Category: cryptocurrency
Pussy Riot shows the cypherpunk power of feminist NFTs
It might seem like everyone and their mom is selling a non-fungible token (NFT) these days, but Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova is one of the few strategizing beyond the hype cycle. “I’ve been using cryptocurrency before this,” Tolokonnikova told TechCrunch, noting Pussy Riot members have been interested in blockchain…
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Crypto wallet and exchange company Blockchain.com raises $300 million at $5.2 billion valuation
As Coinbase is about to go public in the U.S., another cryptocurrency company is having a blockbuster first quarter of 2021. Blockchain.com, the company behind a popular cryptocurrency wallet, an exchange, a block explorer and more, has raised a $300 million Series C round. If you’ve been paying attention, you…
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Afriex raises $1.2M seed to scale its payments and remittances platform across Africa
Sending money from the U.S. to Nigeria can be a painstaking process. For remittance platforms like Western Union, it will cost a transfer fee and take between one to five business days for money sent from a U.S. debit card to enter a Nigerian bank account. Crypto remittance platforms are…
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These undergraduates left university to build Flux, a payments startup now in YC
Traditional remittance companies, while necessary, currently have two flaws in speed and exorbitant fees. It can take a long while (days to weeks) for money sent from an immigrant in the U.S. to reach a relative in Nigeria. The fees charged depend on the amount sent — and let’s not…
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The debate about cryptocurrency and energy consumption
Energy consumption has become the latest flashpoint for cryptocurrency. Critics decry it as an energy hog while proponents hail it for being less intensive than the current global economy. One such critic, DigiEconomist founder Alex de Vries, said he’s “never seen anything that is as inefficient as bitcoin.” On the…
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Neobroker Bitpanda raises $170M at a $1.2B valuation to take its trading platform beyond crypto
One of the bigger startups in Europe operating a trading platform for cryptocurrency has closed a big round of funding on the heels of very rapid growth and plans to open its platform to a wider stream of assets. Bitpanda, a “neobroker” that wants to make it easier for ordinary…
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