It is not often that a Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist gives the keynote speech at a competition policy conference. But last week in Washington, I introduced PEN America president Ayad Akhtar before he gave the lunchtime address at a conference on monopoly policy sponsored by the Open Markets Institute. The pairing wasn’t as random as it
Jaime Puerta remembers the last night his life felt normal. He had dinner with his son Daniel and they joked around while flicking through old family photographs. The next morning, the former marine found Daniel unconscious on his bed with ashen skin and a blue tint on his lips. What looked like half a tablet
The Central Bank of Russia plans to launch test operations with digital ruble transactions between real customers at the beginning of April. More than a dozen banks will join the upcoming stage of the pilot project, a high-ranking representative of the bank announced to Russian media. Russia’s Monetary Authority to Trial Actual Settlements With Digital
South Korea’s “Kimchi premium” has flipped to a discount again, meaning cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are now cheaper to buy on South Korean exchanges. The phenomenon is named after the Korean dish kimchi. The Kimchi premium refers to when the price of Bitcoin (BTC) trades higher on South Korean exchanges than in other markets. According
The largest bank in Southeast Asia, DBS, has revealed that bitcoin trading volume on its cryptocurrency exchange jumped 80% in 2022 while ether trading volume surged 65%. “We believe that the market has decisively shifted its focus towards trust and stability, especially in the wake of multiple scandals that have rocked the industry,” a DBS
In May 2021, a group of Chinese banks agreed to lend $300mn to investment bank China Renaissance with a condition: if Bao Fan, the company’s well-known founder, ceased to be its largest shareholder or was no longer chair of the board they could demand early repayment. Nearly two years later, lawyers may soon be poring
Crypto’s next bull run will start in Asia, according to Cameron Winklevoss, an American investor, and co-founder of crypto exchange Gemini. His comments have come amid an increase in enforcement action and looming crackdowns from United States regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “My working thesis atm is that the next bull run
A 48% Bitcoin (BTC) price surge since the start of the year has pushed BTC’s market cap past that of payment processing giant Visa once again. With the BTC price currently at $24,365, its market cap of $470.16 billion is now marginally above that of Visa, which has a market cap of $469.87 billion, according to
Binance US has refuted reports that draw parallels between it and “fraudulent exchanges that have gone bankrupt.” The U.S.-based crypto trading platform stressed that “only Binance.US employees” have access to its bank accounts, denying the allegation that global crypto exchange Binance has “secret access.” Clarifications by Binance US Binance US, a U.S.-based cryptocurrency trading platform
A palatial estate in the Caribbean was listed for a whopping $200 million Sunday evening, making it the most expensive home to ever hit the market in the region and one of the priciest homes for sale in the entire world. The Terraces, as the estate is called, spans 17 acres and nine structures. It’s
The writer is senior economist and head of Japan FX Strategy at JPMorgan It is little wonder that markets were scouring decade-old comments by Kazuo Ueda, the newly announced Bank of Japan governor. A relatively unknown academic outside of Japan who served on the central bank’s board between 1998 and 2005, Ueda’s nomination has prompted
Six days ago, a few hours before the blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos announced it would no longer mint BUSD stablecoins, $2.86 billion worth of BUSD were redeemed. Currently, Binance is the most active exchange trading BUSD tokens, and the stablecoin still commands roughly 10.7% of the crypto economy’s $67.71 billion in global trade volume over
Friday marks the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an event that shocked the world by bringing large-scale conflict to European soil. US president Joe Biden’s visit to Poland at the start of the week will serve as a show of strength to Ukrainian and Nato allies in the face of Russia’s long-expected
The network effect is a phenomenon where the value of a product or service increases as more people use it. As the user base grows, there are more opportunities for interactions, which can lead to increased benefits and positive outcomes for each user. The network effect is a powerful driver of growth and adoption for
After the disgraced co-founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), donated $5.2 million to Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020 and more than $40 million to Democrats leading up to the U.S. midterm election cycle, three major Democratic organizations plan to return 2.2% of the funds, or $1 million, to the now-defunct crypto exchange. Of the total
Poland’s head of state has called on Nato powers to give postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, on the eve of a visit by the US president to Warsaw to reaffirm the west’s support for Kyiv a year into Russia’s war. Andrzej Duda told the Financial Times that promises of security guarantees “would be important” for
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for the third consecutive week but Bitcoin (BTC) price decoupled and is on track to close the week near the strong overhead resistance at $25,211. This suggests that the wider crypto market recovery is on a strong footing. After Bitcoin’s sharp rally from the lows, analysts remain divided in
On Friday, debtors who control the official FTX Twitter account warned the community to “be on alert for scams from entities claiming to be affiliated with FTX.” They also noted that neither FTX debtors nor any entity related to the company has issued any IOU crypto assets or “debt tokens.” The alert comes as a
Meta will launch a paid subscription service that allows Facebook and Instagram users to verify their accounts for up to $14.99 a month, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced on Sunday. The new feature, called Meta Verified, lets users “get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct
Demonstrators took to the streets of the Moldovan capital of Chișinău on Sunday, demanding the removal of pro-west president Maia Sandu after US and European officials raised concerns about an alleged Russian plot to topple her government. The protest was peaceful and smaller than previous demonstrations held last autumn. It came, however, amid heightened political
As Ordinal inscriptions approach the 150,000 mark, blocks larger than 3 MB have become commonplace, with many blocks near the 4 MB range. Meanwhile, after the average transaction fee on-chain rose 122% higher at the beginning of February 2023, the average fee has remained the same over the last few weeks and is currently coasting