Abstract, the layer-2 network rolled out this week by Pudgy Penguins, is off to a muted start despite offering a series of incentives to new users. The network notched 711,000 user transactions on the day of release, but that respectable total has been overshadowed by a lack of inflows. Its total value secured (TVS) was … Read more
Several marketplaces hawking Donald Trump-branded merchandise, including GetTrumpWatches.com, GetTrumpFragrances.com, and GetTrumpSneakers.com, have started accepting the Trump memecoin as a payment method alongside credit cards and bitcoin (BTC). Payments options now include TRUMP and will be processed by Solana Pay, a decentralized payment system that allows users to send money directly to merchants without intermediaries. The … Read more
Polymarket only sees a 16% chance that the Donald Trump will order the creation of a strategic bitcoin (BTC) reserve in the first 100 days of its administration, despite assurances from crypto czar David Sacks that there’s an effort underway to explore the idea. “President Trump has asked us to study that issue, so we … Read more
Spanish authorities are crediting the T3 Financial Crime Unit, a consortium made up of Tron, Tether, and TRM Labs, for helping take down a multinational European financial crime syndicate. According to Spain’s Guardia Civil, the crime syndicate operated across multiple European jurisdictions, providing cash-to-crypto laundering services for criminal enterprises. T3 said it seized $26.4 million, … Read more
If someone told you that stock market investors are offloading their cherished holdings, you will most likely interpret it as a sign of an impending market downturn. The narrative, however, differs in the crypto market, where such selling indicates bullishness, according to analysts observing historical trends in the supply held by long-term investors or wallets … Read more
Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Ben Schiller, CoinDesk’s Opinion and Features editor. In this issue: Movement Labs rolls out dev mainnet Cardano hard forks to decentralized governance SSV DAO unveils SSC 2.0 Musk pushes blockchain in government Network News MOVEMENT LABS ROLLS OUT … Read more
Are we witnessing the dawn of PolicyFi? In an earlier article on why memecoins matter, I argued that memecoins are ushering in a new era of civic engagement by forming speculative markets in which citizens are able to trade coins tied to government policies. I suggested that holder distributions and market caps in those markets … Read more
Cardano, the layer-1 blockchain launched in 2017 by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, activated its highly anticipated “Plomin” upgrade on Wednesday, ushering in the ecosystem’s long-awaited move towards a decentralized governance system. With the Plomin upgrade now live, ADA token holders will be able to shape Cardano’s future, including voting on treasury measures and hard forks. … Read more
Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) appeared to take advantage of a new accounting rule allowing for holdings of digital assets to be marked-to-market each quarter. The company’s fourth quarter earnings report shows its 9,720 bitcoin valued at $1.076 billion as of the end of 2024. That’s up from what had been $184 million for several quarters … Read more
Regulation by enforcement is beginning to crumble, with a court recently ruling that the SEC’s refusal to issue a crypto rule was unlawful. A new crypto-friendly administration stands ready to create crypto clarity through new appointments at the SEC and the CFTC. New acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham has proposed an uncommon approach, namely the … Read more
As expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve has kept its benchmark fed funds range rate steady at 4.25%-4.50%, the first pause since the central bank began easing policy last September. The accompanying policy statement noted that the unemployment rate had stabilized at a “low level” and inflation remained “somewhat elevated.” The wording was hawkish as it … Read more
Current U.S. regulations are blocking a major financial shift that could open up private-market investments to everyday investors through tokenization, CEO of digital brokerage Robinhood Vlad Tenev said. In a Wednesday opinion piece for the Washington Post, Tenev said that many high-growth companies like OpenAI, SpaceX and Stripe are increasingly avoiding going public, limiting investment … Read more
Canary Capital didn’t even exist when the spot bitcoin or even the spot ethe rexchange-traded funds launched last year. But the company quickly made a name for itself in the business. Founded only last October, Canary Capital has quickly pushed out several applications for crypto ETFs, including ones for Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), Litecoin (LTC) … Read more
Howard Lutnick, who is President Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Commerce, is drawing scrutiny on his relationship with Tether from Senator Elizabeth Warren — the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and one of Congress’ most reliable critics of the digital asset sector. As CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, the Wall Street firm … Read more
Price outlook Our analysis for 2025 forecasts bitcoin reaching a target of $150,000 in the first half of the year. However, an initial pullback may occur in Q1 if the newly inaugurated Trump administration fails to introduce the anticipated “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” at the pace expected by the fast-moving crypto market. Even without a fully … Read more
Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (RIOT) finds itself a target of a second activist investor, with Reuters reporting investment management giant D.E. Shaw as having taken an unspecified stake. The move by D.E. Shaw, which manages $70 billion in assets, comes just weeks after another activist investor, Starboard Value (roughly $9 billion in AUM), took a … Read more
The year is 2025. It’s more than 16 years since the Bitcoin whitepaper was published and 10 years since the launch of Ethereum, and the programmable smart contract layer that came with it. With billions of dollars invested in the industry, and tens of thousands of developers contributing thousands of applications, primitives, and protocols, surely … Read more
The crypto political action committee that stunned U.S. politics last year, Fairshake, successfully weighed in again in a pair of Florida special elections to replace Republican members of Congress, likely adding to its list of lawmakers who have the industry to thank for campaign support. A primary election closed Tuesday night, giving pro-crypto candidates supported … Read more
Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this piece owns shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR). To say that MicroStrategy (MSTR) has been at the lead of creatively raising capital with which to buy massive amounts of bitcoin (BTC) would be an understatement. Led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, the company this week opened a new front along those … Read more
Web3 technologies are poised to transform the world of commerce just as Web2 revolutionized access to information. The result will be a vast, open, liquid digital marketplace where all physical goods can be listed and traded seamlessly. In the early days of the internet, information was siloed within proprietary networks. Over time, the zero marginal … Read more
Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT), the company that operates the social media site Truth Social, announced Wednesday it is launching a financial services platform focusing on crypto and customized exchange-traded funds. The company’s board approved an investment of up to $250 million at major asset manager Charles Schwab (SCHW). The funds may be allocated … 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 3686.16, down 0.8% (-30.23) since 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Four of 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: UNI (+5.1%) and NEAR (+0.5%). Laggards: ICP (-3.2%) and BCH (-2.2%). … Read more
Digital Currency Group (DCG) is spinning off the self-mining unit of its Foundry subsidiary into a separate business called Fortitude Mining that will mine crypto across a range of digital assets, the company said Wednesday. What makes Fortitude Mining different is that it will not only mine bitcoin (BTC), but other proof-of-work protocols as well, … Read more
Crypto accounting platform Cryptio has raised $15 million in an extension to its Series A funding round from June 2022. Existing investor Alven led the round and featured participation from new backers 1kx and Ledger Cathay Capital, Cryptio told CoinDesk via email on Wednesday. The $15 million raised takes the total for the Series A … Read more
Proof-of-stake blockchain Cardano will switch to decentralized governance later Wednesday after the Plomin hard fork takes effect, Cardano Foundation, a non-profit organization backing the project, said on X. “The Plomin hard fork takes effect, marking the transition to full decentralized governance. ADA holders gain real voting power – on parameter changes, treasury withdrawals, hard forks, … Read more
By James Van Straten (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) Each new day under the Trump administration is as intriguing as the next, and Wednesday is shaping up to be no different. For one, the president’s enthusiasm for bitcoin is spurring other countries to take a look at the asset. Most recently, Czech National Bank … Read more
Digital asset exchange Crypto.com said it will suspend certain token services deemed to be unauthorized in terms of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets legislation (MiCA) in a statement to its clients on Tuesday. The statement said that from Jan. 31, it will no longer offer certain services from stablecoins, like Tether USDT, Paypal … Read more
The M2 money supply increased in December to $21.5 trillion, just shy of its all-time high. The M2 money supply measures the total amount of money in circulation within an economy, including both liquid and less liquid assets. Meanwhile, the CPI index tracks the average price change of goods and services over time, which indicates … Read more
YZi Labs, the rebranded venture capital arm of crypto exchange Binance, made its first investment following founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s release from prison, Fortune reported on Wednesday. The company formerly known as Binance Labs led a $16 million funding round into Sign, a startup that seeks to simplify token distribution and bring verification of credentials … Read more
Dogecoin (DOGE), the largest memecoin by market cap, dropped below a short-term uptrend line on Monday, signaling an end to the recovery from December lows and potentially the conclusion of a five-month rally. Since then, prices have dropped below the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of the run that started in August and touching highs about … Read more