When the financial system or the economy as a whole undergoes a rapid and large decline, it is said to be in a financial crisis. Financial assets like stocks, bonds, and real estate often see a sharp and significant decline in value during financial crises. They can also be identified by a decline in credit availability and a loss of faith in financial institutions like banks. Related: DeFi vs. CeFi: Comparing decentralized to centralized finance Financial crises can be caused by a variety of factors, including: Overleveraging: When people, businesses, and governments take on excessive debt, they put themselves at …

Over the last 14 years, investors got attracted to Bitcoin (BTC) for many reasons— from fixing a flawed fiat economy and reaching the unbanked to diversifying portfolios. However, a large portion of the general public sees Bitcoin as a gateway to financial freedom amid growing fiat inflation and geopolitical uncertainties. Traditional banking systems have, time and again, served as a tool for centralized governments to dictate financial access, especially during dire situations. Most recently, the Ukraine-Russian war served as a case study for how cryptocurrencies helped the displaced and the unbanked access funds for basic necessities. As intended by the …

An economic bubble is a time of fast economic expansion that is driven by speculative enthusiasm and excessively high asset prices. A bubble is characterized by an increase in demand for an asset, such as commodities, stocks or real estate, which drives up its price. A number of factors, including easy access to credit, low interest rates and investor optimism, frequently combine to create financial bubbles. The asset’s price rises as more individuals invest in it, luring even more capital. Its price eventually falls below a level that can be sustained, which causes a sell-off and a sharp collapse in …

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company has no plans to change its long-term strategy for the Metaverse, despite operating losses for its Reality Labs business peaking in 2022. Meta’s Q4 earnings released on Feb. 1 show Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion in 2022 — the largest ever yearly losses recorded for its metaverse-building division. The fourth quarter was particularly costly, with the division losing nearly $4.3 billion, which was also the largest quarterly loss within the department since financials for the business were first published. On a Feb. 1 earnings call, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was steadfast …

A major validator for the privacy smart contract layer-1 blockchain Secret Network has announced that it will no longer provide nodes and support for the network. On Jan. 29, major validator Smart Stake announced that it would be shutting down its Secret Network validator nodes on Feb. 21. Smart Stake cited “complex/stressful validator operations, cost/effort of validator ops, and recent events,” as reasons for withdrawing its services. Smart Stake is a staking and validator service provider that supports several networks including Crypto.com, Polygon, Cosmos, and until recently Secret Network. PSA for @SecretNetwork delegates of Smart Stake: Smart Stake will be …

As traditional institutions proactively reduce exposure to cryptocurrencies as a reaction to ecosystem collapses in 2022, Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao believes this move could potentially have a negative impact on such traditional financial players. The collapse of major crypto platforms, such as FTX and Terraform Labs, not only reduced trust among investors but also forced the traditional market to reevaluate their strategies for stepping into the crypto ecosystem. While the reluctance of traditional players stands as a deterrent to crypto’s adoption in the short term, CZ argues that the decision might backfire over the next two decades. as they …

Cryptocurrency is a notoriously volatile industry, regardless of what coin you’re trading. During periods of extreme volatility, it’s easy to become disheartened when trades don’t go your way. It’s also easy to become overconfident when you get lucky, falsely attributing it to your trading strategy — when, in reality, the price often rose or fell for reasons other than you assumed. Despite the uncertainty, there are sometimes still strategies you can use to trade certain tokens successfully. Ether (ETH) is arguably where you might be able to succeed this year. Here are three tips that might help. Understand what actually …

Credit rating firm Moody's is allegedly developing a scoring system for stablecoins, with analysis for up to 20 digital assets, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 26 citing unnamed sources. The system, which appears to be in early stages of development, will evaluate and rate stablecoins' reserves quality attestations, although it will not be considered an official credit rating. A third-party would be meant to serve as an attestation that a company's claims are accurate. In this case, it validates that stablecoin assets reserve ratio is 1:1. A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a fiat currency, …

Central African Republic (CAR), a developing country in Central Africa, set up a 15-member committee responsible for drafting a bill on the use of cryptocurrencies and tokenization in the region. According to Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the president of CAR, cryptocurrencies can potentially help eradicate the country’s financial barriers. He believed in creating a business-friendly environment supported by a legal framework for cryptocurrency usage. A rough translation of the official press release reads: “With access to cryptocurrencies, the monetary barriers existing until now will disappear, the main objective of the measures adopted by the government being the development of the national economy.” …

The thing about the future, where robotic super traders battle over micromovements in stock price, is that it’s already here. With access to algorithmic trading bots a click away, we could be seeing the fall of human investors and the triumph of artificial intelligence. Algorithmic trading bots are programmed to buy and sell when they detect preprogrammed conditions and can execute pretty much any trading strategy. They have been used by professional traders for two decades, and these firms have taken them into the crypto markets too. Now, a new crop of accessible crypto trading tools has hit the market, …

If the foreign exchange market starts using DeFi protocols instead of the current centralized systems, the cost of remittances could be reduced by “as much as 80%,” according to a Jan. 19 paper jointly published by researchers at Circle and Uniswap. On-chain foreign exchange (FX) is a new model of global value exchange that offers a faster, cheaper, and more efficient alternative for cross-border payments. Our recent research paper with @circle has it all https://t.co/NGniRo8yrp — Uniswap Labs (@Uniswap) January 19, 2023 The paper, titled “On-chain Foreign Exchange and Cross-border Payments,” was written by Uniswap Data Scientist Austin Adams, Circle …

In many countries, millions of people clack basic equitable access to the financial services that would allow them to meet their daily needs. On this week’s episode of NFT Steez, hosts Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond meet with Mashiat Mutmainnah to discuss how regenerative finance (ReFi) can provide more accessibility and inclusivity to blockchain technology. Mutmainnah explained that as a “mission-driven movement,” ReFi enables users to redefine their relationship with the current financial system and their relationship with finance and wealth. What if there were newer models that could sustainably alleviate this? According to Mutmainnah, ReFi can redefine what money …