This is Part Two of a multipart series on blockchain and crypto in China. Read Part One about the digital yuan here. When Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the Bitcoin (BTC) white paper over a decade ago, it was hard to imagine what role the cryptocurrency sector would play in global finance. Some argue that the invention of blockchain technology is comparable to the revolution brought on by the invention of the internet back in the 1980s. Starting as a niche space for tech enthusiasts, in just 12 years Bitcoin has become a serious player in the financial field, with its market …

King Midas is most famously remembered through the fable we tell our kids that the king could turn everything he touched into gold. At first, it was a great idea that his greed turned even food into gold, leaving him wealthy but unable to live. Robinhood’s CEO and its board had the impossible King Midas dilemma this week: deciding whether to side with their customers and let them make over $15 billion in profits or halting trading and allow only the sale of GameStop (GME) to enable the money-hungry shorts to cover their position at lower prices and avoid massive …

Earlier this week, Elon Musk made history when he placed his full support behind Bitcoin (BTC) during a Clubhouse stream. When discussing Bitcoin and the GameStop debacle with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Musk said: “I am late to the party, but I am a supporter of Bitcoin.” This came a few days after Musk changed his Twitter profile, adding “Bitcoin” to his bio. Interestingly enough, Musk's public endorsement of Bitcoin comes at a time when legacy financial markets have been openly caught defrauding their own customers, and the Robinhood app is at the center of this fraud. Indeed, the richest …

Charles Hoskinson predicts that the Decentralized Finance sector will acquire 100 million users within the next three years by tapping into the developing world's market potential. “Who's actually going to do peer-to-peer loans? Who's actually going to do peer-to-peer insurance? Who's actually gonna do peer-to-peer payments? I got news for you, not a guy living in New York”, pointed out Hoskinson in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Cardano, the decentralized cryptocurrency network founded by Hoskinson, intends to take the lead in the DeFi space by developing partnerships in the African continent. According to Hoskinson, DeFi products lack a significant customer …

As Bitcoin’s (BTC) price continues to climb ever higher, more and more people are beginning to educate themselves on how they can enter the cryptocurrency market. However, the realities of cryptocurrency ownership (long complicated addresses, passphrases and security risks) all remain barriers to adoption for new users. Programmers and technologists generally assume a level of understanding and ability with tech innovations that the average person on the street simply is not equipped with. A survey carried out by our team saw 75% of respondents say they found cryptocurrency transactions stressful and unnecessarily complicated. A majority (55%) said they had had …

If Bitcoin (BTC) was born in response to the systemic failures laid bare by one global financial crisis, then the subsequent rise of various decentralized networks can be seen as differences in opinion on the best way forward. All are in agreement that the existing financial system is broken, but are slightly at odds in terms of how to fix it. In a sense, each of these networks represents a new, if partial, vision of what could make for a better system. For instance, we’ve seen Celo leverage cryptographic tools and mobile phones to put financial instruments into the hands …

Cointelegraph spoke with the CEO of Coinsetter and CAVirtex, Jaron Lukasiewicz, about their new margin trading program, their plans following the purchase of Canada’s largest crypto exchange, and which global city is the real Bitcoin capital. “[Greece showed] there is overwhelmingly important value in financial systems that are not controlled by governments.” - Jaron Lukasiewicz Cointelegraph: Since we last spoke, you said that “New York is the place to be for Bitcoin.” Many would argue that London has now become the new hotspot for Bitcoin and fintech. Has it replaced NYC? Jaron Lukasiewicz: Coinsetter is currently applying for the BitLicense …

Overstock takes steps toward issuing blockchain-secured stocks by purchasing a 25% stake in trading firm Pro Securities. Following their March application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue US$500 million worth of blockchain-secured crypto stocks, Overstock has started securing the plan for the opening of their Medici stock market. By acquiring a stake in a trading firm, which is rumored to be valued at US$250,000, Overstock has lined up the “alternative trading system” needed to actually allow interested investors to purchase crypto stocks. Pro Securities is already registered with the SEC in this capacity, reducing the amount …