Latest news with #NFTs
CNBC
12 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Trump administration axes Biden-era barrier for crypto in 401(k) plans
The Trump administration on Wednesday relaxed barriers in 401(k) plans to buying cryptocurrency and related digital assets like NFTs and meme coins. The Labor Department rescinded guidance put in place by the Biden-era Labor Department in 2022 that aimed to safeguard 401(k) investors from such digital assets. At the time, the Biden labor officials cautioned employers to exercise "extreme care" before making crypto and related investments available to their workers. They cited "serious concerns" about the prudence of exposing investors' retirement savings to crypto given "significant risks of fraud, theft, and loss." The Trump Labor Department has withdrawn that guidance in full. The agency said the standard of "extreme care" cited by the Biden administration is not found in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. "Prior to the 2022 release, the Department had usually articulated a neutral approach to particular investment types and strategies," the Trump Labor Department said in a compliance assistance bulletin issued Wednesday. More from Personal Finance:House Republican tax bill favors the richSome lawmakers want to defer capital gains taxes for mutual fundsWhat the House GOP budget bill means for your money The department said that it is "neither endorsing, nor disapproving of" employers who decide that adding crypto to a 401(k) investment list is appropriate. The Labor Department's reasoning extends to cryptocurrencies and "a wide range" of digital assets like "tokens, coins, crypto assets, and any derivatives thereof," it said. The move comes at a time when President Trump has launched a $TRUMP meme coin that's added billions of dollars in paper wealth to his net worth and led Democratic senators to call for an ethics probe. President Trump has pledged to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the world." This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
I went to a crypto conference, and it was nothing like I expected
Solana's Accelerate conference in New York City was full of buzz about stablecoins. It lacked the flashy the over-the-top goofiness of earlier crypto conferences, which is probably good. There was some muted talk about politics, mainly about regulations. I wanted to go to the Solana Accelerate conference as soon as I saw the trailer for the crypto confab. The video ad showed "America" at a therapist's office, where the country described its urge to innovate and was met with resistance from a "woke" therapist, who encouraged America to "channel this energy into something more productive, like coming up with a new gender." The ad was so over the top in its culture war stance that the Solana organization pulled the video a few hours later. I was curious: Would the tone of the conference, which was late last week, match the ad? Not really. I was surprised by what I found. I must report that crypto has entered its boring stage. It's no longer the wacky, eccentric, overhyped goofball world of NFTs and hype of a few years ago. Attendees wore normal clothing (OK, there was one guy in a sequin blazer). The crowd was largely male, in their 30s, and had the look of people who had full-time office jobs in tech. A colleague who was considering attending the conference with me lamented that it seemed a far cry from the NFT conventions of a few years ago — no good parties or big musical performances. There weren't gimmicky cartoons or celebrity endorsements. These were serious people who were here to work. With a caveat: The silly NFT and Constitution DAO days weren't that long ago, and even though the crypto industry has matured in certain ways, it's not that far off. At least one person I chatted with who had appeared as a speaker onstage to talk about stablecoins told me he used to work at OpenSea, the NFT trading platform, and still proudly owns a few NFTs. The big topic most of the speakers hit on: stablecoins. Stablecoins are often meant to be tied 1:1 to a fiat currency, like the US dollar. In theory, these are, well, stable (sort of) and intended for use as digital currency rather than a pure number-go-up speculation play. This is very much the hot thing of the moment. Last week, the GENIUS Act, which would create regulations for stablecoins, passed the House and is heading to the Senate. Politics did cast a long shadow on the event. Two New York Democrats gave fireside chats: Rep. Ritchie Torres and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand talked about regulation, and both mentioned their distaste for President Donald Trump's memecoin. "Trump being involved in crypto is the worst news for this industry," Gillibrand said, to scattered applause. There was also political representation from the other side of the aisle. There was big applause for Bo Hines, who funded his failed 2022 campaign for the 13th congressional District in North Carolina with his own trust fund, and is now working under David Sachs as a sort of deputy crypto czar to Trump. Anthony Scaramucci, a character whose political affiliation is somewhat quixotic, enthused about the speed of crypto transactions compared to his early days on Wall Street. But it shouldn't be a surprise that the politics here weren't black-and-white. Crypto has a way of drawing mercurial ideas out of people that don't fall straight down party lines. Which is why the ad for the event, which espoused the meat-and-potatoes anti-woke viewpoint, seemed so out of place. So, is crypto … boring and mainstream now? It almost seemed that way without the over-the-top glitz and pomp of the diamond hands emoji Lamborghini-loving crowd. (The same morning, a little over a mile away from the event, two people were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and torturing a man to get his bitcoin password.) The night before I attended, Trump held a dinner for top holders of his memecoin, where the crowd was reportedly somewhat disappointed by his brief speech and the mediocre food. This has long been a dichotomy in the crypto world: the grounded engineers and business people working on projects with utility vs. the get-rich-quick schemers, crooks, and scammers. The attendees I chatted with were the former type — and they found real use and value in this conference. But as a mere fly on the wall, I kind of wanted a little more of the latter group, just for the entertainment. Read the original article on Business Insider 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
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
I went to a crypto conference, and it was nothing like I expected
I wanted to go to the Solana Accelerate conference as soon as I saw the trailer for the crypto confab. The video ad showed "America" at a therapist's office, where the country described its urge to innovate and was met with resistance from a "woke" therapist, who encouraged America to "channel this energy into something more productive, like coming up with a new gender." The ad was so over the top in its culture war stance that the Solana organization pulled the video a few hours later. I was curious: Would the tone of the conference, which was late last week, match the ad? Not really. I was surprised by what I found. I must report that crypto has entered its boring stage. It's no longer the wacky, eccentric, overhyped goofball world of NFTs and hype of a few years ago. Attendees wore normal clothing (OK, there was one guy in a sequin blazer). The crowd was largely male, in their 30s, and had the look of people who had full-time office jobs in tech. A colleague who was considering attending the conference with me lamented that it seemed a far cry from the NFT conventions of a few years ago — no good parties or big musical performances. There weren't gimmicky cartoons or celebrity endorsements. These were serious people who were here to work. With a caveat: The silly NFT and Constitution DAO days weren't that long ago, and even though the crypto industry has matured in certain ways, it's not that far off. At least one person I chatted with who had appeared as a speaker onstage to talk about stablecoins told me he used to work at OpenSea, the NFT trading platform, and still proudly owns a few NFTs. The big topic most of the speakers hit on: stablecoins. Stablecoins are often meant to be tied 1:1 to a fiat currency, like the US dollar. In theory, these are, well, stable (sort of) and intended for use as digital currency rather than a pure number-go-up speculation play. This is very much the hot thing of the moment. Last week, the GENIUS Act, which would create regulations for stablecoins, passed the House and is heading to the Senate. Politics did cast a long shadow on the event. Two New York Democrats gave fireside chats: Rep. Ritchie Torres and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand talked about regulation, and both mentioned their distaste for President Donald Trump's memecoin. "Trump being involved in crypto is the worst news for this industry," Gillibrand said, to scattered applause. There was also political representation from the other side of the aisle. There was big applause for Bo Hines, who funded his failed 2022 campaign for the 13th congressional District in North Carolina with his own trust fund, and is now working under David Sachs as a sort of deputy crypto czar to Trump. Anthony Scaramucci, a character whose political affiliation is somewhat quixotic, enthused about the speed of crypto transactions compared to his early days on Wall Street. But it shouldn't be a surprise that the politics here weren't black-and-white. Crypto has a way of drawing mercurial ideas out of people that don't fall straight down party lines. Which is why the ad for the event, which espoused the meat-and-potatoes anti-woke viewpoint, seemed so out of place. So, is crypto … boring and mainstream now? It almost seemed that way without the over-the-top glitz and pomp of the diamond hands emoji Lamborghini-loving crowd. (The same morning, a little over a mile away from the event, two people were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and torturing a man to get his bitcoin password.) The night before I attended, Trump held a dinner for top holders of his memecoin, where the crowd was reportedly somewhat disappointed by his brief speech and the mediocre food. This has long been a dichotomy in the crypto world: the grounded engineers and business people working on projects with utility vs. the get-rich-quick schemers, crooks, and scammers. The attendees I chatted with were the former type — and they found real use and value in this conference. But as a mere fly on the wall, I kind of wanted a little more of the latter group, just for the entertainment.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EtherMail wants to reinvent email for crypto: ‘Give it a decentralized backbone'
Gerald Heydenreich, President and co-founder of EtherMail, believes email — one of the internet's oldest tools — may hold the key to the next wave of crypto engagement. In a conversation with TheStreet Roundtable, Heydenreich shared how EtherMail's newly launched platform, Stake4Ads, is reshaping how projects reach users by blending email with blockchain incentives. 'The challenge in Web3 marketing is predictability,' Heydenreich said. 'Budgets are tight, audiences are fragmented, and traditional platforms don't speak the language of crypto. We wanted to fix that.' Launched in 2022, EtherMail is a blockchain-based email platform designed for wallet-to-wallet communication. It enables users to receive authenticated, on-chain messages from DAOs and crypto projects while protecting privacy. The platform also lets users earn rewards for consenting to targeted content. Launched on May 5, Stake4Ads lets companies stake EMT tokens to earn recurring ad credits — instead of spending tokens on one-off ads. These credits guarantee email placements in verified wallet-to-wallet inboxes, reaching users active in DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and governance protocols. 'By staking, you're not spending,' Heydenreich explained. 'You're allocating resources to access attention — attention that's measurable, consent-based, and tied to real wallets.' In short: marketers lock up tokens, and in return, they get reliable access to crypto-native inboxes. This is a big shift from relying on social media, influencers, or paid campaigns with vague returns. EtherMail's platform is built to support direct, privacy-preserving communication between wallets — meaning users can get messages from token issuers or DAOs without giving up their data. Users can also set preferences and earn from receiving emails, making the relationship more balanced. It's a win-win: projects get consistent delivery with built-in fraud protection, and users only receive content they've opted into — sometimes with incentives. 'You can still market without market-making,' Heydenreich said. 'You're not burning tokens. You're using them as a signal of intent.' Early results show higher open and click-through rates, and EtherMail is offering a 25% performance boost for campaigns in their first month — a smart move to capture attention in the crowded Web3 space. Agencies are taking note, too. Stake4Ads gives them a quantifiable, blockchain-native way to deliver for crypto clients — not just views, but performance. 'It's not just about ads,' Heydenreich added. 'It's about performance. Staking makes that performance auditable.' While email may sound old-school, EtherMail sees it as a powerful tool when combined with blockchain principles. 'This isn't about reinventing email,' Heydenreich adds. 'It's about giving it a decentralized backbone. We just happen to think staking is a better way to earn attention than spending blindly.' With Stake4Ads now live, EtherMail aims to make email not just useful, but central to how crypto projects communicate — one staked token at a time. 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
TechCrunch
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- TechCrunch
NFT phenom CryptoPunks was just sold to a nonprofit
Yuga Labs, known as the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club and other notable NFTs, sold its iconic CryptoPunks to the nonprofit NODE Foundation, which focuses on preserving digital art. The deal details are undisclosed, and a representative declined to comment. Back in April, NODE announced it received a $25 million grant to 'build the future of digital art' from investor Micky Malka and Becky Kleiner. The former is chair of the foundation. Yuga Labs purchased CryptoPunks back in 2022 from Larva Labs amid the digital token craze that saw NFTs sell for millions of dollars. The highest-priced CryptoPunk NFT sold for nearly $24 million worth of crypto, according to the CryptoPunks website. The markets have slowed since then, however. Malka said that CryptoPunks 'sparked a cultural movement,' and that NODE will 'future-proof this landmark work,' to make it more accessible for people to engage with.
