Nasdaq, Home of Coinbase, Strategy Stocks, Seeks 23-Hour Trading Amid Investor Demand
Nasdaq announced plans to file with the SEC for a 23‑hour trading schedule, extending stock and exchange‑traded product sessions to five days a week. The new timetable would run a day session from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, a one‑hour pause, then a night session from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET, effectively mirroring the 24/7 rhythm of cryptocurrency markets. The proposal follows similar extended‑hour experiments by the NYSE and reflects growing investor demand for continuous market access. Nasdaq highlighted that many of its listed crypto‑related firms, such as Coinbase and Robinhood, already see active overnight trading.
U.S. SEC Chief Warns Watchdogs Need to Be Limited in Tapping Crypto's Power to Snoop
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins warned that unchecked government access to blockchain data could turn crypto platforms into a mass‑surveillance tool, likening it to a financial panopticon. He emphasized that while crypto can enable privacy‑preserving compliance solutions, current policy gaps risk...
UK Supreme Court Refuses BSV Appeal, Narrowing $13 Billion Lawsuit Against Crypto Exchanges
The UK Supreme Court refused to hear Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) investors' appeal, leaving in place lower‑court rulings that sharply narrowed a $13 billion lawsuit against major crypto exchanges. The decision underscores that UK courts will not enforce claims based on...
BlackRock Expands Crypto Bet with 7 Senior Hires Across U.S. and Asia
BlackRock announced seven senior digital‑asset hires—six in the United States and one in Singapore—to accelerate its crypto and tokenization initiatives. The U.S. roles will expand the iShares digital‑asset ETF suite, including the $70 billion‑AUM iShares Bitcoin Trust, while the Singapore position...
Hedera Slides to Lowest Point in a Year as Crypto Market Plunges
Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) fell 5.8% to $0.1127, its lowest level since November 2024, after failing to breach the $0.1194 resistance. An 86% volume surge validated the ceiling but triggered a cascade of selling that pushed the price through key support zones....
Bitcoin Hashrate Sees Sharpest Post Halving Drop Since 2024 Amid China Machine Shutdowns
Bitcoin’s 30‑day simple moving average hashrate posted its steepest post‑halving decline since April 2024, dropping about 8% after roughly 400,000 machines were shut down in China. Former Canaan chairman Jack Kong reported the offline equipment removed roughly 100 exahashes per second, pulling...
Bank of America Says U.S. Banks Are Heading for Multi-Year Onchain Future
Bank of America’s latest report says U.S. banks are entering a multi‑year transition toward on‑chain finance as regulators outline a clear perimeter for stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The OCC’s conditional approval of national trust charters for five digital‑asset firms and...
Anchorage Digital Buys Securitize’s RIA Platform to Expand Wealth Management Business
Anchorage Digital has acquired Securitize For Advisors, bringing the RIA‑focused crypto wealth‑management platform in‑house. The deal formalizes a partnership where Anchorage already custodied 99% of SFA assets, now adding trading, custody and client tools under one roof. Financial terms were...
CME Group Expands Crypto Derivatives With Spot-Quoted XRP and Solana Futures
CME Group has introduced Spot‑Quoted futures for XRP and Solana, extending its crypto derivatives suite beyond Bitcoin and Ether. The new contracts mirror existing Spot‑Quoted structures, tracking the underlying spot price directly and eliminating typical futures premiums or discounts. CME...
Ondo Finance to Offer Tokenized U.S. Stocks, ETFs on Solana Early Next Year
Ondo Finance will launch tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on the Solana blockchain early next year, enabling 24/7 trading with near‑instant settlement. The platform already manages roughly $365 million in tokenized assets, making it the industry’s largest RWA issuer. This Solana...
Bitcoin Miner IREN’s 47% Slide Flagged as a Buying Opportunity by B. Riley
Bitcoin miner IREN has plunged 47% from its 52‑week high, yet B. Riley retains a buy rating and a $74 price target. The decline is attributed to weak AI sentiment rather than a break in fundamentals, as the company pushes a...
Prediction Markets Are Quietly Turning Into a New Asset Class, Citizens Says
Citizens Bank reports prediction markets have reached roughly $10 billion in monthly volume, positioning them as a nascent asset class despite being tiny versus $10 trillion U.S. equities. Platforms such as Robinhood, Kalshi and Polymarket are expanding beyond sports into macro‑economic and...
Most Influential: Pavel Durov
Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov is positioning the messaging platform as a mainstream crypto on‑ramp by embedding a native TON blockchain wallet directly into the app. In 2025 the company raised $1.7 billion through convertible bonds, drawing interest from BlackRock, Mubadala and...
Most Influential: Sergey Nazarov
Sergey Nazarov, co‑founder of Chainlink, spent 2025 expanding the oracle network into a full‑stack infrastructure for tokenized funds, cross‑chain messaging, and real‑world data integration. Chainlink now underpins more than $27 trillion in on‑chain transaction value and powers over 70% of DeFi...
Most Influential: Roman Storm
The Manhattan trial of Tornado Cash co‑founder Roman Storm concluded with a guilty verdict on the unlicensed money‑transmitting conspiracy charge, while the other two counts hung. Prosecutors portrayed Storm as profiting from illicit use of his privacy‑preserving mixer, whereas the...
Most Influential: ZachXBT
ZachXBT remains the crypto world’s unofficial detective, using on‑chain forensics to expose fraud and recover victim funds. In 2025 he uncovered a high‑profile whale who was a convicted fraudster, linked a Monero price surge to a massive hack, and estimated...
Most Influential: Todd Blanche
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a four‑page memo directing the Department of Justice to pause "regulation by prosecution" of digital assets until regulators provide clear frameworks. The crypto industry praised the guidance as a move toward certainty, though attorneys...
Ripple Expands $1.3B RLUSD Stablecoin to Ethereum L2s via Wormhole in Multichain Push
Ripple announced that its $1.3 billion RLUSD stablecoin will be deployed on several Ethereum layer‑2 networks—including Optimism, Base, Ink, and Unichain—using Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers protocol. The pilot phase will begin now, with a broader rollout slated for next year pending...
Kula Brings $50M of Impact Investing Onchain With Community-Governed RWA Model
Kula, a decentralized investment firm, has placed $50 million of impact‑investing capital on‑chain using a community‑governed real‑world asset (RWA) model. The firm issues governance tokens tied to projects such as a Zambian limestone concession, a Nepali hydropower plant, and East African...
Bitcoin Doesn’t Need Another Bull Run. It Needs An Economy
Bitcoin’s network is increasingly idle, with over 60% of coins unmoved for more than a year, causing on‑chain activity and fee income to drop. Miner rewards now rely heavily on block subsidies, while transaction fees contribute less than 1% of...
Real-World Asset DeFi Moves Into Sports Finance With Tokenized Football Club Revenues
The Decentral protocol on the Chiliz blockchain is launching a DeFi model that tokenizes football clubs' future media and broadcasting revenues. By converting these receivables into on‑chain assets, clubs can tap a $1 million USDC liquidity pool with a 90‑day lock‑up...
Michael Saylor's Strategy Made Second Consecutive $1B Bitcoin Purchase Last Week
MicroStrategy (MSTR) completed its second back‑to‑back roughly $1 billion Bitcoin purchase, acquiring 10,645 BTC for $980.3 million at an average $92,098 per coin. The buy raised the firm’s total holdings to 671,268 BTC, representing a cumulative $50.33 billion investment at an average cost...
Bitcoin's Parabolic Arc Snaps: Trader Peter Brandt Eyes $25K Crash Floor
Veteran trader Peter Brandt warns that Bitcoin’s signature parabolic rally has broken, opening the possibility of a sharp correction toward a $25,000 floor. The cryptocurrency peaked at $126,000 in October 2025 before retreating to just under $90,000, slicing through the...
Weekend Sell-Off Hits EdgeX’s Nasdaq-Linked Perp as $13M in Longs Liquidated
A weekend sell‑off in EdgeX’s Nasdaq‑100‑linked perpetual futures market triggered roughly $13 million in liquidations. A newly created wallet executed a six‑hour TWAP short of about $10 million, pushing the XYZ100 price down more than 3.5 % in minutes. The cascade caused a...
Fear and Greed Index in Fear 30% of the Past Year, Bitcoin Back in Extreme Fear
Bitcoin’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index has slipped to 17, placing the market in extreme‑fear territory. Over the past twelve months, fear or extreme fear accounted for more than 30% of all readings, underscoring heightened investor anxiety. A November death‑cross...
Doha Bank Issues $150M Digital Bond Using Euroclear’s DLT Platform
Doha Bank completed a $150 million digital bond that settled instantly on Euroclear’s permissioned distributed ledger platform. The bond was listed on the London Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market, with Standard Chartered serving as sole global coordinator and arranger. The issuance...
Compliance, Credibility, and Consumer Trust in the New Age of Crypto ATMs
Crypto ATMs have surged to nearly 40,000 worldwide, turning cash‑based kiosks into a primary on‑ramp for digital assets. As the network expands, regulators and industry players are tightening AML/KYC, transaction limits, and real‑time scam warnings to protect consumers, especially seniors....
YO Labs Raises $10M to Scale Cross-Chain Crypto Yield Optimization Protocol
YO Labs announced a $10 million Series A round led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, and Launchpad Capital. The capital will accelerate YO Protocol’s cross‑chain yield‑optimization platform, which automatically reallocates assets across multiple DeFi protocols based on...
From Wall Street to the World Cup: How Football Became Crypto’s Biggest Gateway Drug
Bitcoin dropped over 25% in a month, yet institutions doubled down, treating the cryptocurrency as a long‑term reserve asset. Simultaneously, football’s fan‑token ecosystem—dubbed SportFi—has expanded to nearly 100 clubs, generating daily trading volumes near $1 billion. Token prices now move minute‑by‑minute...
Spanish Authorities Bust Crypto Kidnapping Ring After Deadly Attack
Spanish police dismantled a transnational kidnapping ring that targeted a couple for access to their cryptocurrency wallets, resulting in the murder of the male victim. Five suspects were arrested in Spain and four accomplices were charged in Denmark, with two...
These Three Metrics Show Bitcoin Found Strong Support Near $80,000
Bitcoin has rebounded above $90,000, a 15% gain from its November low near $80,000, while three on‑chain cost‑basis metrics converged around the $80k‑$84k range. The True Market Mean sits near $81,000, the U.S. spot ETF cost basis is about $83,844,...
After 2025’s Test Run, Crypto IPOs Face Their Real Trial in 2026
2025 served as a test case for crypto initial public offerings, with Circle, Bullish, and Gemini successfully listing. Industry experts say the real test arrives in 2026, when investors will judge whether digital‑asset IPOs can sustain momentum amid price volatility....
NFT Project Pudgy Penguins Takes Over Las Vegas Sphere in Holiday Campaign
Pudgy Penguins, the 2021 NFT collection of 8,888 cartoon penguins, has purchased a $500,000 advertising slot on the Las Vegas Sphere for Christmas week, featuring multiple animated segments. The high‑profile placement signals the brand’s push into mainstream, real‑world consumer markets. Under...
Bank of Japan Set to Hike Rates to 30-Year High, Posing Another Threat to Bitcoin
The Bank of Japan is set to raise its policy rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%, the highest level in three decades, with the decision slated for Dec. 19. A stronger yen and tighter global liquidity from the hike could...
Crypto’s Machine Learning ‘iPhone Moment’ Comes Closer as AI Agents Trade the Market
Recall Labs hosted AI‑trading arenas where custom agents competed against foundational large language models on the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange. While base LLMs like GPT‑5 barely outperformed the market, specialized agents that added extra logic and data sources secured the top...
Citadel Securities and DeFi Waging War of Words Through SEC Correspondence
Citadel Securities sent a 13‑page letter to the SEC urging that DeFi protocols handling tokenized securities be treated as regulated exchanges or broker‑dealers. A coalition of DeFi advocates—including the DeFi Education Fund, a16z, the Uniswap Foundation and others—replied with its...
Bitcoin Plunges Below $90K as AI Worries Drag Nasdaq, Crypto Stocks Down
Bitcoin fell below $90,000 as AI‑focused equities tumbled, led by Broadcom’s 10% slide despite solid earnings. The Nasdaq slipped more than 1%, extending a broader tech pullback that began with Oracle’s sharp decline. Crypto‑related stocks, including miners and exchanges, mirrored...
Prediction Markets Are Coming to Phantom's 20M User Via Kalshi
Crypto wallet Phantom is integrating U.S.-regulated prediction‑market platform Kalshi into its app, giving its 20 million users the ability to trade outcomes like elections, macro events, and crypto prices directly from the wallet. The feature supports any Solana‑based token, from SOL...
Most Influential: David Bailey
David Bailey, former Bitcoin Magazine CEO, launched the bitcoin‑treasury venture KindlyMD (ticker NAKA) after a $700 million‑backed merger with Nakamoto Holdings. The stock surged from about $2 to over $30 in May, only to tumble as Bitcoin rose, falling to $0.45...
Backed, Chainlink Unveil xBridge to Move Tokenized Stocks Between Solana and Ethereum
Backed Finance unveiled xBridge, a cross‑chain bridge that moves tokenized stocks—called xStocks—between Ethereum and Solana. Built with Chainlink’s Cross‑Chain Interoperability Protocol, the bridge preserves corporate actions such as splits and dividend payouts when assets migrate. xStocks are 1:1 backed by...
Most Influential: Tom Lee
Tom Lee, co‑founder of Fundstrat and veteran Wall Street strategist, has been appointed Chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, steering the firm toward an Ethereum‑centric treasury model. BitMine recently raised a $250 million private placement to fund staking and ETH holdings, now...
Most Influential: Jesse Pollak
Base, Coinbase’s layer‑2 network launched in 2023, surged to $15 billion total value locked in January 2025, making it the second‑largest L2 after Arbitrum. The growth was driven by sub‑cent transaction fees and a burst of DeFi, social and meme applications,...
Most Influential: Changpeng “CZ” Zhao
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who stepped down as Binance CEO in 2023 and served a brief prison term for a Bank Secrecy Act violation, received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump in 2025, reinforcing his standing in the crypto world. The...
MiCA Will Make or Break Euro-Pegged Stablecoins by 2026: DECTA
German payments processor DECTA projects that euro‑pegged stablecoins will gain traction as the EU's Markets in Crypto‑Assets regulation (MiCA) comes fully into force by 2026. The new regulatory framework standardises reserve requirements, issuer oversight and operational rules, making it simpler...
Ripple Payments Lands First European Bank Client in AMINA
Ripple has secured its first European bank client, Switzerland‑based AMINA, to use Ripple Payments for near‑real‑time cross‑border transfers. The licensed payments stack bridges traditional fiat rails with blockchain settlement, allowing AMINA to move fiat and stablecoins—including Ripple’s RLUSD—without multiple correspondent...
XRP Ledger Upgrade Lays Groundwork for Lending, Tokenization Expansion
RippleX released XRPL server version 3.0.0, introducing a suite of amendments and bug fixes focused on accounting accuracy and protocol extensibility. The key fix, fixTokenEscrowV1, resolves an escrow accounting error that previously mis‑recorded issuer balances after fee‑bearing token releases. Additional...
From Lockstep to Lag, Bitcoin Poised to Catch Up With Small Cap Highs
The Russell 2000 index posted an all‑time high, while Bitcoin lagged 27% below its October peak. The Federal Reserve began a $8.2 billion Treasury‑bill purchase program, part of a $40 billion liquidity effort. Market participants price in roughly 50 basis points of...
CFTC Gives No-Action Leeway to Polymarket, Gemini, PredictIt, LedgerX Over Data Rules
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued no‑action letters to Polymarket, PredictIt, Gemini and LedgerX, allowing them to sidestep certain swap‑related record‑keeping and data‑reporting rules. In exchange, the platforms must keep contracts fully collateralized, clear trades only through designated channels,...
U.S. Financial-Risk Watchdog, FSOC, Erased Digital Assets as a Potential Hazard
The Financial Stability Oversight Council’s 2025 annual report removed digital assets from its list of systemic vulnerabilities, marking a clear policy shift under the Trump administration. The prior 2024 report had highlighted stablecoin and crypto‑ETF risks and urged Congress to...
Chainlink's LINK Drops 5% Despite Coinbase Bridge Deal, But Bottoming Signs Emerge
Chainlink’s LINK token slipped nearly 5% to $13.74 despite Coinbase’s announcement that it will use Chainlink’s Cross‑Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to power a $7 billion bridge for wrapped assets. The price decline reflected broader altcoin weakness and Fed‑rate concerns, pulling LINK...