Chinese online retail giant JD.com is diving into the nonfungible token, or NFT, industry by introducing a special NFT series for its annual JD Discovery conference. Using its proprietary blockchain platform, JD.com will be distributing commemorative NFT certificates to attendees of the JDD 2021 event in Beijing, the Chinese news agency Sina Finance reported on Wednesday. Specifically, JD.com will issue one NFT for free to anyone who signs up for the JDD 2021 conference between Monday and Nov. 22 through the WeChat mini program on the event’s official website. According to the report, the NFT series features a set of …

Christie’s upscale building located in New York City’s Rockefeller Center, Midtown Manhattan. The organizers were exhibiting a 3D frame, which allows a hologram of oneself to be remotely projected elsewhere, and discussing how animated interactive collectible cards will change over time based on the real-life performance of the displayed athletes. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, Canadian artist Mad Dog Jones, head of global marketing at TikTok Nick Tran, co-creator of CryptoPunks Matt Hall, co-founder of Tezos Kathleen Breitman and president of TIME Keith Grossman — all movers and shakers in the art and tech space gathered (some of them virtually) …

Erik Voorhees, founder and CEO of ShapeShift, has revealed in a podcast that he felt embarrassed and disgusted by the behavior of Bitcoin maximalists at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami. A Bitcoin OG who can see some merit in altcoins, Voorhees spoke on a panel during day two of the conference in June. He caused a stir when he said, “Did I hear someone on that prior panel say, ‘If you’re against toxic maximalism, you’re against Bitcoin and you’re against freedom?’… Yeah, that’s some bullshit.” The ShapeShift CEO expanded on those comments in a Tuesday interview on the Unchained …

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has reportedly reiterated his positive stance on Bitcoin (BTC) despite not being a Bitcoin investor himself. A vocal proponent of Bitcoin who once called it the “only digital gold,” Wozniak reportedly referred to Bitcoin as a “miracle of technology” and a “unique mathematical formula” at Talent Land Digital 2021, a major virtual event in Latin America devoted to technology and innovation. According to Thursday a report by local news agency El Sol de México, the Apple co-founder has also indicated that Bitcoin is better than gold, implying that it’s easier to mine Bitcoin blocks than finding …

The Crypto Council for Innovation is hosting a virtual event on July 21 aimed to “destigmatize mainstream narratives about Bitcoin.” According to a Thursday announcement, Square, Ark Invest and Paradigm are backing "The ₿ Word," an event on "how institutions can embrace Bitcoin." The project, scheduled for launch next month, will offer featured speakers including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey; Blockstream founder Adam Back; Ark Invest's Cathie Wood; Michael Morell, former acting and deputy director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency; and John Newbery, director of Brink — a nonprofit focused on supporting Bitcoin (BTC) development. "The ₿ Word is …

Some attendees of the Bitcoin 2021 event in Miami have tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home from the conference, leading to a wave of negative media coverage and social media speculation it could turn into a “super spreader event.” Bloomberg called Miami Bitcoin a “Covid hot spot” while Gizmodo reported the conference “may be the latest COVID-19 super spreader event.” Arcane Research chief investment officer Eric Wall was among those to contract the virus, tweeting on Thursday that he underwent a CT scan after suffering from a “high fever” and “chest pains,” with medical staff having suspected he may …

The big crypto news out of Miami over the weekend may have been Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to proceed with making Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender, but another figure connected to a world leader made his own mark in supporting Dogecoin (DOGE). In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the Bitcoin 2021 conference, Kyle Kemper, the 37-year-old half brother of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — resplendent in a banana costume — said he was launching a Dogecoin project. The initiative, called the “Million Doge Disco,” is — according to Kemper — a combination of the smartphone game Pokemon Go, …

Gabriel Silva, a Panamanian congressman, is moving to follow in El Salvador’s footsteps by proposing legislation to adopt Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on a national scale. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele announced during the Miami Bitcoin conference on June 6, that he will submit a bill to lawmakers demanding that Bitcoin be made legal tender. In a June 8 tweet, Silva emphasized the significance of Panama not being left behind by Bukele’s progressive crypto plans, which also includes removing capital gains tax on Bitcoin in El Salvador. According to a rough translation, Silva asserted: “This is important. And Panama cannot …

Some of crypto’s most influential people headlined the second day of Bitcoin 2021 Miami, offering words of wisdom about the future of decentralization, property rightsand financial inclusion. Day 2 began with a panel discussion centered around Bitcoin’s macro landscape, where Morgan Creek Digital founder Mark Yusko drew attention to the destruction of the dollar caused by the Federal Reserve’s endless money printing. “Thirty-nine percent of all dollars were created in the last 12 months,” he said, adding that the U.S. dollar is “the biggest shitcoin of them all.” The heavy panel discussion surrounding Bitcoin and monetary policy was followed by …

Bitcoin 2021 Miami continues following Friday's massive opening of the historic event. The events kick off at 9:00 am Eastern Time (1:00 pm UTC) with opening remarks by a Miami-Dade County commissioner. Cointelegraph will continue posting Bitcoin 2021 updates on Twitter as well as the YouTube channel. One of the key speakers for day two will be Tony Hawk, an American skateboarding icon and entrepreneur. Hawk made a major move into the cryptocurrency industry earlier this year, releasing an NFT drop via Ethernity Chain in March featuring a tokenized video of his final 540-degree ollie. The famous skateboarder will deliver …

The first official day of the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, Florida yielded no shortage of newsworthy events. Thousands of conference-goers came together to take in speeches, interviews and panels from a wide array of guests, such as Miami mayor Francis Suarez, who spoke about the city’s efforts “to create the Bitcoin, blockchain and mining capital of the world.” Suarez’s track record is filled with various forms of involvement in the crypto and blockchain space, as he noted in his speech. “The days of a currency being tethered to a central bank are coming to an end,” Suarez said after …

Bitcoin 2021, the biggest Bitcoin event in history with a sold-out crowd of at least 12,000 attendees in Miami, is kicking off with some of the world’s biggest industry players. The conference will be one of the largest crypto gatherings to emerge following the COVID-19 pandemic, with organizers expecting more than 50,000 attendees. An unofficial part of the conference kicked off Thursday with a “Whale Day” featuring Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz and BitGO CEO Mike Belshe. The event is positioned to be something “more like a music festival,” featuring multiple stages, including the main “Nakamoto Stage” as well as side …