Author: Coindesk

EMBARGOED UNTIL 19 DECEMBER 2024 @ 9:00 AM ETBlockchain security firm Blockaid said a full 59% of crypto tokens introduced this year were “malicious in nature.”The number of nefarious tokens being sold into the open market ties in with the rising memecoin narrative that has been consistent throughout this cycle.There are now 10 memecoins with a market cap of $1 billion or greater and this relative success has led to copycat tokens being launched on Ethereum, Base and Solana among other chains. Rug-pull scams remain a prevalent threat, making up 27% of malicious tokens, Blockaid said.It’s worth noting, however, that…

Wednesday, Dec. 18, will go down in history as a day of market panic triggered by the 25 basis point Fed rate cut and Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish outlook.Bitcoin (BTC) briefly tumbled below $100,000; U.S. equities dropped around 3%, while the dollar index (DXY) index soared to a two-year high of 108, which continues to put pressure on currencies worldwide.The most significant movement came from the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), which skyrocketed by 74%, marking the largest one-day jump in the Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge since Feb. 5, 2018. It was also the second-largest increase in its history. The…

Ilya Lichtenstein, who pled guilty last year to charges related to the 2016 theft of 120,000 bitcoin from Bitfinex, has made his first public statement since his 2022 arrest.In a five-minute video posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Lichtenstein reiterated that he was the hacker and that he acted alone, denying speculation in a Netflix documentary that his father (or, perhaps, some spy agency, maybe Russia’s) might have been involved in the theft.“My dad is no hacker, he doesn’t even know how to use Instagram,” said Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit…

Another bitcoin miner, Hut 8 (HUT), has decided to pull the trigger on buying bitcoin in the open market, following the likes of MicroStrategy (MSTR) and MARA Holdings (MARA).The Miami, Florida-based company said it bought about 990 bitcoin for an average price of $101,710 each. The latest purchase will bring the amount of bitcoin held in Hut 8’s reserve to 10,096, or about $1 billion in market value, and make it among the top 10 largest corporate owners of bitcoin, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The miner is planning to use the reserve through options strategies, pledges,…

The year 2024 has marked a significant breakthrough for digital assets, particularly for bitcoin (BTC), driven by increased institutional adoption. This shift has occurred through two key avenues: first, the integration of bitcoin into public balance sheets as a treasury asset, and second, the success of U.S. spot-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have amassed over 1 million BTC.A report from K33 Research reveals that U.S.-listed bitcoin ETFs have surpassed U.S.-listed Gold ETFs in terms of assets under management (AUM), including leveraged products such as futures-based ETFs. As of Dec. 17, Bitcoin ETFs reached assets under management (AUM) worth $129.25 billion,…

An intellectual property (IP) ownership could soon end up in a fight of digital dogs.Own The Doge DAO, a collective that holds the original ‘doge’ meme, on Tuesday said it had acquired the rights to use pet shiba inu Neiro’s images and was holding a community discussion on which NEIRO token can continue to use the dog’s liking.“We’re pleased to announce that @kabosumama has officially granted our DAO the Neiro IP,” Own The Doge said on X. “When Atsuko revealed the name of her new adopted dog, Neiro, many tokens were launched in an attempt to capitalize on her name…

A bitcoin (BTC) slump spiraled into over $700 million worth of liquidations across futures tracking major tokens, with XRP and dogecoin (DOGE) products recording unusually high losses.BTC fell under $100,000 in late U.S. hours before slightly recovering during early Asian hours Thursday, as the Federal Reserve hinted at a few rate cuts in 2025. Fed chair Jerome Powell then said at a post-FOMC press conference that the central bank wasn’t allowed to own bitcoin under current regulations — in response to a question about President-elect Donald Trump’s strategic reserve promises.”That’s the kind of thing that Congress should consider, but we…

Crypto traders initial worries about a hawkish Fed materialized Wednesday as Chairman Jerome Powell cut interest rates but expressed uncertainty about the speed and extent of future easing. And now the sentiment has deteriorated. Bitcoin’s seven-day call-put skew shows that Deribit-listed put options offering downside protection and expiring in one week are trading at the highest implied volatility premium to call options since September, according to data source Amberdata. In other words, put options are the most expensive relative to calls in three months.Its a sign of traders scrambling to hedge their bullish bets against a potential continuation of Wednesday’s…

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance posted a list of “alpha watchlist tokens” to one of its Telegram channels on Wednesday, causing a spike in the mentioned tokens, however it then clarified that the information was “false” which led to the tokens giving up their newfound gains.The post read: “Ready to explore early stage crypto projects?” before naming Wise Monkey (MONKY), Happy Cat (HAPPY), Rifampicin (RIF), Zircuit (ZRC) and ai16zeliza (ELIZA) as five projects with “strong fundamentals” and “active communities.”Several traders speculated over whether the Telegram group was fake and trying to lure people into a rug pull, but it turns out that…

A Binance delisting decision sent prices of defunct crypto exchange WazirX’s WRX tokens down 60% in an hour, even as the exchange hopes for a “fresh start” of its platform.Binance said Wednesday that it was delisting WazirX’s WRX, along with Kaon (AKRO) and Bluzelle (BLZ), as part of a regular review of tokens that no longer meet its offering standards.Delisting a token from major exchanges is often perceived as a lack of confidence in the token’s viability or future, triggering a negative market sentiment around the affected token. Prices of AKRO and BLZ fell as much as 40% after the…