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In brief Ark Labs secured backing from Tether and Anchorage Digital. The firm plans to advance stablecoins and real-world assets on its Bitcoin layer. The technology processes transactions off-chain, with fail-safe measures. Tether has backed Ark Labs in a $5.2 million seed round, as the Bitcoin infrastructure startup aims to expand stablecoin activity on Bitcoin through Arkade, the firm’s programmable layer.The Lugano, Switzerland-based firm plans to use the funding to bolster the Bitcoin network’s use in supporting stablecoins and digital representations of real-world assets, according to an announcement on Thursday.Tokenized assets primarily exist on networks like Ethereum and Solana that…
In brief The CFTC has issued a staff advisory to exchanges and has launched an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking public comment. Chairman Michael Selig said the agency will defend its jurisdiction over event-contract markets as states increasingly challenge platforms tied to sports outcomes. The move comes as courts, lawmakers, and regulators debate whether sports prediction markets should be treated as financial derivatives or gambling. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission launched a two-pronged regulatory push Thursday, moves Chairman Michael Selig framed as the agency finally stepping up after years of inaction.The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight’s Letter No.…
In brief Eightco shares are rising after the firm announced a new $125 million fundraise from BitMine and Ark Invest. The firm previously raised $20 million from BitMine and created a Worldcoin treasury. Eightco aims to expand its reach into AI, blockchain, and digital consumer products, having completed investments in OpenAI and Beast Industries. Shares in publicly traded blockchain and artificial intelligence firm Eightco (ORBS) are up more than 15% Thursday following news that the firm has raised $125 million to continue its expansion into AI and blockchain. The firm earned commitments of $75 million from leading Ethereum treasury firm BitMine…
In brief Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen will step down as the company expands its push for generative AI tools. Layoffs at Atlassian, Block and others reflect a shift toward smaller teams and efficiency. The automation is rapidly reshaping hiring, engineering roles, and tech leadership, observers told Decrypt. Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe, plans to step down after nearly two decades at the helm of the software maker, as the rise of generative AI forces tech companies to rethink leadership, strategy, and workforce size.Adobe announced Thursday that Narayen will remain as board chair while the company begins a search for his…
In brief Bitcoin is up 2.6% to around $71,500, its highest level in a week. On Thursday, Brent crude jumped 9.2% to above $100 a barrel, its largest one-day gain since 2020. Some analysts say Bitcoin’s resilience may reflect strong crypto-market demand, including inflows tied to Strategy’s 11.5% yield product linked to Bitcoin exposure. Bitcoin is trading at its highest level in a week as tensions in the Middle East continue to weigh on equities, while oil prices are driving higher amid concerns of a prolonged conflict.The world’s largest crypto is up 2.6% to $71,500, a level not seen since…
Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure Charles Hoskinson says the Cardano ecosystem has crossed a threshold it had struggled to reach for years: a Binance spot listing for a native asset. In a March 11 livestream, the Cardano founder described Binance’s announced support for Midnight’s token NIGHT as a milestone not just for that project, but for the broader effort to bring native assets into tier-one global liquidity. NIGHT Gets Listed On Binance Hoskinson framed the development around Midnight, the privacy-focused sidechain project tied to the Cardano ecosystem, whose token had already appeared…
In brief The Senate passed a housing bill containing a ban on an American CBDC, or “digital dollar.” The ban would last until 2031, if the bill is signed into law. But the legislation currently faces some opposition in the House, and a reported lack of enthusiasm from the president. The U.S. Senate passed a bill Thursday containing a ban on the development of an American CBDC, often called a “digital dollar”—but the legislation has some ways to go before it’s signed into law.The ban on an American CBDC, or central bank digital currency, would last until 2031. It was…
In brief “AdFi” platform Alkimi is aiming to address the issue of fraud in the advertising marketplace. Alkimi records all data related to marketing campaigns on Sui’s open and tamperproof ledger, letting advertisers and publishers track ad budgets in real time. The Alkimi platform has been used by brands including Coca-Cola, Dell, Cathay Pacific, Meta, Sky, Bupa, Kraken, PayPal, TikTok, and American Express. Decentralized blockchain infrastructure promises to break monopolies, do away with gatekeepers and render opaque processes transparent—and one industry where it’s sorely needed is online advertising, according to decentralized ad exchange Alkimi.“Intermediaries take fees of up to 40…
In brief The White House is demanding that ABC News retract a report about a possible Iranian drone attack on California. Officials say the FBI bulletin referenced in the story relied on a single unverified tip and did not represent a credible threat. The dispute comes as Iran launches hundreds of drones across the Middle East in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes. The White House is demanding that ABC News retract a report warning that Iran sought to launch drone attacks on California, saying the story relied on a single unverified tip and overstated the threat.The dispute centers on…
In brief JPMorgan Chase was sued this week for allegedly enabling a $328 million crypto “Ponzi scheme.” Prosecutors say a crypto executive misused investor funds meant for liquidity pools to fund a lavish lifestyle. An alleged victim of the scheme is claiming Chase Bank should never have allowed the executive to use its services. The biggest bank in the United States has been roped into a lawsuit over a customer’s alleged crypto “Ponzi scheme,” as the Department of Justice recently described it, with one of the operation’s victims arguing that JPMorgan Chase should have detected and stopped the misconduct.The suit,…
In brief Bitcoin has gained ~6% since the Iran crisis began, outpacing gold and equities. Rising Treasury yields suggest investors are losing faith in traditional safe havens. Institutional inflows into digital asset products have been positive for three straight weeks. Bitcoin has seen a modest gain since the start of the Iran conflict, even as bonds and stocks have struggled—and a new note from digital asset manager CoinShares suggests that divergence is meaningful.At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading for $70,323 after having fallen 0.8% in the past day, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko. Even with the daily…
President Donald Trump’s announcement of the first major new US oil refinery in nearly 50 years arrives as gasoline prices have become a political problem and energy has turned inflationary again.The Brownsville project is being pitched as an industrial revival and consumer relief. Still, the sharper question is whether a refinery that won’t produce fuel for years can address the inflationary pressures now.Sustained energy-driven price pressure can keep the Fed more cautious, tightening liquidity conditions for risk assets like Bitcoin. At the same time, some investors still view persistent inflation and geopolitical commodity shocks as part of the longer-term case…
In brief A new GI-TOC report has revealed that illicit Amazonian gold is being sold in Venezuela in exchange for the USDT stablecoin. Use of USDT in the illicit gold trade has been observed within the past year, while the Venezuelan economy in general has become more reliant on the stablecoin. Experts suggest that a new bill working its way through Congress could reduce the flow of illicit gold, but that it would also have to include sections related to gold to be effective. Tether’s USDT stablecoin has become a means of payment in the illicit trade of gold into…
Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure Solana ETFs are breaking records even as SOL prices are in a downtrend. While bearish sentiment dominates the crypto market, billions of dollars continue to flow in, painting a contrasting picture between price action and institutional demand. As the cryptocurrency attempts a recovery, analysts are once again eyeing a return to the $100 level. However, the question remains whether the current ETF momentum could be the catalyst that drives a price recovery. Solana ETFs Hit Record Levels Amidst Price Decline Solana has been experiencing a rough stretch…
Bitcoin held near $70,000 despite oil price briefly trading around $100 a barrel, a move that would once have pushed crypto sharply lower under the usual macro playbook.According to CryptoSlate’s data, the flagship digital asset climbed a modest 0.3% over the last 24 hours, reaching as high as $71,337 before retracing to $69,803 as of press time.Oil prices climbed sharply, with WTI crude rising 4.79% to $92.04 and Brent crude jumping 5.24% to $97.22.The rally followed escalating shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which deepened concerns about a sustained supply shock. Notably, Iran had warned the world to prepare…
In brief A trader swapping $50 million in USDT for AAVE received only 324 tokens after confirming a slippage warning. At AAVE’s current price of $111.52, the tokens received are worth roughly $36,100. Aave founder Stani Kulechov said the protocol will attempt to return about $600,000 in fees from the trade. A crypto trader lost almost the entire value of a $50 million transaction on Thursday after executing a large swap for Aave’s governance token through the decentralized finance protocol’s trading interface.The user attempted to buy AAVE with $50 million worth of the stablecoin USDT through the Aave interface, according…
Strategy appears to have purchased more than 4,000 bitcoin on Thursday, according to estimates derived from real-time trading data and community tracking dashboards monitoring the firm’s preferred equity sales. Data from STRC.live and market trackers suggests the purchases were funded through heavy issuance of the company’s Variable Rate Series A Preferred Stock (STRC), a perpetual preferred instrument that Strategy has increasingly used to raise capital for bitcoin accumulation. By end of day in New York, trading activity implied the firm had already raised enough capital to acquire more than 4,000 BTC, marking the largest single-day bitcoin purchase funded through STRC…
The SEC and CFTC have just signed an agreement that turns months of public harmonization talk into a formal operating framework for crypto, derivatives, and hybrid market products.The agreement covers product definitions, clearing and margin rules, dually registered venues and intermediaries, crypto assets, reporting, examinations, surveillance, and enforcement.SEC Chair Paul Atkins admitted that years of “regulatory turf wars,” duplicate registrations, and overlapping rules helped push activity to other jurisdictions. That turns a procedural announcement into a concrete claim: part of the U.S. crypto problem came from the U.S. regulatory structure itself, not only from the firms trying to navigate it.The…
In brief Google built the largest-ever flash flood dataset by using Gemini to mine two decades of global news reports. The dataset now powers an AI model that predicts urban flash floods up to 24 hours in advance. The system fills a major data gap that long blocked flash flood forecasting. Flash floods kill thousands of people every year. They strike fast, hit cities hardest, and for decades there was almost nothing scientists could do to see them coming, because the data to train prediction models simply didn’t exist.On Thursday, Google said it found a way around that problem—by reading…