The sudden failure of FTX has left many people questioning the impact this will have on the cryptocurrency ecosystem. For instance, it remains questionable whether or not crypto hotspots will continue to flourish or if there will be a decline in innovation. While it may be too soon to fully understand the impact of the FTX collapse, industry leaders within crypto-friendly geographies believe that the FTX failure will not hamper innovation. For example, Dubai — which has been dubbed as one of the most innovative regions for crypto and blockchain development — continues to see ecosystem activity. Most recently, The …

It was relatively quiet in the digital asset policy department last week, as regulators and lawmakers in most key jurisdictions retreated to their offices to do the necessary homework. In the U.S., federal agencies got on with the various reports that President Joe Biden’s recent executive orders directed them to produce. Over in the United Kingdom, both the central bank and the Financial Conduct Authority also dropped position papers on crypto-related issues. After thorough deliberation, Thailand’s financial authorities spoke out against using crypto as a means of payment, while rumors of potential legal tender adoption of crypto emerged and died …

Innovative cities across America are racing to become the next hot spot for cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption. Miami was the first city to adopt its own part of CityCoins last year, allowing it to implement its own cryptocurrency called “MiamiCoin” to be used for civic engagement. New York City has also made a name for itself as a crypto-friendly city by implementing educational initiatives and with Mayor Eric Adams receiving his paycheck in Bitcoin (BTC) in January this year. Austin takes a strong stance Most recently, Austin — the state capital of Texas that goes by the slogan “Keep Austin …

South by Southwest — commonly referred to as “South By” or “SXSW” — has returned to Austin, Texas this year to showcase the latest trends in interactive media, music, art, film and technology. While SXSW runs through March 20, 2022, the entertainment and technology festival kicked off its first weekend with a large focus on Web3 and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). NFT activations and panels SXSW’s attendees’ interest in NFTs and the future of the internet was particularly evident at the venue hosted by Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL) — a business and creative unit formed by FOX Entertainment in 2021. On …

Cointelegraph journalists at South by Southwest, or SXSW, in Austin, Texas reported that NFTs were everywhere this year, marking a new phenomenon for what began as a music festival in 1987. Since evolving into a film, tech and general culture gathering, and after a two-year hiatus, SXSW added blockchain programming to the mix with crypto-related panels, blockchain company sponsors and NFT community interactive experiences. Two NFT communities with the largest physical presences at SXSW were Doodles and FLUF World who ran immersive, multi-day and multi-sensory experiences. They built physical installations at which attendees would wait in long lines to enter …

Kimbal Musk, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Alex Zhang took to the SXSW stage on Monday to participate in the "Move Over NFTs. Here Come the DAOs" panel at Austin's Convention Center. Tolokonnikova is a former member of the Russian protest punk rock group Pussy Riot, and the co-founder of UnicornDAO and UkraineDAO. Zhang cofounded the social club DAO Friends With Benefits and serves as its mayor, while Musk cofounded the philanthropic DAO, Big Green DAO. Journalist Michael Casey moderated. Throughout the discussion, the panelists described their distinct and contrasting use cases behind their own decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, and came …

South by Southwest, one of Austin’s biggest festivals with exhibits from tech industry leaders, films, and musical acts, kicked off its first weekend — and the theme for many seemed to be nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. From Friday to Sunday, companies from Doodles to luxury car manufacturer Porsche offered NFT-themed exhibits to the thousands of attendees appearing in person in Texas. Many panels and workshops included discussions on how to create and store customized NFTs during the event, with firms like Blockchain Creative Labs offering an interactive experience across the street from NFT galleries and other meetups. Three Cointelegraph team …

Mayor Steve Adler of Austin, Texas, has fully embraced the discovery of what blockchain technology and crypto payments can bring to his city by proposing two new initiatives. The first initiative aims to ensure that Texas’s fourth-largest city promotes the benefits of blockchain technologies and “promotes equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion” in the technological ecosystem. To that end, May Adler directed the City Manager to explore how the city can utilize Web3 and blockchain in 20 fields from smart contracts, supply chain management, and insurance to arts, media, fundraising, and identity verification. “The City Manager is directed to ensure the …

The founder of a website guiding readers through the digital asset market started a campaign in Austin to increase awareness of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Speaking to Cointelegraph, marketcap.guide founder Sam Feldman said he had deployed more than 100 billboards around the Texas capital city since July, each sharing a different message on Bitcoin (BTC), nonfungible tokens, and other aspects of the crypto space. Though the ads are aimed at encouraging adoption, funding for many of them came from tokenizing drone photos of the billboards and selling the resultant NFT. The project claims to have spent more than $624,000 on …

North America-based crypto mining company Blockcap announced over the weekend it would be establishing new offices in Austin, Texas. In an announcement from Blockcap on Friday, the mining company claimed once its new facilities are operational in the Lone Star State’s capital, its hashing power will be roughly 3.5 exahash per second from a total of 42,000 rigs, reportedly doubling its capabilities. According to blockchain data, this would represent more than 2% of the hashrate for the entire Bitcoin (BTC) network, roughly 167 million terahash per second at the time of publication. However, Blockcap claims its total fleet will account …

The government transportation department in the city of Austin, Texas partnered with nonprofit Iota Foundation to develop a more interoperable transportation ecosystem. The Austin Transportation Twitter account reported on the partnership on April 25. The tweet contained a link to an event — which took place on April 29 — featuring Dominik Schiener, co-founder of the Iota Foundation, and local authority holders delineating the scope of the partnership. During the meeting, the speakers describe their visions of a system in which every transit system can interact with the same payment app and a single digital identity. The speakers also suggest …