How the Crypto Community Helped Us Raise $110,000 for Charity

When asked to dig deep for a good cause, the crypto community obliges – eventually. 

On May 11, the first day of this year’s Consensus: Distributed conference and of our month-long #NYBWGives fundraising campaign for COVID-19 relief, it was a bit painful to watch the donations counter. With just a few hundred dollars clocked by 5 p.m. ET, it seemed we were never going to raise enough to match…

Blockchain Bites: Last Day of Consensus, Will Crypto Save the Internet?

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Consensus: Distributed ended on a high note with a keynote address from Juan Benet, founder of Protocol Labs, who granted a rare interview as he closed out the week-long virtual conference. 

Speaking widely on the topics of decentralization and Web 3.0, Benet said, “the internet has become dramatically more important to us.” Over a 50-year time span, computing has gone from an idea…

Blockchain Bites: Last Day of Consensus, Will Crypto Save the Internet?

Top Shelf

Consensus: Distributed ended on a high note with a keynote address from Juan Benet, founder of Protocol Labs, who granted a rare interview as he closed out the week-long virtual conference. 

Speaking widely on the topics of decentralization and Web 3.0, Benet said, “the internet has become dramatically more important to us.” Over a 50-year time span, computing has gone from an idea…

37 Questions for Cosmos’ Sunny Aggarwal

CoinDesk sent out a survey meant to gauge the innermost feelings and thoughts of crypto’s leading figures. Loosely based on the “Proust Questionnaire” popular during the fin de siecle, we’re hoping honest answers will reveal insights about our own age of transition. 

Sunny Aggarwal, a Tendermint and Cosmos developer and founder of the UC Berkeley Pirate Party, answered our questions over email.

Money Reimagined: No, Secretary Summers, Money Privacy Is a Vital Freedom

It was a provocative way to start the biggest cryptocurrency and blockchain event of the year.

In the opening session of Consensus: Distributed this week, Lawrence Summers was asked by my co-host Naomi Brockwell about protecting people’s privacy once currencies go digital. His answer: “I think the problems we have now with money involve too much privacy.”  

President Clinton’s former…

Blockchain Bites: What You Need to Know About the Last Day of Consensus: Distributed

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The sun rises on the last day of Consensus: Distributed, our first foray into the world of virtual events. 

We’ve heard from former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers describe the current monetary system as too private, Governor Harvesh Seegolam of the Bank of Mauritius inch closer to a central bank digital currencyand World Economic Forum Blockchain head Sheila Warren say digital…

CoinDesk 50: Bakkt – Financializing Bitcoin

Bakkt’s debut last September was one of the most eagerly awaited launches in crypto because it promised something groundbreaking and potentially momentous for the industry: institutional access to actual bitcoin. 

The crypto-first subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange wouldn’t exactly buy or sell bitcoin for you, but its ambitious goal of offering the first physically-settled futures…

Blockchain Bites: Capitalizing on Enterprise Blockchain and Reading Coin Metrics

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On Wednesday we learned less than a 1% of the total suspicious activity reports filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network since 2013 were crypto-related.  

Speaking at a workshop on FATF’s Travel Rule, FinCEN Director Kenneth Blanco said the financial watchdog uses these reports to map out IP and wallet addresses that are linked to potential criminals. Other speakers…