Crypto

I said yesterday that, for the moment, I’ll stick with fiat currencies as cryptocurrencies are generally quite messy when used for retail purchases. And no, I’m not speaking as an observer but as a user. To buy my Watford football shirt, I had to open an account with a crypto app – which I’ve never…

Russell Brand had a big rant against Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) the other day, claiming that digital, programmable money combined with a digital identity is a fantastic way for governments to place you in a digital straitjacket. It’s a very convincing discussion with over a million views in just a few days. Russell’s humorous…

I was tempted to write about this, but many others have. In particular, I received a post from Dan Ashmore, crypto analyst at Invezz, which I thought was worth sharing. To begin with, if you’re not aware, there’s a massive war taking place in cryptoland. As bitcoin and other crypto prices dive, exchanges and key figures…

Just over a year ago, I blogged about why I bought a Watford FC shirt, when I’m a Spurs fan. Now, I’ve just invested in a Crawley Town t-shirt. Why? It’s all about cryptocurrencies. Watford, sponsored by a bitcoin exchange, has been followed by Crawley Town, purchased by an American group led by Preston Johnson,…

I was intrigued by a nudge that came through of a company that believed cryptocurrencies could transform Africa. The African continent is the third fastest growing market for cryptocurrencies, and Africa has many nations engaged in crypto usage. Nigeria is one of the largest. I decided I wanted to know more and reached out to…

During the week I tweeted an interesting quote from a start-up firm "A database using blockchain technology to keep track of almost every gold bar in the world"https://t.co/8yd7eHMuBj — Chris Skinner (@Chris_Skinner) October 16, 2022 The story is based upon a reimagining of the gold trade. As Bloomberg explains: Trading on one of the world’s…

Although the comments were made in April, I only just found this article about Peter Thiel’s presentation at the Miami bitcoin conference. Peter Thiel is a billionaire friend of Elon Musk, who both founded PayPal. Peter’s more behind the scenes investing these days, with SpaceX and Stripe amongst his key holdings as well as a…

Part of my network, Jim Richards posted an update on LinkedIn the other day which was measured and interesting. Jim is former Executive Vice-President of Financial Crimes at Wells Fargo, and knows a thing or two about the way banks work. I asked if I could share his post here, and Jim said yes, so,…

I’m talking so much about decentralised finance (DeFi) these days. I guess because I’m grappling with whether DeFi can replace CeFi (centralised finance). This tension is real. Can a world without borders on a global network replace the world with borders in a centralised network? It’s hard to say, but it’s fascinating to watch. A…

I don’t write often about the Wild West cases of  Cryptoland – well, I do actually – but this latest one is a pearler so, here we go! I’m adding this to the ten (no, twenty, thirty, forty, hundred or more) cases of bad actors in the Cryptoland. In this case Alex and Krissy Mashinsky, a…