Two QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theorist influencers allegedly caused their followers millions of dollars in losses by running a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme. The pair reportedly persuaded their thousands of followers to invest in a crypto portfolio, presenting a misleading mix of conspiratorial and genuine content along with claims about institutions backing the tokens to generate hype and raise the price of the portfolio. The allegations are included in an investigation by Logically, a group of data scientists and developers. It reported the two influencers running the Telegram channels WhipLash347 and the Quantum Stellar Initiative (QSI) coordinated to promote lists of Stellar (XLM) …

Cointelegraph introduces “Crypto Street,” a series of spontaneous conversations with strangers on the street to educate, entertain and take a temperature check on the world’s relationship with crypto. The first episode comes from the gates of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall attempted to speak with the world’s elite where he was rejected, ridiculed, and ignored before stumbling across crypto believers among the WEF attendees. Sporting a Cointelegraph sweatshirt with the loudest Bitcoin (BTC) logo, Hall asked passersby to guess what was print represented. Some WEF-goers refused to talk on camera while others claimed …

Co-founder and chief evangelist officer for Codex Alex Gordon-Brander spoke to Cointelegraph about his Bitcoin story, the real-world use cases for crypto and the economic downturn during a World Economic Forum interview in Davos, Switzerland. Standing curbside in front of Davos’ “Crypto House” at dusk, where Gordon-Brander had just finished demonstrating Codex’s capabilities during a crypto panel, the co-founder shared an upbeat outlook on crypto. A long-serving crypto enthusiast and trad-fi veteran, Gordon-Brander, told Cointelegraph he was exploring digital and energy-backed currencies prior to discovering Bitcoin (BTC). He researched a “distributed currency based on renewable energy credits and governments,” but …

Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology has partnered with two financial technology firms which will provide its students exposure to the financial technology and cryptocurrency business world. The partnership is between Swinburne and small business loan provider Judo Bank along with Banxa, a payment service provider with a fiat-to-crypto platform whose clients include Binance, KuCoin and hardware wallet Trezor, among others. Students of the university’s Master of Financial Technology (fintech) course will be “exposed to real life examples and cases across the spectrum of financial services,” Dimitrios Salampasis Swinburne’s director of the master of fintech told Cointelegraph. Salampasis said Judo Bank …

If all goes to plan, Wednesday’s SpaceX rocket launch in Florida will blast a “crypto-satellite” into low Earth orbit, paving the way for secure blockchain-related cryptography in space. Cryptosat, as the name hints, is the company that created Crypto1, a crypto-satellite module hitching a ride aboard a Falcon 9 rocket for SpaceX’s Transporter 5 mission. The blockchain satellite technology has already been trialed on the International Space Station. “We’re basically joining the Uber of spaceflight,” co-founder of Cryptosat Yonatan Winetraub told Cointelegraph, “Everybody goes into the same orbit and we’re one of the passengers.” “SpaceX launch a bunch of satellites, …

Although Web3 has become a sort of buzzword in the cryptocurrency community, its application and utility extend far beyond the world of blockchain, according to Polkadot (DOT) founder Gavin Wood. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Wood talked about Web3 applications and whether the all-encompassing concept needed to evolve past its current usage. “I don’t think Web3 needs to evolve, really, from its origins too much yet but maybe in the future, it will,” he said before explaining the merits of the technology: “The key takeaway is the freedom from …

The Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis told Cointelegraph that the region has a regulatory regime in place that will enable crypto businesses to operate within its jurisdiction. During an interview at SALT’s Crypto Bahamas conference, Davis shared that The Bahamas recently published a white paper framework that will allow crypto businesses to “grow and prosper,” while letting companies understand the region’s expectations. He added: “The policy also takes into account the balance between concerns people have about cryptocurrency and the risks that come along with it. [The] policy is to protect consumers, [the] integrity of the space and at [the] …

Popular podcaster Joe Rogan just gets Bitcoin (BTC). In his most recent podcast with Khalil Rountree, a renowned mixed martial (MMA) fighter, Rogan explained that BTC is something that the “government didn’t see coming.” “I think of Bitcoin the same way I think of the early internet. They [the government] didn’t see it coming and now it’s a viable form of currency–you can actually buy things with it.” Rogan explained that there will be a time when “some government” will implement a “centralized currency that they can control,” with the intention to “limit what you spend your money on.” Bitcoin …

During the recent Paris Blockchain Week Summit, Cointelegraph’s Joseph Hall sat down with Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius Network, to talk about several topics, including where the Bitcoin and Ether markets are going. According to Mashinsky, Bitcoin (BTC) received very strong support at around $30,000 to $33,000. The entrepreneur believes that Terra’s recent BTC purchase played a significant role in supporting BTC’s price, along with other institutions entering the market. He also mentioned that if retail investors join in, it may lead BTC to new highs. “I definitely think that the demand is here. So, I don’t see us revisiting …

Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall sat down with Nicolas Cary, the co-founder and president of Blockchain.com at the Paris Blockchain Week Summit, or PBWS, last week. Cary's other roles include founding the Blockchain Commission for Sustainable Development and co-authoring a white paper called "The Future is Decentralised" for the United Nations Development Programme. Hall and Cary discussed the regulatory landscape of the European Union and the United Kingdom, as well as Cary's optimism for the evolution of money in the Web3 space. Cary recognized the recent "progressive" momentum of policymakers treating digital assets more seriously in the EU and in the …

During the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami, Florida, Cointelegraph caught up with Ricardo Salinas, the founder and chairman at Grupo Salinas, in an exclusive sit-down interview. As an early Bitcoin (BTC) adopter, since its $200 days, Salinas has experienced first-hand the highs and lows of the market, and learned a thing or two along the way. Salinas started off the day as a panelist at the main stage of the Miami Beach Convention Center among fellow billionaires Orlando Bravo, Marcelo Claure and Dan Tapiero. In a discussion titled "Bitcoin Billionaire Capital Allocators," Salinas disclosed that 60% of his portfolio is …

The city of Paris — the capital of France, renowned for its affinity for romanticism, historical architecture and acquired palate for culinary delicacies — played host to the two-day Paris Blockchain Week Summit this week. The event saw the participation of the industry’s leading figureheads and over 3,000 crypto enthusiasts. Held at the Palais Brongniart, the former home of the Paris stock exchange and once synonymous with its exchange of wheat grain, the newly transformed conference center saw keynote speeches and fireside chats from experts such as Binance’s Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Tether’s Paolo Ardoino and Digital Currency Group’s Rumi Morales, …