Dominic Williams of Dfinity A blockchain startup dubbed the "world computer" raised $102 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and crypto hedge fund Polychain Capital, among others. The startup, Dfinity, will use the money to hire employees and fund other initiatives, founder and chief scientist Dominic Williams told CNBC. Dfinity is trying to build a decentralized cloud computing network that could displace the current giants in cloud services. While blockchain-related startups in...

Nearly six months after Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico, thousands of crypto enthusiasts have descended upon San Juan for a string of blockchain and crypto conferences that the island's government is hoping will finally give the struggling economy the boost it needs. Puerto Rico's financial woes have been well-telegraphed. After a decade of recession, it is restructuring a large portion of its $73 billion in outstanding debt in the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy. The storm, a nearly...

Some Silicon Valley power players are putting their money behind blockchain start-up Lightning Labs. Lightning Labs, which specializes in a technology that can potentially make bitcoin cheaper and faster to use for transactions, announced it has raised seed financing of $2.5 million. The investors include Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and Twitter; David Sacks, former COO of PayPal; Bill Lee, angel investor in Tesla and SpaceX; Jacqueline Reses, head of Square Capital; and Charlie Lee, creator of...

As the cryptocurrency universe grows, businesses are on the hunt for job candidates with experience in blockchain, the technology that supports popular digital tokens such as bitcoin and ethereum. Upwork, a freelancing firm, says blockchain is its fastest-growing skill category. In the fourth quarter 2017, it had 2,200 blockchain-related job posts, up 2,194 percent from the same period one year ago, when it only had 96 posts. "We're seeing thousands of blockchain-related jobs posted every...

A growing number of students at America's elite business schools say they plan to pivot away from conventional jobs in finance for the lure of blockchain, the underpinning of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Robbie Mitchnick is one of those students. "We've got a lot of people who came from traditional finance backgrounds that are forgoing the chance to go back into that world to get involved in blockchain," Mitchnick, a MBA candidate at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, told...