Forbes has released its annual “ 30 Under 30 ” ranking which celebrates the top entrepreneurs, from a whole host of fields, under the age of (you guessed it) 30.
That said, there’s over 20 different categories each with 30 under 30’s, so it feels more like 500 under 30. Nevertheless, we’ve sifted through and found a few cryptocurrencers and cryptopreneurs that have made the list.
On the list is one of Lightning Labs cofounders, Olaoluwa Osuntokun. Lightning Labs is developing a scalability layer for the Bitcoin protocol, the Lightning Network .
Also on the list is Hunter Horsley, the CEO of Bitwise Asset Management, the firm responsible for managing Abra’s “ETF” styled token, BIT10 .
Stablecoin creator Nader Al-Naji makes the list for raising over $130 million in capital from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Ventures to back his cryptocurrency business.
The final cryptopreneur on the list this year is JB Rubinovitz, an artist come entrepreneur who set up Bail Bloc . A blockchain-based business using the platform to raise money to pay the bail of offenders that can’t afford it.
Considering the explosion of interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain over the last 18 months seeing names like this on Forbes’ list isn’t entirely surprising.
The real question is if these names have done enough to earn their place on this list?
While others on the list have earned their credentials, like Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin with her multiple gold medals and world titles, those in the cryptocurrency space are yet to really prove themselves.
They may have garnered interest and raised a lot of money from venture capital firms but we are still waiting for their influence to break into the mainstream.
Indeed, earlier this year Fortune also recognized the likes of Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin, and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong in its “ 40 under 40 ” list.
IRS launches international initiative to hunt down cryptocurrency tax fraudsters
Cryptocurrency crimes defy borders, and regulatory bodies are collaborating internationally to fight them.
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has allied with tax authorities from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and the UK to fight tax crime and money laundering with cryptocurrency and other financial assets, the government agency announced on its website on Monday.
The joint efforts — named ‘Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5)’ — will comprise of six agencies from the five countries including the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the Fiscale Inlichtingen- en Opsporingsdienst (FIOD) from the Netherlands, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) from the United Kingdom, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).
The agencies will share information and intelligence, conduct joint investigations, and attempt to improve operational capability to grow international crime enforcement efforts.
IRS stated that the J5 will make the most of data and technology to “reduce the growing threat posed to tax administrations by cryptocurrencies and cyber crime.”
The J5 was formed in response to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) call to action for countries to do more to tackle the enablers of tax crime — and the agencies will also work with the rest of the 30 OECD countries to fight tax crimes as and when required.
Don Fort, Chief of IRS-CI, told Forbes on the purpose of enacting J5:
It is worth noting that authorities all across the globe have increased their efforts in fighting cryptocurrency related crimes.
Authorities in both the US and Europe recently seized millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies in raids against drug sellers on the dark web . The US Department of Justice is also currently probing cryptocurrency market manipulation.
Law enforcement authorities often find it difficult to fight cryptocurrency-related tax frauds due to the ease with which they can be transferred internationally. While cryptocurrency transactions are not exactly anonymous — they can be extremely difficult to trace — especially once they have left your borders. International collaboration will make it easier for these authorities to fight cryptocurrency crime, and other countries should follow suit.
Coinbase confirms it is killing its cryptocurrency index fund
Update 15:30 PM UTC: Coinbase has confirmed the reports: the cryptocurrency exchange is indeed shutting down its index fund. In an email to Hard Fork, a spokesperson for the company told us the following:
(We have also updated the title to reflect this accordingly.)
Coinbase has reportedly taken the decision to shut down its cryptocurrency index fund after lack of interest.
An informant close to the matter told The Block the cryptocurrency exchange’s market-weighted index failed to attract enough interest from accredited investors.
It appears the index did not perform as well as Coinbase forecast. The fund targeted at accredited investors required a minimum investment of $250,000.
Coinbase recently turned its attention to more casual investors with its Coinbase Bundles . Similar to an index fund, but it is just a bundle of top cryptocurrencies of the day, investments start from as little as $25.
Cryptocurrency investment platform Abra also recently released its BIT10 market tracking token . Like an index fund, it tracks the markets top 10 cryptocurrencies of the month. BIT10 can be bought from $5.
It seems cryptocurrency exchanges are still intent on offering index-styled investments, but clearly the success of such products might not be with big money investors.
Hard Fork reached out to Coinbase for comment on the matter, we will update this piece if we learn more.
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