The Sei Foundation, the nonprofit development organization behind the layer-1 blockchain Sei (SEI), is exploring the acquisition of bankrupt personal genomics company 23andMe and putting the genetic data of 15 million users on blockchain rails. The foundation announced the initiative in an X post on Thursday, calling the plan its “boldest DeSci bet yet” — … Read more
The market capitalization of tokenized gold climbed to a record $1.4 billion in March with trading volumes soaring to yearly highs, CoinDesk Data’s monthly stablecoin report shows. The growth in market value and activity happened alongside the physical yellow metal’s rally to fresh all-time highs above $3,000 per ounce. Tether’s gold-backed token (XAUT) and Paxos’ … Read more
In the beginning, there were only CPUs, then GPUs, for bitcoin mining. Then came the mighty ASIC in 2013, and with it, the “shoebox” form factor that has become emblematic of the bitcoin mining industry. What comes next? Will the shoebox design persist as standard for bitcoin mining ASICs? Or will another form factor that … Read more
Shares of GameStop (GME), the embattled video game retailer turned memestock darling, plunged 25% on Thursday, more than erasing all the gains since the company earlier this week announced it will add bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury reserve asset. GME fell to just above $21 during the session, trading at its lowest price since October … Read more
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized more than $200,000 in cryptocurrency from several wallets and exchange accounts linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, according to a Thursday announcement. According to the FBI, more than $1.5 million in crypto — largely in the form of donations from Hamas supporters around the world — has … Read more
Paul Atkins, the former member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that President Donald Trump has tapped to run the agency, assured a different direction for the agency on crypto from the last four years, though he wasn’t pressed with big-picture digital assets questions during a Thursday confirmation hearing. Now that Trump has secured … Read more
Remittance app Abound raised $14 million in a seed round following investment from crypto heavyweights Circle Ventures and the Near Foundation. The app aims to be a financial bridge between non-resident Indians (NRIs) and India, and has processed $150 million worth of remittances with about 500,000 monthly active users. Abound is incubated by the digital … Read more
In today’s crypto for advisors, Alex Tapscott explains what the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve is and why it matters to investors. Then, Bryan Courchesne from DAIM answers questions investors have about setting up a personal strategic reserve in Ask an Expert. – Sarah Morton You’re reading Crypto for Advisors, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter that unpacks digital assets … Read more
The synergy of political endorsement and highly speculative assets like meme coins was always bound to be disastrous, and the recent LIBRA scandal was a clear reflection of this concern. Crypto has come a long way over the past decade. Mainstream adoption, institutional interest, and regulatory clarity helped the industry gain increasing credibility. And meme … Read more
CoreWeave is looking to downsize its initial public offering just one day before hitting the market, Semafor reported. The AI infrastructure firm was previously expected to raise $3 billion at a $30 billion valuation, according to the story, but the size has been cut and the valuation lowered to just $23 billion. A separate story … 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 2731.35, up 0.4% (+11.44) since 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Twelve of 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: SUI (+7.1%) and AAVE (+3.6%). Laggards: DOT (-1.6%) and XRP (-1.4%). … Read more
Tether, issuer of $144 billion dollar stablecoin USDT, has boosted its stake in Latin American agricultural firm Adecoagro (AGRO). The $12.41 per share offer, which is subject to certain closing conditions, would take Tether’s stake in Adecoagro from 51% to 70%, according to an announcement on Thursday. AGRO shares jumped over 7% to $11.95 in … Read more
Market-making on-chain trades is mysterious and important — and lucrative, too. The problem, according to pseudonymous trader Grug, is that crypto protocols with valuable order flow are leaving money on the table. Grug’s company Warlock Labs just raised $8 million in venture funding for what he believes is the solution: a proprietary trading firm that … Read more
Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, said it plans to explore using Circle’s stablecoin and tokenized asset to develop new products, joining a roster of U.S. traditional financial giants pushing into crypto under the Trump administration. According to an agreement announced on Thursday, the two firms will look at how … Read more
Ripple today said it was partnering with Chipper Cash, a payments provider serving across Africa, to support cross-border payments into the continent using Ripple Payments. Ripple Payments uses XRP, to enable quicker, cheaper, and more efficient cross-border transactions than traditional financial systems using RippleNet. Chipper Cash, which boasts five million customers across nine African countries, … Read more
A contentious $7 million bet on prediction platform Polymarket has sparked disagreement between the Polymarket and UMA communities. The bet, which speculated on whether Ukraine would agree to a mineral deal with U.S. President Donald Trump before April, saw its “yes” probability surge from 9% to 100% between March 24 and 25, despite no official … Read more
While macroeconomic uncertainty and technical indicators raise doubts about bitcoin’s (BTC) recent gains, purchasing activity by some of the largest investors indicates a more optimistic outlook. Since March 11, so-called bitcoin whales have snapped up over 129,000 BTC, worth $11.2 billion at the market price of $87,500, according to data tracked by blockchain analytics firm … Read more
Ahead of his confirmation hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee tomorrow, Paul Atkins — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — disclosed having up to $6 million in crypto-related assets, prompting Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to cry foul. In a Sunday letter to Atkins, Warren stressed that … Read more
By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) President Donald Trump ramped up the trade-war hyperbole, threatening to increase import tariffs levied on the EU and Canada if they keep on working to “do economic harm” to the U.S. after announcing a 25% tariff on vehicles and foreign-made auto parts. Despite the threat, crypto … Read more
Crypto traders are used to seeing a price surge in non-serious cryptocurrencies such as dogecoin (DOGE) as a sign of market froth. Now it looks as though XRP, the payments-focused cryptocurrency, can also be used as an indicator for bull-market peaks in bitcoin (BTC). Unlike meme tokens like DOGE and shiba inu (SHIB), XRP has … Read more
Crypto regulation has come a long way. No longer is it a pass-off game between various government bodies: Digital assets now have dedicated overseers in a lot of regions. One of the pioneers in the space is Dubai’s crypto regulator, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). What sets VARA apart is its ability to effectively … Read more
TradFi giant Northern Trust (NTRS) will provide custody and cash management services for trade finance focused stablecoin issuer Haycen, the company said in a press release Thursday. Northern Trust Asset Servicing will be responsible for providing Haycen with global custody services for its client fiat deposits, and Northern Trust Asset Management will provide cash sweep … Read more
A bizarre twist of AI tech and nostalgia is seeing memecoin enthusiasts issue, pump, and dump tokens themed after Studio Ghibli movies as a new AI art trend went viral in the past 24 hours. That’s coming after OpenAI’s newly released 4o model — its most powerful image generation tool that spits out artwork based … Read more
Risk assets such as bitcoin (BTC), xrp (XRP), solana (SOL) are back in focus as President Donald Trump warned of even more reciprocal tariffs if other countries collude to do “economic harm” to the U.S. “If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA,” he wrote in a … Read more
President Donald Trump has threatened bigger import tariffs against the European Union (EU) and Canada if they worked together “to do economic harm” to the U.S. “If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them … Read more
BlackRock is looking to add more people to its digital asset team as the industry grows in popularity among Wall Street firms. Since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, big names in finance have taken several steps to expand their presence in crypto. While BlackRock has long been a pioneer in the space, especially … Read more
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin said he’s asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to pull its investigation against the crypto operation and hasn’t yet received a response. Unicoin represented a final shot against the industry from previous Chair Gary Gensler’s SEC, which informed the firm in an official notice late last year … Read more
The U.S. Congress’ opening priority for the crypto industry is to quickly finish a stablecoin oversight bill, and the House of Representatives has released the text of its version on Wednesday, following in the heels of a recent committee approval of its Senate counterpart. The House version, introduced by Rep. Bryan Steil, who leads the … 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: Ethereum’s Final Pectra Test Goes Live Hyperliquid Eases Token Transfers for DeFi Celo Migration to Layer-2 Network Is Done Bitcoin DeFi Expansion Faces Fork Dilemma This article is featured in the latest issue … Read more
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), one of the leading Democrats supporting crypto legislation, warned the industry against pushing for a “watered-down” version of the long-awaited stablecoin legislation currently moving through the Senate, arguing that stringent regulations are necessary to foster innovation and protect investors from bank runs like the one on Silicon Valley Bank in … Read more