Category Archives: Cryptocurrency
Despite market volatility, advisor says he’s ‘bullish’ on crypto education. Here’s why – CNBC
It's been a tough time for cryptocurrency but, despite volatility, you still need to know how the technology works, said Douglas Boneparth, a certified financial planner based in New York.
The digital currency market dropped by nearly $1.4 trillion in 2022, following a cascade of bankruptcies and liquidity issues, including the high-profile collapse of crypto exchange FTX. In March, crypto-focused Silvergate Capital announced plans to wind down operations and regulators shut down crypto lender Signature Bank.
Although the crypto market rallied at the start of 2023, assets recently tumbled again, with bitcoin falling below $20,000 on Friday, triggered by a stock market sell-off in the U.S. But bitcoin surged by 10% on Monday, following the news of U.S. regulators' plans to safeguard depositors and financial institutions associated with Silicon Valley Bank.
Here are more FA Council perspectives on how to navigate this economy while building wealth.
Boneparth, who is president of Bone Fide Wealth and a member of CNBC's Financial Advisor Council, said the recent events and crypto market volatility have made him even more "bullish" on learning about the technology.
"Clearly, the decentralized financial world is interconnected to the traditional financial world more so now than ever before," he said.
An early adopter of digital currency since 2013, mostly in bitcoin, Boneparth said there's plenty to learn about the technology we'll inevitably see more from in the future.
"This doesn't necessarily mean you should be allocating your money there," he said. But he believes you should be investing your time and energy to see where the technology may be heading.
"I've learned a lot in my journey without having to take an exorbitant amount of risk," Boneparth said.
When it comes to cryptocurrency, he said the "best thing you can do" is learn about the technology and how decentralized finance works. "A little bit would go a long way," he added.
Ive learned a lot in my journey without having to take an exorbitant amount of risk.
Douglas Boneparth
President of Bone Fide Wealth
"That's powerful stuff," Boneparth said. "It's not always putting your money into the latest craze of crypto; it's learning what it's all about."
While many advisors won't recommend clients buy or sell digital currency, Boneparth said investors may come to his practice looking for guidance on existing crypto allocations.
"Some people have amassed quite a bit of money in cryptocurrency," he said. "And it's my job to show them what the risks are, how that concentration and that asset can impact their long-term goals and their portfolio."
Boneparth said it's important to know how owning any particular type of asset may affect your financial goals, especially "volatile assets" like cryptocurrency.
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Despite market volatility, advisor says he's 'bullish' on crypto education. Here's why - CNBC
Cryptocurrency regulation in Germany- what you need know – Invezz
As cryptocurrencies see fresh market impetus in the wake of latest crisis in the finance and banking industry, one of the countries already on the path to greater crypto adoption is Germany. A recent report showed nearly 50% of investors in the country have considered crypto as an investment option. Indeed, some of the top crypto exchanges are regulated in the country.
Like many other countries, Germany is cognizant of what growth in the cryptocurrency market means and the important role of regulatory oversight. The goal, as with other regulatory efforts, is to ensure that the crypto market operates in a transparent and secure manner.
In this article, we explore who regulates cryptocurrency in Germany and what actions have been taken so far.
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is the regulatory body that oversees cryptocurrency activities in Germany. BaFin is an independent federal agency responsible for regulating banks, insurance companies, financial service providers, and securities trading in Germany. It was established in 2002 and has its headquarters in Bonn and Frankfurt.
In 2019, BaFin issued guidance on the regulatory treatment of cryptocurrencies. The guidance stated that cryptocurrencies are financial instruments under the KWG and must comply with its provisions. Therefore, any company that provides cryptocurrency-related services, such as trading platforms and wallet providers, must obtain authorization from BaFin.
Crypto has permeated every part of life in Berlin for example, making it clear the necessity for transparent rules. As well as larger companies, a specific example of the use of this currency in day-to-day life would be in the rental industry.
Some landlords will even accept Bitcoin as a way of paying rent, and with the many properties in the capital, that you can check on Rentola for example, its easy to see that there can be big money made. The necessity to regulate this becomes apparent.
As well as these previous points, the regulatory body has raised the alarm about the high risks involved in placing money in crypto. This is of course due to the highly speculative nature of them, they continued by insisting on the need to be fully aware of this before considering any investment of any type. As they are not legal tender, is there before means that no government or authority will back them.
BaFin has taken several actions to enforce its regulatory oversight of the cryptocurrency market. In 2020, the agency ordered the cessation of activities by a cryptocurrency trading platform that was operating without authorization. BaFin also ordered the liquidation of a cryptocurrency investment company that was not complying with its regulatory requirements and has targeted illegal crypto ATMs.
In addition to BaFin, the central German government has put measures into place to regulate the situation in the cryptocurrency market. In 2020, the government passed the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), meaning that crypto companies have to register with BaFin and implement anti-money laundering measures. The measure also demands that cryptocurrency companies verify the ID of their clients and always report suspicious transactions to BaFin.
BaFin is the regulatory body that oversees cryptocurrency activities in Germany. The agency has taken big steps in regulating cryptocurrencies and has been bold with its actions to enforce its oversight of the cryptocurrency market. The central German government has also taken steps too, to regulate the market, including passing the 5AMLD and proposing a bill that would allow institutional funds to invest in cryptocurrencies.
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Cryptocurrency regulation in Germany- what you need know - Invezz
The Road to Consensus – Exploring Cryptocurrency and the Future … – The Independent | SUindependent.com
Having spent the last two years learning everything I could about cryptocurrency and this new forum for global finance, I felt it was time for me to start sharing with our readers exactly what I have learned.
By James McFadden
Having spent the last two years learning everything I could about cryptocurrency and this new forum for global finance, I felt it was time for me to start sharing with our readers exactly what I have learned and just how relevant cryptocurrency has become, no matter what opinions you or I might currently have or previously had. So, with that in mind, I applied for a press pass to attend one of the biggest annual cryptocurrency conferences here in the U.S., and well Im excited to say Im heading to Consensus!
I love this word and its definition; consensus. I seek it in everything I do, from discussing politics and religion, to how Ive chosen to raise my family. Reaching consensus is vital to progress, improves your chances for success, and can enhance the harmony and peace we experience in our everyday lives.
Consensus (the conference) is the worlds largest, longest-running, and most influential gathering of the crypto, blockchain, and Web3 communities. Since its inception in 2015, it has helped to cultivate collaboration among thousands of differing stakeholders across the cryptocurrency industry; leaders, investors, builders, creators, brands, founders, innovators, and more.
My journey and experience with cryptocurrency started just about two years ago when I discovered a data-storage company, SiaTech, that had developed a way for consumers, designers, and software developers to store their data on decentralized nodes. By encrypting and storing data across 30-60 data nodes, or servers, stored data is not held at any one location or by any one individual or corporation who can turn an account off or hold that data hostage. As it turns out, their system not only operates on cryptocurrency, its a mechanism for earning and using it as well. But this is where things can get a little more complicated, and Im not interested in complicating this conversation at the moment. Nevertheless, I found what they are doing both fascinating and exceptionally brilliant. So much so that I currently run a node on the system myself
Just as this data storage system decentralizes the management of data, the purpose of cryptocurrency is to decentralize the storage of your finances and wealth. Decentralization is at the heart of what cryptocurrency seeks to achieve.
That said, over the next six weeks, as I prepare to attend Consensus, I will dive into the various aspects of cryptocurrency and why I have come to embrace this technology as a vital facet for the management of finance.
In my next article, I will focus on this concept of decentralization and how cryptocurrency is changing how we look at finances, and how essential it is in our ability to access global marketplaces.
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The Road to Consensus - Exploring Cryptocurrency and the Future ... - The Independent | SUindependent.com
The worse the banks are doing, the better the cryptocurrency is doing Bitcoin has risen over 7% – FXStreet
Market picture
The worse the banks are doing, the better the cryptocurrency is doing. Bitcoin has risen over 7% in the past 24 hours to $26.7K, taking its gain over the past seven days to 36% and testing highs not seen since June last year. Bitcoin is now trading above its 50 and 200-week moving averages. A break of the latter in a sharp move would look like a bearish capitulation.
On the technical side, Bitcoin has quickly moved from oversold to overbought on the daily chart's RSI. The signal for a correction would be a return of the index from above 70, which could open the way for a pullback to $25. At the same time, going against the upward trend in bitcoin is now too dangerous, as a mirror image of June's decline is possible.
Total crypto market capitalisation rose 5% on the day to $1.14 billion, the highest since August. The driver is a reassessment of interest rate expectations by major central banks, fueling Nasdaq and gold buying alongside cryptocurrencies.
However, another trend is also worth noting. The banking problems in the US and Europe have again highlighted the vulnerability of the traditional financial sector. Once again, investors' fears that keeping money in banks can be risky are coming to the surface.
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said that "the banking crisis is bringing us back to bitcoin and gold" and that now is the best time to buy BTC as a hedge against economic problems. According to Katie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, "cryptocurrencies have suddenly become a protective asset during the banking crisis".
According to CryptoQuant, miners took advantage of bitcoin's March surge and started selling, which is unlikely to end in the coming days.
The FDIC has asked banks interested in acquiring Signature Bank to divert from the crypto business first. Meanwhile, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has previously stated that the organisations closure was unrelated to its interaction with the crypto sphere.
According to ByteTree Asset, bitcoin fund assets have fallen to their lowest level since October 2021 amid the collapse of several US crypto-focused banks.
Top Meme Cryptocurrency You May Want To Add This Week – CoinGape
As the cryptocurrency market continues to expand, more and more meme cryptocurrencies have emerged. While some investors dismiss them as mere jokes, others see the potential in these digital assets. Here are four meme cryptocurrencies that have gained significant attention in March already and seem to be growing further this week.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not guarantee any wealth benefits from crypto. Do your own research before investing your hard-earned money.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that features the likeness of a Shiba Inu dog and is the largest meme cryptocurrency by market cap. It has garnered a lot of attention as high-profile figures like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban have tweeted about its potential. The market cap for Dogecoin stands at $9.83 billion and is currently trading for $0.07415. In the last 7 days, it is seeing an increase of over 7%. Source: coinmarketcap
Shiba Inu is the second largest meme cryptocurrency that features a Shiba Inu dog as its mascot. Launched in August 2020, the coin has gained traction in recent months thanks to its low price and high circulating supply. Each SHIB token is trading at $0.00001079 with a market cap of over $6 billion. The meme crypto has seen an increase of around 2% in the last week. Source: coinmarketcap
Also read: Just-In: 24 Trillion Shiba Inu Moved From Exchange; Whales Big Move Or Something Else?
Floki is the meme cryptocurrency that emerged in late 2021. The crypto is named after a character from the popular TV show Vikings, and its branding features an image of a Shiba Inu dog, which is the same breed that inspired the creation of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. The hype around Floki Inu has been fueled by its impressive price increase in a short amount of time, as well as support from some high-profile celebrities, including Elon Musk, who tweeted about the currency.
FLOKI token is currently trading for $0.00003905 an increase of over 4% in the previous 24 hours and 13.36 over the last 7 days. The market cap currently stands at $348 million. Source: coinmarketcap
The developers of Dogelon Mars aim to create a community-driven platform where users can trade, stake, and earn rewards. The tokens name is inspired by Elon Musk and his SpaceX mission to Mars. Dogelon Mars has garnered a lot of attention from crypto enthusiasts and investors who are intrigued by its potential for high returns.
The token is currently trading for $0.0000003604 and the market cap is at $198 million. The token is seeing a gain of over 3% in the last 7 days. Source: coinmarketcap
Also read: Bitcoin Price Set For $30K As UBS-Credit Suisse Deal Fails To Contain Banking Crisis
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Top Meme Cryptocurrency You May Want To Add This Week - CoinGape
Why Coinbase Stock Was a Cryptocurrency Winner on Wednesday – The Motley Fool
What happened
Cryptocurrencies were a stinker of an asset class on Wednesday, but you wouldn't know that from the performance of one of their top exchange operators. Coinbase (COIN -0.76%) saw its share price rise by almost 3% on the day following an analyst's price-target bump; this performance trounced that of the S&P 500 index, which wilted at a 0.7% pace.
Well before market open that day, Atlantic Equities' Simon Clinch made the move. He now pegs Coinbase's fair value at $63 per share, far higher than his previous $46 estimation. He's not ready to change his recommendation, however, which is a bit of a shame for investors as he continues to rate the stock a neutral.
Clinch's latest research note on Coinbase wasn't immediately available. However, it comes just after a very bullish Tuesday for cryptocurrencies in general and related assets specifically. That day Bitcoin, inarguably the bellwether coin of its realm, notched a nearly one-year price high -- $26,500 per coin, to be exact.
That had a knock-on effect with said assets, and as a leading crypto exchange operator, Coinbase certainly qualifies.
Yet cryptocurrencies and, by extension, Coinbase, might be in for some rocky times ahead.
Inflation is still a drag on both the U.S. and the global economy. While investors are hoping for a break or a comedown in the Federal Reserve's recent series of interest rate rises, this is by no means assured. High rates tend to dampen enthusiasm for investments considered to be more speulative, and as a group, cryptos and crypto-adjacent securities are usually lumped into this category.
Eric Volkman has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Why Coinbase Stock Was a Cryptocurrency Winner on Wednesday - The Motley Fool
Regulators need a plan for cryptocurrency – The Boston Globe
But the US cryptocurrency market now faces a death spiral owing to its need for banking services. Two phenomena are worth noting. First, with the crypto crisis and the collapse of FTX (as well as other notable firms), regulators rightly have become concerned about allowing banks to engage with crypto businesses. This connection is often fraught with risk. The fall of Silvergate a go-to crypto banker was triggered by emptier crypto markets following the FTX collapse as customers fled the chaos and institutions (like exchanges) that once maintained thick deposits scaled back. By December 2022, for example, Silvergates noninterest-bearing deposit holdings stood at around $3.9 billion. In September 2022, holdings had been $8.2 billion higher.
Rather than offer guidance or rulemaking about risk mitigation when working with crypto firms, however, bank regulators have instead signaled a blanket disapproval of such relationships no matter the firm or activity. In January, three regulators declared that banks actively engaging in crypto business activities were, by definition, highly likely to fall short of safety standards, pushing many compliance-conscious banks to radically limit or cut ties with customers in the crypto industry.
Regulators have compelling reasons to protect banking from a risky, novel industry like crypto. But closing off or heavily restricting access to US banking also courts problems. Firms have already begun looking abroad for banking partners and payment services. This strategy risks off-shoring customer money, where it will lose the protection of US deposit insurance and make the task of public oversight much harder to implement. US retail participation in crypto markets is unlikely to completely abate.
Domestic crypto bans, in countries like China for example, have proven notoriously tricky to execute. Enthusiasts turn to virtual private networks to gain access to crypto platforms. Major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are also typically borderless in their underlying infrastructure, enabling VPNs and creative computing to facilitate trading. Tellingly, despite its ban, China continues to see significant crypto trading activity. In addition, by prohibiting or heavily circumscribing banks from providing services to crypto markets, regulators lose the capacity to use banks as levers to monitor crypto firms (e.g., for money laundering), to safely custody customer assets, and to discipline wayward or inexperienced crypto firms (e.g., through loan covenants). To the extent the United States anticipates being a home to the crypto industry and this decision is one for policy makers to take transparently then drastically limiting access to banking services can end up creating a costly set of unintended consequences down the line.
Shoddy bank risk management and the resulting crisis have placed the crypto industry in further peril. In an unexpected plot twist, crypto firms are absorbing the fallout from bank failures, scrambling to save deposits and suffering profound disruption to services. Silvergate and Signature were essential crypto banking bulwarks each offering a 24/7 US dollar payment network that aligned with the never-closed ethos of the crypto market. The Silvergate Exchange Network, for example, processed about $119 billion between September 2022 and December 2022.
A lynchpin of the crypto market, Circle Internet Financial, issuer of a popular stablecoin (a crypto asset that seeks to maintain a one-to-one peg with the US dollar, facilitating payments) was left reeling when $3.3 billion of its deposits with Silicon Valley Bank looked to be in danger as regulators worked over the weekend to decide what to do about protecting uninsured funds. It was also no longer able to use Signatures payment network, Signet. Panic selling caused its stablecoin to lose its one-to-one peg for a time, trading at 87 cents over that weekend. And with Signets future uncertain, Circles payments could only be processed when normal business hours resumed on Monday.
Regulators need a plan to better oversee both the crypto market and banks. Facile assumptions about which industry constitutes the greater public risk no longer hold. Crucially, as long as crypto remains a presence within the US marketplace, it cannot be left to its own dangerous devices when dealing with customer money. Simply banning or heavily curtailing US banks from doing business with crypto firms is unlikely to protect the savings of Americans determined to be a part of the crypto ecosystem. Instead, it risks exposing them to the preferences and resourcing of foreign regulators who are unlikely to put American interests over domestic ones and who may lack the expertise and risk-aversion of US financial supervisors.
Rigorous and thoughtful crypto regulation can make both crypto and banking safer as well as maintain the United States place as global leader in delivering responsive, technical, and innovative regulation. Banks are vulnerable when servicing a crypto market that lacks real oversight. Silvergate is case in point. A regime for classifying crypto assets as securities, commodities, or something else; protecting them through fail-safe custody arrangements; usable disclosures for customers; or systematic processes to supervise exchanges represent just some of the obvious and urgent regulatory needs that can bring crypto risks under greater control.
Bans on banking crypto are easy but largely unworkable in a digital, global age. Rulemaking is hard but necessary to protect the financial system and to flex the power of American regulatory policy around the world.
Yesha Yadav is the Milton R. Underwood chair, professor of law, and associate dean at Vanderbilt Law School.
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Regulators need a plan for cryptocurrency - The Boston Globe
Crypto Wants Its Shine Back – The New York Times
At a cryptocurrency conference in Denver this month, a group of singers clad in bright orange onesiestook the stageto perform what one industry website later described as an anthem for the crypto faithful, a blockchain Blowin in the Wind.
The chorus was a list of cryptos most notorious villains, from the trash-talking entrepreneur Do Kwon to the disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, punctuated by four-letter expletives.
In the next bull market, we promise not to use, the song continued, centralized exchanges run by these toxic dudes.
After a disastrous 2022, when a procession of prominent crypto firms imploded, the industry is angling for an audacious rebrand. Executives like Mr. Kwon and Mr. Bankman-Fried once beloved crypto celebrities, with hundreds of thousands of devotees hanging on their every tweet are now personae non gratae. Their former admirers argue that these crypto villains never truly embodied the industrys core values, even before their companies collapsed.
At surviving firms, top executives are looking for new ways to market products that many consumers now distrust and to distance themselves from former colleagues and mentors who could face years in prison. Some companies are trying to capitalize on the growing interest around artificial intelligence, with crypto schemes that feature convoluted A.I. tie-ins. Others are looking to replace the word crypto, arguing that the industrys original nomenclature has become irredeemably tainted.
Crypto companies were moving gradually towards changing the narrative even before Mr. Bankman-Frieds exchange failed in November, said Todd Irwin, the chief strategy officer at Fazer, a branding agency that has clients in the industry. After the FTX incident, the move has been turbocharged.
The cleansing effort is a familiar routine in an industry that has experienced repeated booms and busts over its short history. Early advocates of Bitcoin had to convince the public and regulators that cryptocurrency was more than just a convenient tool for drug dealers. A major crypto boom in 2017 was followed by a long period of law enforcement scrutiny, as exciting-sounding start-ups were exposed as scams.
What to Know Aboutthe Collapse of FTX
What is FTX? FTX is a now bankrupt company that was one of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchanges. It enabled customers to trade digital currencies for other digital currencies or traditional money; it also had a native cryptocurrency known as FTT. The company, based in the Bahamas, built its business on risky trading options that are not legal in the United States.
Who is Sam Bankman-Fried? He is the 30-year-old founder of FTXand the former chief executive of FTX. Once a golden boy of the crypto industry, he was a major donor to the Democratic Party and known for his commitment to effective altruism, a charitable movement that urges adherents to give away their wealth in efficient and logical ways.
How did FTXs troubles begin? Last year, Changpeng Zhao, the chief executive of Binance, the worlds largest crypto exchange, sold the stake he held in FTX back to Mr. Bankman-Fried, receiving a number of FTT tokens in exchange. In November, Mr. Zhao said he would sell the tokens and expressed concerns about FTXs financial stability. The move, which drove down the price of FTT, spooked investors.
What led to FTX's collapse? Mr. Zhaos announcement drove down the price and spooked investors. Traders rushed to withdraw from FTX, causing the company to have a $8 billion shortfall. Binance, FTXs main rival, offered a loan to save the company but later pulled out, forcing FTX to file for bankruptcy on Nov. 11.
So far, the latest round of soul-searching has done little to turn the industrys fortunes around. Since FTXs demise, U.S. regulators have announced fines and other enforcement actions against several major crypto companies. The abrupt failures of two reliable banking partners, Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank, have dealt a fresh blow to crypto start-ups, making it harder to conduct basic business operations in the United States.
And the industry is still struggling to demonstrate the practical value of its technology to an increasingly skeptical public.
Rebranding doesnt solve the fundamental problem, said Lee Reiners, a onetime supervisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who now teaches at Duke Law School. What is this good for? What problem does it solve? This is just P.R.
A year ago, the crypto industry was flush with cash. At his compound in the Bahamas in April, Mr. Bankman-Fried hosted a weeklong conference where attendees downed champagne and partied on the beaches. Among the guests: Su Zhu, a founder of the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which failed a few weeks later when a market crash sent all the major cryptocurrencies into free fall.
Now Mr. Bankman-Fried faces charges over his management of FTX that could mean decades in prison if he is convicted, and industry executives are still navigating the fallout.
Steven Saxton got on a call with a bank this year to discuss his crypto start-up, Gorilla Labs, which plans to offer a stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a value of $1.
My C.T.O. said crypto about five times during the conversation. I was like, Just say blockchain, Mr. Saxton said. These guys could be very sensitive to that, and it could make them very nervous.
But even blockchain the term for the publicly viewable ledger where crypto transactions are recorded has potentially negative connotations. In January, the crypto mining company Riot Blockchain changed its name to Riot Platforms. Other companies have removed the term crypto from their marketing materials, turning to vaguer words like decentralization.
Theyre just wearing a different outfit to the same party, said Mr. Irwin, the branding expert.
The marketing push extends to the world of artificial intelligence, which has replaced crypto as the hot trend in Silicon Valley after the release of ChatGPT, the viral chatbot. A series of A.I.-themed cryptocurrencies have surged in value, and crypto firms with names like DogAI and CryptoGPT are trying to incorporate the buzzy technology into their offerings.
No crypto company is under more pressure than the giant exchange Binance, which is facing government investigations on several fronts, as well as rising concerns about its financial stability and lack of cooperation with regulators. This month, the exchanges chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, moved to associate Binance with a more attractive trend. He unveiled Bicasso, a product that uses A.I. technology to make artwork in the form of nonfungible tokens, the digital collectibles known as NFTs.
You can turn your creative visions into NFTs with AI, Mr. Zhao wrote on Twitter. Give it a try and show me what you make with it.
In recent months, he and other industry figures have also posted videos on social media seemingly designed to separate themselves from erstwhile crypto heroes like Mr. Bankman-Fried.
Honor isnt given, Mr. Zhao somberly declared in one post. Its earned. In another widely shared video, Jesse Powell, the founder of the Kraken crypto exchange, threw a few awkward jabs at a punching bag labeled corruption and shady players.
A similar distancing effort was underway in March at ETH Denver, a conference for advocates of Ethereum, the popular crypto platform. In the bathrooms, guests had the option to use toilet paper featuring a Che Guevara-style image of Mr. Bankman-Fried. At the opening event, Jonathan Mann, a songwriter who specializes in crypto-themed lyrics, performed an expletive-heavy anthem denouncing 2022s crypto villains.
It was supposed to be a final letting go of all this toxicity and bad vibes and feelings of 2022, Mr. Mann said in an interview. I had everyone do breathing exercises before: Close your eyes. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Were going to cleanse ourselves.
Even in 2023, a crypto conference can still attract high-powered guests. While Mr. Mann and four other singers performed, the governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, watched from the sidelines. He had a grin on his face, Mr. Mann said. (A spokeswoman for the governor, Melissa Dworkin, said she wouldnt misinterpret his curious demeanor as an endorsement of the words used.)
For some crypto executives, ritualized cleansing is not enough. A few start-ups have abandoned crypto altogether in favor of different types of technology.
In late 2021, Troy Osinoff co-founded Zurp, hoping to simplify complex crypto investments for mainstream consumers. Zurp raised $5 million, built a wait list of 120,000 people and was preparing to launch last summer when the collapse of Luna, a popular cryptocurrency, triggered a broader market meltdown.
The fallout damaged many of Zurps competitors, and Mr. Osinoff decided to pause the rollout because he was worried the crypto markets were not a safe place to park customer funds.
Soon Zurp shifted to a more conventional form of financial technology. The company began developing a credit card that features perks tailored to Generation Z and plans to offer it in the coming months. Mr. Osinoff said he still hoped to incorporate crypto features into Zurps offerings, but only once sentiment improved.
Its already a hurdle to get people interested in crypto, he said. Were just waiting for it to normalize.
Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
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Crypto Wants Its Shine Back - The New York Times
Brief: South Korea Cracks Down on Cryptocurrency Transfers to … – The Jamestown Foundation
KTJ's founder, Abu Saloh al Uzbeki via The Long War Journal
On January 16, two Uzbek and Kazakh citizens in South Korea were arrested for violating the countrys anti-terrorism funding laws by using cryptocurrency to fund the Syrian al-Qaeda-aligned jihadist group Katibat Tavhid wal-Jihad (KTJ) (Yonhap News Agency, February 16). Their funding of KTJ was, however, relatively minimal, with the Uzbek having sent to KTJ approximately $8,000 and the Kazakh having sent less than $1,000. Although South Korea has not experienced any jihadist-related terrorist attacks, the country has been on alert for such attacks since 2008. This terrorism funding case has pushed the countrys intelligence services to reinvigorate investigation into other possible funders of terrorism in the country.
Prior to this case, seven other foreigners of unspecified nationalitiesbut likely from Central Asiawere also deported for having funded KTJ in December 2022. Their network was related to the Uzbek and Kazakh citizens (Korea Times, February 20). Around that time, South Korea had become a desired refuge for Uzbeks suspected of being involved with jihadism in Syria and Turkey. It is likely these suspects were among them. In 2019, for example, KTJ members who had been detained in Turkey after fighting in Syria requested to be deported to South Korea. In South Korea, they could join the approximately 20,000 to 30,000 other Uzbeks in the country, of which a small number had evidently been financing KTJ (Hankyoreh, February 15, 2019). As early as 2019, the UN had also warned that some Uzbeks had been radicalized in South Korea, and might fund travel to join KTJ and other Syria-based jihadist groups (ArabNews, February 16, 2019).
Besides the counter-terrorism ramifications of these latest arrests, the South Korean public may also generally become more opposed to immigration into the country, and from Muslim or Central Asian countries specifically (Korea Times, May 5, 2022). In 2018, for example, as the Yemeni civil war and the counter-Islamic State (IS) military campaign in Syria and Iraq were both ramping up, 200,000 South Koreans petitioned for the deportation of the more than 500 Yemenis who had arrived to Cheju island, a popular tourist attraction. The Yemenis had taken advantage of a visa-free travel regime to get to the island, as well as low-cost flights from Yemen to Cheju Island through Malaysia (h Hankyoreh, June 19, 2018).
Besides the KTJ- and Yemen-related concerns of the South Korean public and intelligence services, threats have also emerged from other foreign nationals living in South Korea. In 2016, three Indonesians were detained and then deported from South Korea to their home country after having funded or fought with IS (AntaraNews, January 15, 2016). Prior to the rise of IS, South Korean missionaries had also been kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, where they were held hostage for 40 days and then released; in 2004, a South Korean missionary in Iraq was abducted and beheaded (JoongAng, September 21, 2008).
IS no longer is as influential as it was before 2019, to include their ability to spreading propaganda. Therefore, it is unlikely that either IS or the more localized al-Qaeda allies in Syria, including KTJ, will significantly boost recruitment or other fundraising activities in South Korea. Nonetheless, the countrys strong economy, demand for foreign workers, and familiarity with cryptocurrencies does still make the country an attractive hub for jihadist groups seeking to raise funds under the radar of Western intelligence agencies.
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Brief: South Korea Cracks Down on Cryptocurrency Transfers to ... - The Jamestown Foundation
Cryptocurrency Market March Picks: Bitcoin, Aptos, and Dogetti in greens with 50% promo code – Euro Weekly News
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