Some financial experts may think cryptocurrencies are just a big bubble, but top athletes, musicians, and socialites say otherwise. They’re backing the red-hot “initial coin offerings” that claim to revolutionize both finance and technology. Here are some noteworthy recent endorsements from unexpected crypto-enthusiasts: Token of choice: LydianCoin Show of support: Hilton tweeted that she was taking part in the forthcoming LydianCoin ICO. She seems genuinely enthused about the future of...

Maybe Elon Musk won’t have to go to all the trouble of building his “Pravda” website for rating journalists’ credibility, because, it turns out, there’s already a blockchain for that. It’s called Civil, which touts itself as a “decentralized marketplace for sustainable journalism.” Civil, which is the name of both the company and the platform it’s building, is riding a wave of interest in applying blockchain technology to the business of journalism. It’s funding grants worth €1.7 million ($2...

Onstage at the blockchain world’s biggest conference, bitcoin developer Jimmy Song said today that he’d be willing to take on Joseph Lubin’s proposed bet that “blockchain tech”—the use of a decentralized ledger without a cryptocurrency—won’t have any significant users in five years. Lubin, a co-founder of ethereum who is worth between $1 and $5 billion according to Forbes, offered to bet Song “any amount of bitcoin” that blockchain tech projects by large corporations would have meaningful...

Samsung seems keen to put crypto at the core of its operations. Its semiconductor business, the world’s largest, is making chips for cryptocurrency mining. Its electronics business, also a global giant, is reportedly working on a blockchain to monitor its logistics. Samsung plans to use a blockchain to streamline the logistics of its mammoth electronics business, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The effort could save the company 20% on shipping costs, according to Samsung’s logistics chief. The...

A proposal to speed up bitcoin’s transactions has received a boost from Jack Dorsey. The Twitter and Square founder is among the new investors in Lightning Labs, a startup that today announced it raised $2.5 million and released a beta version of its technology. Dorsey has increased his involvement in the cryptocurrency world in recent months, and he has been reaping the benefits. In November, Square announced that it would let users buy and sell bitcoin on its Cash app. Square’s stock price...