Charlie Shrem has been involved in crypto longer than almost anyone. He likes to joke that he was one of the first ten people to ever hear about Bitcoin. He now hosts the crypto-focused podcast Untold Stories, which attempts to chronicle the history of crypto through the eyes and experiences of its most influential players. Cointelegraph’s most recent live Q&A gave the audience the opportunity to directly question Shrem about crypto, his past, and anything in between. The topics ranged from XRP, DApps, and stablecoins to his time spent in prison. Shrem revealed how he first heard about Bitcoin, who …

Over the past week, Cointelegraph has participated in Virtual Blockchain Week — a pandemic-proof crypto conference that invited participants from all over the world to join talks with some of Blockchain’s greatest luminaries. At the start of the week, famed venture capitalist, Tim Draper, doubled down on his prediction that Bitcoin (BTC) will reach $250K per coin by 2023. “That's my prediction. Sticking with it. I'm very confident that that is going to happen.” said Draper, when pressed on the topic. He believes that massive commercial adoption around the world will send Bitcoin’s price into the stratosphere. This gels well …

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, crypto pioneer and BitInstant co-founder, Charlie Shrem, offered his perspective on the early days of crypto. Despite missing some of the comradery from Bitcoin’s (BTC) infancy, Shrem stated that Bitcoin’s early adopters could have better recognized that crypto was much bigger than a new technology to “have fun and experiment with.” Charlie Shrem on the early days of crypto When asked what lessons the contemporary digital asset landscape can learn from the early days of crypto, Shrem stated: “I think the early days could have actually had better lessons.” “I feel like in the …

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph during Virtual Blockchain Week, crypto pioneer and founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation, Charlie Shrem, revealed new information surrounding a mysterious letter he received in 2014. In 2011, Charlie Shrem co-founded BitInstant. The company would emerge as one of the few Bitcoin (BTC) exchanges to gain traction during the infancy of cryptocurrency — raising $1.5 million in a fundraising round led by Winklevoss Capital Management. In January 2014, Shrem was arrested on suspicions of conspiring to launder $1 million, and was sentenced to two years in prison in December 2014 after pleading guilty to …

At Virtual Blockchain Week, crypto pioneer Charlie Shrem made a strong bull-case for Bitcoin, saying the combination of diminishing supply due to the halving, and wholesale quantitative easing, will drive prices higher over the next one to two years. Bitcoin halving and QE During a fireside chat with the VBW hosts on April 30, Shrem stated that, “It's kind of crazy that we have a halving during coronavirus because it was such a black swan event.” “We have two trillion dollars of money printed in the United States, people are starting to get all that money,” he said. “Also, all …

Major Danish bank Saxo Bank has predicted that Asia will launch its own blockchain-based digital asset in its new report of smashing predictions for 2020. The latest edition of “Outrageous Predictions” by Saxo Bank also forecasts that President Donald Trump will likely lose the 2020 elections, while Hungary will leave the European Union. The report was issued on Dec. 3, according to a tweet by the bank. Saxo Bank claims that Asia will launch a new reserve asset in order to “confront a deepening trade rivalry and vulnerabilities from rising US threats to weaponise the US dollar and its control …

Major South Korean bank KB Kookmin Bank is planning to integrate blockchain technology into its internal processes. As local news outlet Korea JoongAng Daily reported on Oct. 7, KB Kookmin stated that blockchain technology could provide a spectrum of benefits to the financial industry, including the issuance of digital tokens, funding, custodial services and trading. Taking a proactive approach toward blockchain adoption As for the bank itself, it intends to deploy decentralized ledger technology to fight money laundering, improve verification services, custodial services and token offerings. Lee Woo-yeol, chief information officer at KB Kookmin, said that the bank should take …

This interview has been edited and condensed. I don’t normally write the stories here at Cointelegraph — I edit them. But when I got an email from a publicist asking if I was interested in speaking with Ben Mezrich, author of “Bitcoin Billionaires,” and oh, did I want the Winklevoss twins to jump in on the interview? I couldn’t say no. Ben had the lucky chance — as he calls it — to already have an in with Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, as they had been portrayed as the Men of Harvard, slightly “bad” guys in his book that ended …

This article has been updated on June 22 to correct that the company started by the Winklevoss twins is called Gemini Trust LLC rather than Gemini Capital, that it does not have a Bitlicense but instead is regulated by the NYFDS, and that it is not affiliated with Genesis Global. Molly Jane Zuckerman is the head of news at Cointelegraph. The views expressed here are her own and do not necessarily represent the views of Cointelegraph. This article contains spoilers. The irony of a book about the Winklevoss twins’ journey into cryptocurrency — which stresses over and over again how …

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have reached an agreement with bitcoin (BTC) entrepreneur Charlie Shrem to end a lawsuit the twins filed against Shrem last year. The news was revealed in court documents filed on April 16. The twins, who founded crypto exchange Gemini, had accused Shrem of stealing 5,000 bitcoin (worth about $26.1 million at press time) and using the crypto to buy Maseratis, powerboats and other luxury goods. He denied the allegations, which dated back to 2012. Attorneys for both parties have signed the document filed with a federal court in New York, which says the entire civil action …

Top Stories This Week Facebook Reportedly Acquires Blockchain Startup in First Blockchain-Related Acquisition Social media network Facebook has reportedly acquired blockchain startup Chainspace in its first apparent blockchain-related acquisition. According to news outlet Cheddar, the acquisition is considered an “acquihire,” or an acquisition of a company made in order to get the skills or expertise of its staff, as opposed to the company’s service or products. According to Cheddar, four of the five researchers that worked on Chainspace’s academic white paper will be joining Facebook. Facebook had told Cheddar that it had not acquired any of Chainspace’s technology. Leaked Mt. …

Bitcoin (BTC) entrepreneur and advocate Charlie Shrem will receive around $45,000 in legal costs from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss as part of an ongoing lawsuit, according to an official document filed on Feb. 7. The latest step in the lengthy legal proceedings between the former business partners, a judge at the District Court of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Shrem for a second time in the last three months. The Winklevoss twins had instigated an investigation and asset freeze on Shrem after a fallout over money owed from a years-old Bitcoin trade deal. In November, …