2022 was a rather challenging year for the crypto sector, and the prevalence of Ponzi schemes, decentralized finance scams, nonfungible token rug pulls and questionable centralized exchange bookkeeping put the issue of ethics in the space on blast. Of course, the negative news of last year wasn’t an outlier or a one-off — generally, “good” ethics have been an issue in crypto for years, and it’s probably safe to assume that challenges will continue to dot the landscape for the foreseeable future. Within the context of media, it’s important to recognize that objective, unbiased news reporting and transparency are paramount …

Bitcoin (BTC) stands at the start of a "new regime" after its early 2023 price gains, and next year will prove pivotal. That is the opinion of Charles Edwards, founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund, Capriole Investments. As investment behavior around Bitcoin recovers in line with network fundamentals and price action, Edwards, perhaps like many other institutional professionals, is gearing up for an explosive period of growth. The jury may still be out on whether the bottom is in for BTC price, but for long-term investors, the time to allocate is just beginning, he argues. In an extensive …

In this week’s episode of Market Talks, Cointelegraph welcomes Brenda Gentry, or as she’s known on Twitter, Cryptomom. Gentry has over 15 years of experience in traditional banking. She started researching and investing in cryptocurrencies during the 2020 lockdowns and made substantial returns in 2021 after which she launched Gentry Media Productions. She is currently on a mission to introduce more women and minorities to Web3, decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). We kick things off with a report from the Bank of International Settlements, which found that the median retail investor lost 50% of their Bitcoin (BTC) investment …

In January 2023, during the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, Jaime Leverton, CEO of Hut 8, a crypto mining entity that trades as a public company, sat down with me for a fireside chat at the Crypto Summit on the Promenade. Leverton outlined some of her views on the recent shakeout in the cryptocurrency market and reflected on how Bitcoin (BTC) mining fares during the current turbulent period for the industry. Throughout 2021 and 2022, the crypto industry experienced significant growth, followed by bear market struggles, bankruptcies and job cuts. Leverton took on the position of …

A small monetary bounty and an aptitude for coding were all it took to fork the Ordinals protocol to the world’s second-ever cryptocurrency network, Litecoin (LTC) earlier this week, its creator told Cointelegraph. On Feb. 18, an Australian software engineer by the name of Anthony Guerrera posted a repository to GitHub that forked the Bitcoin (BTC) Ordinals protocol to Litecoin. This allowed for nonfungible token (NFT)-like assets on the Litecoin network in much the same way it had made it to Bitcoin earlier in the year. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Guerrera said he was spurred to make a Litecoin …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has been a rapidly growing sector of the cryptocurrency industry, but it has also faced significant regulatory challenges. With regulators struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation, the lack of clarity around regulations tends to create uncertainty for DeFi projects. Cointelegraph spoke to Alastair Johnson about regulatory challenges facing the DeFi industry. Johnson is the CEO of an identity “super-wallet” called Nuggets that seeks to deliver verified self-sovereign decentralized identities to users. He said that one of the main regulatory challenges is DeFi platform anonymity, which makes it difficult to comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) …

Ethereum co-founder and crypto entrepreneur Joseph Lubin is confident that Ether (ETH) won’t be classified as a security in the United States. Cointelegraph spoke with Lubin, Ethereum co-founder and founder of blockchain tech firm ConsenSys, in Tel Aviv at the Web3 event, Building Blocks 23. Asked if ETH could be classed as a security in the U.S. after Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model, Lubin said: “I think it's as likely, and would have the same impact, as if Uber was made illegal.” “There would be a tremendous outcry from not just the crypto community but different politicians …

Proposed laws in Israel that would see cryptocurrencies classified as securities would cause huge damage to the local crypto industry, according to the chief of an Israeli crypto service provider. Cointelegraph Magazine editor, Andrew Fenton, spoke with Ilan Sterk, the CEO of Altshuler Shaham Horizon in Tel Aviv, Israel. The firm provides cryptocurrency custody and trading services and is one of the few firms in the country having the approval to deal with banks. “It's quite complicated,” Sterk said of the current legal situation for crypto in Israel. He explained the current proposal is to have digital assets under the …

The cannabis industry has long been fragmented, both geographically and politically. Recognizing this, Mark Bonner, CEO of Cannaverse Technologies and creator of Cannaland, decided to take matters into his own hands. With a background in renewable energy, Mark Bonner brings a unique perspective to the cannabis industry. He saw the potential for a more streamlined, efficient and secure approach and set out to create it — a metaverse known as Cannaland. It is the world's first cannabis platform powered by blockchain technology, and Mark Bonner is at the forefront of the industry, leading the charge for a more unified, sustainable …

Only days after the launch of the Bitcoin (BTC)-based Ordinals protocol, its creators have had to deal with its first shock pornographic image which has been inscribed into the blockchain. On Feb. 2 at around 12:15 AM UTC, an unsavory image known as “goatse” was inscribed onto the Bitcoin blockchain via the Ordinals protocol. It featured on inscription 668 and was live on the Ordinals' front page for roughly half an hour before the image was removed. It still exists on the blockchain but is not able to be viewed using the Ordinals website. Ordinals creator, Casey Rodarmor, told Cointelegraph …

In a candid interview with Cointelegraph at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Anthony Scaramucci, cofounder of SkyBridge Capital, lambasted Sam Bankman-Fried and shed light on his crypto portfolio. Scaramucci trusted the former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) of FTX, which imploded in late 2021. Scaramucci said in a panel preceding the interview that the “Ninth circle of hell” is reserved for SBF. He added further color to the comments in discussion with Cointelegraph: “I actually thought he was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto. I didn't realize he was the Bernie Madoff. And that's something I have to own. And so …

The music industry is notoriously centralized, with major record labels often controlling nearly every facet of an artist’s career — from which songs they are allowed to release to what percentage of the royalties they keep and more. While the rise of streaming platforms like SoundCloud and Spotify has helped democratize the industry and made it significantly easier to get one’s music in front of more ears, it’s still an uphill battle to build a dedicated fanbase and generate enough revenue to survive. Enter music NFTs. For those in the blockchain space, nonfungible tokens represent an opportunity for fans to …