Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images Before there was crypto, there was just bitcoin. During bitcoin’s earliest days, around 2008 and 2009, one of its core features was how difficult and annoying it was to actually get — it was worth hardly anything, traded only by a handful of hard-core superfans. One of the earliest markets was just a guy you’d email before paying him through PayPal. But then the exchanges came, making trading easy. Japan-based Mt. Gox was the first major one — it ruled the market until it was annihilated by a massive hack. Others emerged to fill the void. Soon there was a huge business in making bitcoin not difficult and not annoying to buy. By the time the boom of 2021 peaked, bitcoin was worth more than a trillion dollars, and a lot of exchange owners — but also a whole lot of exchange users — had gotten really rich, really quick. (Many others lost their shirts, of course.) Along with the cryptocurrency exchanges, thousands of new digital … [Read more...] about The Future of Coinbase Could Be a Lot Smaller
Denis pushilin
The High Cost of Bad Credit
When Taqwanna Clark went to buy a video camera at Fry’s Electronics in Houston, she asked if they had a layaway plan. The cashier instead handed her an application for a store credit card. She applied. “Instantly, it came back declined — like, No!” she says. “Denied, denied — you know, your credit is not good enough.” Clark was 30 and working as a security guard at the Port of Houston. On weekends, she performed as a rapper in the local club scene, under the name T-Baby. She wanted the camera to shoot music videos, to promote her music career. “If I can’t afford a $200 camera,” she recalls thinking, “then I’m in a bad way with this credit thing.” Clark had lived with money anxieties since childhood. In elementary school, her family endured periods of extreme poverty. For a time, on the cusp of homelessness, they lived in the bare framing for a house her father was building on a wooded lot owned by a family member. They slept in an unfinished room and warmed canned food by a … [Read more...] about The High Cost of Bad Credit
When No Landlord Will Rent to You, Where Do You Go?
To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android . Suzy Niffenegger slept outside in Las Vegas for the first time in late August 2019. She put what belongings she still had — including her collection of what she refers to as her “ ’80s big-hair wigs” — into storage and filled a backpack with dog treats, toys and blankets for her 22-pound terrier, Brownie. She barely slept, bunking on top of picnic tables, where she folded up her blankets into a cocoon. Brownie would lie next to her, but the dog didn’t sleep much either. “If I dozed off, and someone walked within say 15 feet of me, she alerted me,” Niffenegger told me recently. “That dog was a trooper. I mean, she saved my life so many times.” The setbacks that led to Niffenegger’s life outside — a word she prefers to “homeless,” which she can’t bring herself to say — started in early 2019, when she lost her job at a call center. She tried to forestall financial … [Read more...] about When No Landlord Will Rent to You, Where Do You Go?
What Can I Do About My Daughter’s Father Showing Up Drunk?
My ex and I have a 13-year-old daughter. We never married. After we broke up nine years ago (in part because of his drinking), he left the country. I never applied for sole custody. We agreed our daughter would live with me, and he never paid for anything. He moved back recently and has been having dinner with her once a week. She’s getting used to having him in her life. The issue: Twice, he has turned up drunk. Most recently, he arrived very late — without responding to her many texts — and was sick in front of her. When I asked him to leave, we argued, and that upset my daughter a lot. (He denies he has a drinking problem; often, he denies he’s been drinking at all.) How can I help my daughter navigate this relationship? MOM I share your concern for your daughter. It is really important that she not ride in a car with a driver who has been drinking, or be left alone with someone who is too impaired to care for her. Start drumming that into her head now! And it is unfair to ask … [Read more...] about What Can I Do About My Daughter’s Father Showing Up Drunk?
Lizzy Caplan, Sex-Ed Teacher to the World
The actress talks to Eric Spitznagel about awards shows, the allure of reality television and that one time she applied for the C.I.A. You’re nominated for an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, “Masters of Sex.” Can we be presumptuous and assume you’re going to win on Aug. 25? I don’t think it’s fair to assume that at all. I’m Jewish, so I’m predisposed to assume there’s no chance in hell that’s going to happen. Are you excited to be at the Emmys, or is it just something you’re obligated to do? I mean, obviously I haven’t been nominated in the past, but anything where you’re getting super gussied up and wearing uncomfortable shoes and watching people make speeches hasn’t been my cup of tea. I’m legitimately excited, though. When you watch an award show at home, are you reverent about it, or do you make snarky comments? A combination of the two. I generally watch it with friends, and we wear sweatpants and eat a lot of food. It’s my ideal way to enjoy an … [Read more...] about Lizzy Caplan, Sex-Ed Teacher to the World
Ex-DHS chief Wolf accuses Biden admin of ‘crisis by design’ at the border, calls for new leadership
close Video Biden admin sending troops to the border is smoke and mirrors: Chad Wolf Former acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf weighs in on the Biden administrations plan to send 1,500 troops to the border as the end of Title 42 nears on Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy. FIRST ON FOX : The former acting head of the Department of Homeland Security will on Wednesday rip into the Biden administration's handling of the ongoing crisis at the southern border, accusing the administration of a "crisis by design" at the border, and calling for new leadership at the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, who served as acting DHS secretary during the Trump administration and oversaw the implementation of a number of key Trump-era policies, will speak at the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee hearing on the ongoing crisis at the border. The hearing will ask "Is the law being faithfully executed" and Wolf will tell lawmakers … [Read more...] about Ex-DHS chief Wolf accuses Biden admin of ‘crisis by design’ at the border, calls for new leadership