Top U.S.-based banks and financial institutions have filled more than 1,000 positions for crypto experts in the past three years. According to a Nov. 1 report from Bloomberg, financial institutions are offering significant bonuses to attract crypto talent, with human resource consultant Johnson Associates estimating that crypto positions pay salaries that are between 20% and 30% higher than comparable positions not related to digital currency. The firm added that many senior crypto roles benefit an up to 50% bump in salary over comparable positions, with managing director Alan Johnson concluding: “The banks can’t run the risk that their clients go …

The year 2021 seems to be a big year for the blockchain world as several projects, such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and centralized decentralized finance exchanges (CeDeFis), are taking the central stage. Also at the forefront is Facebook’s Libra. Not too long ago, the media was rife with the news that the world’s largest social media network was developing plans for a global digital currency. Then, after a while, it looked like Facebook shelved plans for it. Disputes with regulators around the globe had a hand in delaying and redirecting Facebook’s plans a bit. Instead of backing out, Facebook decided …

With success comes a survivor bias ― the logical error of concentrating on people or things that made it past a selection process while overlooking those that did not ― as well as, potentially, a superiority complex ingrained in those who survived. This has led to a preponderance of financial products in crypto because of their successes thus far, but a paucity of products and marketplaces for real trade. Entrepreneurs in the blockchain space do not cater to what was supposed to be the most common class of user, and those who do often end up shipping products that fail …

Arab Bank Switzerland announced Tuesday that it will integrate staking, trading and custody services onto the Tezos blockchain’s native token (XTZ) in a bid to provide a digital asset environment for institutions, corporations and high net-worth individuals. The 50-year old establishment partnered with Tezos in the hope of benefiting from the ecosystem's inherent focus on energy conservation, low-gas fees and fast upgrades. Managing Director of Arab Bank Switzerland, Rani Jabban commented on the institution’s ambitions following the announcement: “Digital Assets are a cornerstone of our strategy, requiring strong agility while complying with the highest security standards. Our mission is to …

The dramatic short squeeze of the stock of video game retailer GameStop this January was the moment when r/WallStreetBets finally transformed from a humble Reddit forum into a financial force that can no longer be ignored. But lost among the memes, trading app drama and hand-wringing over the sanctity of the stock market was one surprising outcome: GameStop’s share price didn’t just rise — the company actually listened to its many new retail investors and aggressively ramped up its strategy to focus on e-commerce. Rather than just a one-off market glitch, the investments made by r/WallStreetBets users resulted in the …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has shortlisted 15 “Global CBDC Challenge” participants to help build an in-house retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). An announcement shared by the MAS shows that the finalists include six companies from Singapore, four from the United States, and one each from Australia, Barbados, Germany, France and Switzerland, of which only three winners will be selected to deploy a retail CBDC in Singapore. Soon after the Singaporean central bank announced cash prizes for digital currency ideas back on June 28, the challenge reportedly saw the participation of over 300 fintech companies spread across more …

“One of the greatest tragedies in life,” according to author K. L. Toth, “is to lose your own sense of self and accept the version of you that is expected by everyone else.” For the people of Afghanistan — almost 40 million of them — the loss of self, as well as the loss of life, has become a brutal reality. With the Taliban in control, chaos now reigns supreme. As businesses shut down, tens of thousands of people are desperately trying to flee the country. Moreover, as the political system collapses, so too does the financial one. As CNBC’s …

In a business school lecture hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a senior executive for Safaricom gave a prediction of decentralized finance and the future of commerce to a room of keen but confused MBA students. “You will be able to buy your first home on WhatsApp! Smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain will take care of everything and you won’t need a broker,” he said with conviction, pointing to a slide. “How will the house’s title change hands? What about the funds? Can the blockchain do escrow? What role for lawyers? How could we possibly buy something …

Institutional interest in crypto is growing, confirmed by a Goldman Sachs survey, which found that 40% of the company’s high-net-worth clients were already exposed to cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins — which offer a more secure and steady option in the crypto space — have experienced hyper-growth, reaching a $119 billion market cap. The volatility of crypto has attracted more conservative investors to asset-backed stablecoins. Stablecoins are a form of private money. As Christina Segal-Knowles, executive director for financial markets infrastructure at the Bank of England, points out, modern money is a combination of public and private funds, up to 95% of which …

Decentralized finance, or DeFi, has established itself as a force capable of disrupting traditional systems. While DeFi still mostly keeps opposing itself to traditional finance, the centralized operators are actively looking for ways to integrate into the established system. The institutional interest pushes both decentralized and centralized participants to ask questions about DeFi, its role and a possible collaboration with centralized finance, or CeFi. Related: DeFi proved resilient during the March 2020 and May 2021 market crises Of course, the situation isn’t uniform for both centralized and decentralized institutions, but the main generic concerns are the following: Can there even …

15 years ago, the social media application Twitter was launched. You might have heard of it, it’s pretty big. Initially, the microblogging and social networking service was a friendly place, packed full of helpful articles and adorable videos. In a recent article, aptly titled ‘How Twitter ruined everything,’ the author Douglas Murray wrote, somewhat nostalgically, “It all started out so well." Jack Dorsey’s brainchild was once, believe it or not, fun. People used the platform to say wacky things, but fun wacky, not QAnon wacky. Oh, how times have changed. Twitter, in many ways, has gone from being a heavenly …

Bison Trails, an enterprise infrastructure provider for the cryptocurrency sector, announced Tuesday that it is providing network support to Provenance, a multi-billion-dollar platform that enables traditional financial institutions to offer blockchain services to their clients. Provenance will utilize Bison Trails’ infrastructure to strengthen its network and provide support to Hash holders to run validator nodes, according to June Ou, the executive director at Provenance Blockchain Foundation. Hash is the native cryptocurrency of the Provenance blockchain, serving both as a medium of payment as well as a governance token. “We’re proud to support Provenance in its mission to transform the financial …