Category: Bitcoin News

Lombard to Launch Bitcoin Smart Accounts for Institutions

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Lombard said it plans to launch Bitcoin Smart Accounts, designed to allow Bitcoin held in institutional custody to be used as onchain collateral without moving the asset or transferring control to a third party. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, following a launch this quarter, custodied Bitcoin will be recognized onchain through a receipt token, BTC.b, enabling institutions to access lending and liquidity venues while retaining legal ownership and existing custody arrangements. Lombard said the framework targets asset managers, corporate treasuries and other institutional holders whose Bitcoin (BTC) remains…

EU Targets Russian Crypto And Banks In Sweeping Sanctions

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The European Union is finalizing a new package of sanctions aimed at closing loopholes that officials say have allowed Russia to use cryptocurrency to circumvent existing restrictions. The EU is seeking to “ban all cryptocurrency transactions with Russia” as part of the upcoming 20th sanctions package, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Unlike previous efforts targeting Russia-linked entities spun out of already sanctioned platforms, the newly proposed measures are broader and are designed to close Russia’s crypto loophole entirely. “Any further listing of individual crypto asset service providers […] is therefore likely…

Stablecoin Conversion Costs Highest in Africa, Data Shows

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Africa recorded the highest median stablecoin-to-fiat conversion spreads among tracked regions in January, according to data observed by payments infrastructure company Borderless.xyz, covering 66 currency corridors and nearly 94,000 rate observations. The regional median spread was 299 basis points, or about 3%, compared with about 1.3% in Latin America and 0.07% in Asia. In Africa, conversion costs ranged from about 1.5% in South Africa to nearly 19.5% in Botswana.  The data measures “spreads,” or the gap between a provider’s buy and sell rate for a stablecoin-to-fiat pair. Similar to a…

Sam Bankman-Fried Alleges DOJ Silenced Key Witnesses in New Trial Bid

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Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried claims to have “new evidence“ that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) under former President Joe Biden silenced key witnesses in his fraud case, as he pushes for a new trial. “New evidence shows that Biden’s DOJ threatened multiple witnesses into silence or into changing their testimony. My conviction should be thrown out,“ said SBF in his latest X post from prison on Wednesday. He linked to a court filing seeking a new trial under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33. The motion, submitted Thursday, references a…

This XRP Indicator Warns That Price May Crash Below $1: Analyst

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XRP (XRP)  has retraced nearly 63% from its multi-year high of $3.66 to trade at $1.36 on Wednesday, a technical setup that may have bearish implications for its price, according to a market analyst.   Key takeaways: XRP appeared bearish below $1.40, with chart technicals pointing to a further drop toward $0.70-$1. Persistent spot XRP ETFs inflows, whale accumulation and a surge in active addresses could invalidate the bearish outlook. Where will XRP price bottom? In a Tuesday post on X, Chart Nerd said that previous fractals from the monthly Gaussian…

Why Blockchain TPS Numbers Often Collapse in the Real World

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Blockchain transactions per second (TPS) numbers are often treated as a performance gauge, but they don’t tell the full story of whether a network can scale in practice. Carter Feldman, founder of Psy Protocol and a former hacker, told Cointelegraph that TPS figures are often misleading because they ignore how transactions are actually verified and relayed across decentralized systems. “Many pre-mainnet, testnet or isolated benchmarking tests measure TPS with only one node running. At that point, you might as well call Instagram a blockchain that can hit 1 billion TPS…

Why Bitcoin Is Reacting More to Liquidity Than to Interest Rate Cuts

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Key takeaways Bitcoin now responds more to liquidity than to rate cuts. While rate cuts once drove crypto rallies, Bitcoin’s recent price action reflects actual cash availability and risk capital in the system, not just borrowing costs. Interest rates and liquidity are not the same. Rates measure the price of money, while liquidity reflects the amount of money circulating. Bitcoin reacts more when liquidity tightens or loosens, even if rates move in the opposite direction. When liquidity is abundant, leverage and risk-taking expand, pushing Bitcoin higher. When liquidity contracts, leverage…

SFC Expands Leverage Rules for Hong Kong Crypto Firms

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Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said Wednesday it will allow licensed brokers to provide virtual asset margin financing and outlined a framework for trading platforms to offer perpetual contracts to professional investors. Under the new guidance, brokers may extend virtual asset financing to securities margin clients with sufficient collateral and strong credit profiles. Initially, only Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) will be eligible as collateral.  The regulator also set out a high-level framework for licensed virtual asset trading platforms to develop leveraged perpetual contracts. Access will be restricted to…

Ethereum Whales Accumulate Aggressively as ETH Price Drops Below $2K

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Ethereum accumulation addresses have witnessed a surge in daily inflows since Friday, suggesting growing confidence in Ether’s (ETH) long-term price trajectory despite its latest drop below $2,000. Key takeaways: Ether’s drop below $2,000 has left 58% of addresses with unrealized losses. Accumulation addresses have absorbed about $2.6 billion in ETH over five days. Key Ether levels to watch below $2,000 include $1,800, $1,500, $1,200, and potentially $750–$1,000 in extreme scenarios. 58% of Ether addresses are now in the red Ether’s 38% drop over the last month has seen it fall…

Judge Dismisses Bancor-Affiliated Patent Case Against Uniswap

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A New York federal judge has dismissed a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Bancor-affiliated entities against Uniswap, ruling that the asserted patents claim abstract ideas and are not eligible for protection under US patent law. In a memorandum opinion and order dated Feb. 10, Judge John G. Koeltl of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint filed by Bprotocol Foundation and LocalCoin Ltd. against Universal Navigation Inc. and the Uniswap Foundation.  The court found that the patents are…