Author: Coindesk

Bitcoin (BTC) purchases from video game retailer GameStop (GME) could be imminent or may have already begun after the company closed on its offering of $1.3 billion of five-year convertible notes.The $200 million greenshoe option was fully exercised by the initial purchaser, bringing the total amount of the sale to $1.5 billion. Net proceeds to the company after fees were $1.48 billion, according to a filing Monday after the close of U.S. trading.Alongside its fourth quarter earnings report last week, GameStop — led by its CEO Ryan Cohen — announced full board approval of an update to the company investment…

Kristin Smith, the longtime chief executive of the Blockchain Association, a leading lobbying group for crypto policy in Washington, is leaving next month to take a role as president of the new Solana Policy Institute, according to a Tuesday announcement.”I am incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished together and confident that the organization’s future is bright,” Smith said in a statement.Earlier this week, Miller Whitehouse-Levine founded the organization and announced his position as CEO shortly after stepping down from the Defi Education Fund.Though the group hasn’t yet clarified its source of funding, its website said it will focus its message…

Web3 has a memory problem. Not in the “we forgot something” sense, but in the core architectural sense. It doesn’t have a real memory layer.Blockchains today don’t look completely alien compared to traditional computers, but a core foundational aspect of legacy computing is still missing: A memory layer built for decentralization that will support the next iteration of the internet.Muriel Médard is a speaker at Consensus 2025 May 14-16. Register to get your ticket here.After World War II, John von Neumann laid out the architecture for modern computers. Every computer needs input and output, a CPU for control and arithmetic,…

Recently very shaky risk assets — crypto among them — are attempting a rally on Tuesday, perhaps. buoyed by chatter that Donald Trump’s tariffs won’t be as stringent as feared.In early afternoon U.S. action, bitcoin (BTC) had climbed to just above $85,000, ahead 2.1% over the past 24 hours. Previously really roughed up crypto majors like ether (ETH), dogecoin (DOGE) and cardano (ADA) had put in gains of roughly twice that amount.Crypto stocks are also performing well, with bitcoin miners Core Scientific (CORZ) and CleanSpark (CLSK) jumping almost 10% on the day. Strategy (MSTR) is up 5.4% and Coinbase (COIN)…

Although Strategy’s (MSTR) aggressive buying of bitcoin (BTC) has sent its shares soaring over 2,500% over the past five years, one analyst argues that the reverse could soon be the case.“While we were negative on several respects upon initiation, we have gained incremental confidence that the convertible issuance strategy is likely tapped,” wrote Monness Crespi analyst Gus Gala, downgrading MSTR to sell just two weeks after initiating coverage at neutral.Strategy currently holds 528,185 BTC on its balance sheet and has been buying sizable quantities nearly every week for the past few months, mostly funded by common share issuance and also…

The U.S.’ crypto-friendly stance could increase the level of risk in financial markets by deepening the connections between traditional finance (TradFi) and the digital asset economy, according to regulator the European Securities and Markets Authority.”This crypto-friendly stance has the potential to accelerate crypto adoption, including by institutional investors,” a spokesperson for the European Union’s financial markets regulator said in an interview. “This would in turn increase interconnectedness and, failing relevant safeguards, risks of negative spillover effects between crypto and traditional markets.”Since becoming president on Jan. 20, Donald Trump has ordered his administration to set up a bitcoin reserve and urged…

The total market cap of the 14 U.S.-listed bitcoin (BTC) miners tracked by JPMorgan (JPM) dropped 25% in March, the third-worst monthly performance on record, the Wall Street bank said Tuesday.Only one stock, Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG), outperformed bitcoin (BTC) last month, the report noted. Bitfarms (BITF) completed its acquisition of the company on March 17. Miners with high performance computing (HPC) exposure underperformed pure-play miners for the second month in a row.”We note valuations today are at the lowest levels relative to the block reward since the collapse of FTX in the Fall of 2023,” analysts Reginald Smith and…

Shaurya MalwaShaurya 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,…

OKX has appointed Linda Lacewell as its new chief legal officer (CLO) after the departure of Mauricio Beugelmans.Lacewell joined the crypto exchange as a board member last year having previously served as Superintendent and head of the New York Department of Financial Services, according to an announcement on Tuesday.”Her leadership comes at a pivotal time as we expand into key markets such as Europe and U.A.E,” OKX said.The announcement comes the day after CoinDesk reported that Lacewell’s predecessor Mauricio Beugelmans had left OKX, with his departure related to the exchange’s penalties of over $500 million paid to the U.S. Department…

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)Bitcoin is building momentum, rising over 2% on the day to over $84,000, with memecoins leading the market higher, followed by tokens associated with artificial intelligence and gaming. In traditional markets, gold set another record, surpassing $3,140, and futures linked to major U.S. equity indices are pointing to a positive open.President Donald Trump pledged a “very kind” yet firm approach toward all trading partners ahead of Wednesday’s planned reciprocal tariffs announcement.Still, market flows reveal nervousness likely stemming from tariff uncertainty. An aggressive move could ratchet up inflation expectations, which would lower risk…