Cryptocurrency

Ethereum is a few days away from "The Merge," its transition from Proof of Work (mining) to Proof of Stake (staking). The promised benefits of Proof of Stake (PoS) include a significantly higher number of transactions per second (tps), reduced environmental impact (PoS requires far less energy than mining), and greater scale. Where mining rigs are expensive, require a lot of electricity, and require specialized skills to efficiently operate, PoS rigs only require average hardware, a static IP address, and the ability to read and follow directions. So, should you stake ETH? And, if so, should you do it in a pool or solo? Continue Reading →

This week has, unintentionally, focused on celebrities and NFTs. First, Kim and Kylie hating on Insta, then the lawsuit against Kim and dozens of other celebs for shilling EMAX. Today (because clearly I'm a trendsetter), Bloomberg has a story about The Disastrous Record of Celebrity Crypto Endorsements. Continue Reading →

On July 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced "insider trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager, his brother, and his friend for perpetrating a scheme to trade ahead of multiple announcements regarding certain crypto assets that would be made available for trading on the Coinbase platform." Continue Reading →

You just purchased your first NFT. Where is it? Is it sitting in your account on the marketplace you purchased it from? Do they have custody of your digital asset or do you? Did you transfer your NFT to your crypto wallet? If so, do you believe your new NFT is actually in your wallet? It isn't. That's not how this works. Here's what is really in your wallet. Continue Reading →

Over the next few days, Android users may notice Google Wallet showing up on their phones. The successor app to Google Pay was announced at Google's 2022 I/O event as a way to manage all of your digital cards: credit, debit, ID, vax status, tickets, and more. Continue Reading →

Otherside, the much-anticipated metaverse gaming platform from the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), is open for business. Over the weekend, 4,300 "Voyagers" were invited for a demo and tour of the immersive, ape avatar-navigated online platform. Continue Reading →

As we enter another crypto winter, it has become de rigueur for tech types to go on record espousing that Web3 is nonsense, that blockchain is a terrible technology, and that cryptocurrencies (all of them) are Ponzi schemes. There is seemingly no end to the tweets and blog posts from highly credentialed people about tulips and "The Emperor's New Clothes" and greater fool theory. It's as if the technocrats want to make sure that they know that you know that they know that all things Web3 are technologically inferior to all things Web2. Are they right? Continue Reading →

Teller, which touts "crypto loans for the real world," wants to help you buy "blue chip" NFTs using their BNPL (buy now pay later) feature. Continue Reading →

A new notice from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) prohibits any federal government employee who owns cryptocurrency from working on federal crypto regulation. This includes employees at The White House, The Federal Reserve, and The Department of the Treasury. Continue Reading →

When government regulators scared Facebook out of its Libra/Diem cryptocurrency project a while back, I didn't think too much about it. The original project was ambitious. Libra was designed to be a stablecoin and was backed by deposits of real cash to be contributed to the Libra Association, a supporting plutocracy with a membership fee of $10 million. Founding members got an option to become validator node operators, a vote on the Libra Council, and could earn interest on their investment. Continue Reading →