Author: Coindesk

Meme-turned-utility project Floki is working with an unidentified asset manager to develop an exchange-traded product (ETP) tracking its FLOKI token that could be available to investors in Europe early in the new year, one of the developers told CoinDesk.If approved, FLOKI would be the only meme token other than dogecoin (DOGE) with an institutional product in Europe.“We’ve been actively working with a respected Asset Manager and an ETP Issuer to launch a Floki ETP (Exchange-Traded Product) for quite a while now, and after months of due diligence and painstaking effort, we’ve been told that the Floki ETP is on track…

This is the third in a series of stories examining the crypto industry’s high-stakes 2024 foray into politics and campaigning. The first explored the electoral track record of Fairshake PAC’s strategy and the second its intense use of a 2010 Supreme Court stance.The leaders of the companies responsible for the river of money that flooded U.S. political shores this year have already benefited tremendously from the outcome of last month’s election — increasing their personal fortunes by billions of dollars, far outpacing the large spending they devoted to crypto-friendly candidates.Coinbase Inc. (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong and his company devoted some…

One of the most significant emerging trends of 2024 has been the interplay between artificial intelligence (AI) and the crypto ecosystem. Historically this has primarily been on the infrastructure side, affecting various layers of the stack such as decentralized compute, storage and model training and inference. However, the last few months the crypto x AI crossover has taken stage front and center as agents have surfaced and are multiplying by the thousands. While the AI agent narrative has taken up a lot of mindshare of late, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we’re going to see in 2025.What are…

Trrue, a layer-1 blockchain focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance and real-world asset tokenization received a $10 million investment commitment from GEM Digital, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.The money will be used to accelerate the development of Ireland-based Trrue’s platform, the company said.GEM Digital is a Bahamas-based $3.4 billion alternative investment group that specializes in the digital asset sector. It will receive TRRUE tokens in return for the investment. The company invests in utility tokens listed on centralized (CEXs) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs).The token is being offered at $0.10 on a number of launchpads,…

The $308 million hack of Japanese crypto exchange DMM in May was the work of North Korean hackers, the U.S. and Japanese law enforcement agencies said Monday.The theft of 4,502.9 bitcoin (BTC), which is forcing the exchange to close, was “affiliated” with a group known as TraderTraitor, the FBI said in a statement with the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center and National Police Agency of Japan.Hackers linked to North Korea dominated crypto crime this year, Chainalysis said in its annual report on the subject. The country, whose official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), is tied…

In financial markets, the best entry opportunity is often fleeting and easily missed. Now, Solana’s SOL is flashing a timely second chance for those looking to trade bullish breakouts.The SOL price has surged over 7% this week to $193, rebounding off a former resistance-turned-support identified by the trendline connecting highs from March and July. This line, and the one joining April and August lows, define a large descending channel comprising prolonged range play from March to October.The prices broke out of the channel in early November, confirming a bullish bias. SOL quickly climbed to over $260 before retracing to the…

The Russian government imposed a six-year ban on crypto mining in 10 regions due to the industry’s high power consumption, Tass reported.The ban, which includes participation in a mining pool and temporary restrictions in other regions during periods of peak demand, takes effect Jan. 1 and ends March 15, 2031, Tass said, citing a decision by the Council of Ministers.The country legalized crypto mining in July, with the law taking effect last month. Russia bans the use of cryptocurrencies as legal tender for regular payments internally, but does allow cross-border payments with crypto in an attempt to evade sanctions imposed…

Just when you thought the year-end couldn’t get any more intriguing, a significant options expiry is set to shake things up in this highly levered-up market.Options are derivative contracts that give the purchaser the right to buy or sell the underlying asset at a preset price at a later date. A call gives the right to buy, and a put confers the right to sell.On Friday at 8:00 UTC, 146,000 bitcoin options contracts, valued at nearly $14 billion and sized at one BTC each, will expire on the crypto exchange Deribit. The notional amount represents 44% of the total open…

Traders expect bitcoin (BTC) choppiness to continue with a possible rotation to altcoins, as a major options expiry weighs on market dynamics in the festive week ahead.“All eyes are on the massive expiry this Friday, where almost $20B notional across BTC and ETH options will expire,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a broadcast message early Tuesday. “This represents almost half the total OI on Deribit. We believe it’s quite possible especially if spot continues to range here and as option sellers continue to roll their shorts out.””Rolling” means that instead of letting their options expire, traders shift their positions to…

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. In this week’s issue of the Protocol newsletter:Trump’s crypto teamAptos’ leadership shake-upTikTok meets tokensKraken scales upThis article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.Network NewsTRUMP CRYPTO APPOINTMENTS: President-elect Donald Trump continues to make high-profile appointments embracing cryptocurrency and emerging technologies in his second term. 1) Stephen Miran, tapped as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, is a…