire, not a payments aggregator like VisaIt uses energy to deliver that function independently of central authoritiesGlobal energy production...
With Banks Turning to Bitcoin, Is It Finally Time to Long the Bankers?
10.4.2021
The banks are coming. After years of derision and suspicion, major banks are gradually warming to Bitcoin (BTC), with many major financial institutions beginning to roll out crypto-related services.
In the past, much of the Bitcoin community was taken to declaring, “Long bitcoin, short...
Corrections, Anticipations, Retractions, BTCzations + 20 Crypto Jokes
10.4.2021
Never a dull week in the Cryptoverse! Altcoins went booming, bitcoin went consolidating, and professional traders were reminding the new players to exercise caution, but then BTC corrected lower following the much-anticipated announcement of Coinbase's results. As Allianz Chief Economic Adviser...
Volatility Is Crypto’s Best Friend
9.4.2021
Stephen Ehrlich, Co-Founder and CEO at Voyager Digital, a crypto-asset broker.
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Volatility is good for crypto. It serves multiple purposes as the whole crypto ecosystem matures, which we have to remember is an industry and technology that is still only just over a decade old. New and emerging...
An Asynchronous and Divergent Recovery May Put Financial Stability at Risk
8.4.2021
Source: Adobe/adrian_ilie825
Tobias Adrian is the Financial Counsellor and Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department.
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After enduring a tumultuous 2020, the global economy is finally emerging from the worst phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, albeit...
Binance Boss CZ Only Has Eyes for Bitcoin and BNB
7.4.2021
Changpeng Zhao. Source: Instagram, Binance
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the head of Binance, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, said that his crypto portfolio is made up entirely of bitcoin (BTC) and his own company’s binance coin (BNB).
In a Twitter post, Zhao wrote that while Binance “holds...
5 Ways DeFi Can Revolutionize the Healthcare Industry
6.4.2021
Pradeep Goel, CEO of Solve.Care, a blockchain-powered platform for healthcare benefits administration and payments.
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Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) market could change the game for the healthcare industry. Let’s explore...
Bitcoin Faces Hedge Test Amid Rising Inflation Concerns
4.4.2021
Inflation — or rather, the perceived threat of inflation — has been very kind to bitcoin (BTC) and crypto. Thanks in part to the US Federal Reserve (Fed) committing to ‘unlimited’ quantitative easing and to Congress approving trillion-dollar stimulus packages, bitcoin has climbed from below...
The Dark Side Of Coinbase Listing
4.4.2021
Brian Armstrong, CEO and Founder of Coinbase. Source: A screenshot, Coinbase
Jerry Davis, Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford and Professor of Management and Sociology, University of Michigan.
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Coinbase’s plan to go public in April highlights...
Proof-of-Disagreement: Bitcoin's Work vs. Ethereum's Planned Staking
3.4.2021
In the never-ending battle between Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), one of the biggest bones of contention is which consensus mechanism is best: proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake (PoS). This particular tussle has emerged amid Ethereum’s planned transition to PoS, and it’s gained fresh impetus...
PayPal Crypto, Goldman Sachs Vehicle, BTC Bugatti and 20 Crypto Jokes
3.4.2021
What a week! (Well, another one.) PayPal will launch a service that would allow its customers to pay with BTC, ETH, LTC, and BCH, Visa partnered with Crypto.com to settle transactions in USDC on Ethereum, Goldman Sachs might offer its first investment vehicles for BTC and other unspecified digital...
Are NFTs an Implicit Backdoor Adoption to Crypto?
31.3.2021
Bird Keeper by JUNG. Marie Tatibouet is the Chief Marketing Officer at crypto exchange Gate.io.
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While it took around twelve years for crypto to reach the “early majority” stage in the tech adoption curve, non-fungible token (NFT) adoption is moving much faster. NFTs are bringing crypto...
Institutions & Retail Compete For Bitcoin - Whose Hands Are Stronger?
28.3.2021
The institutional investors are here, bringing with them billions of dollars and record-high bitcoin (BTC) prices. This is something the market had been expecting for years, but now that it has finally arrived, it potentially brings risks as well as benefits.
Might institutions be less ‘loyal’...
Joe Biden's USD 1.9T Stimulus Won't Reignite World Economy
28.3.2021
Source: Adobe/Ольга Копьёва
Michael Kitson, University Senior Lecturer in International Macroeconomics, Cambridge Judge Business School.
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The economic orthodoxy has long been that governments should try to balance their books and leave all the heavy lifting in managing their economies...
Money Laundering Might Taint NFTs Too, Prepare For Tighter Controls
27.3.2021
Copycat by Gala Mirissa. While non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are certainly the big thing in crypto at the moment, they aren’t without their problems. Aside from accusations of hype and faddishness, NFTs also raise the familiar and thorny issue of money laundering.
Without much in the way...
Dipping Bitcoin, Bitcoining Tesla, Angering BitClout + 20 Crypto Jokes
27.3.2021
This was a big week in crypto. Tesla now accepts bitcoin payments and doesn’t plan to convert it to fiat, but BTC was tanking despite many bullish news as a massive amount of options was about to expire. Then, another analyst said that EIP-1559 will not end users headache caused by Ethereum high...
The Case Of a Plunging Fiat Currency: Turkey's Struggling Lira
26.3.2021
Emre Tarim, Lecturer in Behavioural Sciences, Lancaster University.
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The Turkish lira has once again made global headlines, with a steep drop of 15% on March 22, running from below 7.20 to the US dollar to over 8.28, before settling just below 8.00. This came on the back of a midnight decree...
Updated FATF Crypto Guidelines Still ‘Predicated on Centralized Control’
21.3.2021
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s recently updated guidance for supervisors overseeing the crypto industry was always bound to create waves in the sector and beyond. Regulators are continuing to gun for crypto compliance – despite claims that they may be trying to force a square peg into...
Why Would Anyone Buy NFT – A Link To A JPEG File?
21.3.2021
Unlimited Possibilities by Buddyart00. Last sold for USD 3,707. Aaron Hertzmann, Affiliate Faculty of Computer Science, University of Washington.
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As an academic researcher, developer of artistic technology and amateur artist, I was quite skeptical about crypto art when I first read about...
NFTs Are Selling for Millions, But How Do You Tell a Diamond From a Dud?
20.3.2021
A fragment of 24 Hours in The City That Never Sleeps by Frank Ape. Last sold for ETH 5 (USD 9,144). With a non-fungible token (NFT)-based digital artwork selling for USD 69.35m, you’d be forgiven for assuming that most NFTs are worth a small — or large — fortune. However, for every...