CoinDesk

Luxor Technology wants to make bitcoin mining easier. That’s why the firm has rolled out a panoply of products (mining pools, hashrate derivatives, data analytics, ASIC brokerage) to help bitcoin miners, large and small, develop their operations. Aaron Forster, the company’s director of business development, joined in October 2021, and has seen the team grow … Read more

Investment company Republic is set to acquire crypto trading firm INX Digital (INXDF) at a valuation of up to $60 million. Republic subsidiary Republic Strategic Acquisition will acquire all issued and outstanding shares of INX, according to an announcement on Thursday. The transaction is expected to close within eight months, subject to closing conditions. Already … Read more

Asset management firm WisdomTree (WT) is moving deeper into asset tokenization with expanding its institutional investment platform, WisdomTree Connect, to include 13 tokenized funds across five blockchain networks, the company said on Thursday. Previously limited to Ethereum, the platform now supports Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base and Optimism. Investors can interact with the funds through U.S. dollar … Read more

USDC at Center of Major Financial Developments Global economic tensions and shifting trade policies are creating subtle ripples in the stablecoin market, with USDC experiencing minor volatility while maintaining its dollar peg. The stablecoin recently navigated a brief dip below parity before quickly recovering, demonstrating resilience amid broader market uncertainty as investors seek safe havens … Read more

Down more than 5% since President Trump’s tariff announcement on Wednesday evening sent markets plunging, bitcoin (BTC) once again is disappointing bulls who have touted its store-of-value properties or potential as a non-correlated safe haven to risk assets like stocks. Or not. “This moment feels like a turning point,” said Joel Kruger, LMAX Group market … Read more

The kickstart of heavy tariffs under the Trump administration has ushered in a new chapter of uncertainty and opportunity for the crypto market, one that tends to ebb and flow with changes in the global economy. Tariffs, by design, increase the cost of imported goods, often leading to higher inflation, shifts in supply chains, and … Read more

Web2 marketers have long had tricks to track down and “acquire” (in ad speak) likely customers. But Web3? Not so much, says ad-tech exec Asaf Nadler. His company Addressable, is out with a new service that Nadler, the chief operating officer, claims will improve the efficacy of Web3 marketing — from the perspective of salespeople, … Read more

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has voted to advance the confirmations of President Donald Trump’s picks to run the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — both key positions for the future U.S. regulation of the crypto sector. The nominations of Paul Atkins to permanently take over the … Read more

Ethereum developers set May 7 as the target date for the long-awaited Pectra upgrade on Thursday, beginning the countdown for the blockchain’s biggest changes since March 2024. Pectra contains a series of improvements aimed at making Ethereum more user-friendly and efficient. One such improvement is adding “smart contract” capabilities to wallets, which can make them … Read more

The team behind interoperability protocol Hyperlane shared Thursday their upcoming token airdrop plans happening at the end of the month. The airdrop will occur on April 22, and users can check their eligibility to receive $HYPER tokens via a portal provided by the Hyperlane Foundation by April 13, the team shared in a press release … 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 2425.32, down 6.8% (-176.31) since 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. None of the 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: BCH (-3.5%) and BTC (-4.7%). Laggards: SOL (-12.5%) and SUI … Read more

Prices remain under pressure and sentiment is so weak one would think it’s 2022 all over again, but for the first time in nearly a year, bitcoin (BTC) whales are buying. Following months of distribution as bitcoin surged to a record high above $109,000, so-called whales — wallets holding 10,000 BTC or more — are … Read more

Itaú Unibanco, Brazil’s largest bank by assets, is exploring whether to issue its own stablecoin as regulatory discussions evolve and U.S. financial institutions slowly move into the sector. The decision could hinge on how American institutions fare with their stablecoin rollouts, said Guto Antunes, head of digital assets at Itaú. At an industry event in … Read more

“Tornado [Cash] is dead, but privacy won’t die,” an ether enthusiast said on X after Oxbow’s Ethereum privacy tools went live on April 1 to facilitate on-chain privacy while dissociating from illicit funds. The sentiment is echoed by the early uptake for the privacy pools, which have processed 238 user deposit transactions, totaling 67.49 ETH … Read more

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, which was hit by a $1.45 billion hack six weeks ago, has teamed up with Zodia Custody to beef up its security offering for institutional clients. Backed by a troupe of heavyweight traditional finance (TradFi) companies including Standard Chartered, Zodia offers segregated custody and off-venue settlement. This means users can trade on … Read more

CORRECT (April 3, 11:30 UTC): Corrects headline to say bitcoin fell after the announcement; an earlier version of the story said it held steady. By James Van Straten (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) Liberation Day is done, and markets finally have clarity on U.S. tariffs. Starting April 5, all U.S. trading partners will face … Read more

The Bitcoin Development Mailing List, a key communication platform for developers of the original blockchain, was briefly offline on Wednesday after an apparent bot attack. Google flagged the publicly viewable group as containing “spam, malware, or other malicious content.” Users accessing the group received a “permanently removed” message while the issue was being sorted out. … Read more

Bitcoin blockchain’s hashrate is surging, revealing a growing dislocation between the network activity and prices for its native token bitcoin (BTC). On a 14-day moving average, the hashrate, representing the computational power required to mine a block on the proof-of-work Bitcoin blockchain, recently reached an all-time high of 838 exahashes per second (EH/s), and on … Read more

HONG KONG—It was a battle of stablecoin issuers Thursday afternoon in Hong Kong, with Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, and First Digital Trust (FDT), a Hong Kong-based fiduciary, holding press conferences over allegations of fund misappropriation involving Techteryx’s TrueUSD reserves. Sun doubled down on claims that TrueUSD’s reserves were “misappropriated by a … Read more

U.S. recession fears are in the air following President Donald Trump’s tariff plan, with prediction platforms Polymarket and Kalshi indicating heightened concerns the economy will take a hit. On Polymarket, a decentralized prediction platform, the chance of the country slipping into recession this year topped 50% for the first time since the betting contract “US … Read more

Over $100 million in Ripple USD (RLUSD) has been issued since April 1, among the highest levels in recent months, as demand for the relatively new stablecoin heats up. A $50 million tranche of RLUSD was issued earlier this week on Tuesday, with another $50 million late Wednesday. That came as Ripple added the stablecoin … Read more

Higher-than-usual market volatility affected bulls and bears alike as crypto futures racked up $450 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours as U.S. tariffs went into play. President Donald Trump officially levied a 25% tariff on auto imports and a minimum 10% tariff on all exporters to the U.S. Additional duties were imposed on … Read more

Tariffs-led risk-off has payments-focused cryptocurrency XRP trading close to the support zone near $2, a crucial level for confirming a significant topping pattern and renewed downtrend. We are referring to the head-and-shoulders pattern, comprising three peaks, with the middle being the highest. A horizontal line drawn from the base of the three peaks, the neckline, … Read more

It’s a risk-off day in Asia as traders look to Beijing’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs on China and other Asian nations. On Wednesday, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on imports from 180 nations, including higher taxes on trading partners identified as worst offenders, such as China and the European Union. Trump … Read more

Crypto exchange Kraken has registered as a restricted dealer in Canada, allowing the exchange to continue offering crypto trading services to Canadian users under the country’s evolving regulatory framework. The registration, announced on Tuesday, comes after a multi-year process that required exchanges to meet higher standards for investor protection and governance. Kraken said it worked … Read more

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Ben Schiller. In this issue: Vana launches token standard Hashgraph to debut private blockchain ASICs will look more like servers An interview with Gensyn’s Ben Fielding This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our … Read more

In a Rose Garden ceremony on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he intends to immediately sign an order for “reciprocal tariffs” to be levied against U.S. trading partners. “Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years but it’s not going to happen anymore,” said Trump, adding that the … Read more

The HBAR Foundation has teamed up with the founder of internet subscription site OnlyFans, Tim Stokely, in a bid to acquire Chinese social media app TikTok, according to a new Reuters report. Stokely and the HBAR Foundation submitted a bid last week to the White House through the former’s new family-friendly crowdfunding company, Zoop, Reuters … Read more

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the world’s largest securities settlement system, is pushing deeper into crypto with introducing a blockchain-based platform for tokenized collateral management. Collateral is a fundamental part of risk management in financial markets, ensuring stability amid market fluctuations. However, traditional systems often suffer from inefficiencies due to fragmented infrastructure and … Read more