Category: Bitcoin News

Trump’s AI And Crypto Czar Says Heavy-Handed AI Laws Could Be Weaponized 

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US crypto and AI czar David Sacks argues that the biggest risk AI poses is not a Terminator-style revolt, but rather a dystopian future where AI spies on the population and controls what information they see.  Speaking on a Monday episode of a16z’s podcast, The Ben & Marc Show, Sacks discussed the Trump administration’s approach to crypto and AI regulation.  Sacks criticized the previous administration led by former US President Joe Biden, as well as current “blue states” like California and Colorado, for their “heavy-handed” approach to AI consumer protection…

Balancer Audits under Scrutiny after $100M+ Exploit

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Many cryptocurrency traders are seeking answers after a successful exploit at the decentralized exchange and automated market maker Balancer resulted in more than $100 million in digital assets being stolen. In a Monday X post updating users on the exploit, Balancer said the incident was “isolated to V2 Composable Stable Pools and does not impact Balancer V3 or other Balancer pools.” The platform added that it had “undergone extensive auditing by top firms, and had bug bounties running for a long time to incentivize independent auditors,” calling into question how…

FTSE Russell, Chainlink Bring Index Data Onchain

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Global index provider FTSE Russell has partnered with Chainlink to publish its benchmark equity and digital asset indexes onchain, highlighting how blockchain technology is being used to deliver institutional-grade market data. On Monday, Chainlink announced that data for the Russell 1000, Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 small-cap indexes, the FTSE 100 Index and several digital asset benchmarks will be made available across multiple blockchains via DataLink, an institutional-grade publishing service powered by the oracle network. Source: Scott Melker The Russell indexes, widely used as benchmarks for US small- and mid-cap…

Coin Center Files Brief in MEV Bot Case after Prosecutors’ Opposition

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Cryptocurrency advocacy organization Coin Center has weighed in on the ongoing criminal trial of two brothers who allegedly exploited the Ethereum blockchain using maximal extractable value (MEV) bots. In a Monday amicus curiae brief — a document filed by an entity that is not a party to the case — Coin Center argued against one of the prosecutors’ key case theories involving Anton and James Peraire-Bueno. The two individuals are allegedly responsible for a $25 million MEV exploit in April 2023. According to Coin Center, the US government’s claims of…

Ethereum Foundation Revamps Grants Program Under New Funding Approach

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The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has overhauled its grants program, shifting from an open application model to a new funding approach under its Ecosystem Support Program. According to a blog post on Monday, grants will now be distributed through two main channels: a wishlist outlining focus areas set by the Foundation and requests for proposals (RFPs), targeting specific needs within the Ethereum ecosystem. The previous open grants program, which was paused earlier this year, stretched the Foundation’s resources, it said. The new model will take a more selective approach by coordinating…

Privacy Coins Surge 80%, Crypto Investors Seek Privacy, Encrypted Bitcoin

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Investor demand for financial privacy is fueling a rally in privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies, signaling renewed interest in self-sovereign blockchain transactions. The market capitalization of privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies rose by about 80% over the past week to briefly surpass $24 billion earlier on Monday before retracing 2.9% to $23.7 billion at the time of writing, according to data aggregator CoinGecko. Dash (DASH) and Zcash (ZEC) were among the best-performing privacy coins last week, with 65% and 9.55% gains, respectively. The privacy coin rally occurred despite a wider crypto market downturn, which saw the…

Ripple Launches Crypto Spot Prime Brokerage Services

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Blockchain payments company Ripple expanded its services to include digital asset spot prime brokerage for US markets, about seven months after announcing plans to acquire Hidden Road. In a Monday notice, Ripple said that its US-based institutional clients would be able to execute over-the-counter (OTC) spot transactions across multiple cryptocurrencies. The launch of the service followed Ripple’s acquisition of crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road as part of a $1.25 billion deal disclosed in April and finalized in October. “The launch of OTC spot execution capabilities complements our existing suite of…

Tokenized Treasuries cross $8.6B as banks and exchanges push collateral use

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From yield to collateral: The $8.6 billion turning point Tokenized U.S. Treasuries, the largest class of real-world assets (RWA) after stablecoins, have entered a new phase. Tokenized money-market funds (MMFs), which pool cash into short-term U.S. government securities, are shifting from passive yield to collateral for trading, credit and repo transactions.  As of late October, the total market cap of tokenized Treasuries reached $8.6 billion, up from $7.4 billion in mid-September. The increase was led by BlackRock’s BUIDL, which reached about $2.85 billion, followed by Circle’s USYC at $866 million…

Ether Price Risks Drop Below $3K as Spot ETF Inflows Cool

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Key takeaways: Ethereum ETFs experienced outflows for three consecutive days, totaling $364 million. Strategic Ether reserves and ETF holdings have dropped by 124,060 ETH since mid-October. Ether’s descending triangle is in play on the eight-hour chart, targeting $2,870 ETH price. Ether (ETH) fell 14% over the past 30 days, dropping below $4,000 to trade at $3,724 on Monday. However, technical and ETF data are not showing much bullishness, increasing the odds of a further correction below $3,000. ETH/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView Waning institutional demand pulls down ETH price The…

IREN Signs $9.7B AI Cloud Deal With Microsoft

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Bitcoin mining company IREN (IREN) has signed a multi-year GPU cloud services contract with Microsoft, highlighting the growing integration between traditional mining infrastructure and the expanding demands of Big Tech for AI computing power. The five-year agreement, valued at $9.7 billion, will provide Microsoft with access to Nvidia GB300 GPUs hosted within IREN’s data centers. In a related move, IREN also announced a $5.8 billion deal with Dell Technologies to acquire GPUs and related equipment. The company plans to fund its capital expenditures through a combination of cash reserves, customer…