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
Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this piece owns shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR) MicroStrategy (MSTR), the software developer that has made acquiring bitcoin (BTC) a core value, added to its holding for a seventh week in a row. The company bought 5,262 BTC for a total of $561 million in the week ended Dec. 22 to … 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
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
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