Emirates NBD, the bank owned by the government of Dubai, is starting to offer crypto trading through its digital banking subsidiary Liv. Liv is allowing customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in its new app Liv X, according to an emailed announcement on Thursday. Dubai has been establishing itself as a crypto hub over a … Read more
Deribit, the leading crypto options exchange, has launched a Block Request-For-Quote (RFQ) interface, allowing traders to execute large over-the-counter (OTC) trades with improved efficiency and liquidity. The feature, available to all users but tailored for high-volume traders, enables direct negotiation of block trades without impacting public order books, according to a press release. The Block … Read more
Hex Trust, a cryptocurrency custodian and trading platform, has secured a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the firm said on Thursday. The license, granted on March 1, allows the firm to provide cross-border money transfers and digital payment token services under Singapore’s regulatory framework. The approval follows Hex … Read more
The past few weeks have been highly volatile for bitcoin (BTC), with price action reflecting sharp swings. In the past two weeks bitcoin traded on an open-high, lower-close candlestick pattern with double-digit percentage differences. The week beginning Feb. 24 saw bitcoin drop to a low of $78,167 and climb to a high of $96,515, a … Read more
Bitcoin rose above $92,000 in Asian morning hours Thursday, with majors jumping as much as 5%, as traders await the first-ever White House Crypto Summit scheduled for Mar.7 for cues on future positioning. BTC rose to $92,700 before profit-taking saw it decline to $90,800 in European morning hours. Dogecoin (DOGE) surged as much as 10% … Read more
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to cut interest rates on Thursday to 2.65%, continuing its easing from a 4.5% peak amid increased volatility in bond markets. The expected easing comes as markets reprice at least three Fed rate cuts for 2025 and Germany and China take the fiscal easing route to shore up … Read more
Crypto custody specialist Fireblocks has unveiled a cyber security offering to help firms comply with the Europe’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which came into force in the European Union (EU) in January 2025. Cyber security is a running battle, particularly for crypto companies that are relatively more susceptible to attacks and financial losses than … Read more
If you plan to disconnect from trading screens this weekend, think twice. Analysis from digital assets trading firm STS Digital suggests that Friday’s White House crypto summit could lead to heightened activity. U.S. President Donald Trump, who promised a strategic crypto reserve in the lead-up to the November election, will host top players from the … Read more
The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, raised the possibility yesterday that the Eastern European country could begin mining cryptocurrencies. “Look at this mining. More and more people are turning to me. If it is profitable for us, let’s do it. We have excess electricity. Let them make this cryptocurrency and so on,” Lukashenko told Alexei … Read more
DoubleZero Foundation, a startup building a “new internet” to improve blockchain performance, raised $28 million at a $400 million valuation, according to three people familiar with the matter, and is now searching for “strategic partners” to invest more at $600 million. Dragonfly and Multicoin Capital lead the initial funding round, two of the people said. … Read more
Canary Capital, the digital asset-focused investment firm founded by former Valkyrie Funds co-founder Steven McClurg, is planning on launching an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the price of Axelar (AXL). The firm submitted an S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, kicking off the process to launch such a fund. The hedge … Read more
In the latest whipsaw of headlines this week, Donald Trump’s tariff delay Wednesday eased investor worries with bitcoin (BTC) leading the crypto market higher. The U.S. government confirmed to delay tariffs on auto parts coming from Canada and Mexico by one month just one day after enacting them. Germany’s plan to ease debt limits for … Read more
Solana’s bustling decentralized finance (DeFi) scene is growing faster than Ethereum’s, and making more money too. And yet, Franklin Templeton pointed out in a Tuesday report, its tokens are worth less. “Solana DeFi valuation multiples trade on average lower than their Ethereum counterparts despite significantly higher growth profiles, highlighting an apparent valuation asymmetry,” the report … Read more
Bitwise has submitted paperwork to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the price of Aptos (APT), the native token of the Aptos network. The asset manager hinted at the move last week when it filed to create a Delaware trust entity for a proposed Aptos ETF. APT is a scalable layer 1 blockchain token based … Read more
Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, the Ethereum protocol reporter at CoinDesk. In this issue: Ethereum’s Second Buggy ‘Pectra’ Test Could Lead to a Delayed Upgrade Ethereum Foundation Picks New Co-Executive Directors, Following Leadership Reshuffle Layer-2 BOB’s ‘Bitcoin DeFi’ Continues Progress With … Read more
Recently stepped down as Tether’s longtime CFO and now its chairman, Giancarlo Devasini keeps a low profile in the modest Swiss town of Lugano, according to the article by Angus Berwick. Circle founder Jeremy Allaire, meanwhile, is comfortable rubbing shoulders with politicians and Wall Street executives, Berwick continued. The conflict is as much about ideology … Read more
Disclaimer: The information in this article was translated using artificial intelligence from a foreign source. Have you committed crypto fraud? Now, in addition to fines and jail time, authorities can also subject you to caning—at least, that’s what’s being reportedly considered in Singapore. Cryptocurrency scams have become a major concern for Singapore’s government, with fraudsters … Read more
Bitcoin could end up reaching $125,000 by the end of the year, but other cryptocurrencies will likely outperform, according to CK Zheng, founder of crypto hedge fund ZX Squared Capital. “There’s a correlation between bitcoin and altcoins, but I think bitcoin dominance is going to go down,” Zheng told CoinDesk in an interview. “If you … Read more
Ethereum developers on Wednesday initially celebrated a seemingly successful test of Pectra, the blockchain’s most significant upgrade since 2024, on the Sepolia test network. However, hours after the test, Sepolia began to encounter errors. It was the second buggy test for the highly anticipated Pectra upgrade, which is designed to improve Ethereum’s efficiency, user experience, … Read more
Data is an essential element of an efficient market. If market efficiency is the degree to which prices reflect all available information, having quality information is crucial. And to get to information, you need data. Traditional financial markets are data-rich and have high levels of standardization and accessibility, giving market participants abundant avenues for analysis. … Read more
The success of bitcoin spot ETFs combined with bitcoin’s price action have driven investors to demand direct access or exposure to crypto from their service providers. Institutional investors and traditional financial services providers now have a responsibility to at the minimum learn about crypto, if not actively look into adoption. The spotlight now is increasingly … Read more
Cloud computing firm CoreWeave has plans to acquire AI developer platform Weights & Biases as it seeks to bolster its infrastructure offerings in the fast-expanding AI sector. The deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2025, cost CoreWeave $1.7 billion, according to a report by The Information. Weights & Biases, which … Read more
U.S.-based trading app Robinhood (HOOD) listed arbitrum (ARB) on Wednesday, leading to a 12% rise in the layer 2 network’s native token. ARB is currently trading at $0.42 having slumped to an all-time low of $0.35 on Tuesday. Trading volume is also up by 10% to $400 million over the past 24 hours. Total value … Read more
Bitcoin’s struggles in February saw its risk-adjusted returns weakening significantly according to data from research service Ecoinometrics. While over the past year, bitcoin’s total returns have matched those of gold, a traditional safe-haven asset, when adjusting for risk, bitcoin is behaving more like a major stock index. Risk-adjusted returns measure an asset’s profitability relative to … Read more
U.S. President Trump’s announcement last weekend about the formation of a strategic crypto reserve in the U.S. is bullish despite the market’s subsequent reaction, asset manager Bitwise said in a research report Tuesday. Crypto markets soared following the news, but by Monday had given back all these gains. Bitwise noted that investors became disgruntled with … Read more
The Ripple-backed National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA) launched on Wednesday. Describing itself as independent and non-political, the NCA said it aims to provide clear, unbiased information on how digital assets function and their role in finance. It says its aim is to “demystify crypto.” The group was seeded with $50 million in funding from Ripple and … Read more
Just as anabolic steroids are to bodybuilders, fiscal and monetary stimuli have been the lifeline for markets and the economy. Over the decades, nation-states have relied heavily on these fiscal injections to buff up markets and respective economies. Now, to the delight of BTC and risk asset bulls, China, the world’s second-largest economy, and European … Read more
Lisbon-based investment firm FundBox together with trading platform Kvarn X is launching the KvarnPortugal Fund, a first-of-its-kind crypto product based on the CoinDesk 20 index that helps people who invest at least 500,000 euros in the fund easily establish residency there. Here, Jason Dominic, the co-founder of KvarnPortugal, and Anders Bjorkman, an asset manager at … Read more
Chicago-based trading giant Jump is returning its U.S. cryptocurrency operations to full strength after scaling it back over the past couple of years due to regulatory scrutiny and uncertainty. While Jump has maintained its digital assets trading and market-making activity in other parts of the globe, crypto trading volume is now accelerating in the U.S., … 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 2910.89, up 2.0% (+56.54) since 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Eighteen of 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: BCH (+20.8%) and LINK (+8.6%). Laggards: SUI (-0.3%) and XRP (-0.1%). … Read more