“DeFi is dead.” That’s how Maple Finance CEO and co-founder Sid Powell summarizes what he sees coming for crypto over the next few years. However, this doesn’t mean the end of decentralized finance; rather, it is the end of treating DeFi as something separate from traditional markets. “In a couple of years, institutions won’t distinguish … Read more
Klarna, a Swedish fintech company known for its “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) service, has partnered with crypto exchange Coinbase to add stablecoins to its institutional funding toolkit. Under the arrangement, the global payments and digital banking firm plans to raise short-term funding from institutional investors denominated in USDC (USDC), using Coinbase’s crypto-native infrastructure, according … Read more
The Ethereum ecosystem underwent something of a short revival in 2025. Early in the year, as many major cryptocurrencies surged to fresh all-time highs, ether lagged behind. Some in the community pointed fingers at Ethereum Foundation’s (EF) leadership, claiming the organization hadn’t done enough to reinvigorate the network’s momentum. This feature is a part of … Read more
Veteran Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr is at the forefront of one of the most hotly-discussed debates in cryptocurrency — what the original blockchain network should be used for. The advent of the Ordinals protocol in 2023, which allowed a form of NFTs to be minted on Bitcoin, and Runes a year later, which did something … Read more
Jeff Yan rarely speaks in public, avoids social media, and has never taken venture capital money. But in 2025, few individuals have had a bigger influence on the shape of decentralized finance (DeFi) and the crypto space itself. This feature is a part of CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2025 list. Yan is the founder of Hyperliquid, a … Read more
The cryptocurrency industry is ever-growing and ever-changing, and it’s difficult to summarize the year’s zeitgeist with 50 names alone. To wrap up CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2025 series, we’re giving an honorable mention to a final slate of nominees, recognizing stories that really took off in the closing months of the year or who were on … Read more
Crypto activity in Brazil expanded sharply in 2025, with total transaction volume climbing 43% year over year as average investment per user crossed the $1,000 mark, according to a new report from crypto platform Mercado Bitcoin. The report, titled “Raio-X do Investidor em Ativos Digitais 2025,” claimed that the Brazilian crypto market is no longer … Read more
Wall Street bank Citigroup refreshed its digital-assets stock coverage to reflect recent across-the-board declines in crypto, but remains constructive on the sector. “Despite recent token volatility, we remain bullish on digital assets stocks,” wrote analysts led by Peter Christiansen, in a Friday report. Issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Circle Financial (CRCL) remains Citi’s top pick, … Read more
US lawmakers have introduced a discussion draft that would ease the tax burden on everyday crypto users by exempting small stablecoin transactions from capital gains taxes and offering a new deferral option for staking and mining rewards. The proposal, introduced by Representatives Max Miller of Ohio and Steven Horsford of Nevada, seeks to amend the … Read more
The U.S. Federal Reserve took a first step toward establishing a more limited version of its so-called master accounts, welcoming input on how the central bank might formulate “payment accounts” that would grant access to its payment rails without firms having to jump through the considerable hoops that would grant fuller services. The Fed said … Read more