US Probes Bitmain ASICs for National Security Risks: Report

The leading Bitcoin mining application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) manufacturer, Bitmain, which is based in China, is reportedly under investigation in the US over national security concerns. According to a Friday Bloomberg report, an unspecified US official and six other anonymous people familiar with the matter said that Bitmain’s hardware is at the center of a…

Congressman from Ohio introduces bill to allow federal tax payments in bitcoin

One of the crypto industry’s longtime Republican allies in Congress introduced a bill to allow individuals and businesses to pay taxes in bitcoin BTC$83,292.08 without triggering capital gains liability and also directing the funds to the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve — providing a new funding mechanism for the federal crypto stockpile that hasn’t yet been…

aPriori Dismisses Insider Airdrop, Leaving Key Questions Unanswered

Web3 startup aPriori said Friday that suspicious activity tied to its recent airdrop was not connected to its team, following investor concerns that a single entity claimed an outsized portion of the token distribution. A mysterious entity claimed about 60% of the recent aPriori (APR) token airdrop across 14,000 interconnected cryptocurrency wallets, according to blockchain…

21shares Launches Six Crypto ETPs in Sweden Amid ETF Craze

21Shares, a major crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) provider, is expanding its offerings in Europe with the launch of six more funds on Sweden’s stock exchange, Nasdaq Stockholm. 21Shares on Thursday announced the cross-listing of six additional products on Nasdaq Stockholm, including ETPs for Aave (AAVE), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), Polkadot (DOT) and two crypto basket…

Ex-prosecutor Denies Promising Not to Charge FTX Exec’s Partner

Danielle Sassoon, one of the US attorneys behind the prosecution of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, took the stand in an evidentiary hearing involving a deal with one of the company’s executives.  In a Thursday hearing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Sassoon testified about the guilty plea…

Spot ETF Inflows Rise as SOL Price Faces Key Test

Spot SOL exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have continued to attract capital despite the coin’s steep price drawdown. Since launch, the products have accumulated $476 million in net inflows, with the streak extending 17 consecutive days, even as SOL’s (SOL) price plunged nearly 30% to $130 from $186. Key takeaways: Spot SOL ETFs posted 17 straight days…

Memecoins and NFTs Hit 2025 Lows as Crypto Market Erases $800B

Memecoins plunged to their lowest valuation in 2025 on Friday, dropping to a combined market capitalization of $39.4 billion, according to data aggregator CoinMarketCap.  The sector shed over $5 billion in 24 hours, declining from $44 billion despite a 40% increase in trading volume. This marks a big reversal from the year’s peak on Jan….

US Bitcoin ETFs See Record November Outflows After $903M Hit

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw another sharp reversal on Thursday, erasing a brief moment of relief earlier in the week. After breaking a five-day outflow streak with $75.4 million in inflows on Wednesday, the funds were hit with fresh redemptions of $903 million Thursday — the biggest outflow day in November and one of…

Yen (JPY) Slump is Bullish for Bitcoin and Risk Assets. Or Is It?

Bitcoin BTC$85,658.40 is not the only asset taking a beating this quarter. The Japanese yen (JPY) is also down 157.20 per U.S. dollar, a big move for a major fiat currency, prompting FX traders to await intervention from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to stem the decline. But why are we discussing FX? It’s because,…

RWA Market Set for Massive Growth as Plume Predicts 2026 Surge

The real-world asset (RWA) market value could more than triple its current value by 2026, as it expands beyond crypto-native use cases and utility, according to Chris Yin, co-founder and CEO of RWA-focused layer-2 blockchain Plume.  Speaking to Cointelegraph, Yin said the RWA value took off last year and roughly doubled, and he expects it…