CoinDesk

PNC Bank (PNC) is partnering with Coinbase (COIN) to offer its institutional and banking clients access to cryptocurrency services, the companies said Tuesday. The collaboration will use Coinbase’s “Crypto-as-a-Service” infrastructure to let PNC clients buy, hold and sell digital assets securely. PNC will also provide banking services to Coinbase, deepening the operational ties between the … Read more

Bitcoin mining firm Bitfarms (BITF) surged on Tuesday as the company announced to buy back up to 10% of its common stock’s public float. The Toronto-based company said the buyback plan, beginning July 28, will let it acquire up to nearly 50 million shares on the open market through the Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange … Read more

SharpLink Gaming (SBET), the ether (ETH) treasury company led by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, continued its buying spree bringing total holdings above $1.3 billion. The firm said in a Tuesday press release that it acquired 79,949 ETH over the last week at an average price of $3,238, its largest weekly purchase ever. With the latest … Read more

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index. The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 4140.04, up 0.2% (+9.67) since 4 p.m. ET on Monday. Four of 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: SOL (+3.6%) and BTC (+1.9%). Laggards: AAVE (-3.3%) and UNI (-2.3%). … Read more

Citadel Securities is pressing U.S. regulators to slow down on new rules that would enable widespread trading of tokenized securities, citing concerns about market disruption and investor confusion. In a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force, the market-making firm argued that allowing these blockchain-based products to advance without a clear … Read more

Blockchain technology promises to streamline the issuance and management of covered bonds, but its adoption remains hindered by legal, technical and regulatory barriers, according to a recent report by Moody’s Ratings. The ratings company’s report highlights blockchain’s potential to enhance operational efficiency and transparency in the covered-bond market. By deploying smart contracts, issuers could automate … Read more

NEW YORK — Hack and scam victims who reached out to Tornado Cash requesting assistance retrieving their stolen funds received little in the way of help from the privacy tool’s developers, three government witnesses told the jury during day two of Roman Storm’s criminal money laundering trial. One victim, a Taiwan-born Georgia woman who said she … Read more

Donald Trump is unhappy with the head of the U.S. central bank. Here’s why: Powell, who hurriedly cut federal interest rates by 75 basis points ahead of the 2024 election, has been reluctant to ease monetary conditions further, citing potentially inflationary effects of the White House’s new tariff policies. Trump has been floating the idea … Read more

The governance token of World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, may soon become tradable on exchanges after a community vote concluded on Wednesday. Token holders voted 99% in favor for the proposal to allow WLFI tokens to trade on secondary markets and transfer … Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives stalled out on a procedural vote to advance to a final poll on key crypto legislation Wednesday, after passing an earlier procedural motion. The House voted earlier Wednesday to reconsider debate on a motion to set how the chamber would move forward on the bills after that rules motion saw … Read more

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, CoinDesk’s Tech & Protocols reporter. In this issue: Eclipse Launches $ES Airdrop, Distributing 15% of Token Supply Risc Zero’s ‘Boundless’ Incentivized Testnet Goes Live Bitcoin Devs Float Proposal to Freeze Quantum-Vulnerable Addresses — Even Satoshi Nakamoto’s … Read more

NEAR Protocol exhibited pronounced bullish momentum over the past 24 hours, ascending from $2.60 to $2.68. NEAR is now up by 8% over the past few days having surged by 45% since Jun 17. The move reflects optimism across the wider altcoin ecosystem, with data points suggesting sustained upside. A broader artificial intelligence (AI) token … Read more

Internet Computer (ICP) moved higher in tandem with a broad-based crypto market surge, climbing 1.89% $5.5354 after peaking at around $5.65 early on Wednesday. As capital rotated into altcoins following gains in bitcoin and ether, ICP followed suit with a 7% upswing, driven by early bullish momentum and strong support at the lower end of … Read more

ATOM rose by 4% on Wednesday after Cosmos executives terminated EVM development to concentrate on blockchain interoperability by advancing its own IBC protocol. The news was met well by investors as it sees Cosmos extend its position as a standalone blockchain with its own tech stacks it can rely on. The wider market is also … Read more

With the expected passage of the GENIUS Act this week, the $260‑billion stablecoin market is on the cusp of becoming a formally regulated part of the U.S. financial system. The next step is institutional, bringing the time‑tested model of clearinghouses into the world of tokenized money. Why clearing matters Traditional clearinghouses, formally called central clearing … Read more

Let’s be honest. Last month, I released a white paper explaining that conservative investors should allocate 10% to crypto, moderate clients should invest 25% and aggressive investors should place 40% of their portfolios into crypto. Bitcoin has outperformed every other asset class for 12 of the past 15 years, and it’s highly likely that it … Read more

Bank of America (BofA) is preparing to enter the stablecoin market, CEO Brian Moynihan said Wednesday, adding that the bank has already laid the groundwork and expects to act when the time is right. “We feel both the industry and ourselves will have responses,” Moynihan said during the lender’s second quarter investor call. “We’ve done … Read more

Ethereum’s ether ETH raced ahead on Wednesday, leading the crypto market higher after a modest dip earlier this week. ETH broke above the $3,200 level for the first time since early February, gaining 6.5% over the past 24 hours, CoinDesk data shows. It’s now ahead a full 22% over the past seven days. Bitcoin BTC … Read more

What looked like a rebound at first glance reflected something deeper; a change in the nature of demand. As digital assets rallied, institutional flows became more targeted, and corporate balance sheets emerged as a key driver of market structure. Bitcoin rose 29.8%, reaching a new all-time high in June, according to CoinDesk Data, but it … Read more

Bitcoin triumphantly formed a series of fresh record highs last week, eventually topping out just shy of $124,000 as profit taking emerged. The rise has paved the way for what many are describing as the latest “altcoin season,” which involves crypto tokens other than bitcoin making often exponential moves to the upside. The recent bitcoin … Read more

Cantor Equity Partners I (CEPO) is changing hands just shy of $15 in morning U.S. action, up about 25% from the $12 level it traded at prior to a late-Tuesday story from the FT that the company and Adam Back were nearing a $3.5 billion funding deal. To review, CEPO is the blank check bitcoin … Read more

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the ether treasury strategy firm helmed by Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee, is rebounding on Wednesday on news that prominent tech investor Peter Thiel invested in the company. According to a Tuesday filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Thiel purchased 9.1% of the firm’s common shares through various investment funds. … Read more

Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this article owns shares in Strategy. Jim Chanos, the founder of Kynikos Associates who famously shorted U.S. energy giant Enron before it collapsed in 2001, has set his sights on Strategy (MSTR), arguing the bitcoin (BTC)-buying company’s premium valuation over its holdings of the largest cryptocurrency is unjustified. Chanos has … Read more

Everyone’s rushing into stablecoins, but the numbers look… the same. In Q2, it felt like you couldn’t go a day without a major stablecoin announcement. JPMorgan launched its USD Deposit Token on Base. Coinbase debuted its stablecoin payment stack following the Shopify partnership. Anchorage Digital acquired USDM issuer Mountain Protocol. Ubyx raised $10 million for … Read more

Nasdaq-listed Blockchain Technology Consensus Solutions (BTCS) is joining the Russell Microcap Index, giving the Ethereum-focused firm greater exposure among investors who track the benchmark for smaller U.S. companies. The Maryland-based firm announced earlier this month a $100 million funding plan to acquire more ETH for its balance sheet. The firm says it runs blockchain operations … Read more

Ethereum scaling network Arbitrum’s token ARB is gaining on Wednesday as speculation swirled that the network could be next where PayPal’s U.S. dollar stablecoin PYUSD will be deployed. The network was recently added to PayPal’s cryptocurrency terms and conditions webpage as a supported chain for PYUSD, alongside Ethereum and Solana SOL where the token is … Read more

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index. The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 3701.0, up 2.7% (+97.31) since 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Nineteen of 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: LINK (+4.5%) and HBAR (+4.4%). Laggards: ICP (-0.4%) and SUI (+0.6%). … Read more

What to know: XRP rose 1.79% from $2.89 to $2.95 between July 15 13:00 and July 16 12:00, after dropping as low as $2.84 early in the session. Trading volume spiked to 134.08 million during the initial decline, with strong buy-side absorption near $2.84–$2.85. In the final hour, price rebounded from $2.94 to $2.95 on … Read more

José Fernández da Ponte, formerly the head of blockchain at PayPal, has left the fintech giant, where he oversaw the roll-out of digital currencies and stablecoins, to become president and chief growth officer of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF). The foundation also said it appointed Jason Karsh, a former Block and Blockchain.com executive, as chief … Read more

Talos, an institutional trading technology provider for digital assets, is set to acquire crypto data firm Coin Metrics in a deal exceeding $100 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. The acquisition will combine Talos’s execution and portfolio management infrastructure with Coin Metrics’ blockchain analytics, market data, and index products, creating what the … Read more