CoinDesk

Traditional U.S. assets are going haywire as U.S.-China trade tensions continue to rattle global markets, now coupled with fresh data of tumbling sentiment towards the U.S. economy and mounting inflation concerns. The most recent University of Michigan survey, published on Friday, found that consumer sentiment fell to 50.8 from 57.0, nearing the most depressed level … Read more

When the U.S. government sanctioned the Ethereum-based crypto mixing service Tornado Cash in 2022, it ignited a debate within the crypto community that continues three years later. Tornado enabled users to transfer crypto anonymously. The government contended that the service facilitated money laundering, prompting some of Ethereum’s validators and block builders to take steps to … Read more

The complex pipes that keep derivatives trades moving are about to get a major efficiency boost in DeFi, according to Crypto Valley Exchange. Crypto Valley Exchange’s “smart clearing” protocol will lower the capital requirements for derivatives traders by setting collateral levels in light of the traded assets’ correlations in price. In doing so, it could … Read more

Onyxcoin (XCN), the native token of its namesake’s modular blockchain, experienced a major boost over the past 48 hours, bucking the bearish market sentiment with a 150% rise. Daily trading volume averaged around $25 million earlier this week until the token started to rip through levels of resistance. That figure has now ballooned to $600 … Read more

In no surprise given the lame crypto price action in the first quarter of 2025, BlackRock (BLK) posted a sizable slump in net inflows into its spot bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) ETFs. In all, investors put $3 billion into BlackRock’s digital asset-focused ETFs in the first three months of the year, according to the … Read more

Crypto criminals are taking increasing pains to evade detection, moving assets between a multitude of blockchain ecosystems in an effort to throw investigators off their trail. A full 20% of complex cross-chain investigations now span more than 10 different blockchains, according to new data from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. Elliptic found that a third of … Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump’s memecoin (TRUMP) will undergo a major token unlock next week, with the team behind the project set to receive $320 million, around 20% of the circulating supply. The unlock might be another blow for the thousands of investors who reportedly lost a collective $2 billion after purchasing the token in January. … Read more

The United States Congress recently voted to repeal the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) controversial decentralized finance (DeFi) broker rule, a big win for crypto. And on Thursday President Trump killed the measure for good. But let’s not fool ourselves — there’s more pain to come. In December 2024, the IRS proposed a broad rule requiring … Read more

Crypto-backed loan provider APX Lending has secured a $20 million accordion facility from Cypress Hills, a private credit investment firm. An accordion facility is a provision that allows a borrower to increase their borrowing without renegotiating the entire agreement. In effect, it expands like an accordion. Toronto-based APX, which offers lending with digital assets as … 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 2375.69, up 3.5% (+79.38) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday. All 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: SOL (+6.4%) and BCH (+5.3%). Laggards: HBAR (+1.5%) and DOT (+2.4%). The … Read more

Bitcoin and broader crypto markets are gaining on Friday after sharply declining alongisde traditional markets Thursday. Solana’s SOL and dogecoin (DOGE) rose over 4% in the past 24 hours, leading gains among majors, with XRP (XRP), BNB Chain’s BNB, and Tron’s TRX up between 2%-3%. Ether (ETH) was down 2.4%, continuing a dismal run that … Read more

The ongoing U.S.-China trade war is likely to bring down inflation in the U.S. economy, key sections of the financial market indicate, offering bullish cues to risk assets, including bitcoin (BTC). In his inaugural address on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump promised to “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” and then fired … Read more

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) As the trade war between the U.S. and China escalates, with the latter raising tariffs on the former from 84% to 125% this morning, bitcoin (BTC) and the wider cryptocurrency market appear relatively unfazed. Bitcoin is down a mere 0.15% over the last 24 hours, and … Read more

The Dollar index (DXY), which measures the strength of the U.S. dollar against a basket of other currencies, has dropped below the 100 mark for the first time since April 2022. In January, research from CoinDesk noted that the DXY index was mirroring the pattern seen during President Trump’s first term — and it now … Read more

Activity in PowerTrade’s options market for alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) picked pace this week as heightened market volatility prompted traders to seek derivatives for hedging and speculative opportunities. Trading volume in XRP options has soared to over $5 million this week, with most activity concentrated in short-dated expirations, data shared by PowerTrade shows. Flows have been … Read more

The U.S. dollar index (DXY) has fallen below 100 and gold has surged to new all-time highs as escalating tariffs have heightened global economic uncertainty. Consequently, asset prices have taken a hit—most notably in the tech sector and cryptocurrencies. Since reaching its all-time high of $109,000 in January, bitcoin (BTC) has declined approximately 26%. When … Read more

World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project backed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s family, has denied reports that it sold ether (ETH) earlier this week. It was reported on Wednesday that a wallet closely linked to World Liberty Financial, which is tagged by blockchain data firm Arkham as potentially belonging to the project, sold $8 million … Read more

Remember when CryptoPunks were the ultimate flex? The 10,000 avatars issued by Larva Labs back in 2017, were among the crown jewels of the non-fungible token (NFT) craze in 2021. Some NFTs of that collection fetched as high as $56 million worth of ether (ETH) on the open market in 2024. The top five most … Read more

Tokenized gold, such as Tether’s XAUT and Paxos’ PAXG continued to be a favorite of crypto investors in Asia as investors seek a safe haven despite a de-escalation in trade war tensions. On-chain data shows that Tether’s XAUT was a top-10 market performer out of all digital assets. Tether’s tokenized gold, the largest by market … Read more

For years, Wall Street criticized bitcoin (BTC) for its volatility, but the situation has dramatically changed as President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies diminish the appeal of U.S. assets. Since Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcement on April 2, the seven-day realized volatility of the S&P 500, Wall Street’s benchmark equity index, has surged from an … Read more

Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have jointly requested a pause in their respective appeals to finalize a potential settlement, per a motion filed on Thursday. The filing signals a possible end to a high-profile dispute that has gripped the payments upstart industry since December 2020 for its sale of XRP … Read more

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is under fire from Senate Democrats following his recent decision to narrow the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) crypto enforcement priorities and disband its crypto enforcement squad. In a Thursday letter to Blanche, six Senate Democrats — Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I), … Read more

With a signature from President Donald Trump, the decentralized financial (DeFi) corner of the crypto sector is now freed from U.S. Internal Revenue Service demands that such platforms be treated as brokers and required to track and report user activity. That narrowly focused IRS rule, approved in the final days of former President Joe Biden’s … Read more

Nova Labs, the parent company behind the Helium blockchain, has agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) $200,000 to settle civil securities fraud charges the regulator filed against the firm in January, a court filing said Thursday. Without admitting or denying any wrongdoing, Nova Labs agreed to pay the fine to settle … Read more

Crypto companies issuing or dealing with tokens that may be securities should provide detailed disclosures, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Thursday. The SEC published its latest staff statement on disclosures ahead of its second roundtable — which will focus on trading — “as part of an effort to provide greater clarity … Read more

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey recently said that the Bitcoin community should focus on scaling payments in order to remain relevant. “I think it has to be payments for [Bitcoin] to be relevant on the everyday,” he told Haley Berkoe on the 21 in 21 podcast. I disagree. As someone in the trenches with Bitcoin builders, … Read more

Bitcoin miners are scrambling to adjust to Trump’s global tariffs, which are poised to increase prices on ASIC miners, electrical gear, network infrastructure and more. “It’s a complete scramble,” Luxor COO Ethan Vera said on last week’s Mining Pod news roundup. “From the ASIC trading front and brokerage, miners have not been very proactive here. … Read more

Meanwhile, a startup offering life insurance and annuities denominated in bitcoin (BTC), raised $40 million in series A funding round, CEO Zac Townsend said on Thursday in an X post. The investment was led by venture capital firms Framework and Fulgur Ventures, with early Bitcoin-advocate Wences Casares also participating. Traditional life insurance pays out in … Read more

As risk assets including cryptocurrencies struggled on Thursday amid tariff uncertainties, tokenized gold once again emerged as an outperformer in the carnage. The market capitalization of gold-backed tokens swelled to just under $2 billion on Wednesday, up 5.7% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. The rise coincided with the yellow metal briefly … Read more

NEW YORK, NY — A recent U.S. Department of Justice staff memo dismantling the DOJ’s crypto unit and narrowing the scope of its crypto-related enforcement priorities will have no impact on the prosecution of Terraform Labs co-founder and former CEO Do Kwon, prosecutors said Thursday. The memo, sent Monday evening by U.S. Deputy Attorney General … Read more