Opinion by: Dr. Scott Lehr In the early 2000s, getting a loan in the United States without verifying your income or assets was possible. It was called a “no-doc” or “low-doc” loan. The aim was to help self-employed or contract workers, but it was widely abused. Today, lenders verify income, assets, debt and employment. Whether…
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San Francisco-based lender Divine Research has issued around 30,000 unbacked short-term crypto loans since December, using OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s iris-scanning platform World ID to verify borrowers. Divine offers loans under $1,000 in the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, mainly to overseas borrowers underserved by traditional finance. It uses World ID to ensure users cannot open multiple…
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A prominent crypto analyst has sparked debate in the Bitcoin community by claiming that Bitcoin OGs are losing confidence in the asset as it becomes increasingly adopted by institutions. “Many of the most ardent early whales have seen their faith shaken and have been selling at these prices,” Scott Melker, aka The Wolf of All…
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Bitcoin’s price could see significant upside in 2026, bucking the traditional four-year market cycle, according to Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan. The prediction comes as other analysts are divided on whether Bitcoin (BTC) will stray from its historical pattern or follow the traditional halving cycle and peak in the coming months. Bitcoin may be…
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Top Stories of The Week Australian fintech Finder wins court battle over crypto yield product The Australian Federal Court ruled in favor of fintech company Finder.com, clearing it and its yield-generating product, Finder Earn, in a legal battle with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that lasted almost three years. In a Thursday court…
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A solo Bitcoin (BTC) miner successfully mined a block on Saturday, collecting the 3.125 BTC block reward, valued at $372,773. The miner, operating through the Solo CK pool, a solo mining service, successfully mined block 907283, which contained 4,038 transactions and block fees totalling $3,436. Rising network hashrate and difficulty make it increasingly harder for…
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Bitcoin (BTC) will no longer experience “parabolic” price rallies or “devastating” bear markets, because BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have permanently reduced volatility and altered market dynamics, according to Blockware BTC analyst Mitchell Askew. “BTC/USD looks like two entirely different assets before and after the ETF,” the analyst wrote on Friday. The chart he shared showed…
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Key takeaways: Bitcoin traders now turn their focus to higher levels after Friday’s $115,000 liquidity grab. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee predicts Bitcoin could hit $250,000 by year-end. Bitcoin (BTC) recovered sharply after sweeping range lows on Friday and is trying to continue its uptrend into the weekend, indicating that bulls are still in control of the…
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Pakistan’s demographics position the country as a major catalyst for Bitcoin (BTC) adoption, allowing it to “leapfrog” developed nations, according to Bilal Bin Saqib, Pakistan’s state minister of crypto and blockchain. “A global policy shift has happened, not just in Pakistan, but all around the world,” Bin Saqib told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview. The…
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Key points: Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen sparks warnings to XRP investors after a wallet linked to him sends 50 million tokens to exchanges. Larsen notionally has over 2.5 billion XRP left, which would create massive selling pressure if distributed. XRP/USD currently trades 13% below recent all-time highs, failing to recover after the sell-off. XRP (XRP)…
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