Bitcoin (BTC) Price Hits $105K, Snaps Downtrend as Anticipation Soars for Donald Trump’s Inauguration

Bitcoin (BTC) hit its strongest price in U.S. dollar terms in 2025 on Friday and notched a new record against the British pound as excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly U.S. government mounts ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next week. BTC topped $105,000 during the U.S. session, surging 5.2% over the past 24 hours … Read more

Preparing for a New Trump Era

CoinDesk’s coverage kicked into high gear this week as crypto readied for a new presidency and a new regulatorily-friendly era. Some highlights:Senior analyst James Van Straten reported on a wave of companies buying bitcoin for their balance sheets, following a model pioneered by MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor. Markets reporter Krisztian Sandor followed the rise of Solana’s … Read more

Ethereum Developers Finally Schedule ‘Pectra’ Upgrade

Ethereum’s developers have finally delivered a timeline for the chain’s next big upgrade, Pectra, which promises to introduce an array of speed and efficiency improvements to the second-largest blockchain. At a developer meeting held virtually on Thursday, Ethereum’s core team set the upgrade’s target release date for March 2025. Pectra combines together eight major upgrades, … Read more

NEAR Gains 6.3% as Index Trades Higher From Thursday

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 3949.35, up 1.1% (+41.73) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday. Sixteen of 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: NEAR (+6.3%) and LTC (+5.9%). Laggards: XLM (-3.4%) and HBAR (-3.3%). … Read more

Crypto Venture Capital Market Remained Difficult in 2024, Galaxy Digital (GLXY) Says

Crypto venture capital (VC) activity remains below the levels seen in previous bull markets despite the recent rally in digital assets, Galaxy Digital (GLXY) said in research report on Wednesday. Total capital allocated to VC funds in 2024 was $11.5 billion, less than in 2023. Galaxy noted that VC activity was highly correlated to crypto … Read more

Publicly Traded U.S. Crypto Miners Double Bitcoin (BTC) HODL to Almost 100K in a Year

Publicly traded U.S. crypto mining companies doubled their bitcoin (BTC) holdings last year, taking the total to 92,473 valued at $8.6 billion as of end-December while the price of the largest cryptocurrency rose 120%, according to data from TheMiningMag. The biggest amount, almost half of the total, is held by MARA Holdings (MARA) with 44,893 … Read more

Bitcoin’s (BTC) ‘Coinbase Premium’ Muted Amid Reports Trump Plans to Designate Crypto a National Policy

Stars cannot align more positively for crypto in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, if the latest media reports are anything to go by. Still, one key indicator shows a lack of excitement among U.S. investors. Late Thursday, Bloomberg reported that President-elect Donald Trump will likely issue an executive order announcing crypto as a national imperative … Read more

Trump Treasury Pick Scott Bessent Opposes Idea of U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency

U.S. senators questioning President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, didn’t spend much time on cryptocurrency issues in his nomination hearing on Thursday. But he had a chance to register strong opposition to a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) and to note that he favors a modern outlook on crypto. The billionaire … Read more

Litecoin (LTC) ETF Could Attract Up to $580M of Inflows If Adoption Mirrors That of Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs

While a litecoin (LTC) exchange-traded fund is still only theoretical, investor demand for the product could soar as high as $580 million if Wall Street adopts it at the same rate it did LTC’s better-known cousin bitcoin. That calculation is based on the roughly 6% of bitcoin’s total supply now locked up in a variety … Read more