Latest news with #Vitalik
Forbes
17-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Crypto: Searching For Salvation Or Scams
A psychedelic vision of crypto spirituality, where meditation meets decentralization. CoinStructive, Inc. Deep in a coastal pocket of Montenegro, fog lingers over a makeshift village where the morning stillness is broken by the sound of meditative chants, laptop keystrokes, and the occasional impromptu DAO meeting. This is Zuzalu: an ephemeral, invite-only enclave dreamed up by Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin, equal parts tech incubator and techno-spiritual crypto commune. Attendees sip mushroom tea, debate the metaphysics of decentralization, and chart a new world, one block at a time. There are no signs, no sponsors, and no set agenda. There is just the conviction that something sacred is being built. Something more than money. But these crypto enclaves are not completely fringe. They are multiplying. From jungles in Central America to Latter-Day Saints compounds in Missouri, blockchain believers are gathering for what often resembles a cross between a startup retreat, a Burning Man temple camp, and a 1970s New Age awakening. Ayahuasca ceremonies or iconoclastic rituals are paired with token launches. Yoga flows into pitch decks. And enlightenment now comes with a whitepaper. This raises an uneasy question: is this the dawn of a new techno-spiritual order, or is it just a very well-branded scam? Crypto has always attracted zealots. Not just traders or developers, but those with a near-religious belief that code can liberate humanity from corruption, surveillance, and mediocrity. Add psychedelics, utopian architecture, and a distrust of fiat reality, and you do not just get a movement. You get a 'mission.' These retreats and micro-communities, Zuzalu included, present themselves not as vacations, but as experiments in post-nation-state living. Participants pay in ETH or stablecoins, sometimes via NFTs that act as passports. Workshops oscillate between talks on zk-rollups and quantum healing. Even Ethereum itself has spiritual roots. Vitalik once mused about 'ether' as the invisible medium for decentralized connection. To some, this is not metaphor, but gospel. Crypto believers sometimes call this 'the alignment era,' or 'crypto alignment,' where code, consciousness, and capital converge. It is seen as a transitory movement designed to outgrow the old world. While it is easy to dismiss these spaces as woo-woo playgrounds for the rich and bored, sometimes, they can be tools for exploitation. Take NovaTechFX, led by a woman who called herself 'Reverend CEO.' She blended Pentecostal-style sermons with promises of 3% weekly crypto returns. The SEC called it a Ponzi scheme. By the time it collapsed, nearly $1 billion was gone. These 'sermon' tapes still circulate on YouTube. Then there is INDXcoin, a Colorado-based 'Christian crypto' that raised $3.4 million from churchgoers. Investors were promised divine favor and a safe return. What they got was an illiquid token and a founder who claimed, under oath, that God told him to launch it. Cult, Scam, or Prototype for the Future? Nevertheless, not all of these communities are fraudulent. Zuzalu is, by most accounts, earnest—idealistic, even. It birthed spin-off projects focused on digital identity, biotech, and governance. Its residents speak in a blend of code and philosophy, quoting Satoshi and Foucault in the same breath. Even the psychedelic retreats, for all their cultish aesthetics, sometimes leave attendees with genuine breakthroughs of emotional clarity, entrepreneurial direction, or otherwise. Yet, there is a case to be made that these are just the messy early chapters of what could be a new civic structure. If a nation-state was built on borders and banks, maybe a post-state emerges from wallets and vibes. But when do we start labeling these collectives as cults? Do we consider the rituals? The charismatic founders? The token-gated access? Or the certainty of an unshakeable belief that this is the path to collective salvation, and everything else is FUD? At the edge of a Zu village, one attendee lights sage over a hardware wallet. Someone else codes a smart contract barefoot in the grass. A startup founder with a shamanic tattoo explains how DAOs will replace democracy, and then invites you to a cacao ceremony. Is this a scam? A new faith? Just a very weird off-site Web3 meet-up? Maybe it is salvation. Or maybe it is a grift. Maybe, like most things in Crypto, it is both.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Asia Morning Briefing: Vitalik's Plan Can Bring ETH to $3K and Crypto 'More Popular' Than Stocks in South Korea
Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk's Crypto Daybook Americas. ETH traders are eying $2600 as Asia begins its business day, but OKX's Chief Commercial Officer Lennix Lai sees an easy path for the token to hit $3000 if Vitalik Buterin can get rid of Ethereum's reliance on Layer-2s. Layer 1 refers to the main blockchain infrastructure, such as Ethereum itself, while Layer 2 solutions are secondary systems built on top of Layer 1 to enhance scalability and speed up transactions. "Vitalik's pivot to scale Ethereum Layer 1 by 10x will be a game-changer, shifting focus away from heavy reliance on Layer 2 solutions like sharding," Lai said in a note to CoinDesk, referring to recent comments Buterin made at ETHGlobal Prauge. "On our platform, ETH perpetual futures made up 44.2% of trading volume over the past 7 days, showing us that sophisticated investors are closely tracking this evolution," he continued. Lai points to this week's key macro events, like the ECB's rate decision and U.S. jobs data, as factors that could significantly impact risk-on appetite, potentially pushing ETH past $3,000 short-term, though Ethereum's long-term success hinges on Vitalik's ambitious roadmap. Elsewhere, CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model bot highlights Ethereum's resilience above critical support at $2,600, driven by institutional inflows nearing $1.2 billion and significant whale buying, positioning ETH for a possible altcoin rally. Simon Kim, the CEO of Korea's largest crypto fund Hashed, believes crypto has become a critical force in South Korean politics, and it's going to be business as usual for the industry under the country's new left-leaning President Lee Jae-myung. "Officially, crypto is more popular than the stock market in Korea," Kim said in a recent interview with CoinDesk. He pointed to data showing 16.29 million daily active crypto traders compared to 14.24 million active equity traders, noting that political parties now see supporting crypto as essential to winning elections. South Korea's crypto policies also continue to be closely tied to U.S. regulatory developments, according to Kim. "All the Korean politicians are following the U.S.," he explained, noting how American institutions and regulators are guiding global standards. Kim added that Korea's previously set crypto capital gains tax policy, scheduled to begin in early 2027, remains unchanged. Kim expects Lee's administration to develop stablecoin policy, as they currently account for about one-tenth of Korea's crypto trading volume. Issuing a stablecoin in Korea might be complicated because the Korean won is a tightly controlled onshore currency with strict capital restrictions, making it challenging to integrate into borderless crypto markets. Kim said that in his conversations with some policymakers, they say there is "no kind of benefit to adopting stablecoin won in the Korean market," given its advanced payments ecosystem. But stablecoins are here to stay, as Kim says they already account for one-tenth of trading volume in the country, and there's a growing recognition that they need to be safely integrated into the economy, where they can be taxed. "Stablecoins are not just a payment network," he said. "It's building a unique digital platform enabling smart contracts and making an autonomous economy." Beyond crypto, Kim expects Lee's administration to pursue substantial investment in artificial intelligence. Yet Kim expressed skepticism about plans to create a sovereign generalized AI platform comparable to U.S. giants like OpenAI. Instead, he argued Korea's strength is in "physical AI", building specialized solutions tailored to sectors where Korea excels, including semiconductors, electronics, and advanced manufacturing. 'I believe the new administration has some sense that we have unfair advantages in the physical AI ecosystem. That's the point I'm very excited about,' he said. Circle priced its IPO at $31 per share, surpassing the anticipated range of $24 to $26, raising approximately $1.1 billion and valuing the stablecoin issuer at around $6.9 billion, CoinDesk previously reported. The offering included about 34 million shares, significantly more than the initially planned 24 million, indicating strong market demand. Trading under the ticker "CRCL," Circle will debut Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, marking a major milestone after a previous failed SPAC attempt in 2021. As issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Circle's listing arrives amid renewed legislative interest in digital assets and potential regulatory clarity, potentially strengthening investor confidence amid recent crypto volatility. U.S. House Republicans are advancing legislation to regulate crypto markets through the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, CoinDesk previously reported, holding two hearings Wednesday in preparation for a potential committee markup next week. Republicans argue the bill urgently addresses the crypto industry's demand for clear regulatory frameworks to prevent innovations from moving offshore, highlighting the risk of the U.S. falling behind Europe and Asia in crypto oversight. Democrats, however, criticize the legislation as rushed, complex, and lacking sufficient consumer protection, particularly citing unresolved conflict-of-interest concerns related to President Donald Trump's personal cryptocurrency business activities. Democrats insist the bill needs stringent safeguards and transparency measures, as Representative Jim Himes emphasized, to secure bipartisan support, while Republicans largely dismiss these allegations as politically motivated distractions. BTC: Bitcoin saw notable volatility, swinging 1.67% amid significant institutional withdrawals, struggling to hold support above $105,000 as trade disputes heightened market uncertainty. ETH: Ethereum surged 4%, rebounding from a strong support near $2,590 driven by institutional buying and whale accumulation, forming a potential base for an upward breakout. Gold: Gold rallied over 0.80% to $3,382, recovering from a $3,343 low after weaker U.S. economic data and escalating US-China trade tensions boosted safe-haven demand Nikkei 225: Japan's Nikkei 225 dipped 0.39% at the open amid mixed Asia-Pacific trading, driven by concerns over a cooling U.S. job market S&P 500: The S&P 500 closed modestly higher at 5,970.81 Wednesday, supported by tech shares despite concerns over weak hiring data and escalating trade tensions. Trump's CFTC pick Brian Quintenz set for Senate hearing on June 10 (The Block) Ethereum Foundation expects 2025-26 to be 'pivotal' for the ecosystem as it reforms its treasury management (The Block) Vitalik Buterin Uses Privacy Tool Railgun Again, Signaling Ongoing Embrace of On-Chain Anonymity (CoinDesk)
