Day: December 10, 2021

Blockchain folk hero Nandy Martin hopes to build a better community for Haitians in Miami

boss

Haiti, a Western Caribbean country torn by a tragic past, natural disasters, poor leadership, and ineffective foreign aid, is not a country that comes to people’s minds when they think of blockchain adoption. For years, Haiti has been among the world’s poorest countries in terms of GDP per capita, as per data from the World Bank. But Haitian-Canadian entrepreneur Nandy Martin, colloquially known as Captain Haiti for wandering the streets of his community in his superhero attire and signature shield prop, has ambitious goals to change that. Operating from the…

South Africa’s financial regulator plans to introduce framework aimed at protecting vulnerable crypto investors: Report

boss

Unathi Kamlana, the commissioner of South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority, has reportedly said the government’s rollout of a crypto framework would be aimed at mitigating any potential risks. According to a Friday report from Bloomberg, Kamlana said the financial regulator planned to present a regulatory framework early in 2022 intended to protect investors from “potentially highly risky” crypto assets. The commissioner said any framework on crypto would be created in coordination with the Prudential Authority and Financial Surveillance Board of the South African Reserve Bank. “What we want to…

Galaxy Digital CEO Explains Why Ethereum Is Outperforming Bitcoin

boss

Bitcoin’s utility as an inflation hedge has been a big push for the adoption of the cryptocurrency by investors. Ethereum on the other hand is fast-rising to become the preferred crypto for hedging against inflation for investors. The digital asset’s performance over the past couple of years has proven that it is a strong contender for bitcoin given the year-over-year returns recorded. Only five years old, Ethereum has grown to become one of the largest assets in the world. It was recently named as the 15th largest asset in the…

The Highest Inflation Since 1982

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG. Download this episode November inflation came in at 6.8%, the highest in 39 years. In this episode, NLW looks at: The state of the inflation discussion following October Why the Biden administration tried to reframe expectations leading into Friday’s announcement Why CEOs are selling their stock Why bitcoin is going down after high inflation See also: Bitcoin Outlook as Inflation Fear Weighs on Economy “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill…

Most Influential 2021: Anatoly Yakovenko

Anatoly Yakovenko calls himself the biggest skeptic of cryptocurrencies, even though he developed one of the fastest-growing crypto networks, Solana. The blockchain can reportedly process 50,000 transactions per second, far more than competing smart contract blockchain Ethereum, which currently stalls out at 45 transactions per second. In five years, Yakovenko expects the speed to be at least four times greater than it is now. Source

Most Influential 2021: Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao (often simply called “CZ”) may be the world’s richest person. As founder of cryptocurrency behemoth Binance, he’s not only the largest shareholder in the world’s most active crypto exchange, but has also had the opportunity to amass a significant binance coin (BNB) and bitcoin position. Binance, founded in 2017 and currently without a legal headquarters, is estimated to be worth $300 billion and has few outside investors. After years of resisting legal scrutiny, CZ has taken steps this year to work with regulators for all corners of the…

Most Influential 2021: Kristin Smith

This year, crypto emerged as a political force, with many Washington-based lobbyists fomenting the charge. Executive director of the Blockchain Association, Kristin Smith, a former congressional staffer and familiar face on the Hill, has been the voice for much of this change-making. Her work sometimes happens behind closed doors – educating senators and helping craft policy – though her most influential acts come in representing the cryptocurrency industry through countless op-eds, speaking engagements and a professional online presence. Source

Random Celebrities Who Discovered Crypto

In 2017, during the unmoored initial coin offering (ICO) boom, celebrities were paid shills. Remember when Dennis Rodman promoted Potcoin in North Korea and DJ Khaled endorsed Centra’s ICO? This year, celebrities also jumped the bandwagon, but in a somewhat more wholesome way, promoting the emergent world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). This also drew jeers, but the impact of celebrities in moving mainstream audiences to crypto was undeniable. Musicians like 3LAU made the case for NFTs, while hotel heiress Paris Hilton was a surprisingly eloquent…

Most Influential 2021: Beeple

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were already gaining steam before Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist who publishes under the name Beeple, sold a work at a Christie’s auction for $69.9 million. But it was that sale, made in Ethereum’s currency ETH, that brought the sub-sector to public consciousness. Winkelmann was a successful artist before NFTs, having worked with several mainstream brands and artists, but the auction of “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS,” a collage of his previous 13-years of work, has made him one of the most successful artists to date (behind…

Most Influential 2021: Jack Dorsey

The one-time chief executive of social media giant Twitter and payments platform Square is now focused solely on Block (Square’s new crypto-themed name). Jack Dorsey is perhaps Silicon Valley’s leading Bitcoin evangelist. He’s called the cryptocurrency the “native currency of the internet,” and has worked to bring that about. Before stepping down from Twitter this year, he integrated BTC Lightning payments. His payments app, CashApp, a unit of Block, sees a tremendous amount of bitcoin buying. Source