Author: Coindesk

Crypto trading firm GSR led a $100 million private placement into Upexi (UPXI), a consumer-goods company pivoting to a digital asset-based treasury strategy. The company, whose products include medicinal mushroom gummies and pet-grooming tools, said it will use the capital to accumulate and stake solana (SOL) tokens. The Tampa, Florida-based company had a market cap of $3 million on Friday.The investment, structured as a private investment in public equity (PIPE), comes as Upexi shifts from physical product manufacturing to managing part of its balance sheet using Solana, a high-speed blockchain known for low fees and fast settlement, according to a…

The AI revolution in trading should be a game-changer, but instead, it’s become a quick money grab. Everywhere you turn, yet another ChatGPT wrapper is being marketed as the next big thing for crypto traders. The promises? “AI-powered insights,” “next-gen trading signals,” “perfect agentic trading.” The reality? Overhyped, overpriced, and underperforming vaporware that doesn’t scratch the surface of what’s truly needed.Saad Naja is a speaker at the AI Summit during Consensus 2025, Toronto, May 14-16. AI should be designed to augment the trader experience, not sideline it. Companies like Spectral Labs and Creator.Bid are innovating with AI agents but risk…

The week has begun on an interesting note, with the U.S. dollar crashing to three-year lows alongside losses on Wall Street, yet bitcoin, which usually follows the sentiment on Wall Street, stands tall.This could just be the beginning. The shift away from the USD and toward seizure and censorship-resistant assets like BTC and stablecoins could accelerate if President Donald Trump follows through with his reported plans to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which have pushed the DXY and U.S. stock markets lower today.That’s the lesson from Turkey, which has seen its currency, the lira (TRY), collapse over the years…

Bitcoin (BTC) is taking a stand even as the broader stock market keeps sliding down to its tariff-related lows on Easter Monday.The top cryptocurrency is up 2.3% in the last 24 hours and now trading for $86,800 for the first time since April 3—the day after the Trump administration unveiled its new tariff policy. Mainly buoyed by bitcoin, the broader market gauge CoinDesk 20 Index has risen 1.17% in the same period of time, with most tokens relatively unchanged.Crypto-linked stocks have also remained stable, with Coinbase (COIN) and Strategy (MSTR) down 1.2% and 1.3% respectively, and major bitcoin miners such…

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared a new proposal over the weekend that would radically overhaul the system that powers its smart contracts.Buterin’s suggestion, which he posted on Ethereum’s primary developer forum, involves replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the software engine that powers programs on the network, with RISC-V, a popular open-source framework that offers built-in encryption and other benefits. .The EVM is a key piece of Ethereum’s underlying design and has been seen as one of the main elements that helped the network succeed in a crowded field of other blockchains. Many non-Ethereum networks have used the EVM to build…

We are never shy about holding ETH to account as crypto’s second largest asset and the DeFi intuition gateway for traditional investors. But mainstream adoption requires a growth story, and so far this year ETH is (put kindly) failing to lead. ETH sits in 16th place in the CoinDesk 20 YTD performance leaderboard, down 53%. Going back a year, the numbers look similar: 15th place and down 50%. Its market cap has dwindled so much relative to XRP that both are expected to be capped in the upcoming CoinDesk 20 reconstitution, a first.ETH versus the rest of the CoinDesk 20…

Despite its growing footprint as a major corporate holder of bitcoin (BTC), Strategy’s large-scale purchases of the cryptocurrency appear to have little, if any, influence on its price, according to a research paper by TD Cowen.The findings published Monday challenge a popular theory among skeptics — that Strategy’s aggressive buying spree is helping prop up bitcoin’s value, and that without its continued demand, prices would falter. But based on the data, that argument doesn’t hold much weight, the analysts said.A Big Buyer, But a Small Slice of the MarketStrategy recently issued another 1.8 million shares under its at-the-market (ATM) offering,…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has long been the world’s most influential financial regulator, helping to ensure our capital markets are the deepest, fairest, and most accessible in the world. But its continued relevance will depend on whether it can do more than merely respond to innovation — it must proactively foster it.For nearly a century, the SEC has adapted to evolving markets, new technologies and greater retail participation. In its best moments, the agency has embraced innovation in service of transparency, investor protection, and capital formation. But in recent years, it has strayed from that legacy — nowhere…

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis.Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA.He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and…

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2538.74, up 3.0% (+74.8) since 4 p.m. ET on Friday.Nineteen of 20 assets are trading higher.Leaders: NEAR (+11.7%) and APT (+8.7%).Laggards: BCH (-0.5%) and XRP (+1.9%).The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally. Read the full article here