Author: CNBC News
All things considered, bitcoin has had a pretty good year. The digital currency is up nearly 70% since the start of 2021, driving the entire crypto market to a combined $2 trillion in value. It’s a year that’s seen the first major crypto company go public with the debut of Coinbase in April, increased participation from Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs, and the approval of the first U.S. exchange-traded fund linked to bitcoin. However, heightened regulatory scrutiny and intense price fluctuations have dampened bitcoin’s prospects lately. And experts warn the market could be heading toward a downturn. With next year already looking like another rollercoaster period for digital currencies, CNBC takes a look…
If you’re just now thinking about investing in cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology, former U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios says you’re probably already too late to get in on the ground floor. “The train has already left the station,” Rios, who served as treasurer in the Obama Administration from 2009 to 2016, tells CNBC Make It. “Blockchain technology is here.” Rios, a visiting scholar at Harvard University, has built much of her post-government career around investing and crypto. She’s a board member for blockchain start-up Ripple, CEO of real estate investment consulting firm Red River Associates and investor on online reality show “Unicorn Hunters” alongside co-stars Steve…
Stephen Gerrits, a senior at Clemson University in South Carolina, has a part time gig with a start-up. He gets paid in cryptocurrency. “Why not take the chance or the opportunity to kind of strike it rich, get some money out of it?” said Gerrits. Gerrits says he spends about eight to 10 hours a week at SharpRank, persuading people to download its sports app on their phones and gets paid by the download. He says he has probably earned about the same or more in crypto as he would have in cash, thanks to price appreciation, but, given the…
On Sunday, Elon Musk tweeted a TikTok of an interview between Bill Gates and David Letterman in 1995, asking, “Given the almost unimaginable nature of the present, what will the future be?” In the video, Gates describes the internet to Letterman, which was new and strange to most at the time. After showing the clip, the TikTok user who posted the interview compares the discussion between Gates and Letterman to “what’s happening now with Web3.” Web3 is the decentralized iteration of the internet based on blockchain technology, which powers nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Supporters of Web3 think the internet today is controlled by a few…
Gamers are a notoriously skeptical crowd. In 2018, for example, Electronic Arts faced huge backlash over a decision to let players pay to unlock certain characters in its “Star Wars Battlefront II” game. Traditionally, players are required to toil for several hours to access such content. The outcry was so intense that EA eventually walked back its plans, which critics described as a “pay-to-win” model. So when Ubisoft, the French video game publisher, dropped a video this month showing off its foray into non-fungible tokens, it’s fair to say the reaction was a little predictable. The company debuted a platform called Quartz which lets players own in-game items such…
For years, the U.S. government has maintained a side hustle auctioning off bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Historically, Uncle Sam has done a pretty lousy job of timing the market. The 500 bitcoin it sold to Riot Blockchain in 2018 for around $5 million? That’s now worth north of $23 million. Or the 30,000 bitcoin that went to billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper for $19 million in 2014? That would be more than $1.3 billion today. The government has obtained all that bitcoin by seizing it, alongside the usual assets one would expect from high-profile criminal sting operations. It all gets sold off in a similar…
When Kickstarter unveiled its ambition to develop a blockchain-based crowdfunding system, the company characterized the move as a way to push creators closer to their audiences. “Backers should be able to easily discover and participate more deeply in projects, better control their data, and have more robust tools to assess the trustworthiness and viability of a project,” Kickstarter said in a blog post earlier this month. The reaction from users was hardly the sort of response Kickstarter had been hoping for. A tweet by the company announcing the news was met with immediate backlash from Kickstarter customers who threatened to abandon the service, citing…
Kirk is mining for bitcoin in the Chinese province of Sichuan, hoping every day that he doesn’t get caught by the authorities. Like other crypto miners who have gone underground since Beijing cracked down on the industry earlier this year, Kirk — who asked only to be identified by his nickname to ensure his safety — is getting creative to evade detection. Kirk has spread his mining equipment across multiple sites so that no one operation stands out on the country’s electrical grid. He has also gone “behind the meter,” drawing electricity directly from small, local power sources that are not connected to the…
It’s not just lucky investors getting rich from crypto. Hackers have made off with billions of dollars in virtual assets in the past year by compromising some of the cryptocurrency exchanges that have emerged during the bitcoin boom. There have been more than 20 hacks this year where a digital robber stole at least $10 million in digital currencies from a crypto exchange or project. In at least six cases, hackers stole more than $100 million, according to data compiled by NBC News. By comparison, bank robberies netted perpetrators an average of less than $5,000 per heist last year, according…
Crypto credit cards are emerging from several startups. Here’s what you need to know. Cryptocurrency is quickly becoming an incredibly valuable ‘asset’ in investment portfolios around the world. According to CoinMarketCap, the value of all available cryptocurrencies is over $2 trillion — and it’s only getting bigger. Traditional and startup financial service companies have taken notice, and they’re looking to attract new customers with crypto. And rather than a having a credit card that gives travel rewards or cash back on purchases, they’re now cards doling out rewards in cryptocurrency. Select details how these new type of credit cards work, what to expect and how to evaluate…