Stripe Acqui-Hires Crypto Payments Startup Valora, Venturing Further Into Stablecoins
Stripe has acqui‑hired the team behind Valora, a Celo‑based crypto payments app, while the startup’s intellectual property reverts to cLabs. The hire adds wallet infrastructure and on‑chain developer expertise to Stripe’s expanding crypto suite, which already includes the Bridge and Privy acquisitions and the Tempo stablecoin‑focused blockchain. Valora, founded in 2021 and previously funded with $20 million, will integrate its mobile‑first experience into Stripe’s platform. Stripe’s move underscores its ambition to become a leading provider of stablecoin and cross‑border payment solutions.
U.S. Banking Regulator Warns Wall Street on 'Debanking,' Claims Practices 'Unlawful'
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a report warning that banks could face penalties for unlawful "debanking" of controversial sectors, including digital‑asset firms, after President Trump’s executive order demanded fair banking access. The review of nine...
A16z Crypto to Open Seoul Office, Hire Sungmo Park to Lead Asia Efforts
Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto venture arm a16z crypto announced the opening of its first Asian office in Seoul, appointing Sungmo Park to head regional operations. The move targets South Korea’s position as the world’s second‑largest crypto market, with high ownership rates...
Paxful Pleads Guilty to Aiding Crime, Ignoring AML Laws
Paxful, a Bitcoin peer‑to‑peer marketplace, pleaded guilty to three criminal counts, including Travel Act violations for facilitating illegal prostitution and operating an unlicensed money‑transmitting business. The Department of Justice highlighted that from 2015 to 2019 the platform processed nearly $3 billion...
The Protocol: Stripe’s Tempo Testnet Goes Live
Stripe‑backed Tempo testnet went live, letting developers and corporate partners experiment with on‑chain stablecoin payments. The network adds heavyweights such as Klarna, Mastercard, UBS, Visa and Shopify to an existing roster that already includes Deutsche Bank and OpenAI. Tempo is...
Stellar Edges Higher to $0.251 Despite Altcoin Market Apathy
Stellar (XLM) nudged higher to $0.251, gaining 0.85% over 24 hours despite a generally quiet alt‑coin market. Trading volume surged 19% above the weekly average, indicating renewed accumulation around the critical $0.25 support zone. The token underperformed the broader digital‑asset...
Hedera Rises 1.8% to $0.1372 as Government Adoption Momentum Builds
Hedera (HBAR) rose 1.8% to $0.1372, trading within a tight $0.0067 range that reflects low volatility and institutional accumulation. The price action coincides with heightened discussion of Hedera’s government partnerships, notably Georgia’s Ministry of Justice plan to move its national...
Surf Raises $15M to Build AI Model Tailored to Crypto Research
Surf, a San Francisco‑based AI platform for digital‑asset research, secured $15 million in a round led by Pantera Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group. The capital will fund Surf 2.0, a crypto‑specific large language model, and expand its...
ICP Extends Decline as Range Support Breaks, Testing New Lows Near $3.48
Internet Computer (ICP) token slid 5% in the past 24 hours, closing at $3.4945 after briefly touching $3.7605. The move broke key short‑term support levels around $3.45‑$3.50, pushing the price toward new lows near $3.48. Trading volume spiked to 2.6 million...
GameStop Posted $9.4M Loss on Bitcoin Holdings in Q3
GameStop disclosed a $9.2 million loss on its Bitcoin portfolio, leaving the digital‑asset stash valued at $519.4 million at the close of Q3. The retailer still holds 4,710 BTC purchased in May‑June using proceeds from a $1.3 billion debt offering, and has made no...
Strategy Pushes Back on MSCI’s Digital Asset Exclusion Proposal
Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, sent a formal letter to MSCI protesting its proposal to exclude companies whose digital‑asset holdings exceed 50% of total assets from global indexes. The firm argues that its Bitcoin‑backed credit instruments and software operations make...
SpaceX’s $300M Bitcoin Stack Puts Crypto Inside the World’s Biggest Planned IPO
SpaceX is preparing a mid‑to‑late‑2026 IPO that could value the company at roughly $1.5 trillion and raise more than $30 billion. The launch‑leader’s balance sheet now includes about 3,991 BTC, worth roughly $369 million, held in Coinbase Prime custody. In addition, SpaceX has used...
Most Influential: Pump.fun
Pump.fun, launched in early 2024, lets users mint Solana tokens for under two cents with no code. By mid‑2025 it powered more than 80% of new Solana tokens, driving over $150 billion in DEX volume and $138 million in monthly revenue at...
Most Influential: Rushi Manche
Movement Labs co‑founder Rushi Manche was ousted after a token‑dump scandal that shook the DeFi sector. Internal documents showed a contract with the obscure firm Rentech, granting it control of roughly 66 million MOVE tokens—about 5 % of the total supply. The...
Most Influential: The Lazarus Group
The Lazarus Group, a North Korean state‑sanctioned hacking collective, has stolen over $2 billion in cryptocurrency by mid‑2025, surpassing previous records. In 2025 alone it executed the $1.5 billion Bybit breach and a $36 million Upbit hack, exploiting developer machines and multisignature interfaces....
Most Influential: Hayden Davis
Hayden Davis, a self‑styled crypto provocateur, became the face of the 2025 memecoin collapse by openly flaunting manipulation tactics and spearheading the ill‑fated Libra token. His public interviews and on‑chain activity revealed how insiders extract liquidity from naïve retail traders...
Ether Digital Asset Treasury Companies Outpace Peers as Crypto Tailwinds Build: B. Riley
B. Riley reports that ether‑focused digital‑asset treasury companies (DATCOs) have outperformed peers since November 20, as crypto markets rose roughly 10% and risk appetite improved. Median mNAV for the 25 tracked DATCOs climbed to about 1.0× from 0.9×, reflecting higher enterprise values...
BONK Slips as Governance Vote Nears, Testing Key Technical Support
BONK fell 3.94% to $0.000009492, slipping below the $0.00001 psychological level as trading surged ahead of a Dec 11 dYdX governance vote. Volume jumped 137% to 1.61 trillion tokens, testing resistance at $0.000010273 before failing. The token found temporary support near $0.00000938,...
Teacher’s Union Says U.S. Senate Crypto Bill Puts Pensions and Economy at Risk: CNBC
America’s second‑largest teachers’ union, the AFT, has urged the Senate Banking Committee to reconsider the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, arguing it endangers the pensions of its 1.8 million members. The union’s letter contends the draft offers scant protection against fraud and...
BNB Lags Wider Market Despite Volume Surge Resistance Levels Hold
BNB rose over 1% in the past 24 hours, reaching just above $890, but it lagged behind the broader crypto market, which gained 2.5% in the same period. Trading volume spiked 51% above the weekly average, indicating heightened activity that...
Eric Trump's American Bitcoin and Anthony Pompliano's ProCap Add to BTC Holdings
American Bitcoin Corp (ABTC), co‑founded by Eric Trump, added 416 bitcoin to its reserve, bringing total holdings to 4,783 BTC and lifting its Satoshis‑Per‑Share metric to 507, a 17% increase. The stock edged higher but remains below pre‑crash levels after...
Telegram Ring Ran Pump-and-Dump Network That Netted $800K in a Month: Solidus Labs
Solidus Labs uncovered a Telegram‑based ring called PumpCell that executed coordinated, multi‑chain pump‑and‑dump schemes on Solana, BNB Chain and other layer‑2 networks, netting about $800,000 in profit during October 2025. The group used freshly deployed tokens, liquidity seeding and sniper...
Helium Expands to Brazil With Mambo WiFi in DePIN Breakthrough
Helium announced a joint venture with Brazil’s Mambo WiFi, tapping the provider’s roughly 40,000 Wi‑Fi hotspots to launch its decentralized wireless network in the country. The DePIN model, built on Solana, lets individuals and businesses run hotspots that earn crypto...
Bitcoin Volatility Is Still Compressing, Dimming Year-End Rally Outlook
Bitcoin’s 30‑day implied volatility index (BVIV) fell to 49%, echoing a similar decline in the S&P 500 VIX, which slipped to 17% since late November. The compression of volatility reduces the likelihood of a meaningful upside breakout before year‑end, according to...
TenX Protocols to Start Trading on TSX Venture Exchange After Raising $24M in 2025
TenX Protocols will begin trading on the TSX Venture Exchange on Dec. 10 under the ticker TNX after completing a C$29.9 million subscription‑receipt financing. The company has raised more than C$33 million this year, including a C$3.5 million seed round. Proceeds will be used...
Superstate Rolls Out Direct Stock Issuance for Public Companies on Ethereum, Solana
Superstate has launched a Direct Issuance Program that lets SEC‑registered public companies issue tokenized shares on Ethereum and Solana, accepting stablecoins as payment. The platform updates shareholder records in real time through Superstate’s SEC‑registered transfer‑agent infrastructure. First issuers are slated...
Blockstream Connects Lightning and Liquid for Faster, Private Bitcoin Payments
Blockstream has updated its Green mobile app to enable trustless atomic swaps between Bitcoin’s Lightning and Liquid networks. The feature lets users settle Lightning invoices directly from Liquid (LBTC) balances, eliminating the need to open or fund Lightning channels. Swaps...
Ether, Silver in the Spotlight: Crypto Daybook Americas
Ether’s cross‑pair with Bitcoin hit 0.036, its strongest level since Oct. 27, while ETH, ADA, XMR and ZEC rallied over 7% in the past 24 hours. The gains are underpinned by expectations of a 25‑basis‑point Fed rate cut and a dovish tone...
Pineapple Financial Starts Migrating Its $10B Mortgage Portfolio Onchain via Injective
Pineapple Financial, a Toronto‑based fintech listed on NYSE American, has begun tokenizing its mortgage portfolio on the Injective blockchain. It has already placed data for about $412 million in funded mortgages on‑chain and plans to migrate its full $10 billion portfolio of...
Metaplanet Stock Jumps 12% as mNAV Climbs to 1.17, Highest Level Since Crypto Crisis
Metaplanet’s multiple‑to‑net‑asset‑value (mNAV) climbed to 1.17, the highest level since the crypto‑liquidity crisis of October 2023. The rise reflects its 30,823 BTC holdings, now worth roughly $2.86 billion against an enterprise value of $3.33 billion. Over the same period the stock jumped 12%...
Solana Hits Liquidity Reset That Preceded Every Major Rally This Year
Solana’s on‑chain liquidity index has collapsed to its cyclical floor, mirroring the near‑zero readings that preceded the market’s biggest rallies in March, June and August. This marks the fourth liquidity reset of 2025, a pattern that analysts associate with a...
Binance Co-CEO Yi He’s WeChat Account Hacked to Push Meme Coin MUBARA
Binance co‑CEO Yi He’s WeChat account was compromised and used to falsely endorse the obscure memecoin MUBARA, triggering a rapid price surge on decentralized exchanges. Attackers accumulated roughly 21.16 million tokens, spent about 19,479 USDT to buy them, and then sold nearly...
XRP Underperforms Market as Sudden Bitcoin Surge Forces $387M of Liquidations
Bitcoin surged past $94,000, sparking a market‑wide rally that forced $387 million in liquidations across major crypto derivatives. XRP rose from $2.08 to $2.15, posting a 4.71% gain, but underperformed the broader digital‑asset index by 1.55%. The token’s technical picture remains...
Aptos Rises 8% After Breaking Through $1.80 Resistance
Aptos (APT) surged 7.8% to $1.91, breaking the $1.80 resistance level on Dec 9, 2025. Trading volume spiked to 4.83 million tokens, 30% above the 30‑day average and 142% above the 24‑hour norm, indicating strong institutional participation. Technical analysis shows solid support...
Ether Surges 8%, Outpacing Bitcoin Gains Amid Staking ETF, Tokenization Optimism
Ethereum’s native token ether jumped 8.4% to near $3,400, outpacing Bitcoin’s 4.5% rise and pushing the ETH/BTC ratio to its highest level since October. The rally was spurred by BlackRock’s recent filing for an iShares Ethereum Staking Trust ETF, which...
SEC Approves U.S.’ Second Crypto Index ETP with Bitwise’s BITW
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Bitwise’s BITW as the second crypto index exchange‑traded product (ETP) to list on NYSE Arca. BITW tracks the ten largest digital assets and manages roughly $1.25 billion, offering investors a single vehicle for...
Cascade Unveils 24/7 Neo-Brokerage Offering Perpetuals on Cryptos, U.S. Stocks
Cascade, a New York‑based fintech startup, announced the launch of the first 24/7 neo‑brokerage that lets retail traders use a single margin account to trade perpetual markets tied to cryptocurrencies, major U.S. stocks and private companies such as OpenAI and...
Bitcoin Treasury Company Twenty One Drops 25% in NYSE Debut, Trades Near PIPE Pricing of $10
Twenty One (ticker XXI) opened on the NYSE after a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners, immediately dropping 25% to about $10.50, essentially matching its $10 PIPE pricing. The firm enters the market with the third‑largest corporate bitcoin treasury, roughly...
Will the ETF Era Usher in the End of Crypto Tribalism?
The article argues that the rise of crypto exchange‑traded products (ETPs) is eroding traditional crypto tribalism. By standardizing custody, clearing and distribution, ETFs bundle Bitcoin, Ethereum and emerging tokens into a single regulated exposure channel. This infrastructure convergence has driven...
Most Influential: Bo Hines
President Donald Trump appointed former college football player Bo Hines to spearhead the administration's digital‑asset agenda. Hines worked with crypto czar David Sacks to push the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, securing rapid bipartisan approval...
Most Influential: Don Jr., Eric and Barron Trump
The Trump brothers have turned their family name into a lucrative crypto venture, spearheading projects like WLFI that have amassed over $400 million in revenue. Barron Trump, the youngest, co‑founded WLFI and is estimated to hold a $150 million net worth from...
Most Influential: Paolo Ardoino
Paolo Ardoino has turned Tether from a controversial stablecoin issuer into a regulated financial platform. In 2025 the firm launched USAT, the first U.S.‑compliant stablecoin, partnering with Cantor Fitzgerald, Anchorage Digital and former White House adviser Bo Hines. Tether reported...
Most Influential: Brandon and Howard Lutnick
Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin with over $180 billion in USDT circulation, has secured Cantor Fitzgerald as its custodian for U.S. Treasury reserves, a relationship confirmed by Chairman Brandon Lutnick’s personal verification. The partnership follows Tether’s 2021 settlement with the New York Attorney...
Most Influential: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
The Winklevoss brothers intervened to block former CFTC commissioner Brian Quintenz's nomination, causing the White House to withdraw his candidacy. Quintenz, a pro‑crypto policymaker, was expected to steer the CFTC toward a more crypto‑friendly regulatory stance. Their actions highlighted the...
TON Token Yearly Loss Nears 72%, but Potential Reversal Signs Emerge
Toncoin (TON) has slid roughly 72% over the past year, trading around $1.62. The token found firm support at $1.6025 despite a 43% volume surge and initial selling pressure. Recent price action shows higher lows and rising volume, hinting at...
A16z-Backed Daylight Brings Electricity Markets Onchain with New DeFi Protocol
Daylight, backed by a16z Crypto and Framework Ventures, launched the DayFi protocol on Ethereum to turn electricity cash flows into a crypto‑native yield product. The system uses a Treasury‑backed stablecoin (GRID) and a revenue‑linked yield token (sGRID) to finance rooftop...
Top U.S. Crypto Lobbying Arm Digital Chamber Integrates CryptoUK as Affiliate
The Digital Chamber, one of the oldest U.S. crypto lobbying groups, announced it is incorporating the United Kingdom’s CryptoUK as an affiliate. The partnership aims to unify advocacy efforts across the Atlantic, enabling shared resources and cross‑jurisdictional policy expertise. The...
Malaysia’s Royal Unveils Ringgit-Backed Stablecoin for APAC Payments
Malaysia’s royal family introduced RMJDT, a ringgit‑backed stablecoin aimed at facilitating cross‑border trade and attracting foreign investment in the Asia‑Pacific. Issued by Bullish Aim Sdn, the token will launch with 500 million units, valued at roughly $121.5 million, and will be fully...
Standard Chartered Throws in the Towel on Bullish Bitcoin Forecast
Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets, Geoff Kendrick, has dramatically revised the bank’s Bitcoin price outlook, cutting the 2025 target to $100,000 and pushing the $500,000 horizon to 2030. The downgrade follows a collapse in digital‑asset treasury (DAT) firms,...
Polkadot Trades Little Changed as Crypto Market Consolidates
Polkadot’s native token (DOT) held steady around $2.13 on Dec 9, slipping just 0.2% in the past 24 hours. The coin is confined to a tight $2.09‑$2.16 band, with solid support at $2.09 and resistance near $2.15‑$2.16 confirmed by an 80% volume...
