Crypto scammers have finally found their thieving match: Themselves. A new scam has been making the rounds mainly on YouTube that would make even the most cunning trickster tip their hat, security firm Kaspersky said in a security update last week. “I have USDT stored in my wallet, and I have the seed phrase. How … Read more
The U.S. is likely to hit the maximum it’s legally allowed to borrow at some point between Jan. 14 and Jan. 23, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a Friday letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. After that, the Treasury will take “extraordinary measures” to cut borrowing. “I respectfully urge … Read more
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
Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency, is likely to reach new highs next year and will “test or best” $185,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025, Galaxy Research said in a report last week. Ether (ETH), the second-largest crypto, is predicted to rise above $5,500 in the next 12 months, the report said. “A combination … Read more
XRP led crypto losses on the second-last day of this year as a stronger dollar weighed down global currencies and assets including bitcoin, with Asian equity markets sliding lower on Monday. XRP sunk more than 5% in the past 24 hours, with dogecoin (DOGE), Solana’s SOL, ether (ETH) and BNB falling as much as 2%. … Read more
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
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
Stalled bitcoin (BTC) and crypto prices may not be bringing festive cheer to traders, but some with money are trying to spread the goodwill around. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said he’d accepted an invitation to be the “adoptive father” of pygmy hippo Moo Deng when she grows up. He is also donating 10 million Thai … Read more
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
A Pump.Fun memecoin zoomed from zero to an $80 million market capitalization on Thursday after a father’s plea for donations into a research study for his daughter’s rare brain cancer attracted swathes of crypto traders. The token’s prices have since fallen 80% since a Thursday peak and trade at just over a cent as of … Read more
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 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
The X account of Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu, one of CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2024, was compromised and used to promote a fictitious token, the company said in a post on the social media platform. Animoca, a metaverse and gaming venture capital firm, posted a warning on its own account at 01:36 UTC on Thursday … Read more
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
Six mutual funds tracking the price of bitcoin (BTC) will debut in Israel next week after the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) granted permission for the products, Calcalist reported on Wednesday. All six will start operations on the same day, Dec. 31, a condition imposed by the regulator, Calcalist said. Final approval for the funds was … Read more
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
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
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
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
The $308 million hack of Japanese crypto exchange DMM in May was the work of North Korean hackers, the U.S. and Japanese law enforcement agencies said Monday. The theft of 4,502.9 bitcoin (BTC), which is forcing the exchange to close, was “affiliated” with a group known as TraderTraitor, the FBI said in a statement with … Read more
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
The Russian government imposed a six-year ban on crypto mining in 10 regions due to the industry’s high power consumption, Tass reported. The ban, which includes participation in a mining pool and temporary restrictions in other regions during periods of peak demand, takes effect Jan. 1 and ends March 15, 2031, Tass said, citing a … Read more
Just when you thought the year-end couldn’t get any more intriguing, a significant options expiry is set to shake things up in this highly levered-up market. Options are derivative contracts that give the purchaser the right to buy or sell the underlying asset at a preset price at a later date. A call gives the … Read more
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
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
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-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
Investment advisers will probably overtake hedge funds as the biggest holders of U.S.-listed spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) next year, CF Benchmarks said Monday. A total of 11 spot BTC ETFs debuted in the U.S. on Jan. 11, providing a way for investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without personally having to hold … 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 trading at 3319.53, down 2.9% (-98.37) since 4 p.m. ET last Friday. Three of the 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: LTC (+2.5%) and UNI (+2.2%). Laggards: APT (-14.8%) and AVAX (-6.0%). … Read more
Avalon Labs, the issuer of the BTC-backed stablecoin USDa, has raised $10 million to grow its Bitcoin decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The Series A funding round was led by Framework Ventures and included contributions from UXTO Management, Presto Labs and Kenetic Capital, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk on Monday. Avalon aims to evolve … Read more