Category: Bitcoin News

Swiss Regulator GESPA Files Complaint Against FIFA NFT Platform

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Switzerland’s Gambling Supervisory Authority (GESPA), the country’s gambling regulator, has filed a complaint against FIFA’s non-fungible token (NFT) platform FIFA Collect, alleging that it is an unlicensed gambling provider. On Friday, GESPA announced the complaint, alleging the platform’s “competitions,” which feature user rewards like airdrop campaigns and challenges, constitute gambling under current Swiss regulations due to the element of chance in claiming rewards. GESPA wrote: “Participation in the competitions is only possible in exchange for a monetary stake, with monetary benefits to be won. Whether participants win a prize depends…

Decentralized Compute Networks Will Democratize Global AI Access

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Opinion by: Gaurav Sharma, CEO of io.net  Artificial intelligence may be in its early days, but it has already delivered significant scientific and technological breakthroughs across the developed world. Unfortunately, these developments have come at a cost: the dangerous centralization of AI. On Forbes’ 2025 list of the top 50 private AI companies, all are based in the developed world, with 80% in the US.  AI remains skewed toward well-capitalized tech giants in the developed world.  For many in emerging economies, the price of entry to the AI revolution is…

Prediction Markets Going Mainstream As DeFi’s Most Accessible Product?

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Mike Rychko, a researcher at prediction market infrastructure provider Azuro, thinks prediction markets are breaking into the mainstream — and the data appears to back him up. In a Thursday X post, Rychko argued that prediction markets are entering the real world beyond crypto and that their accessibility is likely to result in their success as the first decentralized finance (DeFi) product that achieves mass adoption. “Most people will never open a derivatives exchange,” Rychko wrote. “But ‘87% chance Mamdani wins’ — that’s a language anyone speaks.” He added that…

Russia Leads Europe In Crypto Adoption With $376B Tracked

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Crypto adoption in European countries like the United Kingdom and Germany is lagging behind Russia, according to the latest report from US blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Russia emerged as the leading crypto market in Chainalysis’ latest European Crypto Adoption report, receiving $376.3 billion in crypto between July 2024 and June 2025. Published Thursday, the report combines analyses of regions previously examined separately, covering Central, Northern, and Western Europe, as well as Eastern Europe as a whole. “For this year’s analysis, we’ve reorganized our regional classifications to better reflect both current…

Japan’s Mega Banks to Jointly Issue Yen-Pegged Stablecoin

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Three of Japan’s largest banks are reportedly planning to jointly issue a yen-pegged stablecoin, contributing to the region’s growing adoption of crypto technology in its financial infrastructure.  Nikkei reported on Friday that Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Bank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) and Mizuho Bank plan to modernize corporate settlements and reduce transaction costs using a yen-based stablecoin project built on MUFG’s stablecoin issuance platform Progmat. The banks, which collectively serve more than 300,000 corporate clients, aim to standardize the token to make it interoperable for payments within and…

Ethereum Will Flip Bitcoin, Says Tom Lee

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Ethereum could eventually surpass Bitcoin’s market share in a similar manner to how US equities overtook gold 54 years ago, when the US abandoned the gold standard, according to BitMine chair Tom Lee. “Ethereum could flip Bitcoin similar to how Wall Street and equities flipped gold post 71,” Lee said in an interview with ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood on Thursday.  Bitcoin’s (BTC) market capitalization is about 4.6 times larger than Ethereum’s, standing at roughly $2.17 trillion compared to $476.33 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Lee brings up the “Nixon Shock”…

France Investigates Binance’s Anti-Money Laundering Rules

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Update (Oct. 17, 2025, at 11:00 am UTC): This article has been updated to add commentary by a Binance spokesperson. France’s banking regulator is conducting additional Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks on Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges, as Paris lobbies for more authority over Europe’s crypto industry under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). According to a Friday Bloomberg report, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) is checking the Anti-Money Laundering compliance of Binance and “dozens of exchanges.” The report cited anonymous sources who noted that the checks started…

Top 5 Ethereum Block Explorers for Tracking Transactions in 2025

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Key takeaways As Ethereum continues to scale, block explorers have become essential tools for users tracking ETH, tokens, NFTs and smart contracts. Etherscan, founded in Malaysia, excels at contract verification, token tracking and gas fee estimation, though it lacks portfolio management features. Based in Thailand, Ethplorer specializes in token-centric data. It offers portfolio tracking and a developer-friendly API, making it a strong choice for DeFi and NFT users. Supporting multiple blockchains, Blockchair provides advanced filters and exportable data sets. While powerful for researchers and analysts, its complex interface may be…

Bitcoin Slips Below $105,000 as US Banks Come Under Pressure

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Key takeaways: US regional bank stress hits markets as auto sector bankruptcies expose risky loans, sending financial stock prices sinking. Bitcoin fell below the 200-day SMA, dropping to $104,500 amid $1.2 billion crypto liquidations. Analysts view $88,000 as the next significant support level for BTC, unless $104,000 holds.  Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to $104,000 in a second black Friday event as signs of credit stress among US regional banks triggered a fresh wave of risk aversion across the crypto market. BTC/USDT one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView Bitcoin extends losses as equities slide…

Ripple to acquire $1B in XRP through SPAC-led digital treasury move

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Ripple Labs is reportedly on the cusp of launching a fundraising effort to purchase $1 billion worth of its XRP token to hold in a digital asset treasury, according to Bloomberg. The fundraiser is being organized through a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing anonymous people with knowledge of the matter. The digital asset treasury (DAT) will consist of the freshly bought XRP (XRP) and Ripple will also throw in some of its own stockpile, but the exact terms of the transaction are still being…