In a now famous Rolling Stone description of Goldman Sachs after the 2008 financial crisis, journalist Matt Taibbi compared the Wall Street titan to a “giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.” FTX may not have the same footprint as Goldman Sachs but its high profile within crypto has ensured that tremors of… Read More Notes 11/15: FTX Tremors, GBTC Discount, and An Industry Fund
Ethereum’s transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), more popularly known as The Merge, continues to dominate crypto narrative. The price for Ethereum’s ether, which had been on a tear in recent weeks, fell this morning. Like most things crypto, it is difficult to pinpoint an exact reason. While Bitcoin’s price… Read More Notes 9/12: Ether Prices and Staking
Bitcoin Depot, a bitcoin ATM company, has reached a deal to merge with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) that will enable it to list in public markets. The deal values Bitcoin Depot at $885 million. As their name denotes, SPACs are special vehicles that allow early-stage companies and startups to tap public markets for… Read More Notes 8/25: Bitcoin Depot’s Mysterious Earnings, Coinbase’s Margin Compression
Following the news cycle of crypto scandals is a bit like unpacking stacked Russian dolls. Simple explanations and surface realities are rarely sufficient to explain the workings. As the scandals unfold, the central narrative has another one underneath and another one. A fresh cast of characters – in this case, mostly related to tokens –… Read More Celsius And The Many Narratives of Crypto Scandals
Regulation of cryptocurrencies by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), tax exemptions for crypto transactions, and strict reserve requirements for stablecoin issuers are some of the proposals in a new bipartisan bill for cryptocurrency regulation from Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wy) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (R-NY). The bill, titled the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, is… Read More Bipartisan Senate Bill Aims to Bring Order to Crypto But Could Set Up Dangerous Dynamic, Says a Critic
On Thursday Jens Weidmann, a high-ranking official at the European Central Bank said that stablecoins should not alarm anyone in the financial world. However, he emphasized the need for heightened awareness amongst users of stablecoins. Weidmann said that anyone planning to use stablecoins should ensure that all questions regarding their preferred stablecoin had been cleared… Read More ECB Official Says Stablecoins Are Not Cause For Concern
Given the eclectic choice of subjects on his Twitter feed, President Trump was bound to weigh in on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies sometime. Late last evening, after Fed chief Jerome Powell’s House testimony included comments on Facebook’s Libra, Trump sent out tweets expressing his displeasure at cryptocurrencies. Predictably enough, he is not a “fan” of cryptocurrencies… Read More Trump Criticizes Bitcoin, Crypto, and Facebook’s Libra
Facebook released details about its cryptocurrency this morning. The social media giant has been teasing details about the venture for the last six months, with periodic leaks in the mainstream and trade press. The move is widely anticipated to herald a reinvention of Facebook, enabling it to pursue new lines of business. Two Cryptocurrencies Facebook’s… Read More Facebook Releases Libra Details
With a price increase of 45%, Litecoin has been among the biggest winners in the cryptocurrency markets price rally within the last month. But that rally may not be over yet. The cryptocurrency, which was started as an alternative to Bitcoin, has been on a bull run this year, jumping by 323 percent since January… Read More Litecoin price shoots up
Federal Christmas holidays may end up delaying the debut of Bakkt, a bitcoin futures and trading platform from NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange. This will be the second delay for Bakkt. It was initially expected to launch during the second week of December but postponed it due to “the work required to get all the pieces… Read More Bakkt Futures May Be Delayed Again
A day after its all-time high anniversary, bitcoin price continued to reverse course from its losing streak. At 14:15 UTC, it is trading at $3,836.88 at 14:15 UTC. That price is an increase of 9% from 24 hours ago. It also represents a gain of approximately 22% from the cryptocurrency’s bottom four days ago, when… Read More Bitcoin Price Continues Reversal, Racks Up Gains
Bitcoin price has had a bad run this year. But Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee is still sanguine about the cryptocurrency and implied in his latest note that bitcoin was not correctly priced by the markets. According to him, the fair value of bitcoin is between $13,800 and $14,800. He arrived at this estimate by adding up… Read More Bitcoin’s Price Problem
The crypto winter is getting colder. Crashing valuations in cryptocurrency markets and a chill in the initial coin offerings (ICO) market have affected operations at two more ventures involved in the space. Blockchain and smart contract consulting company Consensys, which dominates ethereum research and development, has confirmed to online publication Coindesk that it is laying… Read More After Steemit, Consensys Announces Layoffs. Are Crashing Crypto Markets To Blame?
The difficulty level for bitcoin’s mining algorithm, which climbed over the last year, fell by 15% yesterday, recording its second-steepest drop ever. Difficulty level refers to the difficulty of the cryptographic problems required to be solved by systems within bitcoin’s network to earn the cryptocurrency. It is adjusted every 2016 blocks or approximately after every… Read More Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Level Records Second-Steepest Drop. Will Industry Consolidate?