Author: Coindesk

Solana (SOL) was trading at 97% discount to the market capitalization of Ethereum’s ether (ETH) in January 2023 — a clear market dislocation that has closed significantly over the last two years.Today, the discount has shrunk to 70%.However, Solana is starting to challenge Ethereum in terms of on-chain activity and key measures of network usage.Which raises the question: Is the market still dislocated?In this short piece, we explore this key question with relative analysis across four key data points. Let’s dive in.1. Network FeesData: Artemis, The DeFi Report, Gas Fees Only (does not include MEV). Please note that we’ve included…

The European Parliament approved its slate of commissioners on Wednesday, including the individuals who will be responsible for monitoring regulations around digital assets.In September, European Parliament President Ursula Von der Leyen proposed a list of commissioners. While crypto did not stand out as a core topic amongst the roles, this group will be responsible for ensuring digital asset rules are implemented.The European Union (EU), a bloc of 27 nations, was the first major jurisdiction in the world to establish a bespoke crypto legislative package last year, otherwise known as the Markets in Crypto Assets legislation (MiCA). Stablecoin rules came into…

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Marc Hochstein, CoinDesk’s deputy editor-in-chief for features, opinion and standards.IN THIS ISSUE:Ethereum’s blob mobStaking on StarknetAvalanche’s big upgradeL2 teams beam over Beam ChainSui suffers a brief outageBitcoin bridged, trustlesslyThis 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. Also please check out our weekly The Protocol podcast.Network newsBEAMING OVER THE BEAM CHAIN: What’s good for the L1 is…

Bitcoin saw explosive growth immediately after the recent U.S. presidential elections, rising and retaking the spotlight from former highs of $73,000 in March. Now the question is, will bitcoin (BTC) continue its uptrend, and at what point can a sharp reversal happen?If we take a look at former BTC market cycles, which happen every four years, then we see that we are now just starting to go into new bitcoin price discovery areas, and BTC could top out at new all-time highs, which is practically anything greater than the current resistance of $92,000. Bitcoin could even potentially see highs of…

Bitcoin miner IREN (IREN) rose nearly 30% on Wednesday after executives said the company had received interest from an artificial intelligence (AI) firm and mentioned a potential dividend in BTC during an earnings conference call.The Sydney-based company has been approached by a hyperscaler firm (large cloud service provider) for potentially hosting computing infrastructure at IREN’s Sweetwater mining site in Texas, co-CEO and co-founder Daniel Roberts said on the call.”Two hours ago, we got an email from a trillion-dollar hyperscaler that said they weren’t interested in Sweetwater, and now they are,” Roberts said without giving out too many details.”We will continue…

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated 320 ether — worth over $1 million — to crypto think tank Coin Center on Tuesday night, according to blockchain data.Buterin’s donation came mere hours after a U.S. appeals court overturned U.S. sanctions against embattled crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, ruling that Tornado Cash’s smart contracts “are not the property of a foreign national or entity” and thus cannot be blocked under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). By imposing sanctions on Tornado Cash, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) “overstepped its congressionally defined authority,” the court ruled.Read more: Tornado Cash…

The bitcoin (BTC) bull market has further to run, and the world’s largest cryptocurrency is expected to punch through the $100,000 level in the near term, Galaxy Research said in a note on Tuesday.Galaxy said bitcoin will continue to rise for several reasons. Increasing institutional and corporate adoption, the potential for the creation of bitcoin nation-state reserves, and a new pro-crypto U.S. administration all point to a move higher in the near and medium term, the report said.It may not be all plain sailing, as “there could even be some twilight regulatory or law enforcement actions from the outgoing Biden…

Starting next Monday, First Mover Americas will become Crypto Daybook Americas, your new morning briefing on what happened in the crypto markets overnight and what’s expected during the coming day. Publishing at 7 a.m. ET, it will kickstart your morning with comprehensive insights. You won’t want to start your day without it.CoinDesk 20 Index: 3,278.83 +4.32%Bitcoin (BTC): $$93,338.67 +1.05%Ether (ETH): $3,462.51 +3.99%S&P 500: 6,021.63 +0.57%Gold: $2,652.77 +1.2%Nikkei 225: 38,134.97 -0.8%Top StoriesBitcoin ticked up following Tuesday’s drop below $91,000. BTC rose to over $93,800 and is currently trading around 1.8% higher in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin ETFs saw their second…

Following bitcoin (BTC) and solana (SOL) reaching all-time high prices earlier this month, the stablecoin sector has now joined crypto’s record-breaking streak.The combined market size of stablecoins hit $190 billion this month for the first time ever, Wednesday’s report by digital asset analytics firm CCData noted. CCData is owned by Bullish, CoinDesk’s parent company. The previous peak of $188 billion was recorded in April 2022, just before the cataclysmic implosion of the Terra-Luna stablecoin that added fuel to the digital asset bear market now referred to as crypto winter.Demand for stablecoins soared as cryptocurrency prices exploded in November as investors…

Partior, a blockchain payment network backed by TradFi giants including JPMorgan (JPM), DBS (D05), and Standard Chartered (STAN), added Deutsche Bank (DBK) to its list of investors, the company said in a press release Wednesday.The German bank joined Partior’s Series B funding round as a strategic investor, taking the total raised by the payments firm in the round to $80 million, the Singapore-based company said. Adoption of blockchain technology by traditional finance firms is growing. Last week, payments giant Mastercard said it was linking up with JPMorgan for cross-border payments on the blockchain.Deutsche Bank will also join Partior’s platform as…