Author: Coindesk

The offering, which can also provide fixed yields of an annualized 10%, allows users to deposit LBTC, a liquid-staking token issued by restaking startup Lombard, in a Pendle pool made by Ethereum layer-2 network Corn. Data shows the pool has attracted over $13 million in user deposits since going live. It matures on Dec. 26. Read the full article here

“The average buy-sell ratio suggests stronger buying pressure on Kraken and Coinbase, with ratios of 250% and 123%, respectively, compared to near-parity on Bybit and Binance, which have ratios of 99% and 97%,” Hosam Mahmoud, research analyst at CCData told CoinDesk in an interview. Read the full article here

Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, and Chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore responded to say that while Worldcoin does not perform a payment service under Singapore regulations, people buying or selling Worldcoin accounts and tokens may be acting illegally by providing a payment service as unlicensed individuals. Read the full article here

Since last year, Indonesia jumped four places to third as one of the fastest-growing crypto markets. Within the Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) Region, Indonesia has the highest year-over-year growth at nearly 200% and the highest cryptocurrency value received, at approximately $157.1 billion. Read the full article here

Bitcoin slid to just over $56,000 after Kamala Harris was perceived to have bettered Donald Trump in their first presidential debate. BTC recovered to over $56,500 during the European morning, but remained around 1.3% lower over 24 hours. The broader digital asset market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index, dropped about 1%. The Japanese yen rallied to 140.70 per U.S. dollar, its strongest since January, appreciating beyond the early August level of 141.68 in a sign of a move away from riskier assets. The yen picked up a strong bid in late July after the Bank of Japan hiked…

Wingbits, a Stockholm-based protocol creating a DePIN flight-tracking network built on the Solana blockchain, said it has raised $3.5 million in seed funding, led by Borderless Capital and Tribe Capital, alongside Antler and angel investors. According to the team: “Wingbits rewards the quality of data captured by antennas maintained by amateurs and enthusiasts. Individuals are rewarded based on performance, coverage and uptime, and there are global leaderboards to compare the best performing antennas. At the end of 2023, 40 nodes were on the Wingbits platform. Now, there are close to 2,000 nodes.” Read the full article here

The business’ survival represents one of a handful of crucial industry tests, which would also include the outcome of a number of federal court battles. In Prometheum’s case, if the SEC accepts its business model, that could prove it’s possible to run a crypto platform under current laws, as argued by SEC Chair Gary Gensler. But if the SEC puts a stop to it, it counters the years-old argument from the agency that digital assets businesses need only comply with the laws to satisfy the agency. Read the full article here

“By integrating our wallet infrastructure, Binance.US is ensuring its custody operations are rock solid and fully aligned with what regulators are asking for,” Shaulov told CoinDesk in an email. “With Fireblocks, they can scale up staking operations securely and efficiently, giving users a smoother experience while staking their tokens and earning rewards.” Read the full article here

The correlation between bitcoin and gold has turned sizably negative of late, according to CryptoQuant, with gold recently pushing to new record highs above $2,500 per ounce while bitcoin has been declining and now sits more than 20% below its all-time high above $73,000 from March. The move into gold and out of bitcoin has come as U.S. stocks have struggled, with the S&P 500 slipping 3.6% since August 30. Read the full article here

In the world of crypto, digital assets, and the dream of decentralization, the middleman is a figure of scorn. We speak of peer-to-peer networks, of unmediated transactions flowing freely across borders, with no need for gatekeepers. Yet, whether we like it or not, intermediaries haunt every corner of this landscape. Some extract rent for their services; others simply maintain order in the chaos. But let’s be clear — whenever there’s a hiccup, a wallet vulnerability, or a glitch in a smart contract, someone must step in. And that someone, whether you call them a middleman or not, holds the keys…