In this video from WEF 2020, former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, also known as “Crypto Dad,” discusses his push to digitize the U.S. dollar and the future of global currencies. “We believe that the dollar usage in the global economy is underserved by serving as a continual analog instrument in a

It has been over 10 years since the creation of cryptocurrencies, and while clear narratives have emerged to justify their existence, none are decisively supported by data.  For example, charts suggest bitcoin’s use case as a store of value is taking hold among some new investors, who have been shown to hold the asset through

Libra has lost another Association member, but according to @nlw that’s likely low on its worries list, plus Square’s LN efforts & TON’s SEC support. News broke yesterday the Libra Association had seen its eighth high-profile defection, this time from the telecom giant Vodafone. In today’s episode of The Breakdown, @nlw argues Association membership is

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov pushed back against a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attorney’s speculation that his company’s 2018 token sale was meant to refill its cash reserves. During an 18-hour deposition, Durov disputed in particular SEC attorney Jorge Tenreiro’s claim that the sale would help Telegram to pay for servers. This claim is

Hyperledger has announced a new working group at Davos that will explore how blockchain can help the world meet climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement. The enterprise blockchain consortium launched the Hyperledger Climate Action and Accounting Special Interest Group (SIG) during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting. Said to be the first

Crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank has made its first hire from the hardcore bitcoin community to support an ambitious roadmap for its business serving digital currency clients.  Benjamin Richman, formerly director of business development and partnerships at bitcoin tech startup Blockstream, joined the La Jolla, Calif.-based bank at the end of last month as director of digital

The founder of one of crypto’s most buzzed-about projects discusses the origins of Gitcoin, controversy and why open source funding needs to evolve. Ever since announcing its fourth round of grants, Gitcoin has been a major subject of conversation across the Twittersphere. In addition to all the excited buzz from both technical projects and media

A regulated European startup plans to bring fiat currency transactions onto the Algorand blockchain. Iceland-based Monerium, which has a European Economic Area (EEA) e-money license, has entered into a non-exclusive partnership with Algorand. Announced Tuesday, the deal will see the two companies collaborate on developing “real-world use cases that are enabled by advanced blockchain technology”

Open interest in bitcoin futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have doubled in the first few days of the year, as noted by data analytics firm Skew. About $235 million worth of positions (5,329 contracts) were open on the CME on Jan. 17 compared to $110 million seen in early December. Open interest

CoinDesk will be on the ground in Davos from Jan. 20–24 chronicling all things crypto at the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elite. Below is the first edition of our pop-up newsletter, CoinDesk Confidential: Davos. Subscribe below. Get your Fourth Industrial Revolution hardhats on – it’s time to ponder the slew of problems

Australia’s finance watchdog has given the go-ahead to a bitcoin fund aimed at retail investors. The first such fund in the country, the bitcoin offering is being launched by micro-investment app provider Raiz Invest Australia, reports The Australian Financial Review. The Raiz app allows users to invest the small change left over from everyday purchases

This is part of a series of op-eds previewing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. CoinDesk will be on the ground in Davos from Jan. 20–24 chronicling all things crypto at the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elite. Follow along by subscribing to our pop-up newsletter, CoinDesk Confidential: Davos. Jeremy Allaire is co-founder, chairman

Financial advisor and crypto advocate Tyrone Ross joins The Breakdown for a discussion on financial advisors, DeFi and the most important company in crypto. One man. Three piping hot takes. In this special interview episode of The Breakdown, financial advisor and crypto advocate Tyrone Ross shares his thoughts on: Disclosure Read More The leader in

Canada’s top financial watchdog has told crypto exchanges they will be subject to securities law if they act as custodians to users’ digital assets. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) said in guidance published Thursday the common exchange practice of custodying users’ assets – “merely providing users with a contractural right or claim to an underlying

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In June when Block.one, the company behind the largest initial coin offering (ICO) in history, announced its Facebook challenging social network, Voice, it promised the blockchain would run on the EOS mainnet. Plans have changed. Voice is meant to be a new kind of social network, one with crypto built-in and one that defeats bots

A firm that’s developed tech to resolve disputes arising from blockchain smart contracts has said it plans to list on the London Stock Exchange. As reported Friday by Alliance News (via London South East), The Proof of Trust aims to float on the LSE’s Main Market. “We at The Proof of Trust are excited at

The Libra Association announced Thursday it had formed a technical steering committee to coordinate the design of the Libra platform. The new committee, composed of Anchorage co-founder Diogo Monica, Calibra core product lead George Cabrera III, Bison Trails founder Joe Lallouz, Union Square Ventures partner Nick Grossman and Mercy Corps emerging technology director Ric Shreves,

New Hampshire legislators have scrapped a bill that would have allowed state agencies to accept cryptocurrencies for tax payments. On Jan. 8, the New Hampshire House of Representatives accepted a motion from the General Court’s Executive Departments and Administration Committee stating that the tax bill was “inexpedient to legislate” and should be removed before it

The bitcoin market is telling a tale of bullish exhaustion with indecisive price action following a rise to the highest point since November. The top cryptocurrency witnessed two-way business on Wednesday. Prices rose from lows near $8,550 seen during the Asian trading hours to a two-month high of $8,903, only to end the day (UTC)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has declared all flights out of the country must use the oil-backed petro cryptocurrency to pay for fuel. In his annual speech to the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly, Maduro announced the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, would only accept petro for fuel sold to airlines. “I decree the sale of all fuel sold

A crypto analytics startup will recommend that U.S. Congress call for more stringent anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement around exchanges facilitating the trade of privacy coins during a hearing on how cryptocurrency is being used in human trafficking. At a Wednesday hearing revisiting landmark legislation passed 20 years ago, the House of Representatives’ Tom Lantos Human

Bitwise Asset Management has withdrawn its application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The firm requested the withdrawal in a filing posted with the SEC on Tuesday. While the news may disappoint those in the investment community keen to see the first ever bitcoin ETF in the

Decentralized finance (DeFi) applications are popping off Tuesday, and the ETH price spike isn’t the whole story. As of this writing, ETH is up around $20 since Monday. “Cryptocurrencies are still pretty correlated so with some of the developments around Craig Wright and BSV, that ended up moving the entire market,” Paul Veradittakit, of Pantera

Whether you’re a first-time listener or you’ve heard every episode, we’d like to know what you think about the show. What do you like? What don’t you like? What do you think we’ve totally missed but should be talking about every day or at least every week? Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk

Kraken Futures has hired its first Russian representative in a bid to ramp up its operations in the world’s largest country by land mass. The regulated futures provider, acquired by Kraken last year when it was called Crypto Facilities, brought on Aleksey Bragin last month and now intends to grow its Russian presence with in-person

Craig S. Wright, one of crypto’s most litigious engineers, struck a minor victory in court last Friday.  United States District Judge Beth Bloom said that facts previously established in the trial were now in dispute, according to a court document filed Jan. 10 to the District Court of Southern Florida. This is the latest turn

Whether you’re a first time listener or you’ve heard every episode, we’d like to know what you think about the show. What do you like? What you don’t like? What you think we’ve totally missed but should be talking about every day or at least every week? Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk

It’s a cliche at this point to compare bitcoin to the “early days of the internet,” since they are both examples of emerging technologies. But does the cliche actually hold true? If we work with a vague definition of the World Wide Web going live in 1991, then within the first decade that ecosystem grew

At least two entities invoiced Telegram for commissions from selling the company’s tokens in the summer of 2018, months after the company’s initial coin offering (ICO), newly released documents show.  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which filed the documents Friday in its ongoing court case against Telegram, said the evidence of post-ICO sales