CoinDesk Crypto

This article originally appeared in Valid Points, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter breaking down Ethereum 2.0 and its sweeping impact on crypto markets. Subscribe to Valid Points here.Ethereum’s native asset was once discredited by bitcoiners and investors alike for its l

Major players in the crypto industry want favorable regulations, and they’re actively explaining their own visions.You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future edit

Today marks 20 years of the so-called “Patriot Act,” a law passed to “deter and punish” suspected terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Many provisions of the law were unconstitutional, many were ineffective. In fact, in 2015 a subsequent

As more and more institutional money floods into the crypto ecosystem, the big players are getting their skin and cash in the game. And money has a tendency to change people’s minds.

The rise of bitcoin, ether, Cardano’s ADA and related cryptocurrencies – with market capitalizations returning to all-time highs and at times rivaling that of metals like silver and the world’s major financial companies – warrants an examination of investo

Last week, a crypto investment collective called PleasrDAO paid $4 million for a copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s seventh album, “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.”If that sounds insane to you, consider the circumstances, which are also insane. The record was conceived as

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin project, which promises to distribute a universal basic income (UBI) to global citizens willing to have their retina scanned, came in for a fresh round of incredulous backlash from privacy advocates after announcing new funding last week. Early info a

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are becoming one of the most important trends in the crypto ecosystem. The first generation of NFTs has focused on key properties such as ownership representation, transfer, automation as well as building the core building blocks of the NFT market infras

As huge financial intermediaries increasingly censor online content providers, decentralized technologies de-censor them. It’s not always clear which side to cheer for.Allie Eve Knox, a sex worker who specializes in financial-related fetishes, woke up on Oct. 15 to find tha

Over the last year, the narrative surrounding central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) has advanced considerably. From an almost entirely conceptual discussion, CBDCs are now in various stages of research and development to ascertain how they could work in practice.China’s d

Blockchain has already improved companies’ ability to track the movement of goods. But what if we use it to track how people experience work? That could unlock an entirely different perspective on global supply chain dynamics. It’s now easy to envision a more efficien

The crypto regulatory situation in the U.S. is sad. Not because the Securities and Exchange Commission or Department of the Treasury keep proposing new, unpopular rules but because there is a lack of depth and insights into most of the positions and intended actions coming out of

In 1997, the Clinton Administration published the groundbreaking “Framework for Global Electronic Commerce,” which set forth five key principles:Governments should recognize the unique qualities of the internet.The private sector should lead.Governments should avoid u

Bitcoin is the future of money, but it doesn’t exist without mining it.

We’re nearing the end of “Policy Week” here at CoinDesk, which I’ve spent focused on the particularly thorny issues of regulating decentralized finance (DeFi). The technology, which removes intermediaries like banks and exchanges from asset trading, may re

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlighting a futures-based exchange-traded fund for bitcoin has been a boon to holders of the cryptocurrency this week, with bitcoin hitting all-time highs just shy of $67,000 on news of the ETF’s clearance. But let’s be

Today’s “Gensler for a Day” is Michale Shaulov, CEO of decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure and custody firm Fireblocks. Fireblocks occupies an extremely interesting position in the DeFi ecosystem: Late last month, it was proposed as the first “whit

Valkyrie Funds has become the first asset manager to create a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Nasdaq Exchange, listing the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy Fund (BTF) on Friday, Oct. 22.

Earlier this week, we considered the challenges of creating viable long-term regulations for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. These systems can ostensibly remove intermediaries from the trading of any asset represented on a blockchain, but those intermediaries have been th

Brian Frye, a conceptual artist, film maker and law professor, encourages people to plagiarize everything he’s ever created or said.“I’m the legal academy’s leading plagiarism advocate. I’m also the legal academy’s only plagiarism advocate, whi