Opinion


Finance

Bukele’s MS-13 Double Bind

The Salvadoran President has had to operate in secret while negotiating with gangs. That has raised suspicions and lent aid to his critics.

SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR - MAY 20:  MS-13 gang members languish in one of the three 'gang cages' in the Quezaltepeque police station May 20, 2013 in San Salvador, El Salvador. These overcrowded, 12x15 cages were designed to be 72-hour holding cells for common criminals and the two rival gangs, but many of the individuals have been imprisoned for over a year.  (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images.)

Juridique

Are Central Bankers Ready for Payments Theater?

If the Fed and other banks adopt a CBDC, they will inevitably become involved in disputes about what is and isn’t acceptable economic activity, says our columnist.

(Stefani Reynolds/Unsplash)

Finance

The Burning Question Behind NFTs

Can destroying a work of art create value?

Fred Kearney/Unsplash

Finance

Do NFTs’ Crazy Valuations Make Them Art? A Leading Collector Says No

The cultural cachet that makes fine art such a good investment will take years to build up around NFTs.

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 20: Highlights from Sotheby's auctions of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern and African Art at Sotheby's, featuring The Visitor by South African artist Gerard Sekoto on March 20, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for Sotheby's)

Marchés

How Do You Value Digital Assets?

Traditional models don’t fit for valuing digital assets.

Mackenzie Marco/Unsplash

Finance

Self-Regulation Is in Crypto’s Best Interest

The recent regulatory happenings in the U.S. lay bare what many of us already know: our industry and the actors within it are misunderstood.

Timon Studler/Unsplash

Finance

Coinbase Has Words for the SEC. Is It Listening?

The crypto exchange says a surprise legal warning came after months of transparency about its lending plans.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 09:  (L-R) Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew share a moment during a Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) meeting December 9, 2013 at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC. Members of FSOC met to discuss cybersecurity and receive a presentation from the Office of Financial Research on financial market developments.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Finance

El Salvador’s Bold Bet on Bitcoin Could Inspire the World

The standard playbook for building national wealth doesn’t work anymore. Bitcoin provides an alternative.

A person purchases a bottle of Coca-Cola from a shop that accepts Bitcoin in El Zonte, El Salvador, on Monday, June 14, 2021. El Salvador has become the first country to formally adopt Bitcoin as legal tender after President Nayib Bukele said congress approved his landmark proposal. Photographer: Cristina Baussan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Finance

El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law Is About Self-Determination

Today, bitcoin became legal tender in the Central American nation.

El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele speaks via video during a presentation at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami.

Marchés

Crypto Long & Short: The Trouble With Ticker Symbols

Investors are apt to get confused when multiple projects can claim the same ticker without an industry standard for exchanges to assign identifiers.

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