Latest news with #NFTs
Newsweek
22 minutes ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Crypto Keeps Changing, Bitcoin Endures
Over the past decade, I've worn various hats in crypto as a builder, investor and, for a time, CEO of CoinMarketCap, the industry's most widely used market data platform. Through bull and bear market cycles, I've watched the industry promise one revolution after another: ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) to democratize capital, DeFi (decentralized finance) to rebuild finance, NFTs to rewrite culture. And each time, I've found myself asking the same question: What will actually last? Lately, the answer is harder to ignore. Amid the constant reinvention, everything is falling back to where this all began: Bitcoin. Not because it's trendy, recording all-time high prices this month, but because it has quietly proven itself as the most reliable foundation for what comes next. Bitcoin isn't just "magic internet money" anymore. It's becoming the connective tissue linking Wall Street and emerging markets, tech conferences and government Cabinets. ETFs, sovereign interest and institutional adoption all point to Bitcoin stepping into a larger role, long visible to those tracking Bitcoin dominance: CoinMarketCap's enduring gauge of how much of crypto's market value still revolves around Bitcoin. But that shift brings real risks. The tools built now will shape not just markets, but the future of access, ownership and trust. And the complexity of that task is exactly what makes it worth doing. Bitcoin's story has outpaced its systems. The core architecture is sound, but it's not ready for the scale and demands ahead. The challenge isn't to reinvent Bitcoin. It's to complete it, to give it the resilience, functionality and accessibility that institutions can depend on and individuals can use without compromise. People attend a Bitcoin conference at the Javits Center on April 7, 2014, in New York City. People attend a Bitcoin conference at the Javits Center on April 7, 2014, in New York City. Photo byWhat Does Bitcoin Really Stand For? At its heart, Bitcoin is a story encoded in blocks, a timeless idea rendered in code. It speaks to a basic instinct that power should be distributed, not hoarded; that trust must be earned through transparency, not imposed from above. It is both a rebellion against opacity and a blueprint for self-determination. This is not crafted in slogans, but in software. For many, Bitcoin offered a first true taste of sovereignty in an increasingly centralized digital world. And that deeper promise of owning not just your money, but also your place in a global system, continues to resonate long after market cycles fade. Yet that promise is under constant strain. High-profile hacks, fraud and failures across the broader crypto ecosystem have shown that not every structure in this space honors Bitcoin's values. Through it all, Bitcoin's protocol has held firm. It remains open, transparent and resilient as proof of why it stands apart. Now, with institutions entering the space en masse, the test is greater than ever. Bitcoin's role in the global financial system is no longer speculative. Sovereign wealth funds, asset managers and public companies aren't just watching Bitcoin, they're holding it. ETFs have opened the gates to mainstream capital. Corporate treasuries are putting Bitcoin on the balance sheet. In some countries, Bitcoin is now treated as a strategic reserve. This wave of institutional adoption brings pressure along with the opportunity. More capital, more visibility and stronger incentives to reshape Bitcoin to fit legacy systems of control. If this is to become a true Bitcoin renaissance, those building the infrastructure must pair institutional scale with a firm commitment to decentralization, neutrality and user ownership. Equally important is preserving the culture that allowed Bitcoin to thrive. As early crypto educator Andreas Antonopoulos once observed, Bitcoin's innovation has always resembled a "Festival of the Commons" as a space where developers and communities contribute openly to shared infrastructure. That openness is a source of resilience. Maintaining it is as critical as scaling the protocol's capabilities. Bitcoin's next chapter won't be shaped by markets alone. It depends on how those expanding its reach choose to evolve it and whether they can do so without compromising the foundation. The last major crypto crash exposed this fault line. In 2022, a healthy market run suddenly reversed due to the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX, triggering a long, painful bear. When a trusted institution imploded causing cascading losses around the industry, Bitcoin remained unbroken. It hadn't let people down, but the systems built around it had. The lesson wasn't that crypto is flawed. It was that while Bitcoin's architecture still works, much of the infrastructure surrounding it does not. If institutional adoption is to reinforce Bitcoin's core principles rather than erode them, developers, companies and protocol designers must build with care, making it usable without diluting what makes it distinct. Innovation on Bitcoin should be tangible in a way that users can interact with directly, not deferred to future roadmaps or buried in abstractions. The goal isn't to mimic traditional finance or compete on feature sets. It's to ensure Bitcoin remains a dependable foundation for meaningful applications built on its own terms, with its principles intact. Safeguarding Bitcoin's Culture But technology alone won't preserve Bitcoin's integrity. The social architecture around it, consisting of the values, norms and design constraints, matters just as much. Capital and adoption are necessary, but they can't come at the expense of decentralization and user control. Supporting the Bitcoin ecosystem means expanding what's possible without betraying what it stands for. It's not enough to promote self-custody while neglecting the systems that shape how users interact with the protocol. If Bitcoin is to remain resilient, the culture around it, from core developers to wallet designers to institutional custodians, must continue to uphold its original principles. That's especially true in places where Bitcoin already functions as critical infrastructure—under sanctions, in protest movements or wherever financial access is a matter of survival. Builders must proceed with care. This isn't about complexity for its own sake, or about turning Bitcoin into a generalized platform. It's about creating tools that serve real-world needs while keeping Bitcoin's trust-minimized design intact. Bitcoin doesn't need another hype cycle. It needs a return to the principles that gave it meaning in the first place—especially now, as attention and capital flood back in. Amid constant reinvention, Bitcoin remains one of the few systems that asks nothing of its users but trust in code and time. It doesn't promise yield or shortcuts. It offers something quieter but more enduring: a foundation. That foundation still holds, but not by default. Preserving it requires discipline and intention. The responsibility now lies with those shaping Bitcoin's next phase: to keep it open, neutral and usable not just for the next wave of adopters, but for those who've always needed it most. If that foundation holds, Bitcoin won't just survive, it will continue doing what it was built to do: show up when trust in everything else is gone. Carylyne Chan is a core contributor to Fractal Bitcoin, the only native scaling solution completely and instantly compatible with Bitcoin, as managing partner at BlockSpaceForce.
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Crypto Week Was the Worst Art Exhibit in Years
Congress showed that financial regulation is like a museum: It's hard to tell the bogus from the genius. Save This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the full faith and credit of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. On Sundays, we look at the major themes of the week past and how they will define the week ahead. Sign up for the daily newsletter here. The buying and selling of art is an expensive, confusing and intimidating business, but at its heart lies a simple truth: A painting is worth exactly as much as somebody is willing to pay for it. Same goes for sculpture, photographs, ceramics, installations, conceptual art, jewelry and bananas. (But not NFTs, which are worthless no matter how much some clown was willing to pay for it.)
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Shocking Way To Lower Your Taxes by Investing in Crypto
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), while trendy for a time as speculative investments, quickly oversaturated their market and — coupled with overall declines in the cryptocurrency market — have markedly decreased in value. Indeed, many NFTs are now worthless or near-worthless, leaving their investors empty-handed. Check Out: Read More: That said, NFTs can still serve a rather surprising utility for clever investors. Per Forte Innovations, NFT investors can actually turn around their worthless NFTs and use them to cut their tax bills. This process is known as tax-loss harvesting. Through tax-loss harvesting, an investor identifies any investments in their portfolio that have dropped in value (in this case, NFTs). The investor then sells off the NFTs at a loss. While doing so does create a realized capital loss, that loss can offset the investor's overall annual gains and income, thus lowering their crypto tax bill come tax season. 'You can dispose of your worthless NFT by selling, trading, gifting or burning it,' noted Ronny Ko of Forte. 'Remember that those actions will create a taxable event.' Essentially, through the tax-loss harvesting of the NFTs you've invested in at a loss, you are able to use those very same losses to offset the capital gains of your other, more successful, investments when it's tax time. Even further, you can utilize any profits you do make from the divestment of the NFTs and reinvest in something similar for your overall portfolio, thereby keeping you active in the market. Or course, for those who aren't experienced at the tax-loss harvesting investment strategy, it is always wise to consult with an investment expert and/or your accountant before making such a move, in order to protect both your investment portfolio as well as your wallet when tax time comes around. More From GOBankingRates These Cars May Seem Expensive, but They Rarely Need Repairs This article originally appeared on The Shocking Way To Lower Your Taxes by Investing in Crypto Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
1 Top Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Soars 1,850%, According to VanEck
VanEck sees Solana's price soaring to $3,200 in its bull case scenario. To reach that price, it would need to host more than 100 million daily active users. That kind of growth would require several 'killer apps' to launch on its blockchain. 10 stocks we like better than Solana › Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) was launched on March 24, 2020 with an initial coin offering price of $0.22 per token. Today, it trades at $164 -- so a $100 investment then would be worth about $75,000 today. That 74,900% gain was fueled by the growth of its ecosystem for developing decentralized finance (DeFi) apps and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), its speed and scalability, and Solana Pay's growing number of fintech and e-commerce partnerships. Yet some investors expect Solana's price to soar even higher. VanEck, which submitted the first U.S. application for a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) last year, expects its price to surge another 1,850% to more than $3,200 by 2030 in its bull case scenario. Let's see why the investment firm expects Solana to rally, and if investors should buy the token before it heats up again. Like Ethereum, Solana's blockchain uses a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to validate its transactions. That approach consumes less energy than the proof-of-work mechanism used to mine Bitcoin, since its tokens are only staked (locked up for interest-like rewards) instead of mined. PoS blockchains also support smart contracts, which are used to develop decentralized applications (dApps) and other tokens. Many developers launched new tokens on Ethereum's blockchain, but Solana operates its own independent blockchain. It differentiates itself from its competitors by upgrading its own PoS blockchain with a proprietary proof-of-history (PoH) mechanism, which helps it process transactions at much faster speeds than Ethereum's main Layer-1 blockchain. Solana has a theoretical maximum speed of 65,000 transactions per second (TPS), compared to Ethereum's theoretical top speed of 30 TPS for its Layer-1 transactions. But for real-world transactions, which face network congestion and other limitations, Solana has a daily average speed of 1,436 TPS -- versus Ethereum's daily average speed of 19 TPS. That superior speed makes Solana a popular blockchain for developing DeFi apps and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In early 2022, its developers launched Solana Pay, an open peer-to-peer payment protocol that let merchants accept stablecoins, Solana, and other Solana-based tokens at high speeds with near-zero fees. Visa, Shopify, and other companies subsequently integrated Solana Pay into their digital wallets and e-commerce ecosystems. VanEck's 2030 outlook for Solana features a price target of $9.81 in its bear case scenario and a target of $3,211.28 in its bull case scenario. Its "baseline" estimate only sees Solana roughly doubling to about $335 per token during the next five years. Its bull case relies on the expansion of Solana's DeFi ecosystem and increased user growth. Solana only serves about 1.5 million daily active users (DAUs), according to Artemis Analytics, but VanEck thinks its user base might expand to more than 100 million DAUs as it hosts more DeFi, metaverse, social, gaming, and infrastructure applications. VanEck admits that achieving that explosive growth would rely on "killer apps" that finally turn Solana into a mainstream platform for processing digital transactions. But it also warns that hosting an application with more than 100 million users on its blockchain would push its scalability "to its limits." Any congestion would also reduce the speed of its transactions, but Solana's planned Firedancer upgrade this year might allay some of those concerns. Another potential catalyst could be the approvals of the first Solana ETFs. Those listings could stabilize its price by attracting more retail and institutional investors. Declining interest rates could also drive more investors back to Solana and other cryptocurrencies. VanEck's bull case for Solana is highly speculative, but the bear case is more straightforward. Solana is an inflationary token with no maximum supply, so its value will always be pinned to the growth of its developer ecosystem instead of its scarcity. It's impressing its developers with the speed of its unique PoS/PoH mechanism, but it still faces tough competition from Ethereum's Layer-2 rollups, which bundle together its transactions and process them off-chain at real world speeds of 1,000 to 4,000 TPS. Unlike Ethereum, Solana isn't cross-compatible with other blockchains, and its Rust and C developer languages have a steeper learning curve than Ethereum's Solidity. So even if a "killer" DeFi app finally arrives, it might launch on Ethereum instead of Solana. All of those challenges could hold Solana back during the next five years. Solana's proprietary mechanism, speed, and low fees will help it stay more relevant than other blockchains for the foreseeable future. But it's simply not as compelling an investment as Bitcoin, which is valued by its scarcity, or Ethereum, which remains the top developer blockchain. So for now, I'd stick with those two blue chip cryptocurrencies instead of putting too much faith in VanEck's bull case scenario for Solana. Before you buy stock in Solana, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Solana wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $671,477!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,010,880!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,047% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 14, 2025 Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, Shopify, Solana, and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Top Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Soars 1,850%, According to VanEck was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
200 million reasons NFTs will never die
200 million reasons NFTs will never die originally appeared on TheStreet. Most people think NFTs (non-fungible tokens) came and went with the 2021 hype cycle, but that is not true. The term 'NFT' has lost popularity, but the technology is working behind the scenes to improve user experiences. There is no need to understand crypto or care about blockchains. At NFT NYC 2025, Dapper Labs Co-Founder and CEO Roham Gharegozlou shared stats that caught everyone's attention: The company has minted nearly 200 million NFTs on the Flow blockchain that improve mass market apps. That's why major brands like Disney, the NFL, NBA, and Ticketmaster continue to embrace the technology. While people were laughing at 'million-dollar monkey pictures', Ticketmaster quietly rolled out nearly 100 million NFT tickets. These NFT-based tickets can't be counterfeited. They can be quickly verified, by any buyer. Most Taylor Swift fans don't know or care that their ticket runs on a blockchain. And they shouldn't have to. Quiet integration. Apps like Disney Pinnacle, NBA Top Shot, and NFL All Day let fans collect, trade, and engage with digital content without needing to think about the tech powering it. People care about fun and access, not about blockchains. Crypto enthusiasts might always debate which blockchain is the fastest or most decentralized, but the rest of the world just wants something that works. Even companies like Amazon, Walmart, and government agencies are already using blockchains behind the scenes. Successful developers like Dapper Labs focus on user experience, and it's paying off. Maybe. But it won't look the same. NFTs have quietly evolved and are already powering real apps that solve real problems. The hype may be gone for good, but the tech is just getting started. 200 million reasons NFTs will never die first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 14, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 14, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
