U.S. Enforcement Chief Behind CFTC Crypto Cases Exits Before Trump Arrives

Enforcement Director Ian McGinley is leaving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a week, ending a relatively short tenure that saw some high-profile crypto cases. He arrived at the agency in February 2023, a month before the CFTC sued Binance and then-CEO Changpeng Zhao for violating U.S. commodities laws. During his tenure, he also oversaw … Read more

Biden’s Consumer Watchdog Pushes for Last-Minute Stablecoin Rule

As crypto fan Donald Trump prepares to take the reins of the government, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has pitched new regulations that would have a significant impact on stablecoin issuers and wallet providers, though the proposal’s future remains in question. The CFPB took the first procedural step to open a proposal to public … Read more

Cybercrime Damages Highlight Need for Scalable Decentralized Infrastructure

Recent figures reveal that cybercrime inflicted losses of $298 billion on German companies alone in 2024, with 90% of surveyed businesses expecting damages to rise further. The primary targets? Sensitive data like intellectual property, patents and user credentials. These alarming statistics underscore the urgent need for more secure and scalable data infrastructure to mitigate cyber … Read more

Bhutan’s Crypto Reserve Could Pave Way for Economic Growth in Other Countries

Bhutan, a small country in South Asia, is making big waves in the crypto world. The Kingdom, which populates roughly 770,000 people and lies between India, China and Nepal, just made headlines after one of its cities adopted a crypto reserve strategy. This includes bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and Binance’s BNB token (BNB). El Salvador … Read more

Kenya Prepares to Legalize Cryptocurrencies in Policy Shift: Report

Kenya’s Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has said the country is preparing legislation to legalize cryptocurrencies, a shift from the government’s previous warnings against the industry. “The emergence and growth of Virtual Assets (VAs) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) have given rise to innovations in the local and international financial system with dynamic opportunities … Read more

Three Russians Face Money Laundering Charges Over Mixing Services: DOJ

Three Russian nationals tied to operating sanctioned crypto mixing services Blender.io and Sinbad.io have been charged with money laundering by a federal grand jury in Georgia, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement on Friday. Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik had been arrested last month, and they face money laundering charges. … Read more

Babylon Labs Brings New Momentum to Bitcoin ZK Tech Through Bridge to Cosmos Chains

Babylon Labs, developer of the largest BTC staking protocol, is building a trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge with the Cosmos network to enhance the world’s oldest blockchain’s interoperability. In partnership with Bitcoin developers Fiamma, Babylon is using the BitVM2 computing paradigm, which is designed to allow Ethereum-style smart contracts on Bitcoin, which then paves the way for … Read more

It’s Hard to Fund Midsize Green Assets. This Tokenization Startup Wants to Change That

The U.S. renewable energy industry is in an odd position. Large-scale projects, like SunZia, the southwestern wind turbine project that is expected to provide enough electricity to power three million homes, are funded with relative ease thanks to long-established relationships with financial giants. Meanwhile, small-scale installations such as solar panels on one’s rooftop are becoming … Read more

XRP, XLM and DOGE See Recovery in Stateside Demand

This week, the crypto market has witnessed a notable positive shift, particularly in prices for major alternative cryptocurrencies XRP, DOGE and XLM. These tokens are once again priced more or less the same on the Nasdaq-listed Coinbase, considered a proxy for the stateside demand, and the offshore giant Binance, TradingView data shows. The recovery from … Read more

‘Razzlekhan’ Drops Video As Rapper Prepares for Prison in Bitfinex Hack

The crypto industry’s most notorious rapper, Heather Morgan – more widely known as Razzlekhan – released a new music video as U.S. authorities stand ready to imprison her for criminally laundering portions of the crypto loot her husband was convicted of pilfering from Bitfinex. In the song, ‘Razzlekhan vs. The United States,” Morgan’s outlandish and … Read more

Crypto Daybook Americas: Bitcoin Bargain Hunting Faces Crucial Jobs Report Test

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) The crypto market has regained some stability, with BTC rising back to nearly $95K as order books signaled the presence of bargain hunters. Late Wednesday, prices tested the long-standing support zone of $90K-$93K, which has successfully halted downward movements at least six times since the second … Read more

Sentiment Readings Favor Dogecoin Gains as Cardano’s ADA Leads Market Bump

Weakness in bitcoin (BTC) has deferred to other crypto majors from Solana’s SOL to memecoin dogecoin (DOGE), data suggests current levels could prove ripe for risk-on traders. “Crypto’s top meme coin Dogecoin has been extremely quiet outside of a temporary run-up at the beginning of the year,” analytics firm Santiment wrote in a Thursday report, … Read more

EU’s MiCA Rules Will Likely Boost Euro Denominated Stablecoins, JPMorgan Says

The EU’s MiCA regulations, which came into effect on Dec. 30, will likely boost euro denominated stablecoins, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Wednesday. “Under MiCA, only compliant stablecoins can be used as trading pairs in regulated markets, prompting EU exchanges to adjust their offerings,” analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote. This has … Read more

Bitcoin Funding Rates Briefly Went Negative, Usually Marks a Local Bottom: Van Straten

Bitcoin (BTC) has not broken below $90,000 since Nov. 18, and continues to swing between $90,000 and $100,000. The sentiment generally flips bullish when bitcoin approaches $100,000 and investors try to continue the bull market. However, this also works the other way and as bitcoin heads toward $90,000, like on Thursday, investors turn bearish. Bitcoin … Read more

U.S.-Listed Bitcoin Miners Accounted for 25% of Global Network in December: Jefferies

U.S.-listed bitcoin (BTC) miners accounted for 25.3% of the global network in December, Jefferies said in a research report on Thursday. The bank cut its price target for MARA Holdings (MARA) to $20 from $24, while maintaining its hold rating on the stock. The shares rose 0.5% to $18.43 during early trading Friday. Mining profitability … Read more

Polymarket’s Customer Data Sought by CFTC Subpoena of Coinbase, Source Says

Coinbase Inc. (COIN) is warning customers that a U.S. regulator is demanding information about interactions with prediction market firm Polymarket, according to a person familiar with the situation, and Coinbase has sent messages to customers saying the exchange may have to share that data. Copies of the emails shared with some customers have circulated on … Read more

Crypto for Advisors: 2025 Outlook

In today’s issue, Leo Mindyuk from MLTech provides a crypto outlook for 2025 and highlights key factors that could drive the adoption of these assets. Then, Miguel Kudry from L1 Advisors shares his insights on the topic in Ask and Expert. –Sarah Morton You’re reading Crypto for Advisors, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter that unpacks digital assets … Read more

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: RNDR Falls 5.1% as Nearly All Assets Trade Lower

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 3298.7, down 2.2% (-74.23) since 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. One of 20 assets is trading higher. Leaders: LTC (+1.9%) and POL (-0.3%). Laggards: RENDER (-5.1%) and ICP (-5.1%). … Read more

MANTRA Blockchain to Tokenize $1B of Real-World Assets for UAE-Based Property Firm DAMAC

MANTRA, a layer-1 blockchain designed for tokenized real-world assets (RWA), entered an agreement with United Arab Emirates-based property conglomerate DAMAC Group to bring at least $1 billion of the firm’s assets to blockchain rails, the companies announced Thursday in a press release. The deal will allow investors to finance DAMAC’s portfolio companies spanning across various … Read more

Market Fears of Potential Selling Pressure From Possible Silk Road Sale is Overblown: Van Straten

For the outside world, bitcoin (BTC) dropping $10,000 to $92,000, in a matter of days could signal the end of the bull run. A caveat to this could be that bitcoin continues to consolidate below a key psychological $100,000 threshold. Unconfirmed reports from DB News suggest that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been given … Read more