For decades, prediction markets were a backwater, a science experiment. In 2024, Shayne Coplan, founder of Polymarket, turned them into a multibillion-dollar business and a popular barometer of the political winds, cited by everyone from Donald Trump to CNN. In so doing, he demonstrated a real-world consumer use case for cryptocurrency – and, some argue, … Read more
Cryptocurrencies continued to this week’s decline on Tuesday, with altcoins in near-freefall as bitcoin (BTC) slid further from the $100,000 level. Among the worst-hit cryptos were XRP, Polkadot (DOT), Litecoin (LTC), Aptos (APT) and Cardano (ADA), down 15%-18% over the past 24 hours, extending Monday declines. The CoinDesk 20 — an index of the top … Read more
Microsoft (MSFT) doesn’t appear to be adding its name anytime soon to the list of corporate entities holding bitcoin (BTC) after its shareholders voted against a proposal that would have directed the board of directors to study such a move. Titled “Assessment of Investing in Bitcoin,” the proposal was put forward by the National Center … Read more
A deputy in the Russian parliament proposed the creation of a strategic bitcoin (BTC) reserve to tackle sanctions imposed on the country, state-owned news agency Ria reported on Monday. Anton Tkachev of the New People party, which formed in 2020 and has 16 out of the 450 seats in the State Duma, asked Finance Minister … Read more
What do hamsters, crypto and Iran’s military have in common? At one point in the summer of 2024, the Telegram “mini-game” Hamster Kombat was so popular — reportedly attracting 300 million users — that Iran Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari accused the West of trying to disrupt elections by distracting Iranian voters with the game, as … Read more
Relai, a bitcoin (BTC) buy, sell and self-custody application, has raised $12 million Series A funding. The Switzerland-based company’s Series A was led by Ego Death Capital, a bitcoin only VC, which committed $4 million to the raise. Other participants included Plan B Bitcoin Fund, Timechain, and Solit Group. Following the maxim of “not your … Read more
Memecoin project Floki (FLOKI) released a zero-fee debit card in 31 European countries on Monday, with plans to expand the offering to other countries in the future. The debit card allows users to spend bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), tether (USDT), BNB Chain’s BNB and FLOKI globally at merchants that accept VISA or … Read more
Wall Street giant JPMorgan (JPM) turned more bullish on some bitcoin (BTC) mining stocks in its coverage following third quarter results and recent gains in bitcoin price and the network hashrate, the bank said in a report on Tuesday. The bank upgraded Cipher Mining (CIFR) and CleanSpark (CLSK) to overweight from neutral. JPMorgan also introduced … Read more
By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) Bitcoin’s bull-bear tug-of-war continues to rage, with prices recovering to over $97,000 from Monday’s dip to $94,200. That slide was prompted by concern Google’s new quantum-computing chip, Willow, could compromise BTC’s security — a worry quickly dismissed by analysts. That leaves directional traders with little to … Read more
First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Libre Capital, the tokenization specialist backed by WebN Group and Nomura’s Laser Digital, to do blockchain-based collateralized lending using real world asset (RWAs) tokens. Since going live in March, Libre has issued about $150 million of tokenized versions of Brevan Howard funds, … Read more