Author: Coindesk

Another holder of interest at the end of the first quarter was the Wisconsin Pension Fund, which in the last quarter doubled down on its IBIT position as it purchased an additional 447,651 shares of the fund. It also got rid of all of its shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) which were worth $63.7 million at the end of March. The state now owns 2,898,051 shares or $98.9 million as of the end of June. Read the full article here

However, Tether refuted JPMorgan’s arguments and said the firm remains optimistic about how MiCA will impact the industry in the long term. “We recognize that the effects of these regulations, which will impact every stablecoin issuer, will unfold gradually. However, certain aspects of the regulation present challenges that could complicate the role of stablecoin issuers and increase the operational risks for EU-licensed stablecoins. Tether firmly believes that stablecoin regulations must ensure safety improvements rather than posing systemic risks,” a Tether spokesperson told CoinDesk in a statement. Read the full article here

“We succeeded in spotlighting our big tent and showing that crypto is not just the loudest MAGA crypto bros you see online,” G Clay Miller, one of the organizers, told CoinDesk in an interview. (Miller, a former Senate staffer, has a job in the crypto industry working for a leading digital assets advisory firm, but says his political work is separate.)Miller said 15,000 people registered ahead of the town hall and that 1,000 were in attendance at any one time.The organizers’ main goal was to show the outside world that Democrats were interested in getting things done on crypto, despite…

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence.…

“Latin America has the highest preference for centralized exchanges amongst crypto users in the world. While this is a sign of the industry’s growth in the region, it means these exchanges are increasingly becoming the targets for hacks and scams,” said Digby Try, senior vice president at Coincover, in a statement. Read the full article here

The funding round attracted a mix of familiar faces and new backers, with participants including F-Prime Capital, Slow Ventures and Spartan Capital, alongside larger investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners, Galaxy Ventures and PayPal Ventures. Chaos Labs was also backed by angel investors such as Solana’s Anatoly Yakovenko and Phantom’s Francesco Agosti. Read the full article here

Properly regulated and backed by quality reserves, stablecoins — with their instant and simultaneous settlement on blockchains — reduce counterparty risk because obligations are satisfied immediately. From payments to collateral to foreign exchange markets, this undoubtedly improves the safety and soundness of the global financial system. Clearly, today’s foreign-exchange settlement system is in dire need of a technology overhaul, and regulations should incentivize the adoption of technologies, like stablecoins, that mitigate risk. Read the full article here

Contrary to popular belief, the inherent volatility of crypto markets is not a bug but a feature. With no circuit breakers in place, the always-on, globally accessible nature of crypto markets often makes them the first source of liquidity for investors. In fact, during times of panic, crypto might be the only asset investors can sell, as was evident on Sunday evening in the Western Hemisphere. By the time the U.S. stock market opened on Monday morning, crypto markets had stabilized, with both bitcoin and ether recovering approximately 10% from their lows the previous night. Read the full article here

Stablecoin supply has been growing in U.S. dollar terms, but the expansion doesn’t mean it’s taking over crypto market share; rather, it is mainly an indication of the increase in total digital asset market cap, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Wednesday. Read the full article here

The digital assets industry is now a full-blown political issue, and Wall Street firms with crypto exposure are staying cautious ahead of November’s U.S. election. Whether the next election will result in Donald Trump or Kamala Harris occupying the Oval Office for the next four years, one thing Wall Street firms agree on is that either nominee will bring crypto regulation forward. Read the full article here