crypto blog
FTX CEO dissects Mark Zuckerberg’s intent to pump $10B/year into Meta
Facebook’s rebranding into Meta was Mark Zukerberg’s latest attempt to retain dominance in the social media world of Web3, specifically, the Metaverse. On the occasion of Meta completing one year on the rebrand, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the CEO of the crypto exchange FTX, shared his thoughts on the rebranding and what it means for the future of Meta. Zuckerberg’s $100 billion Metaverse experiment first raised eyebrows when the CEO released the avatar for Meta’s Horizon Worlds VR platform. Subsequent releases of the Zuckerberg avatar fell prey to internet memes, although each new iteration seemed visually better than its predecessor. According to Bankman-Fried, Facebook’s growth was not impacted by newer rivals such as TikTok. Rather, he argued that the company “stopped growing because, wel...
BTC price struggles at $21K as trader says ‘top is in’ for Bitcoin, Ethereum
Bitcoin (BTC) continued consolidating into the Oct. 30 weekly close as concerns over a deeper retracement became vocal. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Trader avoids new longs below $21,000 Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD circling levels just below $21,000 on the day. Weekend trading had produced an early return above the $21,000 mark, this being short-lived as Bitcoin bulls failed to offer the volume to sustain higher levels. Now, popular pseudonymous trader and analyst il Capo of Crypto sensed a change of direction was ultimately due for Bitcoin and altcoins alike. Altcoins themselves had also performed strongly through the weekend, notably led by Dogecoin (DOGE), which was up another 25% in the past 24 hours at the time of w...
BNB jumps to new BTC all-time high as Elon Musk’s Twitter fuels DOGE bulls
BNB (formerly known as Binance Coin) has hit new all-time highs against Bitcoin (BTC) as excitement grows over the cryptocurrency’s future role on Twitter. BNB/BTC 1-month candle chart (Binance). Source: TradingView BNB sets new record against BTC Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirms that BNB/BTC briefly spiked above 0.15 BTC to a record 0.15267 BTC on Oct. 30. BNB, the in-house token of Binance, the largest crypto exchange by volume, has gained around 10% in the past 72 hours. The strong performance came on the back of reports that Binance was preparing to assist Twitter in eradicating bots as part of its new direction under Elon Musk. Binance had contributed $500 million to Musk’s takeover of the social media platform. “Our intern says we wired the $500 ...
Fortune did not, in fact, favor the brave: Matt Damon’s Crypto.com TV spot turns 1
The crypto industry has had its share of issues with marketing, from projects many authorities labeled scams to high-profile branding with sports franchises, but one ad that has stood out came from crypto exchange Crypto.com featuring Hollywood star Matt Damon. Many have ridiculed the “fortune favors the brave” ad starring Damon since its release in October 2021, using the TV spot as a creative springboard to criticize the crypto space and celebrities supporting it. The creators of South Park aired two episodes and one two-part special poking fun at crypto users and the Crypto.com ad specifically. Late-night TV hosts including Stephen Colbert also targeted the ad spot with parodies and jokes following the market downturn in May. Still shot of Matt Damon in the Crypto.com TV spot, sinc...
Cowboy hats, boots, guns and crypto talk with Dan Held
Bitcoiner Dan Held gave journalist Nicole Behnam a true Texan welcome to Austin while the pair discussed their individual paths into the world of crypto. Dan Held is a household name in the world of Bitcoin (BTC), while Nicole Behnam is a journalist turned cryptocurrency and NFT enthusiast. Together, the pair explored Held’s hometown of Austin, Texas, getting a taste of local life while delving into their journeys into the cryptocurrency space. [embedded content] Held took Behnam to a local gun range to start things off, with the pair getting the chance to shoot a rare World War II-era German MP40. Behnam then grabbed her first cowboy hat from a local store and matched that with a pair of boots before the pair rounded off their thoughts on the cryptocurrency space. Related: How CZ bui...
Pro-crypto city of Lugano and El Salvador sign economic agreement based on adoption
Switzerland’s southern city of Lugano and El Salvador have signed an economic cooperation agreement based on crypto and blockchain. According to an Oct. 28 announcement from Lugano, the two pro-crypto jurisdictions signed a memorandum of understanding on economic cooperation at the city’s Plan B event. Lugano Mayor Michele Foletti cited El Salvador adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender as part of the city’s interest in the agreement, which will allow the pro-crypto country to establish a physical government presence in an effort to “foster cooperation with educational and research institutions.” “The use of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology creates new opportunities for growth and investment that benefit our communities; it is a new alternative financial and exchange tool that fosters tra...
Vitalik Buterin ‘kinda happy’ with ETF delays, backs maturity over attention
The co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), Vitalik Buterin, believes that the crypto ecosystem needs to mature and be in tune with the regulatory policies that allow crypto projects to operate internally freely. Sharing his opinion around crypto regulations, Buterin spoke against the regulations that have an impact on the inner workings of a crypto ecosystem. Considering the current circumstances, he believed it was better to have regulations that allow inner independence to crypto projects, even if it hampers mainstream adoption. Buterin opined: “I’m actually kinda happy a lot of the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are getting delayed. The ecosystem needs time to mature before we get even more attention.” The use of know-your-customer (KYC) on decentralized finance (DeFi) frontends was another ...
Crypto companies are still hiring, but you may not find a job post about it
Crypto companies are still hiring but might not be actively recruiting amid the market downturn. If you are considering joining the space, however, this is still a good time to get your feet on the door, sources in the industry told Cointelegraph. “While there may not be as many open roles advertised as there were last year, companies are definitely still hiring. Our clients continue to come to us for assistance with finding top talent for key hires,” noted Tyler Feinerman, global head of talent for Wachsman. According to data from LinkedIn, over 7,200 job positions were listed in October in the United States. Also, the number of monthly jobs posted on blockchain job site Crypto Jobs List in September is back to the same level as one year ago. The limited pool of talent sti...
Self-sovereignty in the creator economy and Web3 — Is there room for both?
On Oct. 28, NFT Steez, a biweekly Twitter Spaces hosted by Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond, met with Web3 content writer Julie Plavnik to discuss the importance of self-sovereignty while building a digital identity in Web3. Plavnik referenced author Gavin Wood when describing Web3 and said that “communication” is a core tenant in the subsequent iteration of the internet. “Web3 is the communication of encrypted channels between decentralized identities,” Plavnik affirmed. According to Plavnik, the emerging concept of Web3 placed a magnifying glass on user data and ownership, especially concerning the creator economy. Plavnik described the creator economy as a place with “no entry barriers or casting.” During the show, Plavnik explored how users are coming around to the notion that the...
Musk fires Twitter execs, research stirs blockchain energy debate and CFTC brass shares crypto concerns: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 23-29
Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Twitter’s top brass gutted as Elon Musk’s takeover begins Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter became final this week, after which he reportedly fired three top-level executives: CEO Parag Agrawal, head of legal and policy Vijaya Gadde and chief financial officer Ned Segal. Musk reportedly claims the three were dishonest about Twitter spam accounts — an issue that almost caused Musk to abandon the Twitter deal. On a more positive note, Musk said he has big plans for Twitter, including ensuring free speech on the pl...
Celsius Network’s bungling showed why centralization can’t protect privacy
In Celsius Network’s recent court filing, the billion-dollar centralized finance (CeFi) platform exposed more than 14,000 pages of customer identity and on-chain transaction data without user consent — a prescient reminder that privacy absent decentralization is no privacy at all. As part of its bankruptcy proceedings, CeFi lending giant Celsius Network disclosed names and on-chain transaction data of tens of thousands of its customers in an Oct. 5 court filing. While Celsius’ user base complied with standard Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures in order to open personal accounts with the CeFi platform, none consented to nor could have anticipated a mass disclosure of this scope or scale. In addition to doxxing the multi-million dollar withdrawals of Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky and chief...
Crypto Biz: Is Zuckerberg’s $100B metaverse experiment doomed to fail?
Not everyone is convinced that Mark Zuckerberg’s massive metaverse experiment is a good idea. Since Facebook rebranded to Meta in 2021, the social media giant’s focus has increasingly shifted to connecting the digital and physical worlds through augmented reality. However, a shareholder of the company recently issued a letter to the CEO calling the metaverse investment “super-sized and terrifying.” It didn’t take long for those concerns to be justified. Meta published its third-quarter financial results after the bell on Oct. 26 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, its metaverse division underperformed. Meta’s Reality Labs lost a whopping $3.672 billion during the quarter, mirroring a similar decline in Q1. That’s the risk you run when you venture into unchartered territory. For all the hype surro...
