Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

The board of advisers at the digital chamber is stuffed with former federal regulators, including a former member of Congress and a recent chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, J. Christopher Giancarlo, who was named to the board of BlockFi, a financial services company that tries to link cryptocurrencies with traditional wealth managers.

Max Baucus, the Democratic former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Jim Messina, a former top Obama adviser, also have recently been named to senior industry posts.

Lobbying disclosure records show that at least 65 contracts as of early 2021 addressed industry matters such as digital currency, cryptocurrency or blockchain, up from about 20 in 2019. Some of the biggest spenders on lobbying include Ripple, Coinbase the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States and trade groups like the Blockchain Association.

The lobbying burst is one of several recent signs nationwide that the industry is becoming a bigger presence in the economy. FTX, the cryptocurrency trading firm, is spending $135 million to secure the naming rights to the home arena of the Miami Heat.

The billionaire Elon Musk, who hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, was asked about Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency featuring the face of a Shiba Inu dog that was created as a joke but has recently surged in value. Its the future of currency. Its an unstoppable financial vehicle thats going to take over the world, Mr. Musk said, before adding, Yeah, its a hustle. The price of Dogecoin plunged nearly 35 percent in the hours after the show aired.

With the industrys hires of recent government officials, claims of conflicts of interest are already starting to emerge.

Jay Clayton, who was the S.E.C. chairman until December, is now a paid adviser to the hedge fund One River Digital Asset Management, which invests hundreds of millions in Bitcoin and Ether, two cryptocurrencies, for its clients. Mr. Clayton declined to comment.

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As Scrutiny of Cryptocurrency Grows, the Industry Turns to K Street - The New York Times

When federal regulators late last year accused one of the worlds most popular cryptocurrency platforms of illegally selling $1.38 billion worth of digital money to investors, it was a pivotal moment in efforts to crack down on a fast-growing market and in the still-nascent industrys willingness to dive deeply into the Washington influence game.

The company, Ripple Labs, has enlisted lobbyists, lawyers and other well-connected advocates to make its case to the Securities and Exchange Commission and beyond in one of the first big legal battles over what limits and requirements the government should set for trading and using digital currency.

Ripple has hired two lobbying firms in the past three months. It has retained a consulting firm staffed with former aides to both Hillary Clinton and former President Donald J. Trump to help it develop strategy in Washington. And to defend itself against the S.E.C., it hired Mary Jo White, a former chairwoman of the commission during the Obama administration.

Ripple is just one of a long list of cryptocurrency companies scrambling for influence in Washington as the Biden administration begins setting policy that could shape the course of a potentially revolutionary industry that is rapidly moving into the mainstream and drawing intensifying attention from financial regulators, law enforcement officials and lawmakers.

There is a tectonic shift underway, Perianne Boring, the president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a cryptocurrency lobbying group, told other industry lobbyists, executives and two House lawmakers who serve as industry champions, during a virtual gathering last month. If we dont start planning and taking action soon, we have everything to risk.

So far, cryptocurrency has been a highly volatile investment, but it is already starting to alter the way individuals, companies and even some central banks do business. Firms like Ripple, which is based in San Francisco, run cryptocurrency platforms that allow customers to make nearly instant global payments through a system that operates largely outside government monetary networks.

Globally, the value of all outstanding cryptocurrency has jumped to about $2.4 trillion or more than the approximately $1.2 trillion of United States currency in circulation worldwide from about $200 billion two years ago. This is from an industry that was born only a dozen years ago, when the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was introduced.

As the stakes have grown, so has the recognition that the industrys future at least in the United States will be shaped in Washington, prompting the rush to scoop up well-connected advocates.

The board of advisers at the digital chamber is stuffed with former federal regulators, including a former member of Congress and a recent chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, J. Christopher Giancarlo, who was named to the board of BlockFi, a financial services company that tries to link cryptocurrencies with traditional wealth managers.

Max Baucus, the Democratic former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Jim Messina, a former top Obama adviser, also have recently been named to senior industry posts.

Lobbying disclosure records show that at least 65 contracts as of early 2021 addressed industry matters such as digital currency, cryptocurrency or blockchain, up from about 20 in 2019. Some of the biggest spenders on lobbying include Ripple, Coinbase the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States and trade groups like the Blockchain Association.

The lobbying burst is one of several recent signs nationwide that the industry is becoming a bigger presence in the economy. FTX, the cryptocurrency trading firm, is spending $135 million to secure the naming rights to the home arena of the Miami Heat.

The billionaire Elon Musk, who hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, was asked about Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency featuring the face of a Shiba Inu dog that was created as a joke but has recently surged in value. Its the future of currency. Its an unstoppable financial vehicle thats going to take over the world, Mr. Musk said, before adding, Yeah, its a hustle. The price of Dogecoin plunged nearly 35 percent in the hours after the show aired.

With the industrys hires of recent government officials, claims of conflicts of interest are already starting to emerge.

Jay Clayton, who was the S.E.C. chairman until December, is now a paid adviser to the hedge fund One River Digital Asset Management, which invests hundreds of millions in Bitcoin and Ether, two cryptocurrencies, for its clients. Mr. Clayton declined to comment.

The day before Mr. Clayton resigned from the S.E.C., the agency filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, which competes with Bitcoin, alleging that the company had improperly raised $1.3 billion from investors through what the agency claimed was effectively an illegal stock offering.

Binance.US, which runs a cryptocurrency exchange, this month hired as its chief executive Brian P. Brooks, who until January served as the acting head of the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, which helps regulate banks. The day before he stepped down, the agency granted a conditional charter to Anchorage Digital Bank, making it the countrys first national cryptocurrency bank. A spokeswoman for Mr. Brooks said Binance was not a bank, so there was no conflict.

Ripples new lobbying firms include one that was recently set up by K. Michael Conaway, a Republican who until this year served as a House member from Texas and helped push pro-cryptocurrency legislation last year. Mr. Conaway is banned from lobbying his former colleagues for a year.

So Ripple has enlisted Mr. Conaways former chief of staff, who is also a partner at the lobbying firm but is no longer subject to the revolving-door ban, to lobby on bills pending in Congress.

Among the other firms working for Ripple is Teneo led by Declan Kelly, a former aide to Mrs. Clinton which has assigned Tony Sayegh, a senior Treasury Department official during the Trump administration, to help shape its communications strategy in Washington.

So far, the industry has not become a big player in campaign contributions, although there are major exceptions, like Sam Bankman-Fried, the 29-year-old billionaire founder of FTX, who donated $5 million in October to a political action committee that backed President Biden. (Mr. Bankman-Fried said in an interview that his donation was not an attempt to influence industry regulation, but that he does want to participate in the discussion.)

The cryptocurrency industry has a long list of lobbying goals, detailed in an eight-page letter sent to Mr. Biden in March that called for the government to settle on a clear set of policies with a light-touch regulatory approach.

The regulatory questions relate to at least two key parts of the cryptocurrency industry: so-called tokens, which are the currencies themselves, like Bitcoin, and platforms like Ripple that allow rapid money transfers with these cryptocurrencies, or the buying and selling of them, like Coinbase.

But considerable tension remains over existing federal rules, with public sparring among rival companies like Coinbase and Binance, a sign of how hard it will be to reach consensus on any new regulations.

Industry leaders are at least somewhat hopeful that it will have more support from the Biden administration than it did from the Trump administration, pointing out, for example, that Gary Gensler, the new S.E.C. chairman, taught courses about blockchain technology at M.I.T.

At his confirmation hearing in March, Mr. Gensler said cryptocurrencies had brought new thinking to the world of payments and financial inclusion. However, he indicated that he would strike a balance between encouraging new financial technology to flourish and protecting investors.

The cryptocurrency industry is less optimistic about Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, who expressed deep concern this year about Bitcoin.

It is a highly speculative asset, and I think people should beware, it can be extremely volatile, Ms. Yellen said at a New York Times DealBook event in February. And I do worry about potential losses that investors in it could suffer.

One sign of the industrys growing clout in Washington came during the closing days of the Trump administration, when the Treasury Department proposed a rule to curb the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering by requiring companies handling certain transactions over $3,000 to know the names and addresses of the customer and the recipient.

Even before Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the proposed rule in December, he was targeted in industry appeals to delay or abandon the idea.

In the early days of the internet, there were people who called for it to be regulated like the phone companies, Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of Coinbase, wrote on Twitter in November, adding that he had sent a letter to Treasury to object. Thank goodness they didnt.

Thousands of such comments have been sent to Treasury.

Among those raising concerns was Sigal Mandelker, who until late 2019 was the top Treasury official overseeing the financial crimes agency that proposed the tighter rule, after her departure. She now works for Ribbit Capital, which is an investor in Coinbase and other cryptocurrency industry players and joined the chorus objecting to Treasurys plan. Ms. Mandelker did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Mnuchin backed down and pushed off final action to the Biden administration, which has extended the comment period and is considering how to proceed.

The Ripple enforcement case brought by the S.E.C. in December centers on whether a digital asset the company sold, called XRP, should be defined as a security or a commodity, a major distinction in terms of regulation.

Ripple asserts that XRP is effectively a currency, and like any currency or commodity can be bought and sold without S.E.C. intervention. But the agency argues that each sale of XRP is like a stock or bond trade, meaning a buyer is effectively acquiring a stake in Ripple when purchasing the asset. As a result, the S.E.C. argues that Ripple should have registered with the agency and provided extensive public disclosures like those required with stock or bond offerings.

Ripple, which in 2019 became one of the first cryptocurrency companies to open a lobbying office in Washington, has aggressively pushed back, successfully asking a federal judge to force the S.E.C. to turn over what the agency considers confidential internal documents.

Stuart Alderoty, Ripples general counsel, said that in the absence of clear cryptocurrency rules, the federal government was effectively creating regulatory policy via enforcement, an approach that is confusing and harmful to investors and the industry.

If you have a responsible player in the industry, they are going to be engaging with policymakers, he said.

The S.E.C. case against Ripple has helped persuade industry players on the sidelines to get involved.

The industry needs to accept that good legislation and regulation is what is required, not no regulation, said John E. Deaton, a lawyer who has moved to intervene in the enforcement action against Ripple. Because right now it is like the Wild, Wild West, and you have different federal agencies fighting over which one has jurisdiction.

The House this month passed a bill backed by industry lobbyists to create a working group of federal regulators, industry executives, investor protection groups and others to examine possible frameworks for a regulatory system.

We need to get the big prize done, Representative Darren Soto, Democrat of Florida and a member of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, a group of lawmakers working with the industry to help promote cryptocurrencies, told the industry conference last month. Which is the statutes and jurisdiction and definitions to create that certainty, to really let blockchain and cryptocurrency flow and improve in the United States.

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As scrutiny of cryptocurrency grows, industry turns to Washington lobbyists - Business Standard

A representation of virtual currency Ethereum are seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken February 19, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Ether , the world's second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin , on Thursday extended a breakaway rally to a new record high of $3,616.10, gathering momentum as investors diverted focus from its main rival.

On the Bitstamp Exchange ether was last up about 4.0% at $3,568.92. Bitcoin was down 0.3% at $57,353.03 and about 11% below its record intraday high at $64,895.22 set on April 14.

Ether, the token traded over the ethereum blockchain, topped $3,000 for the first time on Monday. It is up more than 385% this year, compared with 96% for bitcoin.

The rise is in part a spillover from flows into bitcoin, which has grown in stature as big-name investors from Elon Musk's carmaker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) to Wall Street investor Stanley Druckenmiller bought in.

"Ethereum has been able to maintain its positive momentum, a crushing series of all-time highs in the past week," said Konstantin Anissimov, executive director at cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO.

"The current all-time high has reignited the ambitious sentiment that ethereum may eventually flippen (supplant) bitcoin by market capitalization in the near future."

Also, a technical adjustment called EIP (ethereum improvement proposal) 1559, expected to reduce the supply of ethereum and go live in July, has provided a lift for the digital currency.

Still, there is a speculative frenzy going on in the asset class. Joke cryptocurrency dogecoin is up by 24,000% over the last 12 months and is now the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. read more

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Cryptocurrency ether rises to new record high over $3600 - Reuters

Cryptocurrency has been making waves in the investing world, and many investors may be wondering whether it's time to jump on the crypto bandwagon.

While it's true that some cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), have experienced phenomenal returns over the past few months, that doesn't necessarily mean they're a safe investment.

Cryptocurrency is highly speculative at this point, and nobody knows what kind of staying power it has. Although it could change the world, it could just as easily crash and burn. Right now, it's too soon to tell what the future has in store for cryptocurrency.

Image source: Getty Images.

In addition, crypto is famous for its volatility. Bitcoin lost roughly 80% of its value at one point, and since the beginning of the year, it has experienced a roller coaster of ups and downs. Not all investors have the stomach for that type of turbulence.

However, if you're eager to invest in cryptocurrency but want to limit your risk, there's another option: crypto stocks.

When most people think of investing in cryptocurrency, they think of investing directly in the currency itself. But it's possible to invest in crypto without actually investing in crypto.

A crypto stock is a company that is involved in cryptocurrency in some way. That could mean the company offers crypto as a form of payment, it may have invested in crypto, or maybe it builds the technology behind digital currencies.

Take Tesla, for example. The company announced this year that it made a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin, and it also accepts Bitcoin as a form of payment.

NVIDIA is another example of a crypto stock. The tech company designs and builds graphics processing units (GPUs), which are often used in the creation of cryptocurrency.

If you were to invest in Tesla or NVIDIA, you wouldn't be investing in cryptocurrency directly. However, if crypto does become mainstream and is adopted as a standard form of currency, these companies could benefit from it. As a result, your investments could thrive.

Crypto stocks are generally safer than investing in cryptocurrency directly. This is because crypto is only a portion of these companies' businesses. If digital currencies fail to see long-term success, the companies themselves likely won't crash along with them.

Although crypto stocks may be less risky than investing in cryptocurrency itself, there are still a couple of things to consider before investing.

First, look at the company as a whole to decide whether it's a solid investment. In other words, don't invest in a stock only because of the cryptocurrency factor. The best investments are the companies that have solid fundamentals and are likely to remain strong over the long term. If they happen to be invested in crypto as well, that's an added bonus.

Also, make sure you have a well-diversified portfolio if you decide to invest in crypto stocks. Building a diversified portfolio is a smart move regardless of where you choose to invest, but it can help limit your risk even further if your crypto stocks don't perform well.

Investing in crypto stocks can be a smart way to diversify into cryptocurrency while limiting your risk. Just be sure you're choosing your investments wisely and opting for stocks that have strong underlying fundamentals. By investing for the long term, you're more likely to see success with crypto stocks.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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1 Simple (and Safer) Way to Invest in Cryptocurrency - The Motley Fool

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg via Getty Images

LONDON Cryptocurrencies "have no intrinsic value" and people who invest in them should be prepared to lose all their money, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said.

Digital currencies like bitcoin, ether and even dogecoin have been on a tear this year, reminding some investors of the 2017 crypto bubble in which bitcoin blasted toward $20,000, only to sink as low as $3,122 a year later.

Asked at a press conference Thursday about the rising value of cryptocurrencies, Bailey said: "They have no intrinsic value. That doesn't mean to say people don't put value on them, because they can have extrinsic value. But they have no intrinsic value."

"I'm going to say this very bluntly again," he added. "Buy them only if you're prepared to lose all your money."

Bailey's comments echoed a similar warning from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority.

"Investing in cryptoassets, or investments and lending linked to them, generally involves taking very high risks with investors' money," the financial services watchdog said in January.

"If consumers invest in these types of product, they should be prepared to lose all their money."

Bailey, who was formerly the chief executive of the FCA, has long been a skeptic of crypto. In 2017, he warned: "If you want to invest in bitcoin, be prepared to lose all your money."

Bitcoin is up over 90% this year, thanks in part to rising interest from institutional investors and corporate buyers such as Tesla. The electric car firm bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin earlier this year, and the value of its holdings have since risen to nearly $2.5 billion.

Proponents of bitcoin see it as a store of value akin to gold because of its scarce supply only 21 million bitcoins can ever be minted arguing that the cryptocurrency can act as a hedge against inflation as central banks around the world print money to relieve coronavirus-battered economies.

However, skeptics view bitcoin as a market bubble waiting to burst. Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Securities, said bitcoin's rally looks like the "mother of all bubbles," while Alvine Capital's Stephen Isaacs said there are "no fundamentals with this product, period."

Alternative digital currencies have made even larger gains than bitcoin. Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, has seen returns of more than 360% year to date, while meme-inspired crypto dogecoin is up a whopping 12,500%.

Analysts have attributed dogecoin's rise to tweets from celebrities like Tesla's Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, as well as retail investors buying the token on the free-trading app Robinhood. David Kimberley, an analyst at U.K. investing app Freetrade, described the dogecoin rally as "a classic example of greater fool theory at play," referring to the practice of selling overvalued assets to investors who are willing to pay a higher price.

At the same time, central banks are considering whether to issue their own digital currencies. Last month, the Bank of England launched a joint taskforce with the Treasury aimed at exploring central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. Such a currency would exist alongside cash and bank deposits rather than replacing them, the bank said.

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Cryptocurrency investors should be prepared to lose all their money, Bank of England governor says - CNBC

Julie Hyman, Brian Sozzi, and Myles Udland discuss the flow of cryptocurrency as Dogecoin slows and Ethereum rises.

JULIE HYMAN: --open, and we got to talk about cryptocurrencies here this morning, following Elon Musk's star turn on Saturday Night Live. We'll leave the reviews of his performance aside. Well, maybe we won't. I thought he was fine. But he did, of course, as expected, talk about Dogecoin.

But, well, maybe those Dogecoiners didn't get what they bargained for, as we saw the price fall. And he basically said, it's a hustle, right, during the news update portion of it. Myles, you know, I guess this illustrates just what Dogecoin is all about, which is not much. But at the same time, we're seeing things like Ethereum go higher. So I don't know. What's our sort of Musk, SNL, Dogecoin correlation chart look like this morning?

MYLES UDLAND: Well, did you think that-- do you think that he was imitating Tom Kean with the bow tie? Because that was my thought, is that--

JULIE HYMAN: Oh.

MYLES UDLAND: --he trying to find, like, venerated financial commentator. And you kind of have two options. You could try to be Jim Cramer, which would be a jacket-- well, let's see, no jacket, tie, rolled up sleeves, bang the table, or you do the bow tie look with the glasses, which is what Elon went. And I sort of thought he was basically imitating versions of us, but no one's going to imitate any of the three of us on the air. But they might imitate Tom Kean. So maybe that was kind of my thought with that.

And I thought it was, you know, sure, it's a hustle, whatever. I think people's focus on the action in Doge during SNL, like, whatever. I mean, I'm surprised by myself, honestly, at how little interest I have in trying to get involved in the Doge conversation or the crypto conversation. But you know what? It just doesn't excite me maybe to the extent that it should, given this environment.

There we see in the real stock market, things that are not just vibes, or whatever we want to call them, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Coke Euro PAC Partners, CCET. Of course, there are multiple Coke-related tickers out there, KO, the main ones, CCET ringing the bell down on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. But let's stay on the important news, Julie. Talk a bit more about SNL.

Story continues

JULIE HYMAN: Well, all I was going to say is what's interesting here is that we're starting to see more differentiation among the cryptocurrencies. That perhaps is an interesting takeaway. I mean, the action in Dogecoin is pretty parallel to what we saw with the so-called Doge Day, right, on 4/20, where there was a lot of talk about it going up to the day, and then it fell on the day itself. You know, classic sort of buy the rumor, sell the news or whatever version of that trope you want to use. And we see Ethereum going up today.

There don't seem to be a lot of catalysts, usually, for this stuff. But it does show the different flows and the ins and outs of the different cryptocurrencies. I don't know exactly what's driving what, but we do see the breakdown in correlation between them for what it's worth.

BRIAN SOZZI: And for what it's worth, Myles, if I was going on SNL this coming weekend, I would imitate you. No doubt about it, baby.

MYLES UDLAND: I mean, look, there's plenty there. It's just that everyone's going to be like, no one knows who that guy is. So it can't be-- like, you have to imitate a famous person. And I think Tom is probably famous enough, although, look, I mean, we all know the crossover between the Bloomberg surveillance audience and SNL watchers probably pretty limited.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, I don't know. I wonder kind of what the boomer audience of SNL is at this point in time. And PS, I would love to see Brian Sozzi's Myles Udland impression. Perhaps at our afternoon meeting, you can give us a little preview. All right, we are going to move it on to commodities here, because as we talked about at the top of the show, we're definitely seeing commodities movement.

And it's really across commodities, right? Whether you're talking about metals or energy or agriculture, all of that is going up. We're watching copper prices hit new highs. We talked about the spike in gasoline, although that was event-driven. And most of what we're seeing in commodities is supply, demand-driven much more broadly, right?

I was telling you guys in this morning's meeting, you know, more and more, we are seeing the real world consequences of this, whether it's Tyson talking about feed costs going up or, you know, the-- my livestock farmer, who I talked to at the farmer's market, talking about lumber prices going up for his barns and feed prices skyrocketing, as I noticed his prices going up. I mean, this stuff is making its way through the system.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, and--

MYLES UDLAND: Yeah, I mean, look--

BRIAN SOZZI: --it's amazing, Julie, that the market can absolutely care less. I mean, you have the Dow out of the gate here up on 170 points. You have that deep freeze in Texas a couple of months ago. The stock market still goes up here. To me, if this was a couple of years ago, I would have thought, well, maybe the market is down a couple hundred points here on the Dow in the early going. And it's not. And, Myles, I think we're continuing to watch the power of the Federal Reserve, their ability to put a lot of money into the system and essentially make any dips in the markets essentially viable.

MYLES UDLAND: Yeah, and look, I think we continue-- I mean, this story for 2021 is starting to come into focus, right? I mean, we don't-- I mean, it's the economic version of the medical supply story that hit in 2020. Last year, we didn't have enough PPE. We didn't have enough ventilators. We didn't have enough medical staff to take care of all the COVID patients. And now, we don't have enough workers. We don't have enough stuff, so it's commodities, inputs, whatever it might be, to provide for all the demand that is coming in from consumers.

And you can go almost infinite different directions with how that economic pressure is playing out. But it has been quite a long time since we have seen just this many real resource constraints on the economy, hitting all at once. And how it plays out, I don't think any of us really know. We all have sort of our ideas of where this goes. But it is certainly the most unique economic environment that we have seen, at least so far as I can recall.

JULIE HYMAN: And yet, it's not having that much of a depressive effect on stocks as--

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Cryptocurrency On the Move - Yahoo Finance

A major tumble in dogecoin prices has one of the most popular meme assets in the doghouse with investors on Mothers Day at least for the moment.

Dont miss: Dogecoin price flops as Elon Musk hosts Saturday Night Live

At last check Sunday evening, dogecoin DOGEUSD, -2.66% was changing hands at 55 cents, according to CoinDesk. The virtual coin had been down by as much as 36% overnight, hitting a low of around 47 cents in New York.

Its drop has driven the crypto below its 200-day moving average, which stands at 51.99 cents, according to Investing.com. A move above or below a 200-day moving average a proxy for changes in an assets long-term trend is always closely watched by traders for bullish and bearish trends.

Sundays slump was seen by some as bearish for doge after anticipation around Musks SNL appearance, as a patron of crypto broadly and dogecoin specifically, failed to deliver a jolt to doge.

One Reddit user appeared to blame doges fall on a lack of conviction by investors in doge, which was created in 2013 as a lighthearted riff on the emergence of a wave of alternatives to the worlds most prominent crypto, bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.26%.

Paper hands refers to investors that tend to sell easily rather than adhering to popular a strategy in the crypto world known as holding indefinitely or hodling.

Bullish talk about dogecoin by the chief executive of Tesla Inc. TSLA, -1.88% and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., had been a rallying point for the doge community,which had been eagerly anticipating his appearance, but dogecoin owners who had hoped his mention of the digital currency on TV would boost its price toward $1 were left disappointed.

Doge devotees have very publicly set a target of $1 for the coin in 2021, a number that might seem extremely modest at first glance but not when viewed through the lens that Doge traded at $0.005 on the final day of 2020.

So far in 2021, doge is up over 10,000%, even factoring in its recent pullback. Gains in traditional assets have been pedestrian set against dogecoin. Gold futures GC00, -0.38% are down 3% so far this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.36% and the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.87% are up by nearly 13% in 2021, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.09% has gained about over 6% so far this year.

NBC said that for the first time it livestreamed SNL internationally via YouTube in more than 100 countries, including Australia, Brazil and South Africa.

During SNLs Weekend Update, co-anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost pressed a fictional financial expert named Lloyd Ostertag, who was played by Musk, to explain dogecoin. His efforts werent successful: OK, but whatisDogecoin? was the constant refrain of the anchors. Eventually, they reach the conclusion, prompted by Che, that dogecoin is just a hustle.

Staunch supporters of dogecoin are advocating for investors to remain committed despite the major setback, which is likely caused by investors opportunistically deciding that it was a good time to take some profits on the speculative surge in doge.

Other purported investors in dogecoin on social media sites like Reddit implied that expectations for Musks SNL appearance to be a major catalyst for doge were likely overdone.

Some speculated that the decline in dogecoin was tied to large investor unwinding a big position:

Whale rumors come as Barry Silbert, a power player in the digital-asset sector, said hes betting against dogecoinand urged investors in one of the hottest trades in 2021 to convert their doge holdings into bitcoin via a Saturday tweet.

Silbert also said that he would donate $1 million to charity if dogecoin hit $1 by May 31.

The doge army, so far, has taken Silberts comments as an affront.

Still, others pointed to technical glitches on popular trading platform Robinhood Markets as contributing to some of the downturn in doge early Sunday.

Worth a read: A $25 billion dogecoin whale lurks, but Robinhood CEO says we dont have significant positions in any of the coins we keep

Popular financial blogger and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management in Midtown Manhattan, Josh Brown in a Saturday blog wrote that SNLs record spoofing on financial markets has tended to mark the top of most assets, including the speculative fervor around GameStop Corp. GME, +2.58% and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.

I think its worth pointing out that Saturday Night Live has done lots of stuff about financial markets and the economy recently and the sketches have actually been pretty funny. Unfortunately, theyve also marked the top in price or enthusiasm for the underlying subject matter, he wrote.

In the end, the dogecoin army is trying to look on the rosier side of things. Early investors are still enjoying major gains.

Its the newbie investors who are facing the most pain.

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What the dogecoin army is saying as the cryptocurrency's tumble triggers a bearish break in the long-term trend line - MarketWatch

The Telcoin crypto (TEL) started off with a disruptive mission. This isnt unique, per se. The teams behind lots of altcoins have visions of changing some aspect of the world. But that vision is often steeped in delusion and/or fantasy.

Telcoin very well could have fit into the delusional narrative not too long ago. After all, the team set out to compete with the likes of major banks and Western Union in the remittance market. Thats a major nut to crack. And even more difficult to dethrone the kings of the market. But this coin has made some major strides this year In fact, its value alone is wildly outpacing the red-hot crypto market as a whole.

Year-to-date, Telcoin is up some 30,000%. That could be seen as an almost normal figure from some new initial-coin-offering. See SafeMoon and Elongate. But Telcoin has been on the scene for a while. This isnt just some upstart with a clever marketing strategy thats being used to garner interest. Its been around since 2017. And by all appearances, the teams long-view tactics are beginning to pay off. Both for its investors and in terms of adoption.

Telcoin crypto recently spiked to an all-time high of $0.59. This is pretty big news. It hadnt traded for more than a single cent since January 2018. And between then and now it spent the lions share of that period trading at a hundredth of a cent or less. But the times they are a-changin.

Its worth noting that the Telecoin crypto hasnt been a big beneficiary of the various crypto booms. Its kept its head down and seemingly kept focused on the big mission and projects at hand. Namely, trying to figure out a way to make remittances a whole lot easier and cheaper.

This was never going to be a simple task. Not only is there a lot of opposition in the way, but there were a lot of regulations to overcome. And they havent all been overcome yet Not by a long shot. But there have been some breakthroughs worth noting.

Most recently, the Nebraska legislature advanced from the committee stage a bill that would allow institutions that connect consumers to each other (which have been mostly remittance companies) to allow crypto and decentralized finance into the equation.

This is the kind of thing Telcoin has been hoping for. And if it proves to be a catalyst for change, Telcoin may very well just be starting to move the needle.

Additionally, the Telcoin crypto team has announced a remittance service to help the transfer of funds between Canada and the Philippines. Again, these are the kinds of projects that can help propel the coin into mass adoption. And adoption has never been easier.

There have been live Telcoin crypto markets on several exchanges for a while now. In the past, you could pick up Telcoin on Kucoin, Uniswap and Balancer. This has made it fairly straightforward to invest in the coin for a while.

But the Telcoin team recently announced that it has been added to the QuickSwap decentralized exchange. The news of the QuickSwap listing definitely played a role in pushing up Telcoins value because this exchange operates on the Polygon protocol, which has lower fees. Additionally, the Polygon network offers appealing yield opportunities for liquidity providers on QuickSwap. So, investing in Telcoin has gotten a lot easier, cheaper and in turn, more profitable All of which has naturally pushed up its value.

The global remittance market was valued at more than $682 billion in 2018. Helping foreign migrants transfer money to their home countries is big business. And its got a lot of room to grow. Its anticipated that it will reach $930 billion by 2026.

Banks are projected to remain dominant in this market. But now that theres increasing competition, that could change. Because being able to send money home right from your phone is a whole lot easier than going to the bank. And with Telcoin, transfers are virtually instant. The network is equally secure as a bank. And Telcoin transfers are largely cheaper. The average cost of sending a remittance is more than 7%. Telcoin is working on getting its fees below 2% which isnt an insignificant difference.

And again, being able to send a remittance right from a phone is astronomically more simple. There are nearly five times more mobile phones than active bank accounts around the world. But right now, people are still lining up at banks and Western Unions to send remittances back home to family members. But with its iPhone and Android app, Telcoin crypto hopes to change all of that Which makes this a very interesting crypto to invest in especially if its able to successfully disrupt the remittance market.

Are you interested in other cryptos shaking up the markets? We suggest signing up for Manward Financial Digest. In it, Manward founder and crypto expert Andy Snyder uncovers investment opportunities of all stripes including the ever-volatile crypto markets.

Read next: The 5 Best Cryptocurrencies to Invest in for 2021

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Telcoin Crypto: How and Why to Invest in This Disruptive Cryptocurrency - Investment U

NEW YORK, May 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amun Holdings Limited, owner of 21Shares AG (21Shares) and Amun Inc., today announced successful fundraising efforts led by Morgan Creek Digital with participation from Anthony Pompliano, Managing Partner at Pomp Investments who previously co-founded Morgan Creek Digital; Collaborative Ventures; Quiet Ventures; and Catherine Wood, CEO of ARK Investment Management LLC, who serves as the independent member of Amuns Board of Directors. The shareholders of Amun Holdings Limited held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) last week and the fundraising round is expected to close this week.

Since launching the worlds first physically backed cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP) in 2018, 21Shares has established itself as an innovative first mover providing the largest number of ETPs with exposure to cryptocurrency markets in the world. As of May 2021, 21Shares now manages more than $2 billion in 14 cryptocurrency ETPs, including the worlds only ETPs tracking Binance, Bitcoin Cash, Tezos and most recently Stellar, Cardano and Polkadot.

21Shares also focuses on education through a series of data-driven research and insights in five languages. Reports include: State of Crypto (a quarterly print publication), valuation methodologies (e.g., Ethereum Investment Thesis), and single-asset primers (e.g., Cardano Primer).

We are excited to attract visionary investors such as Cathie Wood and Anthony Pompliano, as a great validation of our efforts and progress over the past three years, said Ophelia Snyder, Co-Founder and President of 21Shares.

Hany Rashwan, Co-Founder and CEO of 21Shares added, We are seeing unprecedented investor demand for exchange-traded crypto products that can be bought and sold as easily as a stock. Based on market opportunity, this year we are looking to expand our ETP product suite globally. Our investors commitment to 21Shares and the quality of our Board of Directors will help us advance our mission.

21Shares is forging a new path for crypto ETPs, by leading with research and a keen understanding of this developing asset class. I am thrilled to support its efforts, said Wood.

Pompliano added, I am excited to invest in 21Shares and the companys continued success providing institutional-grade research and products for the crypto market. It was obvious a few years ago that many more people would be hearing about Hany, Ophelia, and their innovative products, and I believe the same is true for 21Shares and its top quality leadership team that is creating unique solutions at the intersection of finance and crypto.

About 21Shares21Shares takes innovation to the next level with the largest suite of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the world. In 2018 it pioneered the worlds first cryptocurrency index listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange, and it continues powering its cryptocurrency franchise with cutting-edge research and groundbreaking approaches to product strategy. 21Shares aims to provide all investors with an easy, secure, and regulated way to buy, sell, and short cryptocurrency through existing bank and brokerage accounts. The 21Shares issuance platform, Onyx, is used by both 21Shares and third parties like Bitwise and Sygnum to issue and operate cryptocurrency ETPs around the world. For more information, visit http://www.21shares.com.

Contact:Kim Page312-553-6733kim.page@fticonsulting.com

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Amun and 21Shares, the Largest Issuer of Cryptocurrency ETPs, Announces Investors Including Catherine Wood and Anthony - GlobeNewswire

Experts warn it could be a sign of a bubble. Crypto Vs Cash

Cryptocurrency has hit a significant milestone: Its now worth more than all US dollars currently in circulation.

Cryptocurrencies hit a valuation of $2 trillion on April 29, according to The Wall Street Journal. Thats about the same valuation as all US dollars in circulation. However, it has since hit as high as $2.25 trillion and in the process actually exceeding dollars in circulation.

While the stat is incredibly fascinating and a solid indicator of cryptocurrencies growing popularity, its also a little misleading.

Thats because US dollars in circulation isnt all US dollars. After all, circulation refers to just physical cash and coins.

Its the same way that the cash in your pocket doesnt represent all of the money you have (hopefully). Most of your cash like the US dollar isnt liquid. It exists in banks, investments, and other intangible assets.

So while cryptocurrencies might be worth more than all the physical dollars and coins out there, it definitely is not worth more than all the money out there.

Cryptos boom is a part of a trend across numerous investment classes and categories such as real estate and green energy, according to the WSJ. Much of it is fueled by rock bottom interest rates from the Federal Reserve.

However, the Fed is indicating that we might well be in bubble territory, saying that valuations are generally high and are vulnerable to significant declines should investor risk appetite fall, progress on containing the virus disappoint, or the recovery stall in a May 2021 stability report.

So as with all things finance related, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Also take heed from one of Elon Musks more measured takes: Dont go investing your life savings in assets like crypto. If you do, youre going to be in for a rough time if (and when) the bubble finally pops.

READ MORE: What Happens to Stocks and Cryptocurrencies When the Fed Stops Raining Money? [The Wall Street Journal]

More on cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Crashes, Wiping Over $200 Billion Off Crypto Market

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Cryptocurrency Is Now Worth More Than All US Currency in Circulation - Futurism