Debt

Fear, Greed and the Evolution of Money in the Age of the Coronavirus Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is not going to end soon. Fear and anxiety have skyrocketed, and nearly half of the people in the United States feel the coronavirus has harmed their mental health. People are scared, anxious, depressed, on edge and struggling to sleep through the night.We watched as China took extreme measures to improve the coronavirus crisis there. We watched as Italy locked down the country and people scurried to other parts of Europe. We then watched as California Governor Gavin Newsom took early measures for the U.S. and locked

All Hope Not Lost; Court Grants Cryptopia Users Entitlement to Funds in New Ruling

Users of defunct New Zealand cryptocurrency exchange, Cryptopia, have finally gotten a reason to smile again after more than a year of losing their funds in multiple hacks. A new ruling by a high court today will ensure that victims receive part of the company’s assets worth over $100 million as compensation for their losses in the Cryptopia hacks. Justice David Gendall at the High Court in Christchurch declared that the users of the exchange are entitled to the assets they hold in Cryptopia accounts. He, therefore, decided that they

Chicago DeFi Alliance Launches to Save Decentralized Finance

Amid the apparent ongoing collapse in decentralized finance (DeFi) lending, a group of major trading and cryptocurrency companies in the United States are launching an alliance to support the sector.Introduced on April 7, the Chicago DeFi Alliance (CDA) aims to provide DeFi-focused startups and entrepreneurs with support and guidance in complying with trading regulations and other applicable requirements.Chicago DeFi Alliance to share its expertise to boost DeFi liquidity and marketsAccording to a blog post by crypto fund Volt Capital, a founding member the CDA initiative, the alliance also includes major

SoFi Acquires Payment Processor Galileo in $1.2 Billion Deal

California-based and crypto-friendly financial firm Social Finance — SoFi — is acquiring the digital payment platform Galileo.In an April 7 press release, SoFi announced that it has signed an agreement to pay $1.2 billion for Galileo Financial Technologies. According to a CNBC report, the payment will consist of $75 million in cash, $875 million in stock, and $250 million in seller financing debt.SoFi CEO Anthony Noto addressed how the partnership will help in the current financial market:“Together with Galileo, we will partner to build on our companies’ strengths to drive

Max Keiser: Selling Bitcoin Now for ‘Fiat Debt-Coupons’ Is a Crime

Bitcoin (BTC) will be the only exit from the “global reset” of finance which will allow central banks to even destroy the banking system itself.That was just one conclusion from Simon Dixon, CEO of cryptocurrency funding platform BnkToTheFuture, in the latest episode of financial news program the Keiser Report on April 7. Dixon: “World’s largest regulated Ponzi scheme” is dyingDiscussing the global coronavirus epidemic and its impact on global finance, Dixon warned that the health aspect of the crisis was by no means its worst.“I don’t want to be dramatic, but

Rune Christensen: ‘Our Job Is to Support Whatever the Maker Community Decides’

As the dust begins to settle over MakerDAO’s Black Thursday incident, the team is now returning to a normal working pace. We took the opportunity to catch up with Rune Christensen, one of the original founders of the protocol, for a full recap of the situation and what it means for Maker (MKR). Christensen had been oddly quiet as the events were unfolding, never joining any forum discussion or issuing comments to the media — until now.MakerDAO provides users with stable DAI cryptocurrency in exchange for their volatile crypto holdings, and

Introducing the new Blockchain.com monthly newsletter — April Edition: “After the Dust Settles”

The quality of information and data in crypto has improved in recent years, so you may be asking why another monthly newsletter?There are still some big data and analysis gaps in crypto. Crypto markets are nowhere near as widely served with reliable research and data as traditional markets. Indeed, the March 12–13th crypto stress test demonstrated there are also still some very significant issues with the state of crypto exchange infrastructure.What you can expect from our monthly newsletterOur intention with this newsletter is to avoid repeating what you can find

Revolut Reacts To Corona Crisis, Pushes out New Crypto Support

Revolut, a digital banking app, has recently rolled out its cryptocurrency services to all of its standard users. This comes alongside a statement from the app itself that it widened its access earlier due to the current global economic crisis.This Is No April Fools’On the first of April, 2020, the UK-based fintech service provider made the announcement that it will allow for cryptocurrency accounts and trading to all of its standard users, with a 1.5% flat fee per trade. Before this announcement, these services were reserved only to its Premium

How the Pressures of the Coronavirus May Open the Door for Tokenization

The coronavirus pandemic is the only thing on most people’s minds right now around the world.The pending economic fallout is only surpassed by the anxiety induced by surging cases in both the United States and Europe. People remain firmly in quarantine around the world, and consumer demand has fallen off a cliff as people are holed up with only basic necessities.Paired with the awful Purchasing Managers’ Index numbers published by the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, as well asearly U.S. indicators, we’re about

A Crypto Venture Fund Bought the Most Tokens at MakerDAO’s Debt Auction

An auction to recapitalize MakerDAO (MKR) after the mid-March market turmoil successfully concluded on March 28, bringing in over $5 million worth of DAI. Crypto venture fund Paradigm Capital revealed in a March 31 tweet that it won approximately 68% of the auctioned tokens.The company had previously pledged to join a “backstop syndicate” and cover the entire system shortfall if necessary. Acting as a so-called “backstop,” the group would act as the buyer of last resort by purchasing the MKR tokens if their price fell to $100. (The auction’s starting

Fed’s Quantitative Easing Strategy Holds Long-Term Benefits for Crypto

These are perilous times, and it hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice that the United States Federal Reserve is doing its part to alleviate the suffering — which began with the coronavirus pandemic and has spread to the global economy. It’s printing more money. “There is an infinite amount of cash at the Federal Reserve,” Neel Kashkari, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, told Scott Pelley of CBS on March 22, adding: “We will do whatever we need to do to make sure there is enough cash in the financial