The following is a guest post and opinion of Ken Jon Miyachi , Co-Founder of Bitmind.

According to the “Q1 2025 Deepfake Incident Report,” 163 deepfake scammers took more than $200 million from victims in the first four months of 2025. It’s not simply an issue for the rich or famous; it’s impacting regular folks just as much. Deepfake frauds are no longer a little problem.

Deepfakes used to be a fun way to make viral videos, but now criminals use them as weapons. Scammers use artificial intelligence to make phony voices, faces, and sometimes whole video calls that are so convincing they deceive consumers into giving them money or private information.

Surge in Scams

The survey says that 41% of these scams target famous people and politicians, while 34% target regular people. That means that you, your parents, or your neighbor could be next. The emotional damage is worse than the monetary damage. You feel violated, betrayed, or helpless.

For instance, in February 2024, a company lost $25 million in one scam. Using a deepfake video discussion, hackers purported to be the company’s chief financial officer and demanded wire transfers to fake accounts straight away. The worker sent the money since they thought they were doing what they were told.

It wasn’t until they called the corporate office that they realized the call was bogus. This wasn’t simply one thing that took place. Similar techniques have hurt engineering, computer, and even cybersecurity organizations. If smart people can be fooled, how can the rest of us stay safe without better defenses?

Its Impact

The technology used in these scams is quite scary. Scammers may copy someone’s voice with 85% accuracy using only a few seconds of audio, as from a YouTube video or a social media post. It’s much tougher to tell if a video is phony; 68% of individuals can’t tell the difference between fake and actual material.

Criminals search the internet for things to use to make these fakes, and they use our own posts and videos against us. Think about how a scammer may use a recording of your voice to get your family to send them money or a false video of a CEO directing a huge transfer. These things are not just science fiction; they are happening right now.

There is more damage than just money. The survey says that 32% of deepfake cases involved explicit content, and they commonly target people to humiliate or blackmail them. 23% of the crimes are financial fraud, 14% are political manipulation, and 13% are disinformation.

These scams make it hard to believe what we read and hear online. Imagine getting a call from a loved one who needed help, only to find out it was a scam. Or a fake seller who steals all of a small business owner’s money. There are more and more of these stories, and the stakes are getting higher.

So, what can we do? It begins with educating oneself. Companies can show their employees how to spot warning signs, like video conversations that seek money straight away. A fraud can be avoided by basic tests like asking someone to move their head in a certain way or answer a personal question. Companies should also limit how much high-quality media of their CEOs is available to the public and add watermarks to videos to make them harder to misuse.

Everyone’s a Target

It is really important for people to be vigilant. Be careful what you put online. Scammers can use any audio or video recording you post as a weapon. If you get an odd request, don’t do anything immediately. You can either call the person again on a number you trust or check in another method. Efforts to raise public awareness can help stop bad behaviors, especially among groups who are more prone to be affected, such as elders who may not understand the effects. Media literacy isn’t just a trendy word; it’s a shield.

Governments also have a role to play. The Resemble AI study suggests that all countries should have the same laws that define what deepfakes are and how to punish them. New U.S. laws say that social media sites have to take down explicit deepfake content within 48 hours.

First Lady Melania Trump, who has talked about how it affects young people, was one of the persons who pushed for this. But laws by themselves aren’t enough. Scammers operate in a lot of different countries, and it’s not always easy to detect them. It could be a good idea to set worldwide criteria for watermarking and content authentication, but first, IT companies and governments need to agree on them.

There isn’t much time left. By 2027, deepfakes are expected to cost the U.S. $40 billion, with a growth rate of 32% each year. In North America, these scams rose by 1,740% in 2023, and they are still rising. But we can change it.

We can fight back using smart technology—such as systems that can detect deepfakes in real time—as well as better regulations and good practices. It’s about getting back the trust we used to have in the digital world. The next time you get a video call or hear someone you know ask for money, take a big breath and check again. It’s worth it for your peace of mind, your money, and your good name.

Block (XYZ -3.84%) was once a high-flying stock. In the five years leading up to their peak in August 2021, shares were up an astonishing 2,430%. Growth was fantastic, and the market was warming up to this innovative financial services business.

It’s been a disappointing story since that peak. As of July 14, this fintech stock traded 76% below the record, with a 21% decline just this year. The growth has slowed, to be sure, but Block’s profits have been soaring. And the stock now trades at a compelling forward price-to-earnings ratio of 24.7.

Should you buy shares right now and hold them for 20 years? The answer depends on one crucial factor that’s becoming more important to Block’s business.

Image source: Block.

Two powerful ecosystems

Investors should first understand that this company owns and operates two powerful ecosystems. Square serves small- and medium-size merchants, giving them various commerce tools to help them manage and grow their operations. There are point-of-sale solutions, as well tools to help manage inventory, payroll, loyalty programs, and many other things.

In the first quarter (ended March 31), Square posted year-over-year 9% growth in gross profit. And it certainly benefits from switching costs, as these customers become locked in once they start using more of the segment’s offerings.

Block also caters to individuals. The company’s Cash App is a personal finance platform that allows consumers to handle basic tasks, like sending money to others, setting up direct deposit, and buying stocks. Cash App has 57 million users, and it’s growing faster than Block is.

Block’s Bitcoin bet

In 2021, CEO Jack Dorsey talked about his appreciation for Bitcoin (BTC -1.37%). “I don’t think there is anything more important in my lifetime to work on,” he said at a conference that year. His view probably stemmed from the potential for the cryptocurrency to boost economic empowerment and financial freedom, values that match Block’s vision.

In the years since, it’s become clear that Block’s success over the next 20 years will depend more on the trajectory of Bitcoin. And this is perhaps one of the most important factors that investors need to think about.

Block first purchased the crypto for its own balance sheet in October 2020. The company currently owns 8,584 bitcoins, valued at more than $1 billion, according to bitcointreasuries.net. If the crypto’s price keeps going up, the fintech will continue to see unrealized gains.

And the business is also working on real-world Bitcoin initiatives, all supporting Dorsey’s vision to grow its adoption. He thinks it could become a global currency, a view partly supported by the possible rise of artificial intelligence agents that will need to transact with one another using a decentralized, digital, and borderless asset.

Block recently announced that merchants would soon gain functionality to accept cryptocurrency payments from customers on Square. Block sells a Bitcoin self-custody hardware wallet, called Bitkey. And with Proto, it’s developing mining equipment.

Bitcoin doesn’t yet move the financial needle for the company. Cash App started allowing users to trade it in 2018. And in the first quarter this year, this activity brought in just $65 million in gross profit, or about 3% of Block’s entire total.

However, if the digital coin’s price continues to rise in the years ahead, it’s not difficult to see how Block would benefit. Sales of its hardware wallet and mining equipment could soar. Individuals and merchants wanting to use Bitcoin in some way could flock to Block to access various services.

To be clear, Block still looks like a pure-play fintech enterprise right now. But anyone who wants to buy and hold the stock for the next 20 years must factor Bitcoin into their decision-making. Put another way, if you’re not bullish on Bitcoin, then you probably shouldn’t be bullish on Block.

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Bitcoin continues to dominate the digital asset space, maintaining its position as the most established and widely adopted cryptocurrency. However, according to Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management, investors should consider broadening their exposure to include a variety of crypto assets, especially as blockchains evolve beyond just currency use cases.

Hougan recently commented on Ethereum’s significant price recovery, noting a 53% rebound from its April lows and a 37% increase within a single week.

This performance comes after months of underperformance and coincides with recent blockchain upgrades and a wider shift toward risk-on market conditions. In light of this, Hougan addressed the increasingly common question among investors: is it time to look beyond Bitcoin?

Crypto as a General Purpose Technology

In drawing comparisons between today’s blockchain market and early internet adoption, Hougan pointed to how investment strategies from the early 2000s offer a relevant historical lesson. He referenced the example of 2004, when Google led the search engine industry and appeared to be the dominant bet on the internet’s future.

While Google became a highly successful investment, Hougan emphasized that other sectors, such as e-commerce (Amazon), video streaming (Netflix), and software-as-a-service (Salesforce), also generated substantial long-term returns.

Applying the same thinking to crypto, Hougan suggested that while Bitcoin may serve as a decentralized monetary system or “digital gold,” other blockchains are designed for broader utility.

Ethereum enables programmable smart contracts, Solana and Avalanche focus on high-throughput performance for decentralized applications, and middleware solutions like Chainlink support infrastructure across multiple networks. Hougan’s view is that these differing purposes present differentiated return profiles, rather than just direct competition.

He also noted that investors do not need to commit to a single crypto thesis. While some may favor Bitcoin solely as a hedge against fiat debasement, others who believe blockchains will transform asset transfer, application deployment, or financial infrastructure may benefit from holding a mix of assets.

This basket approach, he argued, is well-aligned with how general purpose technologies historically produce a range of winners across verticals.

Passive Exposure May Outperform Active Picks

To reinforce his perspective, Hougan pointed to performance data over the last five years for assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Chainlink—each demonstrating different periods of outperformance. Predicting which will lead through 2030 remains uncertain, and that uncertainty is exactly why he advocates diversification.

He concluded by citing a compelling statistic: over the past two decades, 97% of actively managed equity funds underperformed their benchmarks. For an industry as dynamic and unpredictable as crypto, the implication is that trying to identify individual long-term winners could be more difficult than many expect.

In summary, while Bitcoin remains the cornerstone of most crypto portfolios, Hougan believes that blockchain’s versatility as a technology calls for broader exposure. His advice to investors: focus less on picking the next breakout asset and more on positioning for the entire crypto ecosystem’s potential.

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView

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