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. …

As of 2022, more than 30 million Brazillian citizens have no bank accounts, and no credit or debit cards. What’s wrong here? For roughly a decade, Brazil has been passing legislation aimed at changing the situation. However, the results have fallen short of expectations. To better understand the reason, let’s take a step back to look at a historical perspective. The Brazilian banking industry has always been extremely concentrated, historically due to the country’s macroeconomic volatility, the bank’s legacy technology and stringent oversight. At one point in time, the regulator needed some reliable “bulwarks” to build the local financial system …

Despite the ongoing bear market, Jan3 CEO and Bitcoin (BTC) proponent Samson Mow believes that the leading cryptocurrency could reach the $1-million-price benchmark in the next five to 10 years. The collapse of major fiat currencies will be a major catalyst, which he said can “happen very rapidly” and “are not anticipated.” ”It just sort of happens overnight, and then you are shoveling cash into a wheelbarrow,” he said in a recent interview with Cointelegraph. Mow made his prediction while commenting on the current state of Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador, about a year after it was adopted as a …

With decentralized finance (DeFi) being a hub for various hacks and exploits, some may feel discouraged or wary of entering the space. However, professionals within the crypto space are confident that DeFi will have broader adoption in the future. From educating institutional investors to eliminating user experience barriers for retail investors, Web3 executives shared their thoughts on how broader DeFi adoption can be achieved. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Anton Bukov, the co-founder of 1inch Network, believes that recent events in centralized finance (CeFi) have highlighted the importance of DeFi. The executive believes it’s just “a matter of time” before the financial …

The ongoing crypto winter is not stopping the industry from pushing for global adoption and accessibility. A new partnership between CoinCorner and Bitnob opens a way for users across continents to perform cross-border transactions involving multiple fiat currencies. Typically transfer of funds between Europe and Africa requires a third-party facilitator like Western Union, which rely on centralized entities. These transactions often have processing times of multiple parties prior to approval and are known for their expensive cuts. World Bank estimates that remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa went upwards of $40 billion yearly as of 2020 —with Nigeria receiving almost half of …

The Bank of England (BOE) is seeking a “proof of concept” for a wallet that will be able to hold a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). On Dec. 9, the BOE posted a request for applications on the United Kingdom government's Digital Marketplace, a service where government organizations can solicit work for digital projects. Simple guidelines for what the proof-of-concept wallet would have to achieve were outlined, with the wallet seemingly only needing to offer basic functionality such as a signup process, a way to update details, and show balances and transactions amongst other requirements such as displaying notifications. Of …

Since taking over at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), chairman Gary Gensler has repeatedly been referred to as the “bad cop” of the digital asset industry. To this point, over the past 18 months, Gensler has taken an extremely hard-nosed approach toward the crypto market, handing out numerous fines and enforcing stringent policies to make industry players comply with regulations. However, despite his aggressive crypto regulatory stance, Gensler, for the most part, has remained mum about several key issues that digital asset proponents have been talking about for a long time. For example, the SEC has still …

It’s not just pro-crypto regulations but also a supporting infrastructure that allows sustainable crypto adoption in any jurisdiction. Weighing in factors such as the number of Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs, blockchain companies and public interest in cryptocurrencies, Florida comes out as the most crypto-ready state in the United States. The US hosts a network of 33,865 Bitcoin ATMs, representing 87.1% of total crypto ATM installations worldwide. In addition, the nation contributes to 37.8% of the global Bitcoin hash rate, which makes the US the most dominant player in crypto. However, a state-wise analysis reveals that not all 50 states are equally …

Taproot support across the industry is still crawling one year after the Bitcoin soft fork, indicating a strong potential for innovation and broader adoption of Web3 solutions to be unlocked through the world's largest cryptocurrency, sources told Cointelegraph. "Since early on, Satoshi predicted that layers being built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain would enable Bitcoin to move beyond being only sound money by adding programmability, which makes Bitcoin the optimal framework to build out Web3 capabilities," noted Alex Miller, CEO of the Web3 developer platform Hiro. The Taproot upgrade took place in November 2021 and laid the foundation for …

A hydro-powered crypto mining project based in Africa released an update on its efforts to bring energy developments to rural communities via Bitcoin (BTC). On Dec. 9, Gridless Compute tweeted photos and commentary on how their hydro-power BTC mining rigs are powering an entire rural settlement while also lowering energy rates for 2,000 people, the equivalent to 500 families. According to the tweet, costs decrease from $10 per month to $4. All of this while securing BTC’s underlying blockchain network. Powering a rural Kenya village and securing the #Bitcoin network with excess hydropower, all while lowering rates to 2000 people …

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but unfortunately, the billion-dollar diamond industry is rife with scandal and fraud. There have been a number of cases where lab-grown diamonds have been graded as natural diamonds. An example of this was seen last year when the International Gemological Institute analyzed and graded a 6.18ct lab-grown diamond, which was previously claimed to be a natural diamond on its Gemological Institute of America (GIA) report. It was also reported in 2005 that the Gemological Institute of America — which is one of the most trusted sources for evaluating gemstone quality — was accepting …

A survey sample of working Americans suggests that millennial and Generation Z workers are far more in favor of joining decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and working remotely in the post-Covid-19 world. Over 1,100 Americans took part in a survey conducted by MetisDAO Foundation which explores trends in remote working preferences and the emergence of DAOs in recent years. A key consideration is the effect that Covid-19 has had on worker sentiment and the growth of DAOs in corporate governance. Citing a research report on DAOs published by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, the results of the survey …