Hashed’s Simon Kim believes the future of artificial intelligence hinges on a radical shift: breaking open the black box of centralized models like OpenAI and building a decentralized, transparent ecosystem powered by blockchain. For Kim, CEO of South Korea’s leading crypto VC fund, the urgency is clear. AI’s unchecked centralization threatens to create a “god” … Read more
To say that the spot bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) exceeded expectations in their first year on the market is an understatement at best. Instead, it might be more accurate to say that they’ve shocked the industry to its core. “Just how big was the first year for Bitcoin ETFs?” Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James … Read more
The runaway success of Base, the Coinbase-owned Ethereum overlay blockchain designed for faster, cheaper transactions, has prompted the creation of a market linked to the fluctuating cost of the total gas needed to power the network, allowing speculators to bet on recurring utility spikes on the layer 2 system. Taking a cue from the way … 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 3447.59, up 4.2% (+139.62) since 4 p.m. ET on Monday. All 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: APT (+6.8%) and FIL (+6.8%). Laggards: XLM (+1.4%) and DOT (+2.7%). The … Read more
The consolidation between $90,000 and $100,000 for bitcoin (BTC), continues to play with investor sentiment, swinging from fear to greed. On Monday, bitcoin fell below $90,000, while it is above $96,500 on Tuesday, up over 8% . Bitcoin bull Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, told CNBC on Monday that he sees this current … Read more
Bitcoin (BTC), continues to get further entrenched into the traditional finance system. Italy’s largest bank by assets, Intesa Sanpaolo, has bought 11 BTC for over $1 million, according to a Reuters report. Reuters saw an internal message that said, “As of today, Jan. 13, 2025, Intesa Sanpaolo owns 11 bitcoins”. Intesa Sanpaolo currently has a … Read more
Sigma Capital, an early-stage venture firm, has unveiled a $100 million fund focused on Web3 startups. The Dubai-based company is attempting to capitalize on the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) reputation as a crypto hub, according to an emailed announcement on Tuesday. The fund will focus on decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization and blockchain infrastructure by managing … Read more
The stateside demand for regulated crypto products is real. The U.S. SEC-approved options tied to BlackRock’s spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (IBIT), which debuted on Nov. 19, are already almost half the size of Deribit’s eight-year-old bitcoin options market. On Monday, there were 2.16 million open or active IBIT options contracts, representing a notional value … Read more
Gary Gensler’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) branded Binance.US “a cauldron of fraud,” and used its power and influence to choke off the firm’s banking relationships and USD fiat ramps, despite failing to produce any evidence to back up its claims in court, the interim chief of Binance.US told CoinDesk in an interview. In June … Read more
The crypto industry has a new “unicorn” in digital asset bank Sygnum, which has just closed a $58 million funding round. The Zug, Switzerland and Singapore-based lender closed an oversubscribed “strategic growth round,” which was led by BTC-focused venture capital firm Fulgar Ventures, according to an emailed announcement on Tuesday. The round gave Sygnum “unicorn” … Read more