Wright Decision & Paypal Allowing Crypto: Bad Crypto News of the Week
Check out this week’s Bad Crypto podcast.
It’s been a relatively calm time for Bitcoin this week. The price has dropped a little, but not much and it’s still tickling $10,000. That makes concerns about a correction that takes the coin as low as $7,700 feel moot. If it happens, some experts say it would be a buying opportunity. Others though, think that price would be great for sellers. Investor Jim Rogers thinks that Bitcoin will eventually fall to zero and fade away.
Max Keiser hopes that Rogers is wrong. The RT television personality has been saying that buying Bitcoin is the best way to address the social and economic problems highlighted in America’s recent demonstrations. Tearing down statues does nothing, he says. Only Bitcoin will change the world.
For that to happen, Bitcoin needs to be easier to buy and sell. That’s happening. PayPal and Venmo are said to have plans to allow crypto trades. LibertyX, best known for its Bitcoin ATMs, now lets customers buy Bitcoins over the counter at 7-Eleven, CVS Pharmacy, and Rite Aid. And in Australia, customers can now buy Bitcoins at more than 3,500 local post offices.
As mass take-up increases though, platforms will need to be more careful. Robinhood has promised to make improvements after a 20-year-old customer committed suicide. Alexander Kearns had reportedly seen a negative balance of $730,000 in his account. The balance was an error.
Wirecard, an issuer of cryptocurrency debit cards, is missing about $2.1 billion. According to reports in the Financial Times, employees in Dubai and Dublin have been inflating sales and profits for nearly a decade.
In other inflated claims, Satoshi-pretender Craig Wright won’t receive court sanctions. U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom has ruled that a jury should decide on the “unsettling issues” relating to Wright’s credibility and behavior. Wright says that the court should take his autism into account.
Technology firms might need to take the government into account if a new bill passes in the Senate. The Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act, sponsored by Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), would require service providers and device makers to give the government access to encrypted data.
Things are looking a bit better in Sweden. The country’s central bank has released a review that takes a long look at digital currencies in general and at the e-krona in particular.
That would take a central bank where no other central bank has gone before—which is what William Shatner has done. The first captain of the Starship Enterprise has turned his memorabilia into non-fungible tokens traded on the WAX blockchain. He could find that the blockchain is a good place to retire. It’s working for CryptoKitties. Upland has set aside an island in its virtual world for the digital cats to spend their time and enjoy the beaches. It sounds like next week is going to calm for some.
Check out the audio version here:
Joel Comm is an internet pioneer, New York Times best-selling author, futurist speaker and co-host of The Bad Crypto Podcast. That’s a fancy way of saying he writes words, says things and loves to play with cryptos
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
