At one point in the 2013 comedy “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Matthew McConaughey’s character Mark Hanna – a slick, coke-snorting stockbroker – tells Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, “Nobody – I don’t care if you’re Warren Buffett or Jimmy Buffett – nobody knows if the stock is going to go up, down, sideways or in circles.” While many in the financial services world might disagree, we can probably all agree that this accurately describes the current crypto market. Just replace “the stock” in that sentence with “bitcoin.” (Originally published 4/8/2019 at John Lothian News.)
Read MoreCrypto cybercrime crosses into the physical world →
Last week, the alleged kidnappers of Anne-Elisabeth Hagen, the wife of the Norwegian multi-millionaire real estate investor Tom Hagen, demanded a ransom of €9 million worth of Monero (XMR), a cryptocurrency known for allowing blockchain transactions that are exceptionally private, and therefore extremely difficult to trace. (Originally published 1/17/2019 at John Lothian News.)
Read MoreBitcoin’s role in the Mueller investigation →
What do the investigation by FBI special counsel Robert Mueller and bitcoin have in common? Potentially, they’re both connected to a Russian hacker named Alexander Vinnik. (Originally published 12/5/2018 at John Lothian News.)
Read MoreTether: The Cryptocurrency Markets’ Sword of Damocles →
If 2018 was the year of the ICO (initial coin offering), then October of 2018 was “Stablecoin Month.” Between the launch of new “stablecoins” like the Gemini Dollar and the ominous news surrounding Tether (the most commonly-used stablecoin in the crypto markets), last month was one of the most significant months ever for these new coins. (Originally published 12/3/2019 at John Lothian News.)
Read MoreFIA 2018 charts the rise of institutional crypto investors →
Like most people, I tend to pay more attention when someone directly addresses me or people like me. As a millennial, I tend to exercise this principle a lot, as we’ve been inundated by the word “millennials” over the past 10 years or so. We’re a hot topic. At the FIA Expo this year, the talks focusing on Digital Assets mentioned millennials frequently.
Read MoreBlockchain tokenization: a simplified explanation →
The blockchain space is full of both technical jargon and empty, flashy buzzwords. It is sometimes hard to tell which is which – this can make trying to learn anything about the space a vexing task. (Originally published 10/9/2018 at John Lothian News.)
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