Crypto

Today’s consumers are willing to trade their data for personalization but have fast-growing concerns about data privacy. In a survey from a digital security and credential issuance company Entrust, only 21% of the respondents trust established global brands to keep their personal information secure. As data privacy pressure on Big Tech increases, these companies are starting to make significant investments in security solutions. Regulations around the world are evolving rapidly Last year, as more and more people spent time at home due to COVID-19 lockdowns, internet usage went up. And as usage has gone up, so too has consumer awareness of how data could be used or misused. For example, a recent survey from Startpage, a privacy-focused search engine company, found that 62% of Americans have...

Bitcoin (BTC) is knocking at the doors of the key $50,000 level and most traders are still optimistic even after the digital asset rallied 70% from the July 20 low at $29,278 to an intraday high at $49,757.04 on Aug. 21. Monitoring resource Material Indicators pointed to a lot of puts at the $50,000 strike price and the “positive funding almost across the board (overheated),” which suggests a rejection at the current levels and a “pullback going into September.” Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 Nikita Ovchinnik, chief business development officer of 1inch Network said that several new institutional investors had taken exposure to crypto in the past year, and that “they didn’t come for short-term gains.” Another positive sign for the crypto sector is the ever-growing lis...

Binance Coin (BNB) rallied 30% in two weeks, but the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization seems to be struggling to break the $450 resistance. Coincidently, this is the same top from June 3, which was followed by a 48% correction down to $225. Given the similarity of the situation when compared to previous instances, investors have reasons to doubt the recent performance, especially as Solana (SOL), a competing smart contract platform, reached an all-time high on August 18. The move was partially attributed to a recent $70-million crowdfund to support its decentralized exchange (DEX), Mango Markets, and the launch of a well-subscribed NFT project. Binance Coin (BNB) price at Binance, in Tether (USDT). Source: TradingView BNB reacted negatively after the exchange suddenly ...

Everyone is wild about nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The first half of 2021 alone saw NFTs from Andy Warhol, NFTs of the code for the World Wide Web, the first-ever Tweet and, of course, the famous $69 million NFT sale of Beeple’s “Everydays.” Whether this explosive rise of NFTs is a flash in the pan or the future of art and beyond is a hot topic of conversation. An emerging theme from that conversation is whether NFTs have a copyright problem. Copyright is engaged throughout the NFT process, but there is nothing inherent in an NFT itself to ensure that copyright rules are respected (or even considered). The story of blockchain development in the cryptocurrency space is one of struggle against centralization and regulation. Cryptocurrency maximalists envision a “democratized” financial system...

At the start of 2021, the cryptocurrency industry was bursting with news of increased institutional investment, and this is still largely true. Despite reports suggesting increased outflows from institutional investors, net inflows are still very much positive. Additionally, though Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be the investment of choice for liquidations, institutional investment into Ethereum (ETH) has never been healthier. From Wall Street hedge funds to major banks, large-scale investors are hopping aboard the crypto train. Bitcoin’s fall from its all-time high at $65,000 placed doubt in the minds of all cryptocurrency investors, though that could be changing as its price has since started to recover. BTC accounts for over 44% of the total $2 trillion digital asset market capitalizati...

Bitcoin (BTC) edged closer to $50,000 on Aug. 22 as concerns over a bearish downturn made a timely reappearance. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView “Modestly bearish” signs accompany $50,000 run-up Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting a high of $49,830 on Bitstamp Sunday — itself a three-month record. The weekend had proven the staying power of higher levels, with even lower volumes failing to spark a comedown. “So far, so good for BTC,” trader and analyst Rekt Capital summarized. Nonetheless, as $50,000 loomed, concerns began to mount about the overall strength of the market. As noted by monitoring resource Material Indicators, trader habits were hinting at belief in lower levels returning. One fut...

Cryptocurrency brought us peer-to-peer payments that continue to elevate participation in the global economy for millions of people without access to traditional banking services. The rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) promises to further expand access to financial services, including savings, lending, derivatives, asset management and insurance products. This innovation, which empowers financial inclusion, should be allowed to flourish in a regulated environment where individuals and institutions are protected and suspicious activity is identified and reported. But how do you regulate these decentralized products without completely removing the core attributes of financial inclusion and decentralization? Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures are a critical function to assess risk and a le...

As the crypto ecosystem continues to mature and go mainstream, a new study of Millennials has shown a change in investor sentiment and their spending habits.  Surveying 1,000 American crypto investors, GamblersPick found that the average Millennial today holds a little more than $1,800 in crypto. The survey reveals that 25% of the respondents bought crypto, using credit cards instead of fiat currency, and have borrowed nearly $500 from banks and families to make up their existing portfolio. When asked about their source for future crypto investments, 21% of surveyors revealed their plan to take on consumer debt, while more than 20% have decided to use either their bank savings or to refinance their homes. Surprisingly, Baby Boomers have borrowed over $4,000 on average to purchase cryp...

Binance has been in the regulatory cross-hairs of jurisdictions across the globe amid claims of it operating unlicensed businesses. As remediation of the ongoing scrutiny, the crypto exchange has publicly announced new Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for all users on the platform.  “Effective immediately, all new users are required to complete Intermediate Verification to access Binance products and service offerings, including cryptocurrency deposits, trades and withdrawals,” a statement said. Moreover, existing users who were previously allowed to trade cryptocurrency without verification will be allowed to only process “withdrawals, order cancellation, position close, and redemption.” According to Binance, the change in policy for existing users will be rolled out in pha...

The Swedish government has found itself in the unforeseen situation of paying out around $1.5 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to a convicted — and then jailed — drug dealer. Two years ago, the man was convicted in a Swedish court for having illegally earned 36 Bitcoin through online drug sales. Yet, Tove Kullberg, his prosecutor at the time, had used the Bitcoin’s equivalent value in fiat to make her case. The court, therefore, judged that the man should be stripped of his illicitly earned Bitcoin at its then-value of 1.3 million Swedish kronor ($100,000). In the period following the man’s conviction and imprisonment, his crypto stash had appreciated to such an extent that the Swedish Enforcement Authority, tasked with auctioning off the 36 BTC, needed to sell off just 3 BTC to satisfy the ...

Humanity is facing more problems than climate change. The world is confronted with some of the greatest challenges of our time: world hunger, growing inequality and economic instability. Many believe that the root cause of the entire range of problems faced by humanity is the expansion of the political power of elites as income and wealth distribution becomes more polarized. Since our beginning, we have used technology to account for value created or exchanged. Humans created the concept of money as a way to reward contributions to society; however, money as we now know it is corrupt. Currently, we are seeing a major inflection point in prioritizing human over financial capital, driven by the intersection of blockchain, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and nonfungible tokens (...

Jake Klein, CEO of Australian gold mining establishment Evolution Mining, has said that crypto price volatility will make gold a far more attractive proposition. Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, Klein argued that Bitcoin (BTC) is still ways away from offering the longstanding security associated with gold from a hedge investment perspective despite Bitcoin’s returns outsizing gold by several orders of magnitude in the last decade. According to Klein, crypto is still a speculative play, and the attendant volatility inherent in such markets will point investors back toward gold. The unstable nature of cryptocurrency prices is an often-cited criticism of crypto as an asset class. Back in June, Francesca Fornasari of BNY Mellon subsidiary outfit Insight Investment argued that Bitcoin’s price vola...