CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: XLM Declines 6.6% as Index Trades Lower Over Weekend

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 3254.32, down 1.8% (-60.38) since 4 p.m. on Friday. Three of 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: SOL (+2.5%) and APT (+0.8%). Laggards: XLM (-6.6%) and LINK (-6.2%). The … Read more

MicroStrategy Buys a Further 2,138 BTC, Adding to Stash for 8th Consecutive Week

Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this piece owns shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR) MicroStrategy, the self-described bitcoin (BTC) development company, increased its holdings of the largest cryptocurrency for the eighth consecutive week. The company, which already holds more bitcoin than any other publicly traded company, bought another 2,138 BTC for $209 million in the week ended … Read more

HyperLiquid Releases Native Staking as HYPE Token Extends Its Rally

Layer-1 blockchain HyperLiquid, known for its decentralized derivatives exchange, opened up native staking for holders of its HYPE token, according to a Monday post on X. Stakers can select which validator to stake tokens with and will accrue rewards in return for securing the network. At launch, HyperLiquid staked 300 million tokens ($8.4 billion), and … Read more

Do Kwon’s U.S. Extradition Gets Okay From Montenegro’s Justice Minister

Terraform creator Do Kwon will be extradited to the U.S., Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Božović said Friday. The U.S. and South Korean governments have both sought to take custody of Kwon to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin Terra/Luna system in 2022, which kicked off a series of high-profile collapses … Read more

Bitcoin Institutional Adoption Accelerates as ETF Filings Show Investor Appetite

The dominant crypto narrative for 2024 has been institutional adoption. From the U.S. approval of spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds to the burgeoning number of companies pledging to buy the largest cryptocurrency for their treasuries, crypto has entered, more than ever before, the mainstream conversation. Bitcoin has increased almost 130% this year, breaking record highs … Read more

Bitcoin Kimchi Premium Spikes as South Korea’s Political Turmoil Escalates

South Koreans are paying a full 3% more to buy bitcoin (BTC) than their U.S. counterparts as they seek protection from the plummeting won, CryptoQuant data show. Priced in won, the largest cryptocurrency is valued at 145,000,000 ($98,600) on the country’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit. That compares with about $96,700 on Coinbase (COIN). The move … Read more

Why 2025 Will See the Comeback of the ICO

Regulatory overhaul in America and a thawing of crypto antagonism globally in 2025 will usher in a new generation of decentralized capital formation, which was first popularized in 2017 as “ICOs” (initial coin offerings). During the 2010s, crypto hadn’t settled on a productive use case for Bitcoin and altcoins until Ethereum smart contracts enabled early-stage … Read more

CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: HBAR Drops 8.2% as All Index Constituents 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 3333.82, down 5.0% (-176.57) since 4 pm ET on Wednesday. None of the 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: ETH (-3.7%) and BTC (-3.7%). Laggards: HBAR (-8.2%) and APT … Read more

Bitcoin Returns to $95K as Christmas Rally Snuffed Out

With much of the globe celebrating Christmas, bitcoin (BTC) quietly appeared set to retake the $100,000 level after having fallen to below $93,000 just ahead of the holiday. The rally, however, stalled at just above $99,800 as Asia opened for business on Thursday morning and declined rapidly to roughly $95,000 only a few hours later. … Read more

Floki on Course for Europe ETP as DAO Floats Proposal to Provide Early Liquidity

Meme-turned-utility project Floki is working with an unidentified asset manager to develop an exchange-traded product (ETP) tracking its FLOKI token that could be available to investors in Europe early in the new year, one of the developers told CoinDesk. If approved, FLOKI would be the only meme token other than dogecoin (DOGE) with an institutional … Read more

Coinbase CEO, Other Crypto Insiders Billions Richer After Seeking to Steer Elections

This is the third in a series of stories examining the crypto industry’s high-stakes 2024 foray into politics and campaigning. The first explored the electoral track record of Fairshake PAC’s strategy and the second its intense use of a 2010 Supreme Court stance. The leaders of the companies responsible for the river of money that … Read more

2025 Will Be the Year That AI Agents Transform Crypto

One of the most significant emerging trends of 2024 has been the interplay between artificial intelligence (AI) and the crypto ecosystem. Historically this has primarily been on the infrastructure side, affecting various layers of the stack such as decentralized compute, storage and model training and inference. However, the last few months the crypto x AI … Read more

ESG-Focused Blockchain Trrue Secures $10M Investment Commitment From GEM Digital

Trrue, a layer-1 blockchain focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance and real-world asset tokenization received a $10 million investment commitment from GEM Digital, the company said in a press release on Tuesday. The money will be used to accelerate the development of Ireland-based Trrue’s platform, the company said. GEM Digital is a Bahamas-based … Read more

SOL’s Evolving Throwback Pattern Makes It Enticing for Breakout Traders: Godbole

In financial markets, the best entry opportunity is often fleeting and easily missed. Now, Solana’s SOL is flashing a timely second chance for those looking to trade bullish breakouts. The SOL price has surged over 7% this week to $193, rebounding off a former resistance-turned-support identified by the trendline connecting highs from March and July. … Read more

Bitcoin Lull Could Spur Altcoin Rally, With $90K Considered ‘Attractive’ Buying Area

Traders expect bitcoin (BTC) choppiness to continue with a possible rotation to altcoins, as a major options expiry weighs on market dynamics in the festive week ahead. “All eyes are on the massive expiry this Friday, where almost $20B notional across BTC and ETH options will expire,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a broadcast message … Read more

The Protocol: Trump Makes More Pro-Crypto Appointments

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. In this week’s issue of the Protocol newsletter: Trump’s crypto team Aptos’ leadership shake-up TikTok meets tokens Kraken scales up This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, … Read more

What the Key Metrics for Onchain Activity Say About SOL, ETH and Other Chains in 2025

Web3 is drowning in metrics, most of which paint an unclear picture. Transaction volumes, token prices and flashy headlines often mask what really matters: the quality of user engagement and the potential for organic, exponential growth. As the industry moves beyond the hype, reliable, data-driven signals of success are no longer optional — they’re essential. … Read more

Solana Layer 2 Sonic to Airdrop SONIC Token to TikTok Users

Solana-based gaming-focused layer-2 blockchain Sonic will airdrop its SONIC token to all its users onboarded through social-media platform TikTok. Sonic built its SonicX game natively inside TikTok, attempting to replicate the success of mini apps that were built on theTON blockchain inside messaging platform Telegram. The game has over 2 million users onboarded using TikTok, … Read more