1 year ago
by Andrew Fenton 10 min January 3, 2023
We combed done 660 stories from the past 3 years of Cointelegraph Magazine to bring you the precise pick of the crop.
On Oct. 1, 2019, Cointelegraph Magazine’s founding editor, Jon Rice, pressed people connected the first-ever diagnostic communicative for the work — a communicative by Swedish fintech writer Jinia Shawdagor astir the country’s clasp of a cashless economy.
The brainchild of erstwhile Cointelegraph CEO Jay Cassano — who was managing exertion astatine the clip — Magazine was designed to capable a large spread successful crypto media with in-depth features exploring each angles of the issues successful a thoughtful, considered way. While it’s easier to get postulation penning breathless stories astir Bitcoin terms predictions, Magazine is an effort to springiness readers and the manufacture a much intelligent approach.
I came connected committee aft gathering the squad astatine Cointelegraph’s league successful Singapore. Due to an amusing mix-up betwixt “Austria” (where a communicative they wanted to screen was based) and “Australia” (where I really live), I was commissioned to constitute Magazine’s seventh-ever published article, “Blockchain startups deliberation justness tin beryllium decentralized, but the assemblage is inactive out.”
This changeable of bully luck led maine to go a unit writer, and aboriginal to instrumentality implicit arsenic exertion aft Rice moved connected (he’s present editor-in-chief of Blockworks). Three years on, Magazine has amassed a large squad of regular contributors, including Blockland writer Elias Ahonen — who joined aft being interviewed for a communicative connected carnal Bitcoin — Andrew Singer, Max Parasol of the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, Christos Makridis of Stanford University, and freelance crypto writers Jillian Godsil and Julian Jackson. Magazine is ever looking for much contributors, truthful if you would similar to constitute for the publication, get successful touch.
Without further ado, present are immoderate of the highlights (and a mates of lowlights) of the archetypal 3 years of Cointelegraph Magazine.
— Andrew Fenton, Cointelegraph Magazine editor
The astir fashionable stories
WTF happened successful 1971 (and wherefore the f**k it matters truthful overmuch close now)
The astir consistently fashionable communicative connected the tract explores whether erstwhile U.S. President Richard Nixon’s determination to get escaped of the golden standard, which backed U.S. dollars with gold, caused a big of societal and economical problems. Since 1971, productivity accrued portion wages flatlined; GDP surged, but the stock going to workers plummeted; and location prices went done the roof. Is it causation oregon simply correlation?
How to hole for the extremity of the bull run, Part 1 and Part 2
Essential speechmaking earlier the adjacent bull run, we spoke with immoderate of the astir respected pundits successful crypto — including Filbfilb, Mati Greenspan and Scott Melker — astir however to play the inevitable crash. TLDR: Always instrumentality profits connected the mode up.
Toss successful your occupation and marque $300K moving for a DAO? Here’s how
Nataliya Ilyushina and Trent MacDonald transformed their ain world probe into a fascinating nonfiction astir however immoderate of the employees progressive successful the “great resignation” transformed their lives by moving for DAOs. (Readers besides flocked to our akin explainer connected however to acceptable up a DAO, “How to cook your ain DAO astatine location — With conscionable 5 ingredients!”)
Child’s play: Gajesh Naik, 13, manages a luck successful DeFi
The header says it all: A 13-year-old kid from Goa successful India is managing a million-dollar DeFi platform. Would you spot a seventh grader with your beingness savings?
5 large questions answered
Can Bitcoin past a Carrington Event knocking retired the grid?
What the hellhole is Web3 anyway?
Should crypto projects ever negociate with hackers?
What truly goes connected astatine a crypto OTC desk?
10 large features
The FBI’s takedown of Virgil Griffith for breaking sanctions, firsthand
Author Ethan Lou attended the infamous North Korean crypto league alongside Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith, who is present serving 5 years successful situation for helping the state evade sanctions utilizing crypto. Lou’s nonfiction portrays Griffith arsenic truthful dangerously naive that helium volunteered overmuch of the grounds the FBI utilized to convict him.
Ethereum is eating the satellite — ‘You lone request 1 internet’
Zero-knowledge proofs and recursive scaling mean the full world’s fiscal strategy could theoretically tally connected Ethereum. Reader feedback was precise positive, with galore commenting this was 1 of the fewer things ever written astir zk-Rollups that attempted to explicate it successful elemental presumption for mean people.
NFT ‘art revolution’: Beeple connected his 5,040-day labour of love
Magazine profiled NFT creator Beeple soon earlier helium recovered planetary fame for auctioning his “Everydays” enactment for $69 million. He already knew it was going to beryllium a large deal, telling Magazine it was Christie’s archetypal wholly integer auction and that it would judge Ether. “There volition beryllium nary carnal piece; they’re virtually conscionable auctioning disconnected a JPEG. And so, I deliberation that volition beryllium a precise large moment, and large validation for this space.”
The lizard radical invented Bitcoin: Crypto is simply a hotbed for conspiracy theories
With the pandemic getting into afloat plaything successful 2020 and paranoia moving rampant connected Crypto Twitter, Magazine decided to find retired wherefore crypto fans are drawn to conspiracy theories. It turns retired determination are immoderate precise bully reasons, not slightest due to the fact that determination truly are shadowy actors manipulating events down the scenes successful crypto.
How Silk Road made your mailman a dealer
One of Magazine’s earliest published stories explores however Bitcoin came to nationalist attraction aft being adopted for usage connected the darknet marketplace Silk Road. Containing a elaborate first-person communicative connected however 1 really bought drugs oregon different amerciable worldly connected the darknet, it’s possibly not astonishing that the writer remained anonymous.
The crypto effect: Trading altcoins astatine the borderline of addiction
Photojournalist Matt Danzico looked astatine however traders were spiraling into addiction and the emerging attraction options to wean them distant from their adjacent crypto rush.
Block by block: Blockchain exertion is transforming the existent property market
Imagine owning a token representing a two-millionth stock of the Empire State Building. Analysts accidental that tokenized existent property could beryllium worthy $1.4 trillion if it captures conscionable fractional a percent of the planetary spot market.
Is Ethereum near and Bitcoin right?
Does the conflict betwixt “conservative” Bitcoiners who privation to sphere the “best wealth successful history” and “progressive” Ethereans who privation to propulsion things guardant reflector our divided governmental culture? Yes, it does.
Soulbound Tokens: Social recognition strategy oregon spark for planetary adoption?
When Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled his Soulbound Tokens paper, determination was a batch of vigor but not overmuch airy shed connected however they’d really enactment successful practice. Magazine spoke with Buterin’s co-author Glen Weyl to get the lowdown connected this important caller development.
Crypto kids combat Facebook for the psyche of the Metaverse
Meta is throwing everything it has into dominating the Metaverse similar Facebook dominated societal for truthful long, but Web3 proponents are warring to marque it unfastened root and decentralized.
Most fascinating people
Dmitry Buterin: Vitalik Buterin’s dada revealed his ain fascinating beingness communicative arsenic a machine idiosyncratic and entrepreneur who near Russia to marque it successful Toronto. He spoke astir raising Vitalik, psychedelics, libertarianism and philosophy.
Damien Hirst: Magazine spoke with the legendary British creator successful his West London workplace up of the motorboat of his innovative “The Currency” NFT project.
Roger Ver: “Bitcoin Jesus” dropped a bombshell that alternatively than spell to situation successful 2002 for selling firecrackers, he’d considered sidesplitting himself to beryllium cryogenically revived astatine a aboriginal date.
Peter McCormack: The podcaster told a communicative astir however his flirtation with utilizing Bitcoin to bargain cocaine connected Silk Road near him hospitalized — and however helium made and mislaid a luck twice.
David Chaum: The crypto pioneer whose enactment inspired the cypherpunks told Magazine astir however helium risked a beingness successful jailhouse laying the instauration for Bitcoin.
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Carl “The Moon” Runefelt: The societal media influencer genuinely believes that helium manifested his crypto wealthiness simply by believing helium would get wealthy, recalling the premise of the pseudoscientific bestseller The Secret.
Tim Draper: The erstwhile Bitcoin billionaire (down to fractional a cardinal now) shared his tips for investing occurrence and his glass-half-full philosophy. Instead of looking for what could spell wrong, helium thinks: “What if it works and thing truly bonzer happens?”
Lushsux: The arguable Melbourne thoroughfare creator has been engaged successful “strategic trolling” for a decennary present and much precocious began to marque a sanction for himself and a tiny luck with NFTs.
Chris Blec: DeFi’s loudmouth troublemaker is simply a decentralization maxi. Is helium bully oregon atrocious for decentralized finance?
Griff Green: The DOGE-loving hippy achromatic chapeau hacker who rapidly replicated The DAO hacker’s exploit to bargain arsenic overmuch of its Ether earlier the hacker could get distant with the lot.
The worst: Rogues gallery
January and February 2021 were thing of a debased constituent for Magazine, arsenic 3 profiles of manufacture figures came retired successful speedy succession who went connected to go the biggest crypto villains of 2022: Celsius laminitis Alex Mashinsky, FTX and Alameda laminitis Sam Bankman-Fried and Member of the European Parliament Eva Kaili — who was precocious charged aft investigators allegedly recovered bags of currency from bribes successful her apartment.
Reading them back, the Mashinsky profile from January 2021 stands up good and included disapproval of the firm’s abrupt $20 cardinal raise, the “absurd cult” astir him, rumors Celsius was taking risks, and a prime punctuation from podcaster Peter McCormack, who said the “bloke’s a weirdo and helium needs to get his enactment together.”
A period later, the SBF profile was acold excessively consenting to instrumentality his effective-altruism rotation astatine look worth and likened it to robbing from the affluent to springiness to the poor. “Maybe without the robbing part,” Bankman-Fried said, without a hint of irony. In reality, prosecutors accidental helium was robbing from the mediocre FTX users truthful Alameda could marque risky bets.
That aforesaid month, the biggest crypto proponent successful the European Parliament, Kaili, perchance shed airy connected wherefore she mightiness similar (alleged) currency bribes to crypto ones, telling Magazine that “between maine and you, I deliberation the champion mode to get the ones that privation to tax-evade is to enactment them connected blockchain, due to the fact that thing is ever gone forever.”
Best of the planetary coverage
While overmuch of crypto media is focused connected the U.S., Magazine has made a conscious effort to study connected the champion stories from astir the world.
In Georgia, crypto is simply a important instrumentality for refugees escaping the war
Cointelegraph’s European exertion Aaron Wood relocated from Saint Petersburg successful Russia to Tbilisi, Georgia astatine the commencement of the Ukrainian invasion. He shared the communicative of however Russian refugees utilized crypto to determination assets crossed borders and stayed afloat by trading crypto for currency astatine Tbilisi’s carnal exchanges.
Crypto successful the Philippines (Part 1) and The morals of hiring inexpensive Filipino staff (Part 2).
The archetypal portion of our bid looked astatine crypto adoption successful the Philippines, portion the 2nd looked astatine the morals of crypto projects hiring inexpensive Filipino labor. The second communicative was named 1 of the champion articles of the period successful February 2021 by the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers.
Inside the Iranian Bitcoin mining industry
Tehran-based writer Saeed Jalili went heavy wrong the Iranian Bitcoin mining industry, which is dominated by illegal, underground mines.
Thailand’s Crypto Utopia — ‘90% of a cult, without each the weird stuff’
Magazine visited Thailand to screen the crypto integer nomad scene and stumbled crossed this insane communicative astir however Bitcoin OG Kyle Chasse acceptable up a libertarian Bitcoin commune. The communicative progressive “unchecked merrymaking,” crypto influencers, constabulary grillings, seasteading, a reported $20,000-a-month pain complaint — and a large collision betwixt idealism and reality.
What it’s really similar to usage Bitcoin successful El Salvador
Joe Hall spent 2 weeks successful the Central American state trying to wage for everything with Bitcoin. It didn’t enactment retired truthful well, adjacent astatine Bitcoin Beach.
Our fashionable China-based crypto quality round-up from Our Man successful Shanghai ran passim 2021 but was enactment connected crystal pursuing the large China crypto crackdown. It’s returning soon with a wider absorption connected Asia and a caller writer who isn’t physically based successful China and, arsenic such, doesn’t request to fearfulness repercussions for speaking their mind.
Magazine’s guides to the crypto history, businesses, meetups, services and acquisition successful cities astir the satellite kicked disconnected with Melbourne (Australia) successful August 2021. It has since visited Vancouver (Canada), San Francisco (U.S.), Prague (Czech Republic), Miami (U.S.), Dubai (UAE), Austin (U.S.), New York (U.S.) and Tokyo (Japan).
Andrew Fenton
Based successful Melbourne, Andrew Fenton is simply a writer and exertion covering cryptocurrency and blockchain. He has worked arsenic a nationalist amusement writer for News Corp Australia, connected SA Weekend arsenic a movie journalist, and astatine The Melbourne Weekly.
Follow the writer @andrewfenton
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