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Has El Salvador’s bitcoin gamble paid off?

Nov 8, 2023
Two years after El Salvador approved bitcoin as legal tender, only 1% of remittances are in bitcoin and many people don’t use it.
Coffee shop owner Gabe Gutierrez said bitcoin accounts for 5% to 10% of his sales.
BBC

Crypto is one way Hamas gets its funding

But it's only one tool for evading sanctions. And it's actually easier to track cryptocurrency movement than you might think.
In April, Hamas announced it would no longer be taking donations in crypto because law enforcement has been able "to trace and track these flows," said Ari Redbord of TRM Labs.
Jack Taylor/Getty Images

The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried provides early lessons for crypto

Oct 12, 2023
"There were red flags all over FTX," said the New York Times' David Yaffe-Bellany. "Even in the kind of renegade world of crypto, these sort of lessons from traditional finance still apply."
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried at a bail hearing on Aug. 11.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Despite EU crypto sanctions, Russians are still using digital currencies

Sep 25, 2023
Crypto sanctions have caused headaches for many anti-war Russians who fled abroad, but crypto use within Russia is still common.
The goal of the the European Union's crypto restrictions is to stop sanctioned Russians from finding loopholes to move money out of Russia.
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

In "Easy Money," crypto's central premise is put to the test

Jul 18, 2023
The cryptocurrency industry seeks to create a decentralized, peer-to-peer means of exchange, but is it really just a speculative bubble?
"Cryptocurrencies are not currencies, economically speaking, because they don't do what money does," says actor and author Ben McKenzie.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Regulate crypto? Sure. But how? 

Jul 14, 2023
Both regulators and crypto bros cheer a ruling on Ripple Labs. Many call the regulatory framework governing digital assets outmoded.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

What's behind the SEC lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance?

Jun 6, 2023
Are cryptocurrencies securities like stocks and bonds? There isn't consensus, but the answer would make a huge difference to the crypto industry.
The SEC is accusing crypto exchange Coinbase of trading cryptocurrencies that the agency says should be registered as securities.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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At bitcoin's annual convention, few feel the chill of crypto winter

May 31, 2023
Attendance was down from last year at Bitcoin 2023 in Miami, but faith in the cryptocurrency held on strong.
The Bitcoin Bazaar at Bitcoin 2023 in Miami Beach, where true believers in the cryptocurrency and critics of "centralized anything" gathered.
Matt Levin/Marketplace

How a mathematician and an entrepreneur took a bite out of crypto crime

Apr 24, 2023
The blockchain has a secret: It contains all the clues needed to connect underground purchases to people in the real world.
Some people are using the blockchain to track criminals who deal in cryptocurrency.
Geoffroy van der Hasselt

What would happen if paper money became obsolete?

Apr 21, 2023
A large number of Americans have gone cashless, but many still have to rely on it.
Cash is still here to stay.
OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images