Despite a challenging year for crypto, 82% of millionaire clients had looked into investing in digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) in 2022, according to a recent poll conducted by financial advisory firm deVere Group. The poll results, released on Jan. 30, found that eight out of 10 of the firm's high net worth (HNW) clients surveyed with between $1.2 million and $6.1 million of investable assets sought advice on crypto from financial advisers in the last 12 months. 82% of millionaires seek advice on crypto as Bitcoin soars#PressRelease https://t.co/nv6HSZBxEs — deVere Group (@deveregroup) January 30, 2023 Nigel Green, the …

With exchanges becoming a focus as the FTX fiasco continues, a new research paper suggested that almost three out of four transactions in unregulated exchanges are fake. A working paper titled “Crypto Wash Trading” was recently published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Using statistical and behavioral patterns to determine which transactions were legitimate or not, the paper studied 29 unregulated exchanges and came to a conclusion that, on average, more than 70% of the volume within the platforms are wash trades. The researchers found that some exchanges’ wash trading volume goes as high as 80% of the …

Around 13% of the American population — or 43 million people — have held cryptocurrency at some point in their lives, new research from JPMorgan Chase has revealed. According to a Dec. 13 report titled: "The Dynamics and Demographics of U.S. Household Crypto-Asset Use,” this number has risen dramatically since before 2020 when the figure was only around 3%. The latest data from JPMorgan comes from analyzing checking account transfers from a sample of over 5 million customers. It found that 600,000 customers in this sample group transferred cash to crypto accounts at some point during the 2020-2022 time period. …

A study claiming that psychopaths and others with "Dark Tetrad" personality traits are drawn to crypto has been criticized as "meaningless" for showing very weak correlativity by a psychology expert from the University of Otago. Researchers with backgrounds predominately in marketing and advertising from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) surveyed 566 people on their attitudes toward crypto and correlated the results with four specific personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism and sadism. The findings were first shared by The U.S. Sun, and were widely syndicated by the mainstream media, with the New York Post headline screaming “Bitcoin fans are psychopaths …

Per the request of the United States Congress, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), laid out four policy options to help policymakers implement blockchain technologies while enhancing benefits and mitigating challenges. The technology assessment shared by the GAO acknowledged the potential of blockchain technology in improving a variety of financial and non-financial applications despite raising concerns about introducing new challenges while trying to resolve issues related to traditional systems: “A blockchain might both increase the speed of a title registry system and lower the cost of title insurance by making title registration simpler and more trustworthy.” However, some of the …

Apart from high-profile athletes and politicians who are taking salaries in crypto, a study shows that the number of ordinary people who take some of their salaries in crypto has increased globally. Tracking trends that occurred in 2021, global hiring firm Deel published a report that noted a 10% month-over-month increase in people who want to be paid in crypto since November 2020. The data, pulled from over 100,000 contracts in over 150 countries, shows that Latin America (LATAM) and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are on top of the regions that have employees taking a portion of their …

Gender is associated with both psychological and demographic factors when it comes to crypto investment, new academic research revealed. A new study has shed light on the differences between men and women in different aspects of crypto trading and investment, revealing that 60% of women have very limited or no knowledge about crypto assets, a critical element affecting investments, while two-thirds of men have a medium and high level of understanding of crypto. Better overall knowledge leads to taking more risks, as men follow their investments more frequently than women and do not avoid taking more risks, the study found. …

A groundbreaking five-year study into whether crypto token incentives can improve health outcomes for patients with HIV/AIDS will be launched in Kenya by the end of the year. On Nov 1, the blockchain-powered healthcare ecosystem Immunify.Life and the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) announced they had secured the approval needed from an ethics committee and the national commission to launch the study. Together they will conduct a five-year study on HIV/AIDS starting before the end of 2021 in the Kakamega County region of Kenya, before extending throughout the rest of the country. The first major project of …

A new study from the United Kingdom revealed that most game studios have already started exploring blockchain for their upcoming titles. Commissioned by blockchain platform Stratis and undertaken by insight agency Opinion, the new research surveyed 197 video game developers in the United States and the United Kingdom. The results showed that 58% of developers are beginning to use blockchain technology, and almost half of the respondents (47%) started incorporating nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The study indicates developers’ confidence in blockchain and NFTs, as two-thirds of studios expect blockchain to become prevalent in the gaming industry within the next two years. …

Zimbabwe's Minister of Information publicly dismissed ongoing rumors about the country considering the adoption of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin (BTC). Rather, Minister Monica Mutsvangwa clarified that the government of Zimbabwe is keen to experiment with a central banking digital currency (CBDC). The rumor about Zimbabwe’s crypto adoption was sparked based on numerous reports quoting Charles Wekwete, Permanent Secretary of the President’s office, saying that the government was in talks with the private sector businesses to help introduce cryptocurrency in the country. Just one day after the reports, Mutsvangwa took to a cabinet briefing to dismiss the ongoing crypto adoption claims: “Government …

A study released by Canada’s central bank, Banque du Canada, has noted a number of favorable reasons that the country could benefit from its own Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC. The document laid out two scenarios that might result in the bank issuing a CBDC at some future date. One would be if citizens were no longer widely using cash within the country for reasons that were left unspecified. The other could be if a digital currency, public or private, were to become so widely adopted as to threaten the sovereignty of Canada’s existing central currency. Participants did not …

Using blockchain technology, initial coin offerings have become an alternative means of acquiring funding for business projects using the new, evolving digital financial market for tokens. In contrast to initial public offerings, which are governed by strict legal regulations, ICOs require only a white paper and some interesting features, such as a lack of barrier to entry, a scope for exponential growth, absence of geographical barriers and easy validation. Hence, it may not be surprising that the ICO market experienced extraordinary growth recently. Research shows that from January 2016 to August 2019, ICOs raised nearly $13 billion worldwide. Despite the …