Jeff Fong

Bio

Jeff covers the intersection of politics, economics, and technology. He currently lives in the SF Bay Area where he works at a start up focused on urban transportation.
This Venture Capitalist Wants California to Split into Six States. Here's Why He's Right.
By Jeff Fong
Tech investor Tim Draper wants to see California split six ways. His plan would dissolve California into six separate states by cutting along existing county lines and, of course, Silicon Valley would be one of the new states born out of the…
Even China Can't Stop Bitcoin From Getting Big. Here's Why.
By Jeff Fong
Bitcoin's price took another tumble on Wednesday, as China's largest exchange announced that it was no longer allowed to accept deposits. This comes on the heels of the Chinese Central Bank banning financial institutions from dealing in Bitcoin. The…
Ahead of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Things Are Getting Out of Control
By Jeff Fong
Rio de Janeiro's popular tourist beaches have once again come under attack. Favela youths are swooping down en masse in what are known as arrastões (Portuguese for "dragnets"). During these raids, the mob steals everything in sight, beats anyone who…
Twitter IPO Date is Something to Get Excited For, Even If Twitter's in the Red
By Jeff Fong
Twitter’s impending IPO has investors salivating. The company boasts as many as 400 million registered users and advertising revenue that should be close to the $1 billion mark by the end of next year. The company's IPO is expected to bring in as…
Was it the Lehman Brothers Crash? Here's What Really Caused the Great Recession
By Jeff Fong
Pundit Brenton Smith recently wrote a piece on the role of credit default swaps (CDS) in the 2008 financial crisis. He argued that the “naked” CDS (in which investors can bet that certain institutions will default without having an offsetting…
Online Classes are Risky — And That's a Good Thing
By Jeff Fong
In a recent article published at Slate, Jonathan Rees claims that widespread adoption of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) will be “disastrous for students and most professors." While Rees does present a few valid criticisms, he ignores the areas…
Technology Can Be Disruptive, So Why Can't Cities?
By Jeff Fong
Disruptive technology is a game changer. It’s something that seems to come out of nowhere, upsets incumbent firms that don’t adopt it (or at least adapt to it), and generally heralds a big jump forward in some sector or industry. Companies that are…
Bitcoin 2013: The Future of Payments (Liveblog)
By Jeff Fong
This weekend, Bitcoin enthusiasts from around the world will descend on San Jose, California for the Bitcoin 2013: The Future of Payments conference. The conference will include panels on tech, economics, regulatory issues, and importantly,…
Bitcoin 2013: Wrap up
By Jeff Fong
This will be the last post for my series on Bitcoin. Check out my Pundit Blog if you're just joining in and want to read from the beginning. But before I close out my final thoughts on the conference and Bitcoin as a whole, there were two other…
Bitcoin 2013: So Much for Deflationary Hoarding
By Jeff Fong
There was something I learned at the conference that warrants its own post before I close out the series.  Among merchants dealing in Bitcoin, many are starting to offer discounts for paying in BTC instead of USD-I heard as much as 40% from some…