Author: Coindesk

KULR (KULR), a maker of advanced energy-management systems, said it spent $8 million on bitcoin (BTC) to take its total holdings to 510 tokens.At a weighted average price of $101,695, that equates to almost 79 bitcoin and means the company’s total investment is now $50 million.The purchase follows the Houston, Texas-based company’s Dec. 4 announcement that it will invest some of its surplus cash in the largest cryptocurrency as the adoption of bitcoin treasury for public companies gathers steam.The company has achieved a bitcoin yield of 127% so far this year, it said in a statement shared with CoinDesk. The…

The Ethereum Foundation is a paradox. Despite its commitment to decentralization, it operates as a centralized entity, with a director, a treasury, paid developers, and an inner circle. These structures, while necessary for coordination, create tensions with Ethereum’s decentralized ethos.The Foundation TodayIt is not widely known, but the current foundation was constructed in a less than ideal way. The previous director, Ming, was ousted in a coordinated effort by a group of people who have never been publicly identified or held accountable for it. I spoke with Ming days before her removal and she assured me she had no intent…

President Trump has followed through on one of his key campaign promises — at least for those in the crypto community — pardoning the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.”I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbricht to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump wrote on a Truth Social post. The move assures an imminent release for Ulbricht, who in 2015 was convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal…

Bitstamp, the longest running cryptocurrency exchange, plans to roll out regulated crypto derivatives trading in Europe, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.With its long-standing focus on compliance, Bitstamp is one of a select group of crypto trading platforms to hold a Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFID) license, a pan-European regulatory framework for trading securities and derivatives, which was amended in 2022 to encompass crypto assets.“With its MiFID license in Europe, Bitstamp plans to launch a fully regulated perpetual swap offering,” one of the people said.The arrival of regulatory clarity in Europe, when it comes to crypto and…

The European Securities and Markets Authority has urged national authorities in the European Union (EU) to ensure that exchanges are no longer making non-compliant stablecoins available for trading within the next two months.The regulator has requested that the 27 member states in the EU ensure crypto asset service providers (CASPs) are compliant when it comes to its stablecoin rules “no later than the end of Q1 2025,” ESMA said in a statement on Friday.”In practice, this means that CASPs operating a trading platform for crypto-assets are expected to stop making all crypto-assets that would qualify as ARTs and EMTs but…

Cryptocurrencies in the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) agents sector soared on Tuesday while bitcoin (BTC) stalled below its Monday record highs as traders await for the first crypto-specific actions from the Donald Trump administration.AI16Z and AI Rig Complex’s ARC rallied over 30% through the day, while GRIFFAIN, ZEREBRO also booked double-digit advances. Part of the rally might have to do with Tuesday afternoon news about President Trump preparing to announce up to $500 billion in private sector AI infrastructure investment with firms such as OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank involved. Trump also rescinded on Monday Joe Biden’s 2023 executive order on…

It’s been a rough year for the Ethereum Foundation, the grant-giving nonprofit that helps support Ethereum, the best-known blockchain behind Bitcoin. As Ethereum loses market cap and mindshare to competitors, the foundation has been beset by scandal. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder and chief figurehead, has laid out a new plan to right the ship.”We are indeed currently in the process of large changes to EF leadership structure, which has been ongoing for close to a year,” Buterin said in an X post. “Some of this has already been executed on and made public, and some is still in progress.”In his…

Wingbits, a decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) startup focused on the aviation industry, has raised $5.6 million in funding.DePIN, the model of using hardware secured by a decentralized network, could be seen as a blockchain equivalent of the cloud computing services offered by Big Tech giants like Amazon and Google. The investment round, which takes Wingbits’ total backing to $9.2 million, was led by Borderless Capital and Bullish Capital. The latter’s parent company, Bullish Group, is also the owner of CoinDesk.Wingbits’ aim is to offer rewards-based flight tracking using cryptographically-secured Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) receivers.”Flight tracking has long relied on a…

Gary Gensler only officially stepped down as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday, but the federal agency’s approach to crypto is already getting an overhaul.Acting Chair Mark Uyeda announced Tuesday that the agency has created a crypto task force dedicated to “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.” The task force will be led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, a long-time advocate for the crypto industry, and will work closely with the crypto industry to develop regulations. The task force will also work with Congress, providing “technical assistance” as it crafts crypto regulations.Both the…

Circle, the crypto company behind the $48 billion USDC stablecoin, said Tuesday it has acquired tokenized real-world asset (RWA) issuer Hashnote.The companies closed the deal this morning, a Circle spokesperson told CoinDesk and was announced in Davos, Switzerland during the annual World Economic Forum meeting. The companies didn’t reveal pricing details.Circle aims to integrate USYC with USDC, Circle’s flagship stablecoin, enabling convertibility between cash and yield-bearing collateral on blockchains, the press release said. Hashnote issues the $1.3 billion USYC token, which saw massive growth last year to become the largest tokenized U.S. Treasury product on the market, according to rwa.xyz…