Omkar Godbole / CoinDesk: Crypto exchange Deribit reports total trading volume, including options, futures, and more, rose 95% YoY to $1.19T in 2024; options volume rose 99% YoY to $743B — Need evidence of the crypto market's maturation? Look no further than Deribit, the crypto exchange that registered record trading volumes in 2024.
Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk: Coinbase and Binance plan to list the TRUMP token, with Binance opening trading on Jan. 19; CoinGecko: $TRUMP is trading on Bitget, Kraken, and other exchanges — The ‘official’ memecoin of the second Donald Trump administration will be listed on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Coinbase …
Sheldon Reback / CoinDesk: Tass: the Russian government bans crypto mining in 10 regions from January 1 to March 15, 2031, citing power consumption, after legalizing mining in July 2024 — Temporary bans may be imposed in other regions during peak energy demand, Tass reported — What to know:
Margaux Nijkerk / CoinDesk: Electric Capital annual survey: total developers working in crypto fell 7% YoY globally, and Solana was the most popular blockchain among new developers — Ethereum remained the blockchain with the most devs, and the overall population of software builders in crypto was flat, the VC firm said in its annual survey.
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk: Popular NFT project Pudgy Penguins plans to launch a Solana-based token called PENGU within this year, with 23.5% of the 88B tokens reserved for its NFT holders — Pudgy Penguins is among the most popular NFT collections, and its comic penguins have a big presence on X, YouTube and Instagram.
Callan Quinn / CoinDesk: FTX sues crypto trader “Humpy the Whale” alleging margin trading market manipulation from January 2021 to September 2022, leading to FTX and Alameda losing $1B — The suit also links him to organized crime in Eastern Europe and terrorist groups.
Margaux Nijkerk / CoinDesk: Ethereum Foundation financial report: $970.2M in treasury as of Oct. 31, down from $1.6B in March 2022; ~80% of holdings in ETH, which declined 20%+ since 2022 — The foundation has spent roughly $240 million since March 2022, and holds most of its treasury in ether, which has slid roughly 22% since the last financial report.
Aoyon Ashraf / CoinDesk: Block says it is investing less in music streaming app Tidal and winding down decentralized “Web5” venture TBD to focus on its bitcoin mining rigs and wallet — The firm is redoubling efforts to supply miners as that industry struggles with profits — and Donald Trump promises help.
Marc Hochstein / CoinDesk: Donald Trump winning the US election vindicates Polymarket, Kalshi, PredictIt, and other prediction betting markets, which heavily favored Trump for months — Tuesday night's election returns were a shocker if you only watched CNN. But not if you'd looked at the betting all along.
Callan Quinn / CoinDesk: Crypto firm Immutable says it received a Wells notice from the SEC related to the sale of its IMX tokens in 2021, accuses the SEC of “regulation by enforcement” — The firm's IMX token is down over 13% at $1.16 following the announcement. — Immutable said that it received …
Camomile Shumba / CoinDesk: The UK FCA says a man pleaded guilty to illegally operating a crypto ATM network, which processed £2.6M across various locations, as it cracks down on such ATMs — This marks the first U.K. conviction for running a crypto ATM operation. — Olumide Osunkoya pleaded guilty to illegally operating a crypto ATM network.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk: Mango DAO, Mango Labs, and Blockworks Foundation agree to destroy MNGO tokens and ask crypto exchanges to stop trading them as part of an SEC settlement — Mango DAO, Mango Labs and Blockworks Foundation agreed to settle charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk: Coinbase launches its wrapped bitcoin, cbBTC, on the Ethereum and Base networks, supported by various DeFi services for trading, lending, and as collateral — The token will initially be offered on Ethereum and Coinbase's Base networks, with plans to expand to more blockchains in the coming months.
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk: Telegram radically alters its stance toward “illegal” use of its platform by letting users in private chats “flag illegal content” for review by its moderators — The decision comes after the CEO's arrest in France for allegedly failing to police illegal content.
Amitoj Singh / CoinDesk: Filing: the SEC seeks changes in the FTX's bankruptcy plan and says it reserves its rights to challenge distribution transactions involving crypto assets — The SEC said that it may challenge any transactions of distributions involving crypto assets to creditors. — The SEC has sought a change in the FTX's bankruptcy plan.
CoinDesk: As Russia plans a trial of cross-border payments using crypto, some senior Russian leaders suggest it can help counter sanctions; experts doubt it will work — Experts doubt it will work, given the traceability of blockchains and the risk of even tougher sanctions for Russia.
Amitoj Singh / CoinDesk: India's central bank says its CBDC pilot has 5M+ users and as many as 16 banks participating, but the bank is not rushing a full-scale roll out — Governor Shaktikanta Das said there should not be in any rush to roll out a system-wide CBDC. — Unmute — India's retail CBDC pilot …
Camomile Shumba / CoinDesk: WazirX plans to start allowing limited Indian rupee withdrawals in two phases from August 26, after freezing them in the wake of a $230M exploit in July — Users of the Indian crypto exchange will be able to take out up to 66% of their rupee funds in two phases following a suspension instituted …
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk: Binance resumes services in India, after completing registration with India's Financial Intelligence Unit, which imposed a ~$2.2M fine on Binance in June 2024 — The registration was provisionally approved in May, subject to the crypto exchange paying a fine of about $2.2 million.
CoinDesk: At Nashville's Bitcoin 2024 conference, Trump said the US must become a leader in crypto, he will fire SEC chair Gary Gensler, stop creation of a CBDC, and more — Thousands of bitcoiners camped out for hours to see crypto's self-declared candidate on Saturday at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.
Omkar Godbole / CoinDesk: DefiLlama and Wintermute: the aggregate market cap of stablecoins crossed $164B for the first time since the collapse of Terra in May 2022; USDT is at $114.26B — Renewed expansion in stablecoins is bullish for the broader crypto market. — Expansion of the stablecoin market is bullish for the broader crypto ecosystem.
Nick Baker / CoinDesk: Messari CEO Ryan Selkis says he ran “too hot” with X posts this week calling for war and sending immigrants back, after Messari leadership told him to cool it — “I ran too hot this week, and will address that in full soon.” — Ryan Selkis, founder and CEO of crypto data platform Messari …
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk: Indian crypto exchange WazirX says one of its multisig wallets “experienced a security breach” after $230M+ in withdrawals; WazirX had $500M in holdings in June — One of the exchange's multisig wallets experienced a security breach, the exchange confirmed in an X post.
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk: Partior, a blockchain-based interbank payment network backed by JPMorgan, DBS, and Standard Chartered, raised a $60M Series B led by Peak XV Partners — The investment was led by Peak XV Partners with contributions from Valor Capital Group and Jump Trading Group.
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk: Sentient, an open-source AI development platform being built on Polygon, raised a $85M seed led by Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, and Framework Ventures — The project aims to address concerns about the proliferation of AI whereby the underlying code is concentrated in the hands of a few superpowers like Google or Meta.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk: A US judge rules the SEC has plausibly alleged Binance, Binance.US, and Changpeng Zhao violated federal securities laws, but dismisses secondary sales charges — A federal judge ruled the SEC had plausibly alleged Binance, Binance.US and Changpeng Zhao violated federal securities laws.
Aoyon Ashraf / CoinDesk: Bitcoin falls after a wallet tagged to the US government moved ~3,940 BTC, worth ~$240M and originally seized from a Silk Road vendor, to Coinbase Prime — About 4k bitcoin had been seized from narcotics trafficker Banmeet Singh at his January 2024 trial. — Bitcoin (BTC) fell …
Camomile Shumba / CoinDesk: Nigeria drops tax evasion charges against Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, who still face money laundering charges — The executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, are still named in a money-laundering case. — Tax charges against Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan …
Parikshit Mishra / CoinDesk: Core Scientific rejects CoreWeave's $1B buyout offer, worth $5.75 per share, saying the deal undervalues the company; CORZ had jumped ~40% on the buyout news — The board of Core Scientific rejected CoreWeave's offer to buy the miner for $5.75 per share. — Core Scientific (CORZ) …
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk: English soccer team Watford is offering 10% digital equity in the club to investors and fans via Republic's investment platform Seedrs, aiming to raise £17.5M — Currently an EFL Championship club, Watford has periodically competed in the Premier League over the last decade.
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk: Defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which collapsed in 2014, moves 140K bitcoin, worth ~$9B, to an unknown address, likely part of a plan to repay creditors — Nearly 107,000 bitcoin have been moved since early Asian hours on Tuesday, with bitcoin shedding 1.2% on expectations of selling pressure.
Daniel Kuhn / CoinDesk: Q&A with Taiwan's ex-Digital Minister Audrey Tang on Plurality, a book on collaboration-enhancing tech she wrote with Microsoft's internal economist Glen Weyl — The island-country's digital minister has radical ideas for using open-source technology to provide public goods.
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk: Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein resigns, to be replaced by the head of strategy for asset and wealth manager at Goldman Sachs, Peter Mintzberg, on August 15 — Sonnenshein's replacement will be Peter Mintzberg, currently head of strategy for asset and wealth manager at Goldman Sachs
Camomile Shumba / CoinDesk: A Dutch judge finds Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev guilty and sentences him to 64 months; Pertsev was jailed in August 2022 over alleged money laundering — Alexey Pertsev was first jailed in the Netherlands in August 2022. — Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev has been found guilty …
Amitoj Singh / CoinDesk: Binance and KuCoin become the first offshore crypto entities to get India's approval, after being banned for “operating illegally”; KuCoin paid a $41K fine — KuCoin paid a fine of $41,000 and Binance's financial penalty is still to be determined after a hearing with the FIU.
Aoyon Ashraf / CoinDesk: Filing: Robinhood's crypto arm got a Wells notice from the SEC on May 4; Robinhood says it has already ended support for tokens named in previous SEC lawsuits — The trading platform previously ended support for all tokens that were named in SEC lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.
Camomile Shumba / CoinDesk: New rules that allow UK law enforcement agencies to seize, destroy, or transfer crypto holdings used for crime before making an arrest take effect — Law enforcement agencies will no longer need to wait for an arrest to seize crypto. — New powers that will make it easier …
CoinDesk: Consensys sues the US SEC over what it calls the “unlawful seizure of authority” over ethereum, after receiving a Wells notice for its MetaMask wallet product — By offering their MetaMask wallet software, the SEC says Consensys is acting as an unregistered securities broker.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk: US prosecutors argue Binance founder Changpeng Zhao should spend three years in prison and pay $50M for helping violate sanctions and money laundering laws — The DOJ wants Zhao to serve 36 months after his guilty plea last year. — Binance's founder and former chief executive, Changpeng …
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk: Email: Galaxy Digital's venture arm, which has long invested its own money, is raising a $100M fund with outside capital, focused on early-stage crypto startups — Galaxy's prolific venture wing plans to start accepting - and investing - outside capital. — Galaxy Digital's venture team …
Ian Allison / CoinDesk: HSBC releases its HSBC Gold Token, minted on its Orion digital assets platform, via its online banking and app, after testing the service in November 2023 — The bank is claiming bragging rights for being the first bank to create a blockchain-based real world asset aimed at retail investors.
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk: Solana memecoin SLERF raised $10M in a presale, hitting $1.7B in trading volume, but the developer claims to have “burned” tokens set aside for an airdrop — “This is not a joke I really f****d up and im really sorry. Was a simple mindless misclick when I was in the process of burning the the lp," the developer said
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk: El Salvador moved ~$400M worth, or “a big chunk”, of its bitcoin into a cold wallet this week; public trackers had estimated El Salvador's trove at under $205M — The Central American nation moved $400 million in BTC into a cold storage wallet this week.
Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk: A Montenegro court approves the extradition of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon; the justice minister will decide if he will go to South Korea or the US — Minister will decide if Kwon will be extradited to the U.S. or South Korea. — Register Now — A court in Podgorica …
Amitoj Singh / CoinDesk: Court filing: crypto lender Genesis sues the Winklevoss' exchange Gemini Trust to recover $689M, alleging Gemini made preferential transfers to other creditors — Genesis and Gemini have been embroiled in a public and legal feud since the collapse of FTX. — Register Now
CoinDesk: A year after FTX began to collapse, the exchange remains in bankruptcy court, weighed down by $10B of user claims, and its crypto holdings have grown in value — The FTX founder's downfall began on Nov. 2, 2022 - a year ago Thursday - when CoinDesk published a big scoop.
Camomile Shumba / CoinDesk: The UK government publishes its final crypto rules and plans a phased introduction of the regulations, including legislation for fiat-backed stablecoins in 2024 — The government plans to propose legislation on fiat-backed stablecoins by early 2024. — Register Now
Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk: Filing: Thailand's Kasikorn Bank buys 97% of the Satang crypto exchange, operating in Thailand since 2017, for ~$102.8M and plans to rebrand Satang to Orbix — The move continues a trend of Thailand's major traditional financial institutions moving into crypto. — Register Now
Emily Parker / CoinDesk: How Japan is leading the race to regulate stablecoins with a new law that took effect in June 2023 and includes terms to protect the assets backing stablecoins — Japan's new law tries to address one of the biggest fears about major stablecoins: Do issuers really have the assets to back them?
Oliver Knight / CoinDesk: Filing: Gemini sues Genesis Global, its former business partner for its Gemini Earn product, over 60M GBTC shares, worth $1.6B+, that were pledged as collateral — Gemini has filed a lawsuit against Genesis over 60 million GBTC shares that were pledged as collateral. — Register Now