Starknet Team Outlines Root Cause of Latest Network Outage

The outage was the second major network disruption in 2025, with both incidents requiring a block reorganization that rolled back some activity. The team behind Starknet, an Ethereum layer‑2 (L2) scaling network, released a post-mortem report outlining the root cause of the temporary mainnet downtime on Monday. The root cause of the mainnet downtime was…

Bitcoin Network Mining Difficulty Falls in Jan 2026

The Bitcoin (BTC) network mining difficulty, the relative computing challenge of adding a new block to the decentralized blockchain ledger, fell slightly to 146.4 trillion on Thursday, in the first difficulty adjustment of 2026.  “The next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment is estimated to take place on Jan 22, 2026, 04:08:12 AM UTC, increasing the Bitcoin mining…

South Korea’s Supreme Court Says Bitcoin Held on Exchanges Can Be Seized

South Korea’s Supreme Court handed down its first explicit ruling that Bitcoin held in centralized exchanges can be seized by investigators, marking a notable shift in how exchange‑custodied crypto is treated under criminal law.  In a decision on Dec. 11, 2025, and disclosed via the court’s official bulletin, the court upheld the seizure of 55.6…

Robinhood explains building an Ethereum layer-2: 'We wanted the security from Ethereum'

CoinDesk sat down with Robinhood’s head of crypto, Johann Kerbrat, to get an update on its upcoming layer-2 network, its tokenized stocks program, and its staking offerings. Source link

17 Years On and Hal Finney’s ‘Running Bitcoin’ Post Is Still Celebrated

The Bitcoin (BTC) community is celebrating the anniversary of cypherpunk and Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney’s post on January 10, 2009, telling the world that he was running the Bitcoin node software “Running Bitcoin,” Finney said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Finney was the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction on the network. He was…

US Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Ban Politically-Related Prediction Bets

New York Representative Ritchie Torres, with the backing of more than 30 other Democrats in the House of Representatives, has introduced legislation following a Polymarket user netting $400,000 on a bet related to the removal of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.  In a Friday notice, Torres said he had introduced the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction…

Institutions know a “good” exchange is built for failure

A platform’s onboarding polish should not be confused for its ability to execute trades and handle immense volumes, argues Bridgeport co-founder and CCO Chris Soriano. Source link

Betterment Warns Users After Fake Crypto Promotion Promised Triple Returns

Betterment has warned users to disregard a crypto promotion message that circulated on Friday, describing it as an unauthorized notification that was sent through a third-party system. The incident surfaced after multiple users reported receiving a message that appeared to promote a limited-time cryptocurrency offer. Screenshots shared on Reddit showed the notification urging recipients to…

Ethereum and Solana Taking Different Paths to Blockchain Resilience

Ethereum and Solana are not only separated by questions of scalability, they are increasingly divided by competing visions of what blockchain networks must be built to withstand in the future. Recent remarks from the co-founders of each network revealed two competing definitions of “resilience,” rooted in different assumptions about risk, infrastructure and the future shape…

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Lose $681M in First Week of 2026 as Risk Appetite Fades

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) started 2026 with sharp outflows, shedding a combined $681 million over the first full trading week of the year. According to data from SoSoValue, spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs recorded four consecutive days of net outflows between Tuesday and Friday, outweighing inflows earlier in the week. The largest daily redemption occurred…