In The Battle Of Chains, Distribution Is King

Opinion by: Marcin Kaźmierczak, co-founder of RedStone The fight for dominance in blockchain won’t be won by whoever has the lowest fees or the fastest consensus; it will be won by whoever can mobilize the largest base of users. Circle, Stripe, Coinbase and others are soon to follow, rewriting their business models around proprietary chains….

Gold Hits Record High Over $5K As Bitcoin Falls Below $86K

Gold prices have topped $5,000 amid rising geopolitical and global trade tensions, while Bitcoin has fallen toward $86,000 as the divergence between the two assets widened.  Gold surged to a record high of $5,080 on Monday following a 17% gain so far this year, according to Gold Price, with traders flocking to the precious metal…

Japan May Permit Crypto ETFs Under Proposed Regulatory Changes

Japan’s financial regulator is weighing potential rule changes that could pave the way for cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with local media reporting that 2028 is being discussed as an early target. According to a report by Nikkei, citing people familiar with the matter, Japan’s Financial Services Agency plans to amend its regulatory framework to allow…

Bitcoin ‘True Bottom’ Pending as Yen Fractal Signals 30% BTC Price Drop

Bitcoin (BTC) may face another sharp sell-off if growing talk of a Japanese yen (JPY) intervention turns into action, with past intervention episodes coinciding with 30% drawdowns in BTC price. Key takeaways: Past Japanese yen shocks saw BTC drop about 30%, and then recover by over 100%. Onchain data says the Bitcoin bottom is not…

Over 70% of Institutional Investors Say Bitcoin Undervalued

Around 70% of institutional investors believe Bitcoin is undervalued when priced between $85,000 to $95,000, as it continues to underperform against precious metals and the stock market, Coinbase has found. Coinbase said in its Charting Crypto Q1 2026 report that its survey of 75 institutional investors and 73 independent investors was taken between early December…

ETHZilla Buys Aircraft Engines Amid Tokenization Focus

The Ethereum treasury company ETHZilla has purchased two jet engines after selling off some of its crypto stash and increasing its focus on asset tokenization. ETHZilla said in a regulatory filing on Friday that it purchased two aircraft engines through a newly formed subsidiary, ETHZilla Aerospace LLC, for $12.2 million in cash. The engines, which…

UK’s FCA Opens Final Consultation On Crypto Rules

The Financial Conduct Authority has begun seeking final feedback on a set of proposals aiming to apply traditional finance standards to the UK crypto sector. The UK’s financial watchdog is entering the final stages of its consultation process for a host of key proposed crypto regulations as the agency continues to work on the government’s…

Gold tops $5,000 as BTC stalls near $87,000 in widening macro-crypto split: Asia Morning Briefing

Good Morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the markets: Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas. Gold’s breakout above $5,000 is beginning to look less like a spike…

Deadly Winter Storm in US Impacts Foundry USA and Other Mining Pools

The hashrate of Foundry USA, a digital asset advisory firm with the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool, has curtailed its hashrate by about 60% since Friday in response to the severe winter storm impacting large swaths of the United States. “Bitcoin hashrate on Foundry USA alone is down by nearly 200 exahashes per second…

Ethereum’s “Walkaway Test”: Why Quantum Readiness Matters

What is the “walkaway test?” Vitalik Buterin’s “walkaway test” is a way to assess Ethereum’s long-term credibility. The network is intended to remain secure and functional even if its core developers were to stop actively upgrading it. In a recent analogy, Buterin suggested that a protocol should resemble a tool you own, such as a…