Day: February 18, 2020

Trump’s Proposed Budget Snubs Blockchain, Crypto in Crosshairs of Security Service

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Earlier this week, the word “cryptocurrency” made it to the text of one of the United States government’s most consequential strategic documents: the Trump administration’s budget proposal for the 2021 fiscal year. However, the budget does little to enhance blockchain-powered innovation, as it included no additional taxpayer dollars in funding. The premise for mentioning digital currencies was, in fact, quite the contrary: the need to step up measures against financial crimes. To that effect, the White House is proposing to bring the U.S. Secret Service — the agency tasked with both…

The IRS Is Inviting Crypto Firms to a ‘Summit’ in DC Next Month

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The Internal Revenue Service has invited a number of undisclosed crypto startups to a summit on March 3 to discuss its existing approach to taxing cryptocurrencies as well as enforcement efforts, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by CoinDesk. The summit, to be held at IRS’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, will consist of four panels addressing technology, issues faced by exchanges, tax returns and regulatory compliance. A list of panelists has yet to be finalized. Kristin Smith, executive director of the Blockchain Association advocacy group, told CoinDesk the IRS…

Tom Brady Is the Last Free Agent QB on Earth the Chargers Should Sign

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The 15-year relationship between the Chargers and quarterback Philip Rivers has come to an end. The Chargers are among many teams linked with veteran quarterback Tom Brady. While Brady is the biggest name on the market, he’s far from their best option. The Los Angeles Chargers made news this offseason by parting ways with longtime quarterback Philip Rivers. There’s talk that the Chargers want to replace the 38-year-old with an even older (and more expensive!) quarterback in Tom Brady. The Chargers should stay as far away from Tom Brady as…

Dow Battered Because Bulls Can’t Ignore Economic Reality Forever

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Apple’s coronavirus profit downgrade rippled through U.S. stocks with exposure to China on Tuesday. As the Dow Jones’ second most heavily weighted stock, AAPL put severe pressure on the index. Dow bulls are still betting on a v-shaped recovery in China’s economy, but Japan and Germany might not be so fortunate. The Dow Jones fell nearly 150 points on Tuesday as Apple’s coronavirus warning rattled through the U.S. stock market. Wall Street still appears confident that its domestic economy is sheltered from China, but this optimism may be cracking. The…

Dow Battered Because Bulls Can’t Ignore Economic Reality Forever

boss

Apple’s coronavirus profit downgrade rippled through U.S. stocks with exposure to China on Tuesday. As the Dow Jones’ second most heavily weighted stock, AAPL put severe pressure on the index. Dow bulls are still betting on a v-shaped recovery in China’s economy, but Japan and Germany might not be so fortunate. The Dow Jones fell nearly 150 points on Tuesday as Apple’s coronavirus warning rattled through the U.S. stock market. Wall Street still appears confident that its domestic economy is sheltered from China, but this optimism may be cracking. The…

Is Bloomberg Looking to Take Yang’s Spot as the Crypto-Friendly Candidate?

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Former New York mayor and present-day Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg seems to be snuggling up to the crypto community. In a proposal for financial reform released Feb. 18, the Democratic candidate not only wrote about cryptocurrency as an asset class, but also offered a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in the U.S. That framework remains vague, running some 100 words in total, but it does represent a solid chunk of attention aimed at the blockchain world. With Andrew Yang recently dropping out of the race, crypto enthusiasts lost their choice candidate.…

Flash Loan Attacks: Is It Exploitation Season for DeFi?

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Are two recent attacks taking advantage of “flash loans,” low liquidity and price oracle issues the first of more to come? Part of what makes decentralized finance, or DeFi, interesting to people is how it takes advantage of open-source protocols to enable types of transactions never before available. The problem, however, is financial structures mean new financial vulnerabilities. In the last few days, two attacks on bZx have used a similar strategy of manipulating the price of synthetic assets in the context of a new instrument called “flash loans.” On…

CoinDesk’s New Opinion Section: The Future of the Financial System Is Up for Debate

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Announcing CoinDesk’s new opinion section, a place for discussions on the future of money and all the interesting questions that surround crypto and blockchain as ideas.  Starting today, CoinDesk will be publishing daily columnists such as Preston Byrne, Jill Carlson, Nic Carter, HASU, Stephanie Hurder, Jeff Dorman, JP Koning, Yorke Rhodes, Byrne Hobart, William Mougayar, Leah Callon-Butler, Lex Sokolin, Kevin Kelly, Ajit Tripathi and James Cooper. Wherever you stand on bitcoin as an actual payment system, or whether you think additive X-for-blockchain business ideas went too far, you have to…

A Safer Harbor: Improving Hester Peirce’s Proposal for Regulating Token Sales

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Donna Redel is the former Chairman of COMEX, a Board Member of New York Angels and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School. Olta Andoni is an Adjunct Professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Peirce’s CoinDesk op-ed is here. Further reactions were published here and here. In February, Commissioner Hester Peirce proposed a new safe harbor which, if passed into a formal rule, would radically change the legal terrain for sellers of crypto tokens in the United States. This article addresses some critiques and point of views in response…

Will Domino’s Stock Punish Investors With a Brutal Q4 Earnings Report?

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Domino’s Pizza is getting ready to report its Q4/year-end 2019 earnings on Thursday. The company’s stock is ranging close to record highs. Wall Street is bullish on DPZ, but what should investors expect from the pizza giant? Investors holding Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) stock are waiting for the company’s quarterly report coming out this Thursday with bated breath. After several disappointing quarters, will the business be able to live up to their high expectations? Domino’s & the Donald Get the Last Laugh Back in the 2000s, many took Domino’s Pizza…