Bitcoin is absorbing the return of Middle East risk better than oil or equities. Bitcoin traded at $74,335 on Monday morning, down 1.6% over 24 hours but still up 4.8% on the week after the U.S. Navy seized an Iranian ship over the weekend and Tehran reimposed controls on the Strait of Hormuz. Ether slipped…
Total value locked on decentralized lending protocol Aave dropped by nearly $8 billion over the weekend after hackers behind the $293 million Kelp DAO exploit borrowed funds on Aave, leaving roughly $195 million in “bad debt” on the protocol and triggering withdrawals. Data from DeFiLlama shows that Aave’s TVL fell from about $26.4 billion to…
The current Bitcoin (BTC) market cycle is “dramatically” weaker than the three previous cycles, according to Alex Thorn, the head of firmwide research at investment firm Galaxy. Thorn compared price action since the April 2024 Bitcoin halving to cycles triggered in 2012, 2016 and 2020; the current cycle shows significantly dampened volatility and lower upside….
A breach at web infrastructure provider Vercel is forcing crypto teams to rotate API keys and do a deep inspection of their underlying code. In a bulletin, Vercel said the hacker was able to grab behind-the-scenes settings that weren’t locked down, potentially exposing API keys — the digital credentials apps use to connect to other…
The impact of stablecoins on the banking sector appears “limited” at the current phase of the adoption cycle, but banks could face increasing competition and an erosion of market share as the stablecoin sector and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) grow in market capitalization. “So far, the use of stablecoins remains limited, but their market capitalization…
Institutional investors are warming to digital assets, with improving sentiment and broader use cases emerging as key drivers of adoption, according to a new survey from Tokyo-based bank Nomura and its crypto unit Laser Digital. The study, based on responses from more than 500 investment professionals in Japan, found that 31% of respondents now hold…
A roughly $292 million exploit over the weekend has rattled the crypto industry, exposing vulnerabilities in decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure and raising concerns about knock-on effects across lending protocols. While investigations are still ongoing, early analysis suggests the attack centered on Kelp’s rsETH token — a yield-bearing version of ether (ETH) — and the mechanism…
Three wallets, one denial, and $5.7 billion in market cap gone in 48 hours. RaveDAO’s RAVE crashed by 90% over 24 hours after crypto exchanges Binance and Bitget opened investigations into trading activity that catapulted the token to a $6 billion market cap last week. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen confirmed the probe on X, and…
The average Web3 VC pitch sounds like ours did three years ago. “We have deep relationships across the ecosystem.” “We add value beyond capital.” “Our network is our edge.” It’s not that any of these statements is a lie; it’s that everyone says them, which makes them effectively meaningless. Liquidity providers (LPs) have heard this…
As readers of this newsletter may be aware, Congress has spent the past few months debating market structure legislation, but crypto policy discussions encompass so many more issues than just the one: taxes, decentralized finance regulations, the midterm election, states and so much more. CoinDesk’s Consensus Miami conference next month is going to examine each…
