FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried gave the opening keynote at this year's Blockchain Week, with the events of day one held at the headquarters of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Addressing the event remotely from the Bahamas, Bankman-Fried used his keynote to announce the launch of FTX Australia, localizing one of the world's largest crypto exchanges by volume. FTX is the naming rights sponsor for the event. “This is something that has been in the works for a number of months, and it’s been a really high priority for us as a company.” Really excited to launch FTX: Australia!https://t.co/ZcBNEuyiG9https://t.co/jGumMSXMW3 https://t.co/rABSI5Y81O — …

Digital payment platform Paxful has partnered with nonprofit organization Built With Bitcoin Foundation and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez to advance a new education initiative centered around Bitcoin (BTC) and financial literacy. The initiative will disburse free tickets to the Bitcoin 2022 conference to local colleges and universities as part of a broader effort to enhance financial literacy among minority and underserved communities in Miami. Up to 500 students and local residents will receive a ticket to attend the conference, which is scheduled for Apr. 6-9 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Currently, general admission tickets for the event are being …

The transmissibility of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 seems to have affected many attendees at the ETHDenver developer conference, who reported symptoms and positive test results following the event. Many social media posts from ETHDenver attendees after the conclusion of the Feb. 11-20 conference claim they tested positive for the virus. A local news outlet reported that more than 12,000 people from 100 countries attended the event, which resulted in many infections among both the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Finally got my first COVID infection courtesy of #ETHDenver pic.twitter.com/TDR3OEteI5 — T h i r k (@theThirk) February 22, 2022 According to …

Aarika Rhodes, an elementary school teacher-turned congressional candidate, recently featured in the Bitcoin Day Sacramento 2022 event to discuss the impact of Bitcoin (BTC) in local politics. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Rhodes highlighted the difficulty for grassroots candidates like herself to compete against established members of the US Congress. Our campaign has officially adopted Lighting for campaign contributions.⚡️ This revolutionary technology creates accessibility and looks towards the future. I am excited to provide this option to our supporters across all 50 states. #Bitcoin — Aarika for CA-32 (@AarikaRhodes) November 30, 2021 “If it wasn’t for Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, a …

The CEO of Swiss-based financial institution SEBA Bank shared his predictions for Bitcoin in 2022. A boon for BTC bulls, Guido Buehler was optimistic about institutional adoption and a price increase to $75,000 per coin. He explained in an interview that, at SEBA, asset pools are looking for the right time to invest. However, they need the right counterparties and the necessary regulation in order to deploy capital. When pressed on whether Bitcoin (BTC) would hit new highs this year, Buehler thinks it’s possible, “the question is always time.” He noted that with BTC dominance bottoming out at 40%, it’s …

While many pundits have labeled Solana (SOL) as an "Ethereum killer" due to its lower fees and faster transaction times, Solana Labs co-founder Raj Gokal said the project has no desire to kill the cryptocurrency — and wouldn’t be able to if it did. Gokal made the comments in response to a Nov.10 Twitter post from the co-founder of venture capital firm Placeholder, Chris Burniske who wrote that “despite pretty words, L1 knives are fully out. In crypto, generally, people want their biggest bags to win.” “This will influence almost all communications, so don't take what you see and hear …

The team behind interoperable blockchain network Cosmos (ATOM) recently hosted the Cosmoverse Conference live from Lisbon, Portugal. ‍‍Cosmonauts, #Cosmoverse it’s LIVE! This event is 100% from the community to the community, and we are proud to have our Cosmos Hub Community Pool as the main sponsor! Tune now to the livestream and prepare yourself to dive into cosmos’s wonders https://t.co/OzyD3bSdqB pic.twitter.com/QFXHu5l3B6 — Cosmos - Internet of Blockchains ⚛️ (@cosmos) November 5, 2021 Kicking off the two-day event, Zaki Manian, co-founder of Decentralized finance, or DeFi, project Sommel and former lead developer at Cosmos and Tendermint (Cosmos network's core contributor), discussed …

Web Summit 2021, the biggest tech conference in the world, kicked off on Monday in Lisbon, Portugal, and will last until Nov. 4, 2021. In an opening statement, Carlos Moedas, the Mayor of Lisbon, said that "My dream is that Lisbon will be the capital of innovation in the world." Meanwhile, João Leão, the Minister of Finance of Portugal, stated: "Portugal is the country people come to invest, to do business and to look live, and to do so in a manner that is open to different cultures." Notable guest speakers included Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, Black Lives Matter co-founder …

The Russian cryptocurrency market has grown to hundreds of billions of dollars despite the absence of sufficient cryptocurrency regulation, according to a major industry executive. Sergei Khitrov, founder of the Russian cryptocurrency event Blockchain Life, gave a keynote speech on the state of cryptocurrency regulation in Russia at the VII Blockchain Life Forum in Moscow on Oct. 27. Based on his own industry insights and knowledge of the market, Khitrov estimated the Russian crypto market to be worth as much as 40 trillion rubles, or more than $550 billion. He also claimed that Russian crypto businesses could generate as much …

Despite Russian officials' increased interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Russia’s internet ombudsman expressed confidence that local crypto regulations will remain largely prohibitive. Dmitry Marinichev, Russia’s ombudsman for the protection of entrepreneurs' rights under Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday discussed Russia’s approach to cryptocurrency regulations at a panel of a major local industry event, Blockchain Life 2021. Russia will continue taking a restrictive stance on crypto because the Russian government doesn’t want Russian people to make money with Bitcoin, Marinichev said: “I’m sure that Russian crypto policies will always be prohibitive because no one is looking to allow Russian …

The United States territory of Puerto Rico is seeing a resurgence of interest among crypto investors attracted by the fact it doesn’t charge federal income tax and eligible investors can pay zero taxes on their crypto gains. Under local law Act 22, those who live in Puerto Rico for at least half of the year are exempt from taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains — meaning they can keep most or all of the profits from crypto or other investments without having to renounce U.S. residency. The popularity of the territory as crypto tax haven was highlighted when news …

Major global technology conference Web Summit is returning to Portugal with an in-person event to delve into the world of fintech and cryptocurrency. On Nov. 1, Web Summit 2021 will kick off in Lisbon, Web Summit’s first physical conference since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event covers topics from cryptocurrencies to geopolitics and is anticipated to bring together 40,000 attendees, running until Nov. 4. Crypto an integral part of Web Summit Web Summit’s fintech expert, Shauna Kiely, told Cointelegraph that the crypto industry has emerged as one of the conference’s most-discussed topics in recent years, largely covered at …