Free Republic

Across my career at the intersection of national security and our economy, I have witnessed firsthand several game-changing technological revolutions. From GPS to the internet and from smartphones to artificial intelligence, our nation’s unmatched capacity to innovate has created unprecedented benefits for the economy and security. Another wave is upon us: Blockchain and crypto offer America the chance to lead another generation of critical innovation, but policymakers must do their part, or this opportunity will slip away. If the Biden White House and Congress don’t provide the support and regulatory certainty this burgeoning industry requires, there is little doubt it...

Moscow has been on a drive to replace the use of the US dollar in international trade, but there are barrels of Russian oil stuck at sea due to issues with paying in alternative currencies. Shipments of Russian Sokol grade crude oil to state-owned Indian Oil Corp, or IOC, have been delayed by payment issues, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The seller is the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft. The problem arose because Rosneft unit selling the oil hasn't been able to open a bank account in the United Arab Emirates to receive payments...

Two crypto influencers on X have called on their followers to snap up Bitcoin BTC, gold and silver, citing the risk of rising national debt in the United States. In an X post on March 11, entrepreneur and angel investor Balaji Srinivasan argued that Bitcoin is the only realistic solution to escape the inevitability of unsustainable government spending and potential asset confiscation. “We’re in the looting-the-treasury phase of imperial collapse,” the former Coinbase chief technology officer told his 994,000 followers. Srinivasan argued that government debt and wasteful spending continue to grow rapidly at unsustainable levels. U.S. national debt is currently...

As technology gets more sophisticated, so do scammers. As bad actors adapt to the times, cryptocurrency scams are becoming a bigger problem, duping Americans out of huge sums, the Better Business Bureau said. In its annual Scam Tracker report, the BBB said investment and cryptocurrency scams were the “riskiest” type of scam in 2023. Scammers are using people’s general lack of understanding about cryptocurrency to their advantage, the Bureau said, promising huge returns on investment for purchasing Bitcoin. One victim, who shared her story, said she came upon a cryptocurrency scam while watching a YouTube video about Bitcoin investments. People...

Bitcoin’s recent rally has sparked renewed warnings from Chinese state media about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies, as interest around digital assets remains strong in the country despite a sweeping ban on crypto mining and trading. A rebound in bitcoin prices cannot “hide” the underlying risks of the digital asset, state-owned newspaper Economic Daily said on Sunday. Wild fluctuations in bitcoin value remain the norm, and cryptocurrencies have yet to enter the mainstream, the article said, adding that regulatory scrutiny of the market remains tight. Investors should maintain a “clear and rational” mindset, it said. The caution comes after...

I was asked a lot of questions by people on FR about what BTC is or ways to learn more about it. I have provided the Source URL above for such a video. Michael Sailor gave slide briefing that essentially started out covering the tope of Money over the past and into the future. Fiat Currencies of the US have depriciated by 7% per year for the past 100 years. 100 years from now a million dollars in a safe will have a purchasing power of only $977, if you put it in the S&P 500, it would still be...

Welcome to the Blockchain

At a recent special event hosted by BlackRock, high-profile clients and industry participants were invited to discuss the future of Bitcoin. Bitcoin company Swan, one of the participants of the event, shared some important takeaways with its private customers. The event was significant as it marked BlackRock's attempt to promote its Bitcoin ETF among its top clients. The move aligns with the view that BlackRock is preparing to leverage its marketing and sales skills to promote Bitcoin and its ETF product. Senior officials at BlackRock have revealed that they have received calls from unexpected quarters expressing interest in purchasing Bitcoin....

LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Bitcoin hit a two-year high on Tuesday on signs of large players buying the cryptocurrency, while smaller rival ether topped $3,200 for the first time since 2022. Bitcoin has rallied more than 10% in two sessions, helped by a Monday disclosure from crypto investor and software firm MicroStrategy that it had recently purchased about 3,000 bitcoins for an outlay of $155 million. The original and largest cryptocurrency by market value has also been buoyed recently by the approval of bitcoin-owning exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. On Monday, trading volumes in several of the funds spiked and...

Last week, Bitcoin broke the $52,000 mark, underscoring a double standard in the U.S. financial system. A gaggle of federal financial regulators largely known by their abbreviations (the FRB, FDIC, OCC, NCUA, SEC, FHFA, CFTC, CFPB and FSOC) and an array of regulators in each of the 50 states expend precious resources competing with one another to regulate every aspect and movement by banks. However, financial companies that are not banks but engage in bank-like activities — and make up most of the financial services market — are barely regulated when it comes to their financial health and strength. Bitcoin...

I imagine life can often feel pretty difficult for today’s high school students. On top of dealing with classic teenage drama like homework, hormones, pimples, parents, driving, dating, university selection, and more, students these days have to contend with a host of new challenges. They suffered long periods of brutal Covid lockdowns. Active shooter drills are a normal part of student life. And, of course, there’s the nonstop anxiety and peer pressure of social media. Plus, on top of everything else, students today have also been force-fed some pretty bizarre ideas. Classical literature, advanced mathematics, and hard sciences have taken...

Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick is taking heat over the New York financial giant’s massive investment in Tether – a cryptocurrency popular with terrorist groups including Hamas. Last month, Lutnick — a fierce supporter of Israel whose brother was among the nearly 3,000 killed in the 9/11 attacks — touted Tether at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, reassuring investors that the company’s balance sheet is in order. Lutnick would know. Cantor Fitzgerald manages “many many” of the crypto giant’s reported $86 billion in assets, according to Bloomberg. “They have the money they say they have,” Lutnick told Bloomberg...

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed that, should he return to the White House, he would block the Federal Reserve from developing a digital currency. "Tonight, I'm also making another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny. As your president, I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency," Trump said at a rally in New Hampshire. President Trump in New Hampshire: "Tonight, I'm also making another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny. As your president, I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency." pic.twitter.com/sLbmwy12Dl — MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) January...

The largest cut diamond in the world is about to go up for auction. The extraordinary jewel, nicknamed "The Enigma" is a billions-year-old Fancy Black diamond that is rumored to originate from space. According to the auction house, the stone is a carbonado black diamond, which are extremely rare, occur naturally, and usually date from 2.6 to 3.8 billion years old. It contains nitrogen and hydrogen but also a mineral called osbornite usually found in meteorites, which suggests an outer space connection. What that connection is exactly is unclear, however. Extraterrestrial diamonds from meteorites are tiny, usually nano-sized. This diamond...

Longtime Stanford University professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried — the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried — were sued by the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency company FTX on Monday. In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Delaware, the couple is accused of using FTX funds to enrich themselves and give to their “pet causes,” including millions of dollars in donations to Stanford. The lawsuit alleges that both Bankman and Fried “fraudulently transferred and misappropriated” tens of millions of dollars in total from FTX. They were also given a 30,000-square-foot $16.4 million home in the Bahamas and a $10 million cash gift by...

Critics are accusing the DOJ of sweeping additional charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried under the rug, after prosecutors said he would not face a second trial for campaign finance violations following his conviction last month. In a letter filed on Friday night in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors said the 'strong public interest' in a prompt resolution of the case outweighed the benefits of a second trial. In his letter to the court, US Attorney Damian Williams noted that prosecutors introduced evidence about all of the dropped charges during Bankman-Fried's monthlong first trial, where he was found guilty on...

A legal dispute in a tiny Texas town unexpectedly reveals how Chinese nationals can move money to the U.S. without drawing the attention of authorities in either country. Jerry Yu has the trappings of what the Chinese call second-generation rich. He boasts a Connecticut prep-school education. He lives in a Manhattan condominium bought for $8 million from Jeffrey R. Immelt, the former General Electric chief executive. And he is the majority owner of a Bitcoin mine in Texas, acquired last year for more than $6 million. Mr. Yu, a 23-year-old student at New York University, has also become — quite...

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, pleaded guilty to money laundering violations, the government said on Tuesday, a stunning blow to the most powerful and influential figure in the global crypto industry. Binance itself also pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and restitution [and much, much more]

By day, Brian Krewson is a technical expert at computing giant Oracle. But by night he’s Mr. Poto, a fire-breathing, stilt-walking party entertainer, happy to perform at birthdays, weddings and corporate picnics. A Facebook photo from Halloween 2020 shows Krewson dressed in full methlab attire as a remarkably convincing Walter White, the infamous drug trafficker played by Brian Cranston in Breaking Bad. According to a Justice Department DOC, Krewson's resemblance to that character extends beyond appearance. The agency alleges that Krewson helped store and launder $54 million worth of cryptocurrency for two friends, Christopher Castelluzzo and Luke Atwell, who were...

On Thursday, Sam Bankman-Fried was properly convicted for stealing $8 billion from customers. I wonder why brokers haven’t been punished for promoting FTX since they don’t appear to have properly researched the company? For decades, the media, politicians, bureaucrats, the United Nations, scientists, educators, entertainers, and others have been running con games that dwarf the FTX scheme; so where’s their trial and conviction? Most notably, they’ve indoctrinated the public with the lie that the science is settled that humans and our use of natural resources cause temperatures and sea levels to rise, which in turn cause storms to be more...