Author: Caitlin Carey

Caitlin is a crypto evangelist with a deep curiosity and passion for learning and writing about everything to do with cryptocurrency. She has a background as a performing artist and songwriter and is a digital media enthusiast, with a bachelor degree in Multimedia.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Investing

Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Puts US$1.5 Billion into Bitcoin

Ricardo B. Salinas is among the swarm of cyber hornets as one of the top high-profile advocates for Bitcoin, with laser eyes and #Bitcoin in his Twitter profile. Putting his money where his mouth is, he has invested 10% of his personal wealth into Bitcoin.

Worth an estimated US$15.2 billion, Salinas is the third-richest man in Mexico and among the top 200 richest people in the world. As founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas, a group of companies with interests in telecommunications, media, financial services and retail stores, he says the best thing to put your money into is Bitcoin.

#Bitcoin @RicardoBSalinas on Twitter

Last November, Salinas tweeted a video showing piles of paper money thrown into a bank’s bin because it is so worthless, due to hyperinflation affecting most countries south of the US border.

Translation: “To start with the #Bitcoin I share a video taken in a Latin country where banks throw money away (paper money is worth nothing) that is why it is always good to diversify our investment portfolio. This is inflationary expropriation!”

Mexican Peso Blows Out 1000% in 40 Years

Talking about inflation, Salinas stated that when he first started working in 1981, a US dollar was worth 20 pesos. Now, 40 years later, a dollar equates to 20,000 pesos. Bitcoin’s finite supply makes it a very attractive asset to invest in because it is deflationary.

Along with other billionaires such as the Winklevoss twins and Michael Saylor, Salinas is pushing the Gold 2.0 crusade. He believes that every investor should have a part of their portfolio in Bitcoin, likening its value to a modern form of gold.

Bitcoin a ‘Store of Value’ for Billionaire Investors

Billionaires looking for ways to protect their wealth against growing inflation are favouring Bitcoin as a store of value because they understand the many advantages it offers. Even well-respected old-school American institutional investors such as Warren Buffett can’t ignore Bitcoin any longer. Hedge fund manager Marc Lasry, for another, says he regrets not buying more Bitcoin.

Australian billionaire Alex Waislitz, touted as “Australia’s Warren Buffett”, has made tremendous profits of over 400% by investing in cryptocurrency companies.

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Crypto Memes Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Cryptos Events Sports

‘WTF Coin’ Crypto Streaker Hits Euro 2020 Match

Running up on stage or out onto the sports field has become a popular way to hijack mass audience attention, if only for a moment, and perhaps shill your shitcoin at a big event.

What The Actual?

Interrupting a June 22 Euro 2020 match in Saint Petersburg, Russia between Belgium and Finland, a young woman ran onto the football pitch wearing just a smile, a black bodysuit and tiny shorts. Across her chest in big letters read ‘WTF’ and in smaller script a website address, yoursafe.wtf. The woman lasted about half a minute before she was captured by security and escorted off the pitch.

To save yourself the trouble of looking up the WTF coin, here are the highlights:

  1. The artwork is pretty cool. That’s all.

Regular Football Fan Also Invades Pitch

The WTF woman was not the only pitch invader of the day. In the other Group B game between Denmark and Russia, a Russian fan made it onto the field before also being stopped by security. However, this fan was not promoting anything. He was simply wearing a Russia jersey and was there to support his team.

For more wacky behaviour, check out these highlights of the Bitcoin 2021 Miami Conference shenanigans.

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Blockchain Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Events

Key Topics at the 2021 APAC Blockchain Conference to be Held in Sydney

The APAC Blockchain Conference, an event where the industry comes together to share ideas, insights and accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology across Australia, will be held in Sydney from September 14-16 to discuss all things crypto.

Date: 14-16 September 2021
Location: Crowne Plaza, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Click here to register

The conference has been running since 2017 and has become a key event for any business or company embracing blockchain technology. In attendance at this year’s event, to be held at the Crowne Plaza in Sydney’s Darling Harbour, will be start-ups to developers, financiers to government, exchanges to blockchain platforms, and the like.

Topics Up for Discussion

  • Australian government update and policy review
  • Disrupting the status quo: Blockchain and the future of finance
  • Preparing the way for the next evolution in blockchain technology
  • Embracing emerging challenges and opportunities in cryptofinance
  • Governance, regulation and security in the blockchain industry
  • Blockchain technology and digital identity management protocols
  • Legal updates: insights into smart contracts
  • Blockchain in practice: how innovation and change are becoming a way of life for Australian businesses
  • Cross chain technology and its role in large-scale adoption
  • Bitcoin and its role in the future of day-to-day business
  • Addressing blockchain security and vulnerability issues

CoinJar CMO Will Speak About Decentralised Finance

Among the line-up of key speakers will be: Dominic Gluchowski (chief marketing officer at CoinJar, who will be speaking about DeFi), Simon Callaghan (head of OTC Markets at Celsius), Maximilian Marenbach (head of APAC Expansion/head of Banking and Payments at Kraken Digital Asset Exchange), and many more.

With the Bitcoin Conference hosted in Miami earlier this month, 2021 continues to be another exciting year for crypto. But will the APAC Blockchain Conference be as colourful, with surprise Dogecoin enthusiasts storming the stage, and hecklers interrupting speakers?

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Crypto News

Market Sentiment at All-Time Low as Crypto Traders Let Out Frustrations on Reddit

Roses are red, violets are blue, when the market’s not green, you know what to do!

These past several weeks have not been an easy ride for those involved in crypto. Some who only just entered the market and bought at the very top now have first-hand experience of what it feels like to be trapped inside the belly of the beast.

Reddit is a great place for many in the crypto community to go and share their stories. For some, spirits have been crushed as their dreams to get rich quick have drowned in a bloody sea of red. Others are standing strong, optimistically keeping their chins up with humour intact. It depends if you’re a glass half empty or glass half full kind of person as to whether you see this time as an opportunity to stay in and buy the dip, or get out because it’s all too much.

Humour is the Best Medicine

This funny Redditer wrote:

Don’t get me wrong, the highs are amazing, but the lows have become too much to handle. I can no longer cling to something that is always volatile, makes me feel nervous and insecure, and may ultimately cost me 50% of my savings. So I’m leaving. Leaving my wife to spend more time studying the crypto charts.

AlreadyLiberated, Reddit user

Wild volatility is part of the parcel when it comes to dabbling in cryptocurrency. It certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted or those with weak hands. OGs know this all too well. Those who understand what goes up must come down (then usually goes back up again) are seeing these red charts as an opportunity to just buy more, dollar-cost averaging their positions to accumulate more of the coins they already hold.

It may well be that we will crash further tomorrow. But then I will just buy more next month and be happy to see [the] average cost of my coins getting lower.

ethereum88, Reddit user

Others are just panicking and taking to Reddit to unleash their frustration and disappointment. Some are a little cynical, but with a good dose of humour to help numb the pain.

Crypto Bear Market Woes

Since May, most of us have watched our portfolios get cut in half. No amount of “refreshing” is going to help. There are two main options:

  • 1) Stay in and HODL
  • 2) Get out and sell at a loss

Go find a job. Pray to your God for the bull market to return or at least for a quick death cause working for these wages when inflation is this high is pretty much slavery.

SmilkyD, Reddit user

Other than constantly refreshing your portfolio, there is also the Fear and Greed index to help us know when things are looking up again. Stay strong, crypto lovers. Whether this really is the beginning of an unpredictably premature bear market, unleashed upon us much more swiftly than anticipated, or if it’s just an extensively painful lull in what is ultimately the biggest bull market we’ve ever seen, only time will tell.

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Bitcoin Crypto News

Analyst Who Called The Drop Now Predicts BTC to Hit $160,000 by the End of 2021

Tech entrepreneur Alex Mashinsky (CEO of fintech platform Celsius Network) is confident that Bitcoin will resume tracking upwards, continuing its bullish macro trend.

Not even Elon Musk can stop Bitcoin’s dominance; as Musk’s credibility and influence are finally wearing thin on the crypto community, those who understand Bitcoin better – like Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky – have chipped in with their two Satoshis’ worth.

BTC to Push Upwards of $100,000 by End of Year

Just weeks ago euphoria in the market was at an all-time high, though Mashinsky correctly predicted that Bitcoin could see a harsh correction in the US$30K range. Many did not want to believe it or hear about it but, as we now know, it did happen. Although this near 50% drop was the most severe Bitcoin has sustained so far, overall the projection for its end-of-year price targets remains optimistic.

Mashinsky interviewed by Michelle Makori, editor-in-chief of Kitco News, June 14

Donning a HODL T-Shirt for a recent interview on Kitco News, Mashinsky explained – now all the highly leveraged traders have been flushed out, Bitcoin’s price has settled and found key resistance levels. HODLers unite!

We’ve flushed all the leverage in the system and found support at $30k and now we’re rebuilding upwards in price acceleration.

Alex Mashinsky

Mashinsky Dubs Musk a “Tourist”

Other “A+ ambassadors” for Bitcoin include the likes of Michael Saylor and Jack Dorsey (both of whom attended the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami earlier in June). Sadly for Elon, he isn’t in that club. Mashinsky playfully called him a “tourist”, inferring that Musk is dabbling in crypto for the wrong reasons (ie, to further his own interests, not to help others).

Forty percent of all the US dollars created were minted in the last 12 months.

Alex Mashinsky

Inflation on the Rise

The US and other countries have recently printed excessive amounts of paper money, giving serious concerns over growing inflation rates and what all this really means. A $1 million Bitcoin may not actually be that far off, now that institutions and entire countries are coming on board the crypto train. With El Salvador, Nigeria (and more to follow) adopting Bitcoin as legal currency, the global financial system is at the mercy of Bitcoin.

Today we have approximately 100 million participants in the Bitcoin system worldwide.

Alex Mashinsky

Watch the full interview on Kitco News below:

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Bitcoin Crypto News

Bitcoin Has Now Died 420 Times

Bitcoin has had more resurrections than the proverbial cat with nine lives: back from the dead a total of 420 times and counting.

Love it or hate it, Bitcoin just won’t turn up its toes. Despite being known for its high volatility, the asset hailed as ‘Gold 2.0’ has proven itself time and time again to be one of the best-performing assets, ever.

In spite of neverending FUD from high-profile haters and respected mainstream publications alike who declare Bitcoin dead, it continues to rise in value as its adoption by major Wall Street institutions grows.

When in Doubt, Just Zoom Out

The ‘Bitcoin Is Dead’ graph shows a history timeline, pulling from a database of news stories relating to Bitcoin scepticism, #RIPBTC.

I created “Bitcoin Is Dead” in hopes of playing a [tiny] role in telling its eventual story by tracking its most notable sceptics and documenting important pieces of its history. (Also I think freezing cold takes are pretty funny.)

Jerry Feng

All That Glitters is Not Gold, it’s Bitcoin

If you want to have some fun, head over to bitcoinisdead.lol to play the very fun game of ‘Who Else Fcuked Up?’

Rumours of Bitcoin’s ‘Death’ Were Exaggerated

Bitcoin’s “death” can be tracked at Bitcoin Obituaries, a website that collates data from news articles and blogs. The highest number of “deaths” per single year (124) was recorded in 2017, when its market cap hit $100 billion for the first time.

From haters to lovers, major players in the financial industry – including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Visa and PayPal – are guilty of condemning Bitcoin very publicly; now they all rally to support it. Maybe it’s FOMO (fear of missing out), or maybe it’s just smart. Big money is now doing backflips to get in on what’s becoming painfully obvious over time: Bitcoin is here to stay. Get in or stay out.

Categories
Crypto News NFTs

Tiger King Netflix Star Joe Exotic Launches NFTs From Prison

Joe Exotic has announced he will be launching his Tiger King NFTs on officialtigerkingnft.com on June 18 on crypto marketplace Mintable.

He will be the first celebrity to partner with MORE, a New York City branding company that promotes celebrities and crypto.

Joe became famous from his viral Netflix show The Tiger King and is currently serving a 22-year federal sentence in Fort Worth, Texas, on counts of animal abuse and attempted murder for hire.

Launching NFTs From … Jail

But that’s not stopping the former zoo operator, police officer and global meme sensation from launching his NFT drop with the support of Brad Small, high-profile entertainment lawyer of Beverly Hills firm Rosenfeld Meyer & Susman LLP.

Tiger King Doge NFT

The NFTs for sale are 3D digital models, paired with in-perspective physical items. The auction will include favourite items seen on The Tiger King, such as:

  • Joe’s favourite pistol and holster and commonly worn jackets
  • Bikinis worn in the series by adult film star Rachel Starr
  • Audio recordings made by Joe in prison, as well as other digital artworks and tokens

The Tiger King has spoken of his excitement about the project, stating:

I’m really grateful to the MORE team for giving me a platform to give back to my loyal fan base. It’s great to have a voice via blockchain technology and I’m honoured to be the first to kick off MORE’s celebrity NFTs.

Joe Exotic
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Bitcoin Crypto News Venezuela

Venezuelans Are Using Bank Notes to Make Handcrafted Bags

On the streets of Colombia, from Bogotá to Cúcuta, artists are selling intricately crafted handbags and other beautiful accessories made from Venezuela’s colourful bolívar bank notes.

The old Venezuelan bolívars (also known as bolívar fuerte) are no longer in circulation and have been replaced by bolívar soberano.

Old Bolívar Notes Worth More As Raw Material

Due to hyperinflation, Venezuela’s currency has been devalued to the point that it is literally not worth the paper it is printed on. The notes are worth more to artists as a raw material than as actual money. An item made up of 1,000 bills totalling 100,000 bolivares is worth around US 20 cents in notes, but can sell at around $20 as a purse. As one merchant in Cúcuta commented:

 It would make more sense to rip this up and turn it into confetti than to try to use it to buy confetti, which would be more expensive.

Capino Porra (a merchant and retired Venezuelan military official)
Wallets and bags made from Venezuelan currency. Photo: Guillermo Legaria/Getty

The Government is So Poor It Cannot Even Afford to Print Money

Millions of Venezuelans have fled to neighbouring Colombia to escape civil unrest and a growing financial crisis. Venezuela is in dire straits. Even paper money itself is scarce. The government is so poor that it cannot even afford to print more money, forcing many to rely on bank transfers for even the smallest payments.

Venezuela and other Latin American countries are turning to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as their currencies see rising inflation and lose purchasing power. We have also seen that Argentina inflation has hit 42.6% as Bitcoin prices surge in the country.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets

Crypto Wallet Provider Ledger Raises $380 Million to Expand into Defi and NFTs

Following a 500% surge in revenue for Q1 2021, Ledger has announced a new fundraising round that has elevated the company’s valuation to in excess of US$1.5 billion.

Ledger, a company best known for its cryptocurrency hardware wallets, already secures an estimated 15% of all cryptocurrency assets globally. Since its founding in 2014, it has sold 3 million hardware wallets in 190 countries and has more than 1.5 million monthly users.

Ledger’s flagship hardware wallet, the Nano X

Ledger Looks To The Future

In the announcement, Ledger chairman and CEO Pascal Gauthier highlighted that he was looking to capitalise on the hypergrowth of digital assets as they become increasingly mainstream. The funding, he said, would be used to extend Ledger’s leading position in cryptocurrency security and services to become “the secure gateway” to the entire digital asset ecosystem. In addition, it would allow the company to innovate its hardware products and expand its services via Ledger Live:

We expect to see the ecosystem diversify beyond cryptocurrencies to include NFTs, real estate and other forms of value that can be shifted onto the blockchain.  As we look to the future, we see ourselves as the secure gateway to this growing ecosystem. Our goal is to empower users to buy, sell, swap, borrow, and lend digital assets through the Ledger Live platform, which – when combined with our hardware – offers best-in-class security and a seamless user experience.

Ledger chairman and CEO, Pascal Gauthier

Concerns Over Ledger’s Data Breaches

While it certainly appears as if there is cause to be optimistic about Ledger and its future, the company continues to deal with user security concerns and reputational damage after last year’s data leak in which 270,000 users’ details were exposed.

We also saw Ledger hit with a lawsuit following a data breach with Shopify after 9,500 customers’ personal data was leaked along with up to 100,000 email addresses.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrency Law

South America is going Bitcoin crazy: Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Paraguay, Nicaragua and El Salvador

Bitcoin’s influence is having a domino effect across almost the entire South American continent as crypto-fever rises in neighbouring countries south of the border from the US.

El Salvador is Leading the Way

El Salvador passed a bill this month to become the first country in the world to approve Bitcoin as legal currency. Late on June 8, the two-paged proposal put forward by 39-year-old El Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele was voted in by Congress with a supermajority in favour of the new Bitcoin law.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele

President Bukele is undoubtedly one of the coolest political leaders pushing crypto forward, even adopting laser eyes for his Twitter profile. He is a Bitcoin supporter who has put El Salvador on the map, making history as the first nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

The Rest of South America to Follow

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Tyler Winkelvoss tweeted about the South American countries following El Salvador’s lead:

Panamanian congressman Gabriel Silva posted on Twitter (also sporting laser eyes as part of a meme contest) that he was preparing a proposal to present at the national assembly.

This is important, and Panama cannot be left behind. If we want to be a true technology and entrepreneurship hub, we have to support cryptocurrencies.

Gabriel Silva, Panamanian congressman

Argentina is also looking at Bitcoin as its inflation soars above 42.6%. Argentinian congressman Francisco Sanchez joined in the laser eyes meme, as did two Brazilian congressmen.

Adios Capital Gains, Hola Bitcoin!

It isn’t hard to understand why Latin American countries would be so supportive of cryptocurrency adoption. For Salvadoreans living abroad, using Bitcoin instead of cash (with its high international transaction costs) will make it easier, faster and far cheaper to send money home. The new law will also open up financial services to the 70 percent of Salvadoreans who do not have bank accounts.