Central African Republic president launches crypto initiative following Bitcoin adoption

The Sango project’s plans include building a "legal crypto hub," expanding the adoption of Bitcoin, and creating a “crypto island” — a special economic zone in the metaverse. Faustin-Archange Touadéra, president of the Central African Republic, has announced the government will be backing an initiative centered around developing the country’s blockchain infrastructure.In a Monday announcement on Twitter, Touadéra said the CAR government would be launching Sango, a crypto initiative proposed following the country’s adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in April.

Eminem And Snoop Dogg Team Up, The Video Features Bored Ape Yacht Club Imagery

Is the Bored Ape Yacht Club responsible for this collaboration? Hip hop legends and worldwide icons Snoop Dogg and Eminem join forces once again for the single “From The D 2 The LBC.” The video is basically a BAYC ad and the duo premiered the song at Apefest, the Bored Ape Yacht Club multi-day party that was part of the NFT.NYC conference.

Crypto Biz: Crypto was in full swing at Collision Conference, June 17-23

Despite the bear market in Bitcoin and altcoins, the industry's builders continue to build for a brighter future.

Ripple CEO criticizes SEC for 'contradictions' on crypto regulations

“The SEC [decided] to do regulation through enforcement, which is not efficient and really I think has stifled innovation in the United States," said Brad Garlinghouse. Brad Garlinghouse, the chief executive officer of Ripple Labs, has claimed the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has inconsistently imposed regulations on crypto firms in the country. Speaking to Wired editor-in-chief at the Collision conference in Toronto on Thursday, Garlinghouse pointed to Ripple’s current legal battle with the SEC, in which the federal regulator has alleged the company’s executives conducted an "unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering" with XRP token sales.

The community-centered approach to Web3 — Aave founder and CEO

"What if we actually can have ownership on our own presence in social media — our profiles, our social identities?” asked Stani Kulechov. Aave (AAVE) founder and CEO Stani Kulechov said the firm was continuing to develop its decentralized social media platform, with Web3 potentially changing the way many view ownership.Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Collision conference in Toronto on Thursday, Kulechov said Web3 — a buzzword often thrown around, which generally describes the next evolution of an internet based on blockchain technology — could impact how people use social media in much the same way cryptocurrency changed perceptions on finance.

From Autonomous Cities to US Presidency: The Future Is Now Film Shows What Blockchain Leaders Think About Governance

The first cinematographic NFT project “The Future Is Now Film” shows what blockchain leaders think of future governance systems: will there be even tighter centralization, a symbiosis of traditional and new methods of control or do we need a totally new governance system to replace the old one? Answers to these questions can be found in the two latest episodes, “Transforming The Future” and “Aligning The Future”, which were filmed at the AIBC Summit UAE 2021 in Dubai and Blockchance EU conference in Hamburg.

Institutions are exploring the space — KPMG Canada crypto team

Kareem Sadek and Kunal Bhasin said the team had seen “a lot of momentum” around the tokenization of assets but was also considering the potential growth of NFTs and the Metaverse. The Canadian operations of Big Four auditor Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, or KPMG, may have a role to play in institutions entering the crypto space, according to two team members.Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Collision conference in Toronto on Tuesday, Kareem Sadek and Kunal Bhasin of KPMG Canada’s crypto assets and blockchain services team said the company had added Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to its balance sheet to show others it “had skin in the game.” According to Sadek, holding digital assets was just the first step moving deeper into the crypto space.“We thought it’s better to go through the journey ourselves — show the community we’re part of it, we’re supportive of the community,” said Bhasin.

Meet the Snoop Dogg impersonator who walked around NFT.NYC

Doop Snogg, the impersonator, was hired to “drum up excitement” at the NFT.NYC conference.

MetaWeek to Return to Dubai and to Bring Big Brands That Move Into the Metaverse

[PRESS RELEASE – Dubai, UAE, 16th June 2022] The second edition of the MetaWeek conference will take place on September 11-14, 2022 in Dubai.

Hester Peirce expresses strong support for crypto spot ETFs and regulatory structure

The pro-crypto SEC commissioner and “Crypto Mom” had sharp words for SEC behavior toward Bitcoin spot ETF sponsorship applicants, delivered at a libertarian forum. United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Hester Peirce, sometimes known as Crypto Mom for her ardent support of the industry, spoke Tuesday at a conference hosted by the conservative-libertarian Federalist Society titled “Regulating the New Crypto Ecosystem: Necessary Regulation or Crippling Future Innovation?” Her lengthy remarks — over 4,000 words in the prepared version, which was augmented extemporaneously as she presented it — contain some of the bluntest criticisms of SEC policy she has made yet.Peirce characterized the SEC’s attitude toward the crypto market as a “refusal to engage” and suggested that the SEC’s refusal so far to approve a spot-traded Bitcoin (BTC) product showed the agency’s determination to hold everything related to Bitcoin to a higher standard than other products it regulates.

PlayDapp Makes 3 Major Announcements During Consensus 2022

[PRESS RELEASE – Wilmington, Delaware, 15th June 2022] At the recent Consensus 2022 Conference, The Blockchain Middleware Provider Announced The Launch Of A Metaverse Virtual World, A New Play-to-earn Baseball Game And An Update On PlayDapp – IPX Partnership.

CONSENSUS 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: PlayDapp Makes 3 Major Announcements at the World’s Largest Blockchain Conference

At The recent Consensus 2022 Conference, The Blockchain Middleware Provider Announced The Launch Of A Metaverse Virtual World, A New Play-to-earn Baseball Game And An Update On PlayDapp - IPX Partnership (Read More)

A Fool's Game: Bill Gates criticizes the intangible value of NFTs

Speaking at a conference on climate change, Gates affirmed his apprehension about the asset class, stating that it is "100% based on greater fool theory." Tech billionaire, and currently the world’s fourth-richest person, Bill Gates, spoke at the TechCrunch climate change conference Tuesday about the progress society has made in supporting the climate movement, his assessment of current global economics, alongside his skepticism of NFTs. The NFT market has closely correlated the tumultuous financial decline of cryptocurrencies over the past few months, as previously sought-after collections resort in the vicinity of 60-80% reductions in value.

El Salvador 'has not had any losses' due to Bitcoin price dive, finance minister says

Salvadoran minister Alejandro Zelaya brushed off the media criticism of the nation’s investments in Bitcoin. Alejandro Zelaya, the minister of finance of El Salvador, reacted to the recent media attacks on the nation’s strategy of investing in Bitcoin (BTC) by calling the allegations of fiscal risks “extremely superficial.”During a press conference held on Monday, Zelaya responded to a journalist's question about the government's reaction to Bitcoin's sharp dip in an emotional manner: “There is a clear criticism of Bitcoin as such, not of El Salvador's strategy.

Consensus 2022: Web3, unpacking regulations, and optimism for crypto’s future

Despite crypto winter, the conference drew in 17,000 people to discuss the crypto regulatory landscape, Web3 development and the future of digital assets.

UNFCCC weighs blockchain use cases to fight climate change with Cointelegraph

During the DigitalArt4Climate press conference, Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Cornèr took over the stage to understand the various blockchain initiatives that actively fight climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) along with climate change entrepreneurs and Cointelegraph delved into discussing the role of emerging technologies such as blockchain in solving global issues including climate change.During the DigitalArt4Climate press conference, Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Cornèr took over the stage to understand the various blockchain initiatives that actively fight climate change.

American Express To Offer Their First Crypto Rewards Credit Card

American Express is rolling out it’s first-ever crypto rewards credit card as part of a partnership with Abra, according to a joint announcement at this week’s crypto conference Consensus in Austin.

Second Circuit Court Order's Terraform Labs and Do Kwon to Comply With SEC's Subpoena

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling that compels blockchain startup, Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon into complying with a September 2021 Subpoena served him at a New York Conference (Read More)

Kazakhstan’s central bank ‘isn’t going to ignore’ the crypto market

According to the chairman, the central bank will decide on implementing its own digital currency by the end of 2022. While Kazakhstan’s government is catching up with the tremendous volume of crypto mining in the country by introducing new taxes and regulations, the local central bank intends to explore the possibilities that crypto offers. On Tuesday, June 7 during the press conference the chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Bank Galymzhan Pirmatov stated that the nation aims to extract the profit from technologies the cryptocurrency market could provide.

Fed governor explains who needs crypto regulation and why demand for it is growing

Experienced investors know how to survive, Christopher Waller reasons, but there can be wide repercussions when small investors are hit with losses. Regulation is needed to open the crypto ecosystem to a larger public, United States Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller told an audience at the SNB-CIF Conference on Cryptoassets and Financial Innovation in Zurich, Switzerland.

NFTs with Utility: STEPN, NFTY Labs, Wax, and Gomu Predict What's Next

Shiti Manghani of STEPN, Ty Blackard of NFTY Labs, William Quigley of Wax blockchain, and Spencer Yang of Gomu talk with Decrypt's Dan Roberts about how the next era of NFTs will have utility and real-world use cases, as part of CoinMarketCap's The Capital virtual conference.

Kraken's Dan Held Talks Bitcoin Maximalism and Crypto Winter

Dan Held, a longtime Bitcoin influencer and now head of growth marketing at crypto exchange Kraken, talks to Decrypt's Dan Roberts about Bitcoin maximalists (he calls himself a "mostalist"), NFTs, and Crypto Winter as part of CoinMarketCap's The Capital virtual conference.

Apple's upcoming developer conference sparks rumors of NFT trading cards

The Worldwide Developer Conference 2022, hosted by Apple, will be held online between June 6–10, and feature some of the leading experts and advocates within the tech field. In the lead-up to the 33rd edition of the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WDDC) set to commence on June 6, tech giant Apple has unveiled plans to showcase the developments of four new devices and software models: iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey and watchOS 8.Alongside this, fanatical forums such as MacRumours, which center their coverage around supporting and debating Apple’s progress, discovered that by clicking on the Memoji characters, an augmented reality mode is revealed with three trading card characters available to be claimed.Source: MacRumoursThe Memoji characters have become a consistent fixture in Apple’s consumer branding strategy over the past few years, as the company recognized the cultural affiliation for memes and mascot brand marketing.At WWDC, these cards are expected to be positioned as Web2 elements used solely for collectible purposes, with no intrinsic or tradable value.However, on account of their visual similarity to the avatars of RTFKT Studios’ CloneX and animated cards of Gary Vaynerchuk’s VeeFriends Series 2, the Easter egg feature has sparked some speculation within the nonfungible token (NFT) community about the potential of future Apple NFTs.During Apple’s Q1 2022 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook shared optimism for the societal adoption of augmented reality and metaverse technologies, outlining the company’s intentions to “invest accordingly” in the emerging sector.Apple’s mixed-reality headset, offering both virtual and augmented functionalities, was slated to be released during the WWDC conference, but after experiencing technical setbacks in development, that prospect seems unlikely.Related: 1inch launches mobile wallet on Apple iOSThe company recently applied for a trademark license for RealityOS, which is purporte

Crypto knocking on the WEF's door: The view from Davos

A look back on the week that was the World Economic Forum and how crypto might have stolen the show.