As One State Gets Closer on a Crypto Reserve, Others Jump Into the Fray

As Utah became the first state to get a bill through a legislative chamber that would allow the investment of public money into crypto assets, lawmakers in two other states joined the hunt this week: Kentucky and Maryland. Though broadly identified with the Republican-led charge toward a so-called “bitcoin strategic reserve” at the federal level, … Read more

Decentralized AI Opportunity Is ‘Bigger than Bitcoin,’ Says DCG’s Barry Silbert

Crypto investment magnate Barry Silbert is betting big on decentralized AI, calling it “the next big era of crypto” that could be bigger than even bitcoin. In a letter to shareholders of his crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group, Silbert went long on deAI: the crypto industry’s effort to fuse AI innovations with blockchain tech. He … Read more

Democratized, Depoliticized and Decentralized AI, by the People, for the People

We are entering a new epoch where the ability to use and to work with artificial and synthetic intelligence is a human right. Access to intelligence – the prerogative to innovate, work with, and benefit from higher levels of synthetic intelligence – belongs to the people. Building on increasingly inexpensive compute, abundant data, and low-cost, … Read more

Startup Founded by Citi Alumni to Launch XRP-Backed Securities

Receipts Depositary Corp. (RDC), a start-up founded by a group of former Citigroup executives, is planning to launch XRP-backed securities, according to people familiar with the matter. This will give institutions access to XRP (XRP) securities through U.S. regulated market infrastructure. The company will offer depositary receipts similar to the American depositary receipts (ADRs) that … Read more

RWA Tokenization Is Going to Trillions Much Faster Than You Think

What if I told you that the experts are wrong? Over the years several prestigious consulting firms and financial institutions have put out forecasts about the growth of tokenization by the end of the decade. It’s interesting how between all that “expertise,” their ranges vary between $2 trillion (McKinsey) and $16 trillion (BCG). Fourteen trillion … Read more

Weekly Recap: Crypto Debanking in the Spotlight

It was a busy week in crypto featuring important product launches, fevered debate around Ethereum, movement on stablecoin legislation, and high-profile Congressional hearings on “debanking.” David Sacks, the Crypto and AI Czar, held a high-profile press conference with Senate leadership, as Senator Hagerty, of Tennessee, introduced a new stablecoin bill. The proposal, which outlines an … Read more

U.S. Regulator Pursuing Tokenization Pilot to Tap Stablecoins as Collateral

Caroline Pham, who is running the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on an acting basis, is pursuing a stablecoin-backed tokenization pilot program, and an upcoming summit will include the heads of Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, Crypto.com and other digital assets firms. Pham had suggested the idea for a so-called regulatory sandbox on tokenization through her advisory … Read more

KBW Starts Strategy Coverage With Outperform, Says Firm Offers Leveraged Bitcoin Exposure

Strategy (MSTR), the company formerly known as MicroStrategy, is an appealing investment for equity investors looking for levered bitcoin (BTC) exposure, investment bank KBW said in a research report Thursday. KBW assumed coverage of Strategy with an outperform rating and a $560 price target. The shares were 1% higher at around $329 in early trading. … Read more

U.S. Added 143K Jobs in January, Fewer Than Forecast

Job growth in the U.S. fell short of expectations in January, however, unemployment came in lower than expected. The U.S. economy added 143,000 jobs in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, below forecasts of 170,000 and down from 256,000 in December. The unemployment rate dropped to 4%, compared with an expected 4.1% … Read more

Crypto Daybook Americas: It’s All About the Jobs as Bitcoin Shrugs Off Eric Trump Endorsement

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) The crypto market remains directionless, with bitcoin (BTC) languishing below $100,000 before the U.S. jobs report. It’s surprising prices have not yet crossed that threshold, especially after President Donald Trump’s son, Eric, encouraged the family-linked WLFI to invest in BTC in a post on X on … Read more

BlackRock Increases Ownership of Strategy to 5%

Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this piece owns shares of Strategy (MSTR). In a recent Schedule 13G filing, BlackRock (BLK) disclosed that it now owns 5% of Strategy (MSTR), equivalent to approximately 11.2 million shares. This marks a 0.91% increase from its previous 4.09% ownership as of September 30, 2024, according to Yahoo Finance. A … Read more

ConsenSys Twice Hit by Operation Chokepoint, CEO Lubin Credits Bank for Fighting Back

Consensys, the Ethereum software developer best known for its MetaMask wallet, has twice been hit by U.S. authorities’ attempts to exclude it from the financial system, despite the best efforts of its bank the second time around, founder and CEO Joe Lubin said in an interview. The company survived what’s known as Operation Chokepoint 2.0 … Read more

Riot Platforms Bucks Trend of Weak Bitcoin Production in January

Riot Platforms (RIOT) mined 527 Bitcoin (BTC) in January, marking its highest monthly production since December 2023 and reflecting a 2% increase from the previous month, according to Farside data. However, the broader bitcoin mining sector reported underwhelming production figures, with most major mining firms experiencing month-over-month declines. MARA Holdings (MARA) mined 750 BTC in … Read more

Ethereum Faces ‘Intense’ Competition From Other Networks: JPMorgan

Ether (ETH) has underperformed other cryptocurrencies in recent months as the Ethereum blockchain has faced “intense” competition from other networks, Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Wednesday. The token lacks a compelling narrative like that of its larger peer bitcoin (BTC, the bank said, adding that bitcoin benefits from its … Read more

Bitcoin in a Mire, Gold Eyes 6th Straight Week of Gains as Jobs Data Looms

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to dawdle, failing to capture trader enthusiasm amid chatter about prices being overvalued, while gold remains strong ahead of the release of the U.S. jobs report, which will influence the Fed’s rate plans. Recent analysis from CryptoQuant indicates that bitcoin’s fair value lies between $48,000 and $95,000, highlighting that it appears overvalued … Read more

Crypto’s Debanking Worries Hit Another Big Stage in U.S. House

The chief lawyer of U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) testified about the abuse of authority from regulators who erected barriers between banks and crypto firms in a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday, marking the latest advance in the digital assets industry’s reversal of policy resistance in Washington. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer … Read more

How To Fix Ethereum’s Fragmentation Problem

The Ethereum ecosystem stands at a pivotal moment. Over the past four years, scaling challenges have been addressed through Layer-2 (L2) solutions, rollups, and technological breakthroughs, expanding from processing 15 transactions per second to thousands, with costs dropping from $50 per swap to mere cents. The rollup-centric roadmap worked – it worked almost too well. … Read more

Crypto and Boxing to Converge at Consensus HK in Lethal One-Two Combination

Crypto Twitter may sometimes seem like a raging brawl, but come Feb. 20, there will be some actual live combat between crypto influencers at Consensus Hong Kong 2025. The conference will play host that evening to the eighth edition of Crypto Fight Night (CFN), an industry sporting and networking event that’s become hugely popular since … Read more

Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial Buys $470K ONDO Tokens

A wallet identified as belonging to World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform backed by President Donald Trump and his family, has deepened its investment in Ondo Finance, the second-largest issuer of tokenized Treasuries. The address scooped up about 342,000 ONDO, the platform’s governance token, for $470,000 USDC on the CoW Protocol, according to … Read more