Category: Op-Ed
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Russian Banks Join Chinese Swift – Is the Dollar Era Under Threat?
As a Saudi oil minister once remarked, the Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones. It seems it’s neither the deficit of a tool nor its deficiencies that make it obsolete, but rather the invention of new tools that do the job better. With increasing competition, will the U.S. dollar continue to…
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It’s 2019 and IBM Is Still Trying to Find a Use Case for Blockchain
IBM claims that six banks will issue stablecoins using its World Wire protocol which is based on the Stellar network. According to the tech giant, three banks have publicly committed to the initiative, and the remainder will reveal themselves soon. The announcement joins the resurgence of blockchain razzmatazz this year that feels eerily similar to…
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Stablecoins Are Threatened by These Two Major Issues
On the heels of recent commentary from the published correspondence between Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Jay Clayton and representative Ted Budd, SEC senior advisor Valerie Szczepanik explained at Austin’s SXSW conference that stablecoins may be violating current securities laws. Also read: Payglobal Provides Cryptocurrency to Fiat Transfers With Existing Bank Cards Stablecoins May…
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Market Cap: A Flawed Ranking System for Valuing Crypto
Market cap is often used as a metric of importance in the crypto industry. Communities will react jubilantly as their preferred coin moves up the rankings. People will often invest in the top X coins based solely on their market cap as they think it is representative of a diversified portfolio. However, is market cap…
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Bitcoin’s Social Contract Must Be Resilient to the Whims of Future Generations
Over the last few years, infighting and different visions has led to significant divides within the Bitcoin community, weakening the network effects no matter which chain you support. With all the arguments about scaling, privacy, consensus changes and the various forks, it is amazing that these public networks are still thriving. Nevertheless, the people who…
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Mt. Gox Creditors Neither Need nor Deserve This Kind of ‘Hero’
Brock Pierce has launched his own bid for the civil rehabilitation of Mt. Gox, promising to pay out all current funds to creditors while also talking about issuing debt tokens or giving away equity in a resurrected Mt. Gox exchange. As noble as this may sound on the surface, there are strong reasons to question…
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A Millennial and Crypto Love Story: How This Generation Is Ghosting Banks
America’s youth has long been in a bad relationship with banks. Their predatory, self-serving practices have left a bad taste in the mouths of many young consumers, who have historically acclimated and resigned themselves to the system as they aged. Millennials have been accused of killing almost every industry, from golf to napkins, but now…
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The Crucible of Privacy: Why Decentralized Exchange Is the Only Way
Decentralization is a core principle of blockchain-based technology. It’s the most important and unique property of the many cryptocurrencies that have launched since the birth of Bitcoin. Decentralization facilitates a move away from centralized control and differentiates crypto from government-backed fiat currencies. It is the crucible of security and privacy. So why, if this concept is…
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Cryptocurrency Independence Under Threat As Regulation Encroaches
For governments, cryptocurrency is becoming too mainstream to ignore and too chaotic to neglect. Across the world, government agencies are targeting crypto investors not only with taxes but mandatory registration and full disclosure rules. This new wave of regulation poses a contradiction in that some of cryptocurrency’s strongest traits have always been privacy and autonomy.…
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Bank’s Refusal to Release $1.2B of Venezuelan Gold Strengthens the Case for Bitcoin
Venezuela’s economic crisis is impossible to ignore. President Nicolás Maduro’s attempt to withdraw $1.2 billion of the country’s own gold from the Bank of England (BoE) has been rejected. The notion of a sovereign state being denied access to its own wealth is a concept that’s hard for bitcoiners to countenance. One thing is certain: the case…