Episode #27 The winds of change are starting to blow in the world of cryptocurrency as governments and large investors begin to take the market more seriously. George Soros is a world-renowned investor worth $8 Billion, according to Forbes. For decades, he’s been a trusted influencer in the world of finance and just weeks ago he called Bitcoin a bubble. However, in a surprising turn of events, His $26 billion hedge fund, Soros Fund Management has just announced new plans to… you guessed it -- trade cryptocurrencies! Another big Wall Street player has stepped into the limelight with unexpected news… After about 5 months of “deny, deny, deny”, Goldman Sachs has finally announced that they WILL –in fact—be opening a crypto trading desk. For now, the desk is expected to offer a limited number of derivatives – mainly trading Bitcoin futures, but it’s a definitely start. The CEO of Nasdaq,  the second-largest exchange in the world by market capitalization, behind the New York Stock Exchange and is based in the US, recently gave a bullish outlook regarding cryptos and suggested that Nasdaq may adopt cryptocurrencies at some point in the future. For now, the exchange is securing a foothold in the crypto market through an announced partnership with the Gemini exchange, owned by the Winklevoss twins. Gemini will reportedly be the first digital currency exchange to make use of Nasdaq's SMARTS Market Surveillance Technology, which id designed to monitor & minimize potential violations in trading. So What does all of this mean? By the looks of it, wealthy traditional investors are beginning to test the crypto waters. Hey, if Jamie Diamond could publicly back step and eat his words that Bitcoin is a ‘fraud,’ I suppose anything’s possible. Maybe doing as they do, not as they say isn’t such a bad strategy after all.

Episode #26 Chad Barraford, CEO of Cryptocades.com, gave us the pleasure of stopping by the Coin.FM Podcast to discuss his latest project — a free-to-play blockchain gaming platform, where players use their skills and computer power to win Bitcoin. This hands-on founder leads a team of diverse globetrotting digital nomads and he’s best known for creating Project Jarvis, where he preceded today’s products like Siri or Google Home, and which is similar to Mark Zuckerberg’s more recent Project Jarvis clone. In this episode, Chad shares his technical expertise with insightful tidbits on wallets & browser mining. He also gives us the scoop on his upcoming game release, Asteroid Tycoon. For the first time in mining history, the money you earn from mining isn’t based solely on how powerful your CPU is, but is also based on how well you can strategize and play online games. Visit Cryptocades.com to join the fun!

Episode #25 According to data.coin.fm, Bitcoin Cash – which trades as BCH on many exchanges – has experienced an extraordinary 83% rise just in the past week. Since hitting a low this year of $610 USD on April 6th, the value of Bitcoin Cash has more than doubled to trade at $1440 USD, at current press time on April 23rd. The vertical breakout started at $759 price level on April 17th and has continued with steady double digit percentage point gains day on day. So what’s behind the bullish rise of Bitcoin Cash? Listen in to find out!   Another scheduled Bitcoin Cash fork is planned for November 2018 and unless there is major shift in people’s mindsets, we’ll likely see similar snowball of momentum then. If you’re planning a long-term strategy, definitely keep that in mind. How high do you think Bitcoin Cash will go by the May 18th fork?

Episode #24 Polish prosecutors may have seized around €400 mln from 2 bank accounts allegedly linked to top cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, according to unconfirmed reports from media outlets on April 7. Trustnodes.com published possible connections between Btifinex, Crypto Capital Corp, an alleged for-hire Panamanian company nominee director, and a tiny bank in the Polish country side, in November 2017 investigative report. (https://www.trustnodes.com/2017/11/22/bitfinex-reveals-new-polish-bank-account-panama-registered-company) The Panamanian national is alleged to have ties to Bitfinex and control over one of the accounts, where customers made deposits directed for Bitfinex through 2017. An unidentified man claims to have been questioned by Polish authorities, after receiving a payment from the alleged bank account in question, which apparently contributed to the allegations of money laundering.   Bitfinex’s cold storage holds roughly 1% of all bitcoins in circulation equaling about $1.5B USD in value, according to bitinfocharts.com, and remains one of the largest crypto exchanges. Legal authorities currently are investigating the misuse of cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes in over 30 countries worldwide and there have already been high profile arrests, including that the CEO of worldwide classifieds site Backpage.com. Money laundering is not a new issue created by or even limited to cryptocurrency. Earlier this year, the Chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlighted the need to develop anti-money-laundering (AML) strategies for cryptocurrencies within a global framework, but the a stern focus still needs to be placed on the world's banking giants. For decades, billions—possibly trillions-- of dollars in dirty money have been illegally moved through some of the biggest traditional banks in the world, including: • HSBC • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China • Standard Chartered Bank • Wachovia which is now a part of Wells Fargo From just these names alone, it adds up to a whopping $794 B USD. It would be so awesome if international regulators crack down on the banking institutions that continue to control the vast majority of the worlds assets. Until then, guard your coins and buy & sell only with trusted exchange partners. Shameless plug warning -- Did you know you can bitcoins with a credit/debit card at http://buy.coin.fm?

Episode #23 Early on the morning of March 22nd, the Nikkei Asian Review published an article with the headline "Japan to warn Hong Kong-based crypto exchange: Criminal charges to be filed if Binance fails to halt Japan operations." Yikes -- It certainly got our attention! The FSA has been clamping down on cryptocurrency venues after a $500 million theft from Japanese exchange Coincheck in January. CZ, the CEO of Binance, took to Twitter saying, "Nikkei showed irresponsible journalism. We are in constructive dialogs with Japan FSA, and have not received any mandates." Within minutes of the news story circulating, bitcoin took a swift nosedive, dropping over 5% from $9040 USD to trade at just above $8600 later in the day, at the time of reporting. Do you think there any truth to this or is it just another case of irresponsible journalism as CZ claims?