Author: Coindesk

U.S. President Donald Trump’s media company, Trump Media (DJT), is looking to partner with crypto exchange Crypto.com to launch a series of exchange-traded products (ETPs) and funds (ETFs), the company said Monday.The ETPs will include crypto assets and securities from other sectors such as the energy industry, the announcement said. Crypto.com will provide the backend technology, custody solutions, and crypto supply.The investment vehicles are expected to launch in 2025, the press release said.Trump Media is the company behind Truth Social, the social media platform frequently used by Trump. This is only the latest of crypto initiatives backed by the President…

Crypto observers were speculating on Monday that World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, might be testing its long-awaited dollar stablecoin before rolling out for the broader public.Blockchain sleuths earlier today noted a flurry of activity with a token labeled as World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) on blockchain monitoring websites Etherscan and BscScan. Blockchain data shows that USD1 was deployed earlier this month on the Ethereum and BNB Chain networks and series of transactions with the token occurring over the past couple weeks.Some transfers included addresses linked to Wintermute,…

Massachusetts’ top securities regulator has reportedly launched a probe into Robinhood over the popular trading platform’s recent decision to launch an in-app prediction markets hub that allows customers to bet on the outcome of events, including March Madness match-ups.According to a Monday report from Reuters, Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin — a notoriously aggressive regulator — sent Robinhood a subpoena last week seeking information about the number of Robinhood’s users in Massachusetts that have requested to trade college sports events contracts, and seeking copies of Robinhood’s related marketing materials.”This is just another gimmick from a company that’s very good…

A Singapore-regulated cryptocurrency exchange, DigiFT, has announced it will launch what it says is the first index fund in which the shares and underlying stocks are tokenized and traded on-chain.The platform, licensed by Singapore’s Monetary Authority, is partnering with investment firm Hash Global to debut two index funds: one tracking top artificial intelligence (AI) stocks and another tracking leading crypto assets, according to a statement.The move, it says, replaces the traditional infrastructure behind portfolio management—brokers, banks, custodians—with smart contracts and stablecoins. Investors will subscribe to and redeem from the funds using USDT or USDC and view fund holdings in real…

Las Vegas—Financial advisors in the U.S. are committed to crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and are ready to increase their holdings this year.During a presentation at the Exchange conference in Las Vegas, TMX VettaFi head of research Todd Rosenbluth and senior investment strategist Cinthia Murphy presented results of a survey sent to thousands of financial advisors in the U.S., arguing that crypto is “part of everybody’s conversation today.”The results showed that 57% of advisors plan on increasing their allocations into crypto ETFs, while 42% will likely maintain their position. Only 1%, practically no one, wants to decrease their position.“I think last…

The correction in stocks could be over based on a key technical indicator and that might be good news for bitcoin (BTC), which has also breached similar resistance.Ahead 1.7% on Monday to follow up on last week’s gains, the S&P 500 has moved above its 200-day moving average (200 DMA), after correcting as much as 10% in recent months. This 200 DMA is calculated by taking the mean of the closing prices over the past 200 trading days and is often used to assess broader market trends and potential turning points.The S&P 500 last crossed that gauge on March 10,…

While bitcoin (BTC) proponents commonly view the largest cryptocurrency as a digital version of gold, a new report from global bank Standard Chartered argued investors should see it more like a tech stock with some extra benefits.Led by Geoff Kendrick, the StanChart team said bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq has “almost always” been stronger than with gold, the old-school safe haven asset. While BTC may have a role as a place to hide in instances of financial instability like the 2023 regional banking crisis or what might be the unsustainable U.S. debt trajectory, the report said, the reality is that…

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the UAE capital’s international financial center, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Chainlink to collaborate on compliant frameworks for tokenized assets.The agreement will give ADGM access to Chainlink’s suite of blockchain tools, including data feeds and interoperability services, as it works to foster blockchain innovation under its Registration Authority, according to a press release.Chainlink has said that its tools have already enabled over $20 trillion in transaction value enabled globally, and are used by major financial market institutions.Under the memorandum there will also be regulatory discussions around blockchain, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies,…

While Friday’s SEC Crypto Task Force Roundtable was a refreshing change from the prior administration’s “regulation by enforcement” approach, it focused on yesterday’s problems instead of proposals that could shape the regulatory framework that will govern crypto going forward.Since 1946, the question of whether a product is a “security” or “commodity” has been governed by the Supreme Court’s decision in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. Courts have struggled to uniformly apply the “Howey” test to digital assets, which should not be surprising because it’s a decades-old decision about citrus groves.Digital assets do not cleanly fit into either the “security” or…

The Italian division of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said is building a European Union (EU) digital identity product alongside blockchain consultancy firm SKChain Advisors.The product under development will enable European companies and their customers to securely access digital platforms including those in the world of Web3, according to an emailed announcement on Monday.Developed on World Mobile Chain, a layer-3 network built on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 Base, the product will use self-sovereign identity (SSI) technology. SSI is a decentralized form of identity that gives users full control of their data rather than handing it to third parties.Blockchain technology underpins SSI in that it…