Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is suing Binance for $79.5 billion in economic losses as well as $2 billion plus interest in back taxes, the exchange said in its blog. This is a leap from the initial $10 billion figure that Nigeria’s government sought after alleging that the exchange had enabled $26 billion of … Read more
Cryptocurrency options exchange Deribit is still talking to Kraken for a potential acquisition, contrary to reports that the U.S. exchange had walked away from a potential deal to buy Deribit, a person familiar with the matter said. Recent reports also confirmed the crypto options platform was working with FT Partners to assess takeover bids, but … Read more
The LIBRA memecoin scandal that rocked Argentina over the weekend destroyed millions of dollars in investor wealth, according to research by Nansen. On-chain data tracked by Nansen show 86% of traders lost a total of $251 million, while the winners secured just $180 million in profits. In other words, it was a “net-negative wealth-generating” event … Read more
LayerZero, the bridging protocol that allows different crypto networks to communicate with each other, plans to connect to Bitcoin sidechain Rootstock in what would be its first integration with the world’s original blockchain. Rootstock aims to end Bitcoin’s “isolation” from other blockchains due to its lack of native smart contracts, a barrier that LayerZero is … Read more
Layer 1 blockchain MANTRA has launched a startup accelerator program aimed at advancing the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), with backing from Google Cloud. The initiative, dubbed RWAccelerator, offers startups funding, expert mentorship, AI-driven resources and technical support as they build solutions in sectors like real estate, financial products and alternative assets, the companies announced … Read more
Metaplanet (3350) has now accumulated 2,100 bitcoin (BTC), now holding 0.01% of the total BTC supply that will ever be mined, which is 21 million BTC. Metaplanet purchased 68.59 BTC for $6.6 million at an average purchase price of $96,335 per bitcoin. According to Dylan Le Clair, Metaplanet has raised $20 million in equity capital … Read more
Secondary token markets SecondSwap on Thursday launched its mainnet on Ethereum with the aim of providing a more efficient market for illiquid assets by eliminating intermediaries and establishing fair token value in the open market. SecondSwap uses a liquidity routing algorithm that optimizes trade execution and minimizes price slippage to ensure secure and scalable trading … Read more
HONG KONG – CoinDesk Indices launched two index products tracking the price gyrations of memecoins and the top hundred tokens by market capitalization, meeting demand from institutional and professional investors who seek upside in different crypto sectors, the firm announced at Consensus Hong Kong. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index will track the largest fifty memecoins by … Read more
The era of memecoins as a supposedly fair trading opportunity is “unquestionably over,” according to Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures. In a post on X, Carter argued that memecoins—tokens with little to no utility beyond speculative trading—were initially attractive because they appeared to offer an even playing field for retail investors. However, … Read more
Bitcoin (BTC) quickly bounced back from the Tuesday dip to $93,000, but downside pressure still persists risking a deeper pullback to $86,000, CryptoQuant analysts said. Waning demand, faltering blockchain activity and lack of liquidity inflows to crypto are among the factors that could drag BTC lower, the report said. Demand for bitcoin, which picked up … 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 Ethereum reporter, filling in for Ben Schiller. In this issue: Story Protocol launches to let people register IP and get paid for it Ethereum developers release new initiative to simplify cross-chain transactions Ethereum L1 monad … Read more
Nearly every big name in the crypto industry has signed onto a letter calling for Congress to eliminate a U.S. tax policy they say could jeopardize decentralized finance (DeFi) technology by shoehorning much of that space into the field of brokers subject to data collecting and reporting. The Internal Revenue Service — the U.S. Treasury … Read more
Bitcoin price may be volatile but it didn’t stop giant financial institutions from continuing to invest more. Large institutions such as pensions or hedge funds tripled their holdings of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the fourth quarter of 2024, data from 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed. Institutional investors bought … Read more
The ultimate goals of tokenization include full-fledged secondary trading markets for alternative private assets, integration and portability into the DeFi ecosystem, and greater investment accessibility. While there are a number of platforms and service providers offering tokenization-as-a-service, there have typically been inherent limitations associated with bringing existing legacy assets on-chain in a dynamic manner. Tokenizing … Read more
The world’s first spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to soon debut in Brazil after being approved by the country’s securities regulator, the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários. The regulator’s website shows that the fund, the HASHDEX NASDAQ XRP FUNDO DE ÍNDICE, is currently in a pre-operational phase after being set up on Dec. 10, … Read more
Despite all of the positive news about digital assets coming from the new administration, the crypto ecosystem still isn’t fully integrated with the U.S. banking system. Even with the removal of “Operation Chokepoint 2.0” restrictions, institutions and individuals aren’t able to access the money markets with the level of efficiency that traditional Main Street, let … Read more
A group of top Ethereum developers and leaders released Wednesday a new framework that would simplify and standardize cross-chain token transfers. The initiative, called the Open Intents Framework (OIF), was kickstarted by contributors from the Ethereum Foundation and is supported by 25 projects including teams building layer-2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, ZKsync, and Scroll, according to … Read more
Monad, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) layer-1 blockchain about to launch its testnet, has joined forces with Orderly Network, a decentralized exchange (DEX) infrastructure built on the Near blockchain and supporting a range of other chains, as the platforms spread their nets wide in anticipation of a second decentralized finance (DeFi) summer. The arrival of … Read more
EToro said it received regulatory approval under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework and will soon be able to provide cryptocurrency trading and custody services across the region. The trading platform announced the approval from the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission on Wednesday. The MiCA regulation that requires firms to acquire a crypto asset … Read more
Bitcoin rewards financial services firm Fold Holdings (FLD) debuted on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Wednesday with shares surging higher in early action before pulling back. The firm went public via business merger with FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. (FTAC), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). FLD jumped more than 30% above $13 in … Read more
Crypto investors are still piling into memecoins despite the outsized risks associated with this type of digital asset, Kraken said in a report on Wednesday, after conducting a survey of holders in the U.S.. 85% of respondents said that they invested in memecoins, and 76% said they believed the “potential rewards justify the risks.” Somewhat … Read more
Wintermute, one of the largest liquidity providers in the cryptocurrency market, is expanding into the U.S. with the opening of a new office in New York and the introduction of over-the-counter (OTC) trading products in the country. Wintermute has plans for a “new added focus on the U.S.,” CEO Evgeny Gaevoy told Bloomberg during Consensus … Read more
Binance.US, a regulated cryptocurrency exchange serving American customers, has finally seen its US dollar fiat services restored, after the firm’s ability to handle USD deposits and withdrawals was choked out of existence under the Biden administration. Access to fiat services begins Wednesday and will be gradually rolled out to all eligible customers over the coming … Read more
Czech National Bank Governor Ales Michl on Wednesday continued his campaign for possibly adding bitcoin (BTC) to the central bank balance sheet, including encouraging words for those frustrated by the reputational damage inflicted on bitcoin by the broader crypto market. The crypto market will experience “failures and successes,” wrote Michl in a longish X post. … 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 3194.09, up 3.3% (+101.56) since 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. All 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: APT (+16.6%) and LTC (+7.3%). Laggards: BTC (+2.4%) and ADA (+2.4%). The … Read more
A federal court has outlined just how extensive Sam Bankman-Fried’s assets were before the young CEO of FTX was tried and imprisoned for fraud, and the government swooped in to seize roughly $1 billion in financial assets and two aircraft. The final order of forfeiture issued on Tuesday by the U.S. District Court for the … Read more
HONG KONG — Wingbits, a blockchain-powered aviation data network, is set to add satellite-tracking capabilities as it looks to make further inroads into the $22 billion aviation data industry. The Swedish company is launching a satellite with Spire Global, which operates a low-orbit satellite constellation. The satellite will be carried by SpaceX’s Transporter-13 mission in … Read more
Franklin Templeton, a major global asset manager, said Wednesday it has launched its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund in Luxembourg, expanding access to European institutional investors. The launch of the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund marks the first Luxembourg-domiciled fund investing in U.S. government securities that’s fully tokenized, the asset manager claimed in a press … Read more
Countries targeted by U.S. government sanctions have surged in illicit crypto activity, receiving nearly $16 billion in digital assets last year — about 39% of illicit token transactions — according to a report from Chainalysis released on Wednesday. 2024 was a year in which those nations — especially Iran — surged over individuals in sanctions-related … Read more
By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) Cryptocurrency investors seem to be adopting a “wait-and-see” approach to the plethora of conflicting headlines appearing. As a result, the BTC Volatility Index (DVOL) on popular options exchange Deribit has been dropping since Jan. 20, falling from a high of 72 to around 50.8. The drop … Read more