It is a useful exercise for those of us working in tech to cast our minds back to the dot-com boom and bust of the late 1990s. There is a lot that can be learned from that time. The period was crucial for the United States and the global economy and a defining moment for the tech sector. It is helpful to consider those helter-skelter days when assessing the current crypto ecosystem. Most people will rightly point to the glut of Super Bowl ads coming in at over $2 million each or the initial public offerings that rose more than …

Japanese finance group SBI Holdings is building a digital stock exchange in collaboration with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, or SMFG. According to a Nikkei report Thursday, the new digital securities exchange is expected to be the first Japanese exchange trading digital stocks using blockchain technology. The companies are reportedly planning to roll out the exchange in Osaka in spring 2020, while the platform is expected to start handling digital securities in 2023. In order to launch the exchange, SBI and SMFG will set up an operator, Osaka Digital Exchange, or ODX. SBI will have a 60% stake in ODX, while …

Older generations have started recognizing the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in global payment systems, a new survey says. On Jan. 21, digital payment platform Wirex released a special report devoted to the topic of cryptocurrency adoption in 2021. Compiled in partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation, the report includes survey results from 3,834 people across 89 countries, aiming to understand the latest trends in the global adoption of blockchain-powered digital payments. The survey was conducted over the course of three weeks, with both Wirex and the SDF sending out emails asking for voluntary participation in a survey related to …

100x Group, BitMEX’s parent company and the holding structure for its platform, has joined Global Digital Finance, or GDF, a major industry association advocating for the adoption of digital assets. As a GDF patron board member, 100x will advocate for a more inclusive and better regulated digital financial system, BitMEX announced on Jan. 21. The new partnership with GDF extends 100x’s efforts to promote collaboration between the public and private sectors to drive mainstream adoption of crypto. “Greater public-private collaboration is the only way to realise the wide-scale adoption of digital assets and we will be championing an advance in …

Similar to 2017 and the popular cryptocurrency bull run, last year created a fresh buzz in the world of crypto and Bitcoin (BTC) particularly. From setting new all-time highs to making various news rounds and capturing mainstream finance’s attention, the pandemic year was exciting for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and believers. Related: Did Bitcoin prove itself to be a reliable store of value in 2020? Experts answer One conversation that perhaps stands out amid the buzz is institutional investors’ increasing activity in crypto. Companies, financial advisers and institutions that mocked Bitcoin five years ago, or during the Silk Road saga, are now …

Famous investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet called Bitcoin "probably rat poison squared" back in 2018. In his 2020 fourth-quarter market letter, financial analyst Bill Miller agreed with Buffett’s description of the asset — but not without his own addendum. “Warren Buffett famously called bitcoin ‘rat poison,’” Miller said in his Saturday letter, adding: “He may well be right. Bitcoin could be rat poison, and the rat could be cash.” Miller started his letter by explaining how each new year often paves the way for various financial predictions. Financial expectations and projections can be worthless, however, as proven by …

Figuring out the point at which decentralized finance began almost always ends up in a rhetorical debate. Some argue that Bitcoin’s (BTC) invention a decade ago marked the start of it, as the major cryptocurrency was the first peer-to-peer digital money and represents the conceptual core underpinning DeFi. Others say — and would be technically correct in doing so — that DeFi started back in December 2017, when Ethereum-based protocol MakerDAO was launched, followed by Compound Finance and Uniswap, released in September and November 2018, respectively. On the other hand, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that DeFi’s true …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is often characterized as a movement that could unseat traditional banks once and for all — eliminating intermediaries and giving consumers levels of freedom and choice that they’re probably unaccustomed to. But there’s an alternative narrative, one that doesn’t pit DeFi against the banks. What if these innovative protocols could help provide desperately needed modernization to old-fashioned financial institutions… enabling them to deliver better levels of service in a much more cost-efficient way? Even before digital assets burst onto the scene, many banks were struggling to adapt to the sudden, large-scale shift to online and mobile banking. …

Bitcoin (BTC) has won over a number of mainstream financial gurus in 2020 against the backdrop of a difficult year for the United States economy. Some markets experts, such as Dennis Gartman, however, still remain skeptical of the digital asset. Gold and Bitcoin are not really equivalent, according to Gartman’s Tuesday interview with Bloomberg. “Gold has been around for thousands of years, Bitcoin has been around for 20 years,” he said. Gartman put out a financial commentary series for 30 years, called The Gartman Letter. Bitcoin has not been around for 20 years though. The asset’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, …

An increasing number of mainstream financial activities have become blockchain integrated in line with the growing crypto segment. Now tokenized debt markets are entering the space as well. “CoinFLEX has created a new market for short-term commercial paper, enabling private companies to borrow USD and BTC unsecured for crypto trading purposes,” the company said in a public statement on Thursday. In traditional finance, corporate bonds act as a way for participants to give businesses funds in exchange for interest, as described on Investopedia. Investors receive their initial capital back at the expiration of the bond. The new offering from CoinFLEX …

MassMutual’s $100 million Bitcoin (BTC) purchase shows that the demand for cryptocurrency will be growing further, according to strategists at major investment bank JPMorgan. In an investor note on Dec. 11, JPMorgan strategists including Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou reportedly suggested that Bitcoin adoption is now expanding from family offices and wealthy investors to bigger investors like insurance firms and pension funds. As reported by Bloomberg, the experts said that insurance firms and pension funds are unlikely to invest large amounts in Bitcoin, but even a small shift toward crypto could be significant. If pension funds and insurance companies in the United States, …

Bitcoin (BTC) poses a significant threat to the world’s reserve currency, the United States dollar, according to a strategist at major American investment bank Morgan Stanley. Ruchir Sharma, chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, believes that the dollar’s reign is likely to end due to global distrust in traditional finance, while Bitcoin is likely to capitalize on that lack of confidence. In a Dec. 9 article in The Financial Times, Sharma provided a brief outline on the history of the world’s reserve currencies, noting that the dollar’s run had lasted 100 years at the start of 2020. According …