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Pedro Solimano

Pedro Solimano

Specializing in cryptocurrency and economics, Pedro is the author of La Cadena, a popular finance newsletter in Latin America. Chilean, but having grown up in the U.S., he is also a translator, with over 10 years experience working with publishing houses such as Oxford and Cambridge University Press. Disclosure: No significant crypto holdings.

Stories by Pedro Solimano

  • Image: Useacoin / Shutterstock

    ‘I’m Finally Getting Some Opposition On My Bitcoin Bill', Says Mexican Senator

    Freshman Mexican Senator Indira Kempis made headlines last year when she introduced a bill that would create of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Now, she has her eyes set on making Bitcoin an integral part of her political agenda. Kempis is a congresswoman from the state of Nuevo León, which is situated north of Mexico City and shares a small border with Texas. After coming across Bitcoin several times “and not really understanding it,” she told Decrypt that she knew she had to take a clo...

    NewsBusiness
    4 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Photo illustration. Images: Andrey Popov & Anton Zubchevskyi / Shutterstock.com

    Binance Execs Are Deserting The Company–Here’s Who They Are

    Charged with lawsuits, investigations, and widespread regulatory action worldwide, crypto exchange Binance has seen a deluge of top-tier executives leave the company.  Led by the elusive CEO and co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ)—who personally faces charges in the United States from the CFTC, SEC, and potentially the Department of Justice—the company has also been charged in the U.S., France, Brazil, and the U.K., among others. The alleged crimes committed range from aggravated money laundering, of...

    NewsBusiness
    11 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO). Image: Lev Radin / Shutterstock.com

    U.S. Senators Set in Motion Bipartisan Proof-of-Reserves Bill

    Two U.S. senators from opposite sides of the aisle have introduced a bill that they say will establish safeguards against another FTX-type collapse. The Proving Reserves of Others Funds (PROOF) Act is the brainchild of Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO), who shared a draft of the legislation on Friday. The legislation intends to guard against unethical co-mingling of customer funds and require a monthly proof-of-reserves (PoR) report from a neutral, third-party auditing firm....

    NewsLaw and Order
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano

  • Hacker Denis Katana Helped Russian Crime Boss Launder Money With Bitcoin, Says Spanish Judge

    Infamous hacker Denis Tokarenko, better known as Denis Katana, helped an ex-Soviet organized crime ring use Bitcoin to launder vast amounts of money, a judge in Spain claimed last week. El Español reported that the criminal organization, which operated out of the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante, used the digital means of exchange because of the “lack of state control.” It's long been believed that Tokarenko is the "Bitcoin czar" referenced in the Pandora Papers, a 12 million-document l...

    NewsLaw and Order
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Image: Upland

    Crypto Game Upland Raises $7 Million Ahead of Ethereum Token Launch

    Upland, a blockchain real estate collecting and trading game, announced a $7 million Series A extension raise on Friday. Led by EOS Network Ventures in the fund’s first crypto gaming investment, the extension follows the initial $18 million Series A raise in 2021. The injection of capital will go to adding more features for the location-based game, which lets players purchase digital locations on a real-world map. Upland also plans to intensify its marketing strategy, enable third-party develope...

    NewsGaming
    4 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Image: Shutterstock

    Stablecoins on Bitcoin? Lightning Labs Aims to 'Bitcoinize the Dollar'

    Expecting the greenback to be replaced by Bitcoin? One company is bidding to “Bitcoinize the dollar” by enabling stablecoins and other assets built atop Bitcoin via the Lightning Network. Lightning Labs, one of the main companies working on Bitcoin’s layer-2 Lightning Network, released “Taproot Assets” on mainnet Wednesday, allowing for the issuance of stablecoins and other financial assets on the Bitcoin blockchain.  According to the press release, the new set of developer tools will allow for...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano

  • Crypto Startup Ryder Raises $1.2 Million to Build Wallets With No Seed Phrases

    Seed phrases have been the bane of many crypto enthusiasts because they’re long multi-word phrases that have to be safely stored so users can access their funds. Now one company is trying to make them a thing of the past by leaning on a more user-friendly approach known as social recovery. Social recovery relies on users finding five friends or family members who can help recover access to their crypto wallet if they lose their seed phrase. Ryder has closed a $1.2 million round and launched its...

    NewsCoins
    4 min read
    Pedro Solimano

  • ‘MiCA Would Have a Different Scope If Negotiated Today’ Says EU Financial Watchdog

    If the European Union’s sweeping crypto regulation framework were being decided now, it would already have a very different framework, the European Securities and Market Authority told Decrypt. Earlier this week, ESMA published two new documents “encouraging preparations for a smooth transition” to MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation), the continent’s recently approved crypto-regulatory framework Adopted in April this year, MiCA is Europe’s landmark regulatory sandbox for the digital asset...

    NewsCoins
    4 min read
    Pedro Solimano

  • Bitcoin Miner Using Paraguay Itaipu Dam to Power Its New Facility

    Bitcoin mining company Sazmining has opened its newest 100% renewable energy facility in Paraguay. The company operates customer-owned Bitcoin mining rigs on their behalf, taking a 15% commission for the service. Its new facility will get power from Itaipu Dam, the country’s largest hydroelectric dam. Located on the border of Paraguay and Brazil, the structure has earned itself the Guiness World Record for most expensive object on earth, costing a whopping $27 billion to build in 1984—or $35 bil...

    NewsBusiness
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Image: Forj

    ApeCoin Community Accelerator Launches From Animoca Brands' Forj

    Forj, an NFT creators platform owned by Animoca Brands, announced on Tuesday the launch of the Ape Accelerator, a community-led accelerator and launchpad funded by the ApeCoin DAO.  According to an announcement shared exclusively in advance with Decrypt, following the successful approval of an ApeCoin community proposal (AIP-209), Forj was bestowed with the task of building the accelerator. “We chose to launch on ApeCoin because it has the most collaborative and socially engaged community across...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • source:%20Shutterstock

    Ethereum DeFi Exchange Uniswap Adds Fees, Sparks Controversy

    The inventor of leading decentralized exchange Uniswap, Hayden Adams, announced today that the protocol will be implementing a 0.15% swap fee on their web app and wallet interfaces for the very first time. Only a certain set of tokens will be affected by the new fee, according to a Uniswap Labs’ blog post, including ETH, USDC, WETH, USDT, DAI, WBTC, agEUR, GUSD, LUSD, EUROC, and XSGD.  However, the fee only applies when traded through Uniswap Labs’ interfaces on mainnet and supported layer 2s—an...

    NewsDeFi
    4 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Image: Imagepocket/Shutterstock

    Bitcoin Whales and Ethereum Whales Are Not the Same: Glassnode

    This week, observers caught wind of a stark contrast between large holders of the two top cryptocurrencies on the market–highlighting a seemingly opposite sentiment among whales in Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to on-chain analysis firm Glassnode, Ethereum whales that hold 1,000 or more ETH (worth roughly $1.5 million) have been in a sharp downtrend since 2020, with $20 million ETH being sold off.  On the other hand, Bitcoin whales have been quietly accumulating. Those holding 1,000 or more BT...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Simple houses or ranchos in Caracas, Venezuela. Ranchos are the forms of informal poor housing that cover the hills surrounding the city. Image: Edgloris Marys/Shutterstock

    Venezuela Offers ‘Unique Crypto Utility’ Amid Hyperinflation: Report

    Hyperinflation and authoritarianism have constantly placed Venezuela in the sweet spot for a national cryptocurrency model. Whether for protection from its collapsing bolívar or to escape Nicolás Maduro’s strict regime, tech pundits are constantly touting the country as a best-case scenario for mainstream Bitcoin and digital asset adoption. But according to a recent report from Chainalysis, Venezuela ranks fifth for total crypto value received in the Latin American region—and doesn’t even place...

    NewsBusiness
    4 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Uniswap. Image: Shutterstock

    Uniswap Launches Mobile Ethereum Wallet on Android

    Leading decentralized exchange Uniswap released a mobile crypto wallet for Android on Thursday, months after doing the same on Apple’s iOS platform. The app is currently in beta while the company invites members of the DeFi community to help it test the wallet before it’s released more widely to users. As per Uniswap’s Twitter feed, some 35,000 users have already signed up to the waitlist. In line with the beta launch, the Uniswap Labs team will also open-source the code as part of its Trail of...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano

  • Crypto VC Funding Is Way Down—But How Bad Is It?

    Venture capital (VC) funds continue to shy away from crypto, according to new insights from Galaxy Research. With $1.98 billion invested across 376 deals, numbers like these haven’t been seen since Q4 2020—extending a trend that has been intact for the past 18 months. For example, at the same time last year, more than $6 billion had been deployed across 600 deals, according to Galaxy Research. And last quarter, the firm also noted the precipitous drop in funding allocated to crypto and blockchai...

    NewsBusiness
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Image: RA2 Studio/Shutterstock

    Lightning Network Growth Is a ‘Shock‘, Says Bitcoin Analyst

    The Lightning Network is on a tear.  Bitcoin’s layer-2 scaling solution the Lightning Network achieved impressive growth, according a report published today by Bitcoin financial services company River Financial. Among the impressive figures: routed transactions have skyrocketed from 503,115 in August 2021 to 6,599,553 in August 2023, representing near-vertical growth of 1,212%.  Routed transactions are transactions that involve more than two nodes, which means that the aforementioned numbers cou...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Image: Shutterstock

    Layer-2 Blockchains Host Most Ethereum Transactions: Messari

    Ascending to 61% of all transactions, Ethereum’s Layer-2 networks were home to a majority share of activity in the third quarter, according to Messari’s latest State of Ethereum report. Kunal Goel, senior research analyst for Messari, wrote that the surge was spawned by the explosive launch of Base—which briefly overtook the number of transactions happening on Ethereum's mainnet–along with the unexpected popularity of the Friend.tech social token platform. Goel said he was actually caught off gu...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Naked-mole rats almost never get cancer, and scientists are studying whether humans can benefit from their biology. Images: Shutterstock

    VitaDAO Launches Biotech Firm to Fight Aging With Naked Mole-Rats

    A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is taking its interest in life extension to the next level, founding a biotech company to pursue cutting-edge science in treating cancer and other age-related diseases. VitaDAO, a community-owned collective with a mission to fund and advance early-stage longevity research, announced today the launch of Matrix Biosciences, in partnership with world-renowned biologist Vera Gorbunova. A professor at the University of Rochester, Gorbunova is credited wit...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Image: breakermaximus/Shutterstock

    Dismal Third Quarter for Bitcoin Lands It Second-to-Last in Returns: Analyst

    Bitcoin (BTC) scraped the bottom of the barrel in the third quarter of the year, registering a loss of 11.1% for investors, barely beating long-term treasuries, which netted -11.9% over the same timeframe.  Greg Cipolaro, Global Head of Research at Bitcoin firm NYDIG, wrote about the crypto’s poor performance and how it defies recent events in the crypto space. Cipolaro pointed to favorable court cases, macroeconomic changes, the recent “quagmire” over government funding, the debate on U.S. debt...

    NewsCoins
    2 min read
    Pedro Solimano
  • Image: Diamond Visuals / Shutterstock.com

    Stablecoin Market Cap Hits 18 Months of Decline–But All Is Not Lost

    The past eighteen months have been dire for most stablecoins.  Following last year’s collapse of Terraform and its native stablecoin UST, the entire market capitalization for these digital assets has registered a dizzying 35% drop. According to crypto data provider DeFiLlama, the market peaked at $189 billion in May last year, only to settle on $124 billion as of writing, 18 months later. Vaidya Pallasena, co-founder of Bluechip—a nonprofit organization dedicated to evaluating stablecoin safety—...

    NewsCoins
    3 min read
    Pedro Solimano
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