Grayscale Seeks to Convert Aave Trust Into ETF on NYSE Arca
Grayscale filed a Form S‑1 with the SEC to convert its Aave trust into an exchange‑traded fund, renaming it the Grayscale Aave Trust ETF and targeting a NYSE Arca listing under the ticker GAVE. The fund will charge a 2.5% expense ratio and use Coinbase as custodian and prime broker. This filing follows Bitwise’s similar proposal, highlighting continued Wall Street appetite for regulated crypto exposure despite a market downturn. Aave, the leading DeFi protocol, holds over $27 billion in total value locked, making it a compelling ETF candidate.
Ledger Adds OKX DEX Integration for On-Device Token Swaps
Ledger has embedded OKX DEX into its Ledger Wallet app, allowing users to perform multichain token swaps directly from a hardware‑secured environment. The integration leverages OKX’s X‑Routing technology to aggregate liquidity across hundreds of DEXs, delivering more efficient pricing. Initially, the...
UK Central Bank Taps Firms to Test Elements of Distributed-Ledger Settlement Infrastructure
The Bank of England has launched the Synchronisation Lab, a six‑month pilot starting spring 2026 that lets 18 firms test tokenised‑asset settlement between its next‑generation RTGS core ledger (RT2) and external distributed‑ledger platforms. The non‑live environment will explore delivery‑versus‑payment, payment‑versus‑payment and...
What It Actually Takes to Prove Someone Is Satoshi Nakamoto
The article argues that proving anyone is Satoshi Nakamoto hinges on cryptographic proof, specifically signing a message with a private key from Bitcoin’s earliest blocks. Media claims, court rulings, and documentary evidence are deemed insufficient because they can be forged...
Flash Freezing Flash Boys: Per-Transaction Encryption to Fight Malicious MEV
Malicious MEV, especially sandwich attacks, still extracts over $2 million monthly from Ethereum traders. Researchers propose Flash Freezing Flash Boys (F3B), a per‑transaction threshold encryption scheme that keeps transaction data hidden until finality. The protocol can be built with TDH2 or...
Bitcoin’s $60K Crash May Mark Halfway Point of Bear Market: Kaiko
Bitcoin slipped to $59,930, a 32% correction and its lowest level since October 2024, prompting Kaiko Research to label the move as the potential halfway point of a 12‑month bear market. On‑chain data show a 30% drop in spot trading...
Phantom Chat Under Scrutiny After $264K Address Poisoning Loss
Phantom wallet’s new chat feature has come under fire after an investor lost roughly $264,000 worth of wrapped Bitcoin in an address‑poisoning scam. Researchers traced the theft to a 3.5 wBTC transfer that leveraged a small‑value transaction in the victim’s history,...
UK Regulator Takes High Court Action Against HTX over Crypto Promotions
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has initiated High Court proceedings against cryptocurrency exchange HTX, alleging illegal promotion of crypto services to British consumers. The case, filed in the Chancery Division, falls under the FCA’s Financial Promotions (FinProm) regime introduced in...
Gemini Exit a ‘Blow for Policymakers’ with UK Crypto Hub Ambitions
Gemini announced it will withdraw its operations from the United Kingdom, European Union and Australia to concentrate on the United States and Singapore. The move underscores the difficulty of expanding into markets where regulatory frameworks remain unsettled. UK officials had...
Fed’s Waller Says Crypto Hype ‘Fading’ with TradFi Tie-Ins
Federal Reserve Governor Chris Waller told a payments conference that the euphoria surrounding crypto, which surged after President Donald Trump’s election, is now waning. He linked the recent sell‑off to mainstream financial firms adjusting risk positions as crypto becomes more...
Chainlink Co-Founder’s 2 Reasons This Bear Market Feels Different
Chainlink co‑founder Sergey Nazarov says the current crypto bear market differs from past cycles because it has avoided any major institutional collapses and because tokenized real‑world assets (RWAs) continue to expand rapidly. He notes that market capitalisation has dropped 44%...
Ethereum Foundation Teams up with SEAL to Combat Wallet Drainers
The Ethereum Foundation is sponsoring a security engineer to work with the nonprofit Security Alliance (SEAL) on its new “Trillion Dollar Security” initiative, aimed at tracking and neutralizing crypto drainers targeting Ethereum users. The partnership includes a public dashboard that...
Crypto Exchange Backpack to Launch Token with Unlocks Tied to IPO Goal
Backpack, a crypto exchange founded by former FTX staff, announced a 1‑billion‑token launch whose distribution is tied to its IPO roadmap. The schedule allocates 25% at token generation, 37.5% upon pre‑IPO milestones such as new regions or products, and the...
Vitalik Buterin Details How Ethereum Could Work Alongside AI
Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a roadmap for integrating AI with the Ethereum blockchain, emphasizing trustless, private AI interactions and an economic layer for AI‑to‑AI transactions. He highlighted the need for zero‑knowledge proof tooling to run large language models locally, preventing...
‘No Privacy’ CBDCs Will Come, Warns Billionaire Ray Dalio
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio warned that central‑bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are inevitable, offering transaction ease but eroding financial privacy. He argued CBDCs will likely lack interest earnings, making them poor stores of value as the dollar depreciates. Dalio highlighted that...
Base App Sunsets Creator Rewards to Double Down on Trading
Coinbase’s Base App is ending its Creator Rewards program, which paid roughly $450,000 to 17,000 creators over seven months, and is also removing its Farcaster‑powered Talk feed. The move reflects a strategic decision to concentrate solely on tradable assets such...
Israel Crypto Industry Pushes Regulatory Changes Amid Strong Public Support
The Israeli Crypto Blockchain & Web 3.0 Companies Forum launched a lobbying campaign to push regulatory reforms that could add 120 billion shekels ($38.36 billion) to the economy by 2035 and create 70,000 jobs. The effort is backed by KPMG research showing strong...
Ripple Expands Institutional Custody Stack with Staking and Security Integrations
Ripple announced new integrations with Securosys and Figment, bolstering its institutional custody platform with hardware security modules and staking capabilities. The upgrades let banks and custodians manage cryptographic keys on‑premises or in the cloud while offering staking on Ethereum, Solana...
Bitcoin Miner Cango Sells $305M BTC to Cut Leverage and Fund AI Pivot
Cango, a Bitcoin mining firm, sold 4,451 BTC on the open market, netting roughly $305 million. The proceeds are earmarked to partially repay a Bitcoin‑collateralized loan and lower the company’s financial leverage. Cango also announced a strategic pivot to provide distributed...
Canton’s Yuval Rooz Says Crypto Is Finally Repricing ‘Empty Shell’ Models
Yuval Rooz, co‑founder and CEO of Digital Asset, says the crypto market’s recent sell‑off is forcing investors to favor blockchains that deliver real business models rather than speculative narratives. He points to his privacy‑enabled Canton Network and the derivatives exchange...
Binance Adds $300M in Bitcoin to SAFU Reserve During Market Dip
Binance purchased 4,225 Bitcoin, roughly $300 million, adding it to its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) emergency reserve. The addition pushes SAFU's Bitcoin holdings above $720 million, part of a plan to convert the entire fund to Bitcoin within 30 days. Binance...
Vitalik Draws Line Between ‘Real DeFi’ and Centralized Yield Stablecoins
Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin warned that many DeFi products, especially USDC‑centric yield strategies, do not truly decentralize risk. He emphasized that DeFi’s value lies in reallocating risk to market participants rather than relying on centralized issuers. Buterin outlined two preferred...
Wallet Tied to Infini Exploiter Resurfaces to Buy Ether Dip for $13M
An address linked to the $50 million Infini exploit resurfaced after a year of inactivity, purchasing $13.3 million worth of Ether as the price fell to $2,109. The newly acquired ETH was promptly transferred to the Tornado Cash mixing service, obscuring the...
Crypto Guarantee Service Xinbi Processed $17.9B After Telegram Ban: TRM Labs
TRM Labs reports that Chinese‑language crypto guarantee marketplace Xinbi processed roughly $17.9 billion in on‑chain volume despite a 2025 Telegram ban and U.S. enforcement actions. The platform kept activity alive by shifting users to alternative messaging apps and launching its own...
TON Pay Aims to Turn Telegram Into a Crypto Checkout Layer for TON
The Open Network Foundation unveiled TON Pay, a wallet‑agnostic SDK that embeds cryptocurrency checkout directly into Telegram Mini Apps. The tool supports Toncoin, USDT and other tokens, promising sub‑second transaction speeds and fees below one cent. By leveraging Telegram’s 1.1 billion monthly...
Crypto Investment Outflows Ease After Three Weeks of Heavy Selling
Crypto exchange‑traded products (ETPs) saw outflows drop sharply to $187 million last week, a steep decline from the $3.43 billion drained over the prior two weeks. Bitcoin‑linked ETPs led the outflow category with $264.4 million exiting, while XRP‑focused funds attracted $63 million in fresh...
ENS Abandons Plans for Namechain L2, Citing Ethereum Scaling
Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has scrapped its planned Namechain layer‑2, opting instead to launch the ENSv2 upgrade directly on Ethereum’s mainnet. The decision follows a 99% reduction in registration gas fees and the recent Fusaka upgrade, which raised the block...
Bitcoin Sharpe Ratio Slides to Levels Seen in Previous Market Bottoms
The Bitcoin Sharpe ratio has plunged to –10, its lowest reading since March 2023, placing it in negative territory typically seen at the end of bear markets. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost notes that such levels historically align with market bottoms, signaling an...
VCs Clash over Non-Financial Use Cases in Web3 and Crypto
Prominent crypto VCs are publicly sparring over the fate of non‑financial Web3 applications. a16z partner Chris Dixon blames years of scams, extractive behavior and regulatory pressure for the lack of traction, while Dragonfly’s Haseeb Quereshi argues the products simply failed...
'Massive Consolidation' Expected Across Crypto Industry: Bullish CEO
Bullish CEO Tom Farley predicts a wave of massive consolidation in the crypto industry, likening it to the exchange sector’s past mergers. He cites the recent 45% Bitcoin price drop as a catalyst that will force underperforming projects to be...
Crypto Retail Investors Are Trying to 'Meta-Analyze' Crypto Crash: Santiment
Retail investors are actively meta‑analyzing the crypto market, hunting for signs of capitulation to time new entries, according to sentiment platform Santiment. The term "crypto capitulation" surged on Google Trends, climbing from a score of 11 to 58 within a...
CFTC Expands Payment Stablecoin Criteria to Include National Trust Banks
The CFTC reissued Staff Letter 25‑40, expanding the definition of payment stablecoins to include national trust banks, which can now issue fiat‑pegged tokens. The change aligns with the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, that requires stablecoins to be fully...
Vietnam to Tax Crypto Like Stocks with 0.1% Trading Levy: Report
Vietnam's Ministry of Finance has drafted a tax framework that treats cryptocurrency transactions like securities trades, imposing a 0.1% personal income tax on each transfer made through licensed providers. Institutional investors will face a 20% corporate income tax on net...
Crypto-Focused Erebor Wins First New US Bank Charter of Trump’s Second Term: WSJ
The OCC granted Erebor Bank a national charter, the first new U.S. bank approved during President Trump’s second term, positioning it as a crypto‑friendly lender. Backed by $635 million in capital and investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Lux Capital, the...
Google Search Volume for 'Bitcoin' Skyrockets Amid BTC Price Swings
Google Trends recorded a perfect 100 score for "Bitcoin" searches the week of Feb. 1, the highest in twelve months, as the cryptocurrency’s price slumped from $81,500 to $60,000 before rebounding to $70,740. The surge in search interest mirrors historic spikes...
Bitcoin’s Next Bull Market May Not Come From More 'Accommodative Policies'
Jeff Park, CIO of ProCap Financial, told Anthony Pompliano that the next Bitcoin bull market may not be driven by more accommodative monetary policy. He argues that Bitcoin could appreciate even as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, a scenario...
Crypto’s Stress Test Hits Balance Sheets as Bitcoin, Ether Collapse
Crypto’s recent price plunge is reverberating beyond markets, hitting corporate balance sheets, spot ETFs and mining operations. BitMine Immersion Technologies now reports over $7 billion in unrealized Ether losses after ETH fell below $2,200. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust turned negative as...
What’s Really Weighing on Bitcoin? Samson Mow Breaks It Down
Samson Mow, a Bitcoin veteran, explained the recent market plunge, highlighting Bitcoin’s extreme liquidity and 24/7 trading as amplifiers of short‑term downside pressure. He dismissed quantum‑computing threats as speculative while noting forced liquidations accelerated the sell‑off. Mow linked the rally...
Bitcoin Core Dev Gloria Zhao Quits Maintainer Role After Six-Year Stint
Bitcoin Core developer Gloria Zhao announced her resignation after six years, revoking her PGP signing key and stepping down as a maintainer. Zhao was the first known female maintainer, focusing on mempool policy, transaction relay, and key protocol upgrades such...
Bitcoin Price Rebounds 11% Above $65K: Who Is Buying the Dip?
Bitcoin surged 11% to break above $65,000, wiping out much of a recent sell‑off. The rally followed a dip that pushed the cryptocurrency below $60,000, a level that institutions interpreted as a buying opportunity. During the downturn, the broader crypto...
NFT Market Cap Slides Back to 2021 Pre-Hype Levels, Near $1.5B
Global NFT market capitalization slipped below $1.5 billion, returning to pre‑2021 hype levels. The decline coincided with a broader crypto market contraction, with total crypto cap falling from $3.1 trillion to $2.2 trillion in two weeks. NFT supply grew 25% to 1.3 billion units...
Pump.fun Moves Deeper Into Trading Infrastructure with Vyper Acquisition
Pump.fun has acquired the crypto trading terminal Vyper and will retire its standalone product, moving core functionality into the Pump Terminal platform. The integration follows earlier purchases of Padre (now Terminal) and reflects a shift from pure memecoin launches toward...
Metaplanet Vows to Keep Buying Bitcoin as Sentiment Craters
Metaplanet’s CEO Simon Gerovich reaffirmed the firm’s Bitcoin‑first strategy, pledging to keep buying the cryptocurrency despite a market plunge that has erased roughly half of Bitcoin’s value since its 2025 peak. The Tokyo‑listed company holds 35,102 BTC at an average...
Bitcoin Miners IREN, CleanSpark Shares Plunge as Earnings Fall Short
Shares of crypto‑mining firms IREN and CleanSpark tumbled after both reported quarterly earnings that fell short of Wall Street forecasts, coinciding with Bitcoin’s 12% slide to around $60,000. CleanSpark posted $181.2 million in revenue, missing estimates by roughly 2.9%, and recorded...
BlackRock’s IBIT Hits Daily Volume Record of $10B Amid Bitcoin Crash
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) set a new daily trading‑volume record of $10 billion as Bitcoin’s price slumped 13% to roughly $64,000. The ETF’s price fell to $36.10, marking its second‑worst daily decline since launch and a 48% drop from its...
Aster Layer-1 Blockchain Testnet Goes Live, Mainnet Rollout Targeted for Q1
Aster DEX has launched its layer‑1 testnet, with a full mainnet rollout targeted for the first quarter of 2026. The roadmap promises fiat on‑ramps, open‑source code for developers, and expanded ecosystem tools. Aster positions itself as a direct competitor to...
Multiliquid, Metalayer Launch Instant Redemption Backstop for RWAs on Solana
Multiliquid and Metalayer Ventures have launched an institutional liquidity facility that offers instant redemption of tokenized real‑world assets (RWAs) on Solana. The backstop acts as a standing buyer, purchasing assets at a dynamic discount to net asset value, with capital...
Record $1M Lightning Transfer Tests Bitcoin Payments for Institutions
Secure Digital Markets (SDM) sent a $1 million Lightning Network payment to Kraken on Jan. 28, marking the largest publicly reported Lightning transaction to date. The transfer cleared in 0.43 seconds using Voltage’s managed Lightning infrastructure, which offers pre‑provisioned liquidity and uptime guarantees...
Coinbase Premium Hits Yearly Low, Hinting at Institutional Selling
The Coinbase Premium Gap, which measures the price differential between Coinbase and Binance Bitcoin pairs, has plunged to -167.8, its lowest level since December 2024. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost interprets the negative premium as a clear sign that institutional investors are accelerating...
Crypto Firms Offer Ideas to Break Market Structure Gridlock: Report
Crypto firms are offering concessions to break a Senate stalemate on the market‑structure bill, proposing that community banks take a larger role in the stablecoin ecosystem. The suggestions include requiring stablecoin issuers to hold reserves at community banks and enabling...