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Fidelity Investments is looking to create an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the price of Solana (SOL), a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday shows.Cboe Exchange uploaded a 19b-4 filing to list a Solana ETF proposed by the $5 trillion Wall Street veteran. This comes after the firm registered a Fidelity Solana Fund in Delaware last Thursday.Fidelity has yet to submit an S-1 filing, which is required for companies seeking to issue a new security and be listed on a public stock exchange.Solana, at $74 billion, is currently the sixth-largest crypto asset by market capitalization in the world. Several asset managers have filed applications with the SEC to launch funds holding the token, including Grayscale, Franklin Templeton and VanEck.Last week, two ETFs (SOLZ and SOLT) tracking SOL futures hit the market on Nasdaq, a significant step in getting a spot exchange-traded product approved.Fidelity has previously issued two spot crypto ETFs: the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH). Both launched last year. FBTC has attracted nearly $17 billion in assets — or bitcoin — and FETH handles roughly $975 million.Many of Fidelity’s clients are interested in owning cryptocurrencies and a large portion already does. The firm has been working on its digital asset ecosystem since 2014.... Read more

Decentralized lending platform Abracadabra.Finance suffered an attack that drained $13 million worth of cryptocurrency from pools tied to GMX liquidity tokens.Blockchain security firm PeckShield flagged that contracts involving decentralized exchange GMX and Abracadabra were compromised, leading to the theft of 6,260 ETH, worth around $12.98 million at the time of writing.The exploit focused on so-called "cauldrons," isolated lending markets in Abracadabra where users can borrow against crypto collateral. These particular cauldrons relied on GM tokens, which represent liquidity positions in GMX, a decentralized exchange platform.GMX distanced itself from the incident. In a post on X, an account associated with the exchange said that GMX’s contracts themselves were unaffected. The team later said the breach was “solely related to the Abracadabra/Spell cauldrons,” which used GM tokens as collateral but did not involve GMX’s core infrastructure.In a statement on X, Abracadabra confirmed the exploit and said core contributors and engineers were investigating the incident to its “fully audited” cauldron. The protocol noted that gmCauldrons had been audited by Guardian Audits — the same firm that audited GMX contracts — and were part of a broader security infrastructure involving monitoring and response tools.The protocol offered the attacker a 20% bug bounty and invited them to negotiate via email or an on-chain message.Abracadabra is working with Guardian and GMX as well as other security partners in assessing the extent of the damage and how the attack was executed. A full post-mortem will follow once the investigation concludes, and no user collateral was affected, it said.Last year Abracadabra.Finance suffered a $6.49 million exploit that caused its Magic Internet Money (MIM) stablecoin to lose its peg to the U.S. dollar.... Read more

Meme coin incubator CoreSky has raised $15 million in Series A funding, to accelerate the development of its platform.The funding, which brings the company’s total backing to $21 million, was led by Tido Capital with participation from WAGMI Ventures, CoPilot Ventures Studio, Web3vision, and Parallel Ventures.CoreSky’s platform enables user voting to gauge public opinion in the early stages of a meme token's development. Meme coins have experienced a significant surge in popularity in the last year, becoming a notable phenomenon in the cryptocurrency market. This rise is attributed to several factors, including high-profile endorsements, political developments, and the increasing influence of internet culture on financial markets.Despite the challenges presented by scams and rug pulls, the enthusiasm for meme coins persists. For many observers, they represent the community aspect of the cryptocurrency market, as well as the blending of internet culture with financial innovation.Disclaimer: This article, or parts of it, was generated with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.... Read more

It’s the year 2045. Digital assets move at the speed of light. AI agents interact millions of times a second, using bitcoin as a base currency. Bitcoin is now a $200 trillion asset class, a settlement layer for the AI Age of the Internet.This is the future imagined by bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of Strategy (MSTR). Saylor pioneered the bitcoin corporate treasury – turning his flailing software firm into a Nasdaq-listed $85 billion leveraged bitcoin powerhouse.CoinDesk recently sat down with Saylor, Bitcoin’s ultimate maximalist, for a two-hour interview to break down his vision for global bitcoin domination.Since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, bitcoin has maintained a 26% gain, peaking at a $2.1 trillion market cap, and touching a January all time high of $109,000. Strategy, a Wall Street proxy for bitcoin, remains strong with about a 50% gain, despite dropping approximately 30% from November highs amid a broader decline in U.S. equities, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield, and oil.The United States went from regulating crypto by enforcement and covertly de-banking digital asset firms, dubbed “Operation Chokepoint 2.0” by the industry, to declaring that the U.S. will become a bitcoin superpower and the crypto capital of the world. For Saylor, the sea change means doors that were previously closed are opening. Governments and traditional institutional investors around the world that used to be afraid of engaging with digital assets are now curious.Saylor said he is fielding invitations to speak at all the elite gatherings: South America’s 100 wealthiest families, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, Morgan Stanley’s prestigious tech conference, CPAC, and the White House. He has gone from encouraging corporations to adopt bitcoin treasuries to advising nation states on establishing strategic bitcoin reserves.Bitcoin has reached “escape velocity,” he said, because once the U.S. government begins to acquire it aggressively, the U.S. will become a beneficiary and force every country to adopt bitcoin as the global capital.“It becomes a fait accompli,” said Saylor. “It's one of those geopolitical moves that when you embrace the network, you force all of your allies first to adopt it, and then all your enemies have to adopt it.”U.S. Bitcoin Strategic ReservePresident Trump’s executive order to establish a U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve represents a milestone in realizing bitcoin’s manifest destiny. At one point, the U.S. held about 400,000 bitcoins, but sold half of it for proceeds of $366 million. Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks lamented that the cost to American taxpayers for selling this bitcoin prematurely is $17 billion at current market value.The executive order directs the Secretary of the Treasury to never sell the United States’ bitcoin and to develop budget neutral ways to acquire more bitcoin. It further directs the creation of a digital asset stockpile, a portfolio of seized crypto assets that can be managed and rebalanced as necessary.At President Trump’s White House Digital Assets Summit on March 7, Saylor proposed that the U.S. acquire 5%-25% of the total bitcoin supply by 2035 that could generate an estimated $100 trillion in economic value by 2045.When asked about this proposal, Bo Hines, Executive Director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, told CoinDesk the Trump administration wants the U.S. to acquire as much bitcoin “as we can possibly get” and is considering various creative methods, including Senator Cynthia Lummis’ (R-Wyo) proposal to use Federal reserve earnings and gold certificates to buy bitcoin.As the U.S. embraces bitcoin, worldwide banks will inevitably follow.“ Pandora's box has been opened,” said Saylor. “When bitcoin spreads… and there's a trillion dollars of digital capital in the banking system, it won't just be in the U.S. It's a virus. And so the virus spreads. And in this case, that means you're going to have hundreds of thousands of banks and trillions of dollars that are held by a billion people.”‘Thermodynamically Sound’ MoneyMichael Saylor was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. He grew up on Air Force bases across the Midwest, as well as in Japan and New Zealand. An Air Force scholarship sent Saylor to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he obtained dual degrees in aeronautics, astronautics, and the history of science. A literal rocket scientist, Saylor’s systems mindset attracted him to bitcoin’s “thermodynamically sound” design.After serving as an Air Force Reserve captain, Saylor co-founded MicroStrategy in 1989, a software firm that rode the dot-com bubble, until Saylor and two other MicroStrategy executives were embroiled in an accounting fraud scandal in 2000. Eventually, they settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for about $11 million.At MicroStrategy, Saylor invented over 48 patents and deployed dozens of business ideas. Some succeeded, most of them failed. Saylor said the irony is that his greatest success was somebody else’s idea. Satoshi Namamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, created “digital gold” that Saylor discovered while under lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. He grabbed onto it out of desperation, preferring MicroStrategy to have a quick death over a slow one if it failed.In July 2020, MicroStrategy began to steadily and continuously purchase bitcoin through cash flows, equity and debt, basically any way it could. It climbed the highs of the 2021 bull run and withstood the impairment charges of the 2022 crypto winter. By 2024, the Bitcoin corporate treasury strategy emerged battle tested. It survived its first crypto market cycle and the Trump bump catapulted MicroStrategy from a $1 billion to a $100 billion market cap company.“[Bitcoin] became an opportunity,” said Saylor. “Then it became a strategy, and then all of a sudden in the past 12 months, we realized it was a really good business.”From MicroStrategy to StrategyMicroStrategy, rebranded and doing business as “Strategy,” proved to be an incredibly desirable stock for institutional investors wanting exposure to the volatile ups and downs of bitcoin. In December, Strategy was admitted to the Nasdaq 100. It is now eyeing membership to the S&P 500, which would spark an additional tidal wave of public market access.To generate positive momentum, Strategy is laser-focused on raising capital to buy more bitcoin through a plethora of fixed income securities, creating a casino of financial products for traders addicted to bitcoin’s volatility. By constantly weighing market conditions, tweaking yield parameters and conversion factors, Strategy has engineered "intelligent leverage” designed to lure demand and ensure each successive series of securities amp each other up in an endless positive feedback loop.“If you were to say, it sounds like financial engineering, it absolutely is financial engineering,” said Saylor. “ It creates more pressure to drive up the price of bitcoin, which drives up the price of MSTR, which drives up the leverage of MSTR, which drives up the value of the options, which drives up the demand for the equity, which drives up the demand and the value of the [convertible bonds], which drives up the price of and the demand for the preferred [shares].”Strategy has raised approximately $33 billion to purchase half a billion bitcoins through this financial engineering. That has ignited online debate regarding Strategy’s ability to pay out dividends or bond maturities if markets sour or it cannot raise fresh capital. The money likely won’t come from existing company cash flows: Strategy’s software profits are negligible; in 2020-2023, they were negative, according to MarketWatch data.All of this keeps Saylor up at night. So, Strategy is keeping all of its options open.“ When the equity capital markets give us a massive premium, we'll sell the equity,” said Saylor. “If we get too levered, we will de-lever. If we feel that the capital markets aren't really favorable to sell any securities, we'll just stop and wait.”Last week, Strategy brought its bitcoin holdings above 500,000 tokens by purchasing an additional 6,911 bitcoins for $584 million, using proceeds from the sale of MSTR common stock. They further announced their new STRF perpetual offering raised $711 million to buy more bitcoin, when its initial goal was to raise $500 million.This latest series of preferred stock differs from the original STRK offering in that it comes with a higher coupon (10% versus 8%) and has no common share conversion provision. Spelled out in the prospectuses of both offerings are risk factors that include no obligation to pay accumulated dividends “for any reason.”Strategy has also eliminated any collateralized debt and therefore liquidation risk of the company’s bitcoin assets.”We've built an indestructible balance sheet. Bitcoin could trade down 99%. There’s no margin call coming. The instruments that are constructed don't have Bitcoin pledged as collateral,” said Saylor.Ultimately, the dates to watch are when Strategy’s loans to bondholders become due. The first “put date” is September 16, 2027. If Strategy fails to incentivize bondholders to convert their bonds to MSTR stock or persuade them to await principal repayment the following year, these bondholders might demand Strategy buy back their $1.8 billion loan in cash. If the markets are still hungry for bitcoin exposure, it will be easier to raise capital and pay back investors. If there is a market downturn, and the Wall Street spigot runs dry, Strategy may have to consider selling its bitcoin or default.‘Economic immortality’But... Read more

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2780.73, down 0.9% (-23.96) since 4 p.m. ET on Monday.Nine of 20 assets are trading higher.Leaders: AVAX (+4.1%) and ADA (+2.3%).Laggards: BCH (-1.9%) and AAVE (-1.9%).The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.... Read more

CME Group, a major marketplace in derivatives trading for institutions, said it is exploring tokenization as a way to improve capital market efficiency with U.S. tech giant Google Cloud's distributed ledger technology. The two companies plan to start direct tests with market participants later this year and are aiming to launch new services in 2026, according to a Tuesday press release. CME will use Google Cloud’s newly introduced Universal Ledger, a programmable, private network to test how digital asset infrastructure can streamline settlement and clearing.The two giants' move underscores the red-hot tokenization trend that has captivated crypto firms and traditional financial firms. Global asset managers and banks are increasingly exploring ways to use blockchains rails for moving traditional financial instruments such as funds, bonds and other securities. They do so to pursue efficiency gains and faster, cheaper and around-the-clock settlements. Tokenized assets could grow to multitrillion-dollar market by the end of the decade, according to several industry reports from BCG, McKinsey and Bernstein."As the President and new Administration have encouraged Congress to create landmark legislation for common-sense market structure, we are pleased to partner with Google Cloud to enable innovative solutions for low-cost, digital transfer of value," said Terry Duffy, CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Google Cloud Universal Ledger has the potential to deliver significant efficiencies for collateral, margin, settlement and fee payments as the world moves toward 24/7 trading."... Read more

The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector is among the biggest drivers of value accrual and revenue creation for crypto projects, but its complexity often leaves users tangled in a web of blockchains, bridges, wallets and tokens.However, a technical update by Hyperliquid is making that process easier for both developers and users, with the direct linking of tokens on HyperCore and HyperEVM platforms now being possible.HyperCore is its native platform for spot assets (think tokens you can trade directly), and HyperEVM, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) network that executes smart contracts on Ethereum.Tokens on HyperCore, dubbed “Core spot,” can be linked to their counterparts on HyperEVM and are called “EVM spot.” Once linked, users can transfer them using simple actions — like a “spotSend” on HyperCore or a standard ERC-20 transfer on HyperEVM.Linking a core spot token to an EVM spot token isn’t automatic. The process starts with the token’s “spot deployer,” or the entity behind it, which ensures the token’s supply matches up on both sides of the transaction.Then, they send a “spot deploy action” to HyperCore, proposing an ERC-20 contract on HyperEVM to pair with their token.Next comes verification. If the EVM contract was deployed directly by an individual, they confirm it with a specific transaction nonce (a unique number assigned to each transfer on a blockchain).If it was deployed by another contract (say, a multisig for added security), the contract’s first storage slot must point to the HyperCore deployer’s address. Finally, a “finalize” action locks it all in place — ensuring both sides agree on the link.Allowing linking lets users tap into Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem — such as lending, borrowing, and trading — without leaving the Hyperliquid ecosystem entirely.Why Does it Matter?But how does that matter? It’s because moving tokens between ecosystems isn’t a straightforward process.Take Ethereum as an example, with billions locked in protocols like Aave or Uniswap. But if someone wants to send a token from another network, say Solana, they need a bridge — a third-party service that locks your tokens on one side and mints a wrapped version on the other. That comes with a security risk, as bridges remain one of the most exploited blockchain-based services in recent years.The above friction exists even within Ethereum’s ecosystem, as moving assets between its mainnet and layer 2 blockchain (such as Optimism or Arbitrum) isn’t always seamless.Hyperliquid’s approach is different from just bolting on a bridge. HyperCore is a high-speed, purpose-built platform for spot trading, while HyperEVM is an EVM-compatible layer that taps into Ethereum’s DeFi toolkit.By letting tokens move directly between them — without a third-party intermediary — developers can create products that cut out the technical chops required to move assets (which is easy for heavy crypto users, but may be challenging for beginners).Tokens like HYPE, HyperEVM’s gas token, don’t need a separate ERC20 contract to work on both sides. Send HYPE from HyperCore, and it lands as native gas on HyperEVM. Send it back to HyperCore via a system address (0x222), and it’s credited instantly based on an event log.It’s not perfect just yet; however, Hyperliquid warned in its technical documents that risks of unverified contracts or supply mismatches exist as of Tuesday.... Read more

For years, crypto’s positioned itself as the next great technological revolution. But as we witness the explosive rise of AI, it's time for crypto to face the truth: the true technological revolution of our era is artificial intelligence, and crypto will play a supporting role rather than be the star.This isn't about diminishing the industry’s importance or the quality of what it’s built. I helped pioneer institutional investing in Bitcoin, and I’ve operated and invested in numerous companies building on-chain. I also earned a Ph.D in AI. The simple truth is that building intelligent systems that solve real-world problems should be the mission, whether or not blockchain rails are included.With respect to pure crypto, the only segment left standing is DeFi. Objectively a better version of TradFi, DeFi boasts better engineering, programmability, and composability. This is properly captured with the meme: Internet Capital Markets. Stablecoins and tokenization have shown exceptional product-market-fit, and they remain crypto’s truest (read: only) demonstration of real tangible value to date. As such, the institutions are coming, and for good reason. BlackRock, Robinhood, and even crypto-native stalwarts like Coinbase are building out crypto products in the expectation of imminent regulatory clarity. Moving instant global payments and settlement along with more complex financial instruments on-chain is a no-brainer.Otherwise, there’s AI. There’s TradAI like the big labs, model builders, and LLM providers. There’s open-weight AI like DeepSeek and Mistral. There’s open-source AI like Nous. AI apps like Cursor and Lovable. Agents like Manus. Robotics. And even Decentralized AI or Crypto x AI (we’ll get to that in a minute…). In short, there's already more demand for AI products and services than there has ever been for pure crypto applications.This is captured by another meme: if you’re in crypto, pivot to AI.This shouldn't surprise us. While crypto has struggled to find mainstream use cases beyond speculation and gambling, AI is already improving productivity and working its way into transforming industries everywhere across the world.What’s more? A sobering reality for crypto – further accentuated by recent memecoin activity and what’s been colloquially called “crime szn” – has been the disconnect between token values and actual technological utility. While decentralized technology itself is revolutionary, the value captured by tokens has historically been driven more by memetic appeal than by genuine technological value creation (there have been calls to get grounded in “fundamentals” as of late, but we’ll see if it has legs…). This isn't necessarily a criticism – meme value is real value in many ways – but it highlights a fundamental weakness of crypto as a standalone industry.This doesn't mean crypto’s rekt. In fact, blockchain and crypto protocols may become essential components of a future AI tech stack. But they'll serve as infrastructure underlying AI-first products and services, rather than as standalone products.Consider ways to Make AI Cheap Again: distributed computing power for training and inference, verifiable computation and data provenance, tokenized access to computational resources, decentralized storage of training data, and transparent reward mechanisms for contribution. Distributed computing and DePIN architectures as well as transparent verification systems have proven their utility. But – and this is crucial – they'll do so in service of AI products and services that solve real problems for mainstream users who neither know nor care about the underlying technical infrastructure.We could envision protocols built using blockchains generating revenue through licensing or usage and being paid in other tokenized forms of value like stablecoins – a model in stark contrast to the token-as-the-product model currently a la mode.For founders and teams currently focused on crypto-native applications, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is expanding beyond the comfortable but limited crypto ecosystem, represented primarily by Crypto Twitter and [Insert Your Favorite Conference Here]. The opportunity is participating in the genuine technological revolution that AI represents.What does this mean in practice? First, teams need to start thinking bigger. Founders should be asking themselves how AI can transform their target market, and then consider how crypto technology might help enable that transformation. This means fundamentally changing how we approach building and marketing crypto products.Instead of starting with tokenization, tokenomics, or even blockchains in general, begin with real-world problems that AI could solve. Only then should teams identify where decentralized systems could enhance the AI, and implement these pieces of the stack where they genuinely add value.Leverage crypto where it makes sense, especially where it can mitigate costs or improve efficiency, but keep the focus squarely on delivering value through intelligence and automation.For example, companies could use blockchains to create decentralized marketplaces for critical processes, making AI more accessible and cost-effective (Vast.ai, a Nazaré portfolio company, does this for GPUs, and Orchid has been re-defining the internet and privacy with decentralized markets for years).Agents might also use cryptographic verification or privacy systems to safely and securely act on our behalf online using our login information, identities and credit cards, or even private keys and wallets on-chain.In both cases, crypto serves the larger goal of making AI systems more effective and trustworthy.The companies that will thrive in this new landscape are those that understand this dynamic. They will either build AI-first products that incorporate crypto where it adds genuine value, or they will build crypto services explicitly designed to improve AI-based products or services. The market won’t support teams running around wielding the hammer that is blockchains treating everything like a nail.Ultimately, this is about properly understanding the relationship between crypto and AI. The future belongs to AI as the primary framework while thoughtfully incorporating crypto where appropriate.For much of the crypto industry, this is a moment of truth and a profound recalibration. We can either cling to the narrative of crypto as a standalone revolution and speculative tokens as retail products, or we can embrace crypto's supporting role as excellent technology in service of AI.The latter may be less glamorous (and perhaps less valuable to investment portfolios), but it's ultimately more likely to create real lasting value and impact.The sooner we accept this reality, the better positioned we'll be to contribute meaningfully to the technological transformation that's already underway. It's time for the crypto industry to think bigger than itself.If you’re in crypto, pivot to AI. ... Read more

BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, has become available on Solana, Securitize announced, marking another step in the asset manager’s push into blockchain-based finance.The expansion makes BUIDL available on seven blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Aptos, Arbitrum and Optimism. Only 62 wallets currently hold BUIDL on-chain, however, according to rwa.zyz data.The fund, officially the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, combines a short-term yield-bearing portfolio of cash and U.S. Treasuries with the settlement and transfer capabilities of blockchain. Since its introduction on Ethereum in 2023, the fund has drawn in $1.7 billion and is on track to cross $2 billion by early April, according to Securitize.“In the year since BUIDL’s launch, we’ve experienced significant growth in demand for tokenized real-world assets, reinforcing the value of bringing institutional-grade products on-chain,” said Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, in a statement. “As the market for RWAs and tokenized treasuries gains momentum, expanding BUIDL to Solana—a blockchain known for its speed, scalability, and cost efficiency—is a natural next step.”Money market funds typically allow investors to earn interest on idle cash, but they come with trading limitations such as limited operating hours. Blockchain versions like BUIDL allow for constant access.BlackRock isn’t alone. Franklin Templeton offers a similar tokenized fund that currently has a $692 billion market capitalization and 558 holders, and Figure Markets recently launched YLDS, an interest-bearing stablecoin. Other major tokenized treasury funds include the Hashnote Short Duration Yield Coin (USYC) and Ondo U.S. Dollar Yield.The tokenized Treasury market is one of the fastest-growing sectors among tokenized assets, growing nearly sixfold over the past year and recently crossing $5 billion in market capitalization, rwa.xyz data show.... Read more

Bitcoin (BTC) options worth billions of dollars will expire on Deribit on Friday. The impending settlement, though big, may not yield significant market volatility, the exchange told CoinDesk.More than 139,000 BTC option contracts, worth $12.13 billion, representing nearly 45% of the total active BTC contracts across all expiries, are due for settlement this Friday, according to data source Deribit metrics. More than 65% of the total open interest is concentrated in call options that provide buyers with an asymmetric bullish exposure, while the rest is in put options offering downside protection.Quarterly expiries of such massive magnitudes are known to breed market volatility, but that may not be the case this time, going by the continued decline in the bitcoin 30-day implied volatility index (DVOL). The index has dropped from an annualized 62% to 48% in the weeks leading up to the expiry, suggesting subdued volatility expectations.Similar conclusions can be drawn from the annualized perpetual futures basis of around 5% on the exchange, signalling a calmer funding environment."Despite the size of the expiry, the overall setup—low DVOL, moderate basis, and balanced options positioning—points to a relatively subdued expiry unless external catalysts emerge," Luuk Strijers, CEO of Deribit, told CoinDesk.Some downside hedging seenOptions skew, which measures the difference between implied volatility (pricing) for calls relative to puts, shows downside concerns in the lead-up to Friday's expiry.That said, the broader outlook remains constructive."3-Day Put-Call Skew is Slightly Positive indicating some immediate downside protection demand while 30-Day Put-Call Skew is slightly Negative indicating a more bullish outlook over the medium term," Strijers said.Also expiring Friday are ether (ETH) options worth $2.8 billion.... Read more

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance protocol backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, confirmed on Tuesday its plans to launch a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. USD1 is anchored to $1 and will be fully backed by short-term U.S. governemnt securities, U.S. dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents. The reserves will be custodied at BitGo, while BitGo Prime, the firm's brokerage service will provide liquidity for the token. The stablecoin will be first available on Ethereum and BNB Chain, with plans to expand to other networks, the protocol said.The announcement came after crypto observers brought attention to test transactions with a token named World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) on Ethereum and BNB Chain, with BitGo and market maker Wintermute being involved in transfers."USD1 provides what algorithmic and anonymous crypto projects cannot—access to the power of DeFi underpinned by the credibility and safeguards of the most respected names in traditional finance,” said Zach Witkoff, WLFI co-founder. “We’re offering a digital dollar stablecoin that sovereign investors and major institutions can confidently integrate into their strategies for seamless, secure cross-border transactions.”WLFI, a project spearheaded by Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro, made a splash last year as one of the first crypto projects enjoying the backing of Trump. The protocol aims to provide a blockchain-based marketplace where users can borrow and lend cryptocurrencies, create liquidity pools and transact with stablecoins.... Read more

KULR (KULR) a leader in advanced energy management has acquired an additional $5 million worth of bitcoin (BTC). The latest purchase was made at an average price of $88,824 per bitcoin, increasing the company’s total holdings to 668.3 BTC, per the announcement from CEO Michael Mo. This move is in line with KULR’s bitcoin treasury strategy, first announced in December, which allows for up to 90% of its surplus cash reserves to be held in bitcoin. The company stack was purchased for about $65 million, or an average price of $97,305 per token. It's worth just above $58 million at bitcoin's current price in the $87,000 area.Year to date, KULR has achieved a bitcoin yield of 181.1%, according to Mo, utilizing a mix of cash and its at-the-market (ATM) equity program to fund acquisitions. The bitcoin yield is a key performance indicator (KPI) for the company, calculated by assessing the percentage change period over period in the ratio of bitcoin holdings to KULR’s assumed fully diluted shares outstanding. This metric reflects the company's efficiency in increasing BTC exposure relative to shareholder dilution.KULR stock is trading 3.5% higher in the pre-market session. Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.... Read more

Stocks and crypto trading platform eToro filed to sell shares to the public for the first time on the Nasdaq, marking a renewed push for a listing after a previous attempt stalled in 2021.In a prospectus for the initial public offering (IPO), the Bnei Brak, Israel-based company said revenue more than tripled to $12.6 billion last year. The lion’s share came from cryptocurrency-related revenue, which rose to $12.1 billion last year from $3.4 billion in 2023.Founded in 2007 by Yoni and Ronen Assia, eToro allows users to trade assets including stocks, crypto and commodities, and to copy other traders' portfolios. The company’s IPO plans were revealed earlier this year through reports on a confidential filing with the SEC.Net income jumped to $192 million in 2024, up from just $15.3 million in 2023 according to data from its recent Form F-1 filing. The company is looking to raise $300 million–$400 million at a valuation of $4.5 billion, Globes reported.That’s below the $10.4 billion valuation it sought in 2021 during a planned merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, which was later shelved due to market conditions. The firm has filed to list under the ticker “ETOR.”The offering will be led by major underwriters including Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, UBS, and Citigroup.Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.... Read more

Custodia Bank and Vantage Bank have completed the tokenization of U.S. dollar demand deposits on the Ethereum mainnet.The banks issued and redeemed Custodia's Avit stablecoins on the Ethereum mainnet, marking a major milestone in blockchain-based banking innovation. They conducted a series of eight regulated test transactions, involving minting, transferring, and redeeming Avit tokens under full U.S. banking compliance, including BSA/AML/OFAC regulations. Vantage Bank handled fiat reserves and traditional banking services (Fedwire/ACH), while Custodia oversaw blockchain functions such as issuance, custody, and reconciliation through its Avit Management System. Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.... Read more

"You're not bullish enough!" an XRP enthusiast exclaimed on X last week after Ripple, which utilizes the token for cross-border transactions, announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its case against them.Many others share this excitement, and understandably so, as the conclusion of this long-standing legal battle has lifted a weight that hindered XRP's performance compared to the broader market during the 2021 bull run. Plus, there is XRP ETF hype and hopes that the token could become a part of the U.S. strategic reserve.That said, the recent price action does not reflect the above optimism, with key momentum indicators flashing a major bearish shift in trend, warning of a notable price slide ahead.XRP surged over 11% to $2.59 last Wednesday, cheering the SEC news. Since then, the follow through has been anything but bullish with prices rangebound between $2.30-$2.50, despite optimism that expected reciprocal trade tariffs from President Donald Trump on April 2 could be more measured than initially expected. Three-line break chartThe first indicator signaling bearish trend reversal is the three-line break chart, which focuses only on price movements while filtering out short-term noise, helping identify trend changes as suggested by the market and not arbitrary/discretionary trading rules.The chart consists of vertical blocks called lines or bars (green and red). A bull reversal happens when a green bar occurs with prices moving higher than the highest point of the last three red bars. On the contrary, a bearish shift is represented by the emergence of a new red bar that goes beyond the lowest point of the previous three green bars.In XRP's case, a new red bar occurred early this month in the weekly time frame and has held intact following the SEC news. The "weekly" aspect means this chart aggregates price information over a week.The new red bar indicates a bullish-to-bearish shift in momentum. Similar patterns characterized the beginnings of prolonged bear markets in 2021 and early 2018.MACDThe moving average convergence divergence (MACD) histogram, used to gauge trend strength and trend changes, is producing deeper bars below the zero line on the weekly chart. It's a sign of the strengthening of the downside momentum.The same indicator flipped positive in November, after which prices surged from $1 to above $3.The 5- and 10-week simple moving averages (SMAs) have crossed bearish as well, suggesting the path of least resistance is to the downside.Bollinger BandsThe Bollinger bands – volatility bands placed two standard deviations above and below XRP's 20-week SMA – have widened in response to the sharp price rally in late 2024 and early this year.Historically, prices have tended to move lower following the sharp widening of the Bollinger bands, as observed after mid-2021 and early 2018.When bullish?A firm move of $3, the high registered on March 2, would invalidate the bearish setup, negating the lower highs pattern to suggest a renewed bullish technical outlook.Some analysts expect XRP to reach as high as $10 by the end of this decade.... Read more