Stablecoins

Russia is advancing its crypto strategy to circumvent Western sanctions. Unable to access dollars or euros, the country may turn to stablecoins to make payments with "friendly countries," according to Russian state news agency Tass. 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 →

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 →

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 →

Greetings from NYC and happy Summer Solstice (to those who celebrate). NFT.NYC is in town this week, and to say that a "hard dose of reality" has hit the faithful would be to mischaracterize the vibe. People in the business know that the current market conditions are universal. They know that the underlying technology and associated business models are evolving, and they also know that – most importantly – the shakeout, while painful, is a required growing pain. Continue Reading →

What’s the best cryptocurrency to invest in? Will the value of this NFT go up? Is the DAO I’ve been thinking about worth joining? How much BTC should I buy? Is this stablecoin really stable? How much can I really earn from this Web 3 or metaverse “play to earn” game? After you get excited about a project, your next step should be a deep dive into its tokenomics – it’s the key to understanding the true value of any token-based investment. Continue Reading →

In 2000, almost $8 trillion of wealth vaporized when the dot-com bubble burst. It was a tough year for Wall Street, venture capitalists, and average retail investors. Why? The pundit parade did its best to explain the crash, but markets are complex systems (which makes them computationally unpredictable). So, in the end, the only thing we could be sure of was that $8 trillion had gone missing. What did we learn? Continue Reading →

This past week, I had the pleasure of spending time with several bankers, financial professionals, and business leaders. While everyone agreed that it's too early to make predictions about how the world of crypto, Web3, and DeFi are going to go, there was one common thread: to a banker, crypto looks like money. I'm not sure that's a good thing. Continue Reading →

It's the end of an era: New York City removed its last public payphone on Monday. The city began removing street payphones in 2015, replacing them with kiosks that offer free phone calls, Wi-Fi, and device charging. The boxy enclosures were once an iconic symbol across the city, but the rise of cellphones made the booths obsolete. Continue Reading →

I’m thrilled to announce the public beta launch of Metacademy: a free-to-use, risk-free, hands-on website that will teach you about blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFTs, smart contracts, Web3, and other associated technologies. You’ll learn about the world of Web3, decentralized finance (DeFi), the correct way to set up a crypto wallet, how to mint your own NFTs, and how to buy and sell them. Continue Reading →