Editors' Picks
The best of the best.
What the Bitcoin Halving Means for Investors
The next Bitcoin halving is fast approaching. And though this seismic event has happened three times before, and it's been baked into Bitcoin's code since birth, it once again has observers wondering: What does that mean for me? The halving is first and foremost an important event for Bitcoin miners, who will see the fruits of their labor slashed in half once again. But it also has meaning for BTC investors—if for no other reason than market sentiment and the attention that the halving typically...
Feb 17, 2022
Long Reads
Monkey Business: Why Solana NFT Project SMB and Its DAO Are Battling Over Its Future
As the Solana NFT ecosystem has risen in recent months, Solana Monkey Business has emerged as the leading project—much like CryptoPunks or the Bored Ape Yacht Club on Ethereum—racking up sizable sales while attracting notable owners like Steve Harvey, Steve Aoki, and Alexis Ohanian. But now the creators and a DAO community of collectors are sparring, with some holders considering a drastic measure akin to a hard fork that could split the project in two and affect its future. At the heart of the...
Jan 27, 2022
Investigations
‘Snow Job’: The Plot to Hand the Crypto Industry to the Big Banks
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” That adage has been attributed to everyone from Henry Kissinger to Kurt Cobain, but these days it would be a fitting motto for the crypto industry. In 2021, crypto believers became convinced that the U.S. government has it in for them. And not without reason: A series of decisions by the SEC and other regulators suggested that federal officials are not just indifferent to the industry, but actively hostile to it. The question is...
Jan 20, 2022
Long Reads
Bitcoin Mining 'Is a Perfect Battery': Why Foundry Insists Green Activists Are Wrong
When Congress meets on Thursday to discuss the environmental impact of cryptocurrency, it will highlight a growing problem for Bitcoin miners: the perception, fair or not, that they are a menace to the planet. One company that will be watching closely is Foundry, a Digital Currency Group subsidiary whose network of Bitcoin mining machines has quietly become one of the two biggest in the world, the other being China's Antpool; volume varies from week to week. Foundry is an American success story,...
Dec 22, 2021
Profiles
Decrypt's Founder of the Year: Sam Bankman-Fried
Scanning headlines might lead you to believe it was sponsorship and marketing deals that made 2021 a huge year for derivatives exchange FTX and its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. And, to be fair, there were a lot of deals. The NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, the International Cricket Council, Major League Baseball, esports squad TSM, and the Riot Games League of Legends Championship Series are all now sponsored by or partnered up with FTX. Individual stars lik...
Dec 21, 2021
Profiles
Decrypt's 2021 Person of the Year: Gary Gensler
In the 1970s, nearly half a century before he'd grow powerful enough to strike fear into the entire U.S. cryptocurrency industry, Gary Gensler was the 112-pound coxswain of the University of Pennsylvania crew team. Unlike runners and cyclists, rowers (such as actual regulation-following Olympic rowers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss) move backwards. The coxswain, who doesn't touch the oars himself, faces forward to tell his teammates what pace to hit, guide their progress, and make sure the boat d...