Bitcoin price may be volatile but it didn’t stop giant financial institutions from continuing to invest more. Large institutions such as pensions or hedge funds tripled their holdings of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the fourth quarter of 2024, data from 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed. Institutional investors bought … Read more
Binance.US, a regulated cryptocurrency exchange serving American customers, has finally seen its US dollar fiat services restored, after the firm’s ability to handle USD deposits and withdrawals was choked out of existence under the Biden administration. Access to fiat services begins Wednesday and will be gradually rolled out to all eligible customers over the coming … Read more
A group of top Ethereum developers and leaders released Wednesday a new framework that would simplify and standardize cross-chain token transfers. The initiative, called the Open Intents Framework (OIF), was kickstarted by contributors from the Ethereum Foundation and is supported by 25 projects including teams building layer-2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, ZKsync, and Scroll, according to … Read more
Monad, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) layer-1 blockchain about to launch its testnet, has joined forces with Orderly Network, a decentralized exchange (DEX) infrastructure built on the Near blockchain and supporting a range of other chains, as the platforms spread their nets wide in anticipation of a second decentralized finance (DeFi) summer. The arrival of … Read more
EToro said it received regulatory approval under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework and will soon be able to provide cryptocurrency trading and custody services across the region. The trading platform announced the approval from the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission on Wednesday. The MiCA regulation that requires firms to acquire a crypto asset … Read more
Crypto investors are still piling into memecoins despite the outsized risks associated with this type of digital asset, Kraken said in a report on Wednesday, after conducting a survey of holders in the U.S.. 85% of respondents said that they invested in memecoins, and 76% said they believed the “potential rewards justify the risks.” Somewhat … Read more
Bitcoin rewards financial services firm Fold Holdings (FLD) debuted on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Wednesday with shares surging higher in early action before pulling back. The firm went public via business merger with FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. (FTAC), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). FLD jumped more than 30% above $13 in … Read more
Wintermute, one of the largest liquidity providers in the cryptocurrency market, is expanding into the U.S. with the opening of a new office in New York and the introduction of over-the-counter (OTC) trading products in the country. Wintermute has plans for a “new added focus on the U.S.,” CEO Evgeny Gaevoy told Bloomberg during Consensus … Read more
Czech National Bank Governor Ales Michl on Wednesday continued his campaign for possibly adding bitcoin (BTC) to the central bank balance sheet, including encouraging words for those frustrated by the reputational damage inflicted on bitcoin by the broader crypto market. The crypto market will experience “failures and successes,” wrote Michl in a longish X post. … Read more
Franklin Templeton, a major global asset manager, said Wednesday it has launched its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund in Luxembourg, expanding access to European institutional investors. The launch of the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund marks the first Luxembourg-domiciled fund investing in U.S. government securities that’s fully tokenized, the asset manager claimed in a press … Read more