There are things out of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s control. The central bank has a dual congressional mandate to maintain the U.S. dollar’s long-term value and achieve maximum employment, but it’s dealing with a mix of uncertainties as it pursues those goals.Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced the monetary body will begin scaling back its historic asset purchasing program, one of the key levers it pulled to support and stimulate the economy during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.This article is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here.Beginning in November, the Fed will purchase $10 billion fewer Treasury bonds and $5 … [Read More...]

On Monday, speaking at an event hosted by the Institute of International Finance, JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon once again said the outlook for bitcoin is grim. At various times in the past Dimon has gone on record calling bitcoin “fool’s gold” and “a fraud.” Dimon doesn’t understand.“I personally think that bitcoin is worthless,” Dimon, “the bellwether of the Davoisie,” said most recently of the $1 trillion asset, the first cryptographically-derived currency that has kick-started an industry working to reinvent money, the internet and, yes, banks.This article is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here.Of course, while Dimon has … [Read More...]

What happens to a social token when its creator dies? That may be an odd question to ask about a technological tool that’s only beginning to take off, but thinking it through may help you understand what’s new in the “new digital economy” and what may never change.Part of an effort to make “ownership” central to digital goods – broadly defined as Web 3.0 and including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) – social tokens allow creators and fans to interact through novel financial relationships. At heart, they give holders a stake in the success of some “creator.”This article is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the … [Read More...]

Cops like pulp fiction, too. Yesterday, choosing one of the most high-profile crypto conferences of the year, an agent for the U.S. Securities and Enforcement Commission (SEC) reportedly subpoenaed a crypto founder as he was preparing to take the stage.The plot point would certainly fit the narrative: Crypto, a movement fighting for freedom and equal access in finance, was being curtailed by the state. The latest chapter of this familiar story allegedly played out at the top of an elevator shaft at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan.This article is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here.No reporter has yet to verify the details … [Read More...]