A group of former bankers building on R3’s public Corda Network are touting the first digital currency for that ecosystem, dubbed XDC.  Announced Tuesday, the Cordite Society, a co-operative registered in the U.K., released the XDC crypto token on public Corda, the open-source version of R3’s network. The new regulation-friendly cryptocoin will open the door,

Bitcoin traders hit the buy button Monday while a DeFi project gains $135 million in BTC locked since the start of September. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $11,689 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 2.2% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,409-$11,839 BTC above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish

Central bankers continued to evaluate the merits, or lack thereof, of a digital currency (CBDC), explaining that digital innovation has its benefits but policy considerations abound, during a panel discussion hosted by the International Monetary Fund on Monday.  The panel, featuring Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell; Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Nor Shamsiah; Bank for International

Filecoin, a decentralized storage network launched by Protocol Labs, is off to a rocky start after a strike by miners just one day after its highly anticipated miannet launch on Oct. 15.  Five of its largest miners turned off their machines to protest the project’s “unfair” economic model that requires a significant amount of FIL

This week saw more exchange drama rock the crypto markets.  OKEx, one of the industry’s largest crypto-fiat exchanges, suspended all cryptocurrency withdrawals, saying one of the exchange’s key holders has “been out of touch” with the exchange because they are “currently cooperating with a public security bureau in investigations.”  Coming hard on the heels of

On Long Reads Sunday, a reading of a John Street Capital piece on the realities of a market characterized by zero-bound interest rates. The piece examines how different asset classes – from stocks to bonds to bitcoin and beyond – fare in the context of a world where the Federal Reserve is determined to keep

On this “Speaking of Bitcoin” episode, join hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy, and Jonathan Mohan for a look at the past, present and future of global reserve currencies In the beginning there was the global reserve currency (U.S. dollars,) national currencies like the Japanese Yen, alternative currencies like Ithaca hours and just one

Are cryptocurrencies a new form of money and, if so, do they threaten state power? Our friend Nic Carter has recently commented on these questions in dialogue with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. We would like to add our perspective and thoughts on this, as we believe there is value to be derived from discussing these matters

On the weekly recap, NLW looks at growth in institutional investment, big interest among the G20 in CBDCs and a new National Security Council report. On this edition of The Breakdown weekly recap, NLW looks at: Growth in the institutional investment space in crypto A new 10,000 BTC treasury announcement  Reports from the Bank for International Settlements,

Bitcoin rebounded from an OKEx-related drop; ether options traders may be beacon chain bearish.  Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $11,327 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Slipping 2% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,199-$11,623 BTC below its 10-day moving average but above the 50-day, a sideways signal for market technicians. Bitcoin trading

Ripple, the U.S.-based currency exchange and remittance network, is donating $10 million to Mercy Corps, a humanitarian aid non-profit, to “expand financial inclusion and increase economic empowerment globally.”   Ripple, through a non-profit unit, works with non-government organizations, universities and industry partners to “bring the 1.7 billion unbanked adults into a modernized, global financial system that

OKEx is denying that the ongoing inquiry of its founder is related to an anti-money laundering investigation.   “We are not at liberty to discuss any matters that are under investigation but can reveal that it is not related in any way to AML or to OKEx,” a spokesperson from the exchange told CoinDesk.  The exchange

OKEx has suspended all cryptocurrency withdrawals indefinitely, saying one of the exchange’s key holders has “been out of touch” with the exchange because they are “currently cooperating with a public security bureau in investigations.” OKEx’ CEO later said the investigation is due to the key holder’s “personal issue.” Update (Oct. 16, 4:50 UTC): This article has been

Bitcoin is turning bullish Thursday while ether futures open interest sticks around $1 billion the past month. Bitcoin’s price is on the rise Thursday, moving from a mostly flat trend to hit as high as $11,543 on spot exchanges such as Bitstamp. It was changing hands at $11,537 as of press time.  The move upward

When Nervos co-founder Guoning Lü saw a few China-based decentralized finance (DeFi) projects raise millions of dollars in a matter of hours, he knew the DeFi craze had officially reached the East.   One project saw its total value locked (TVL) climb from $2.9 million to $14.4 million within two weeks after launching in August, before

COVID has not slowed crypto M&A. To wit, the value of industry acquisitions in the first half of 2020 has already surpassed that of full year 2019, according to a report released Thursday by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).  Around $597 million was spent in 60 deals in the first half of 2020, compared to $481 million spent

Bitcoin is trending downward while ether transaction activity is showing Uniswap’s influence on the market. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $11,359 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Slipping 0.38% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,286-$11,555 BTC below its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bearish signal for market technicians. Bitcoin trading on

At stake Invest: ethereum economy, a full day of conversation, workshopping and networking around the future of money, goes live today at 9 a.m. ET. Starting off with a keynote speech from Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, the virtual event will also see appearances from MakerDAO Co-Founder Rune Christensen, Gauntlet CEO Tarun Chitra and CFTC Chairman Heath

Litecoin (LTC), a nine-year-old cryptocurrency whose price returns have chronically underperformed the bigger and better-known bitcoin in recent years, is hitching its wagon to a new star: privacy. The blockchain industry subsector of “privacy coins” – cryptocurrencies with embedded technology that shields identifying information from public view – is becoming one of this year’s hottest

Bitcoin’s price is slipping while the amount ether parked in DeFi is in neutral. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $11,397 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Slipping 1.3% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,313-$11,730 BTC below its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bearish signal for market technicians. Bitcoin trading on Bitstamp

The Nasdaq Composite has rallied 11.69% in the past 20 days, recovering towards an all-time high. In the near term, the U.S. stock market faces numerous threats, including rising COVID-19 cases heading into the winter season. The strong performance of Big Tech, a possible post-election stimulus, and vaccine breakthroughs could fuel equities in November. The

The outcome of next month’s U.S. presidential election may not matter much for bitcoin’s price: Economic stimulus in the trillions of dollars is likely no matter who wins, bolstering the largest cryptocurrency’s appeal as a hedge against inflation.  President Donald Trump over the past week has reversed his opposition to a new government-spending bill following April’s $2 trillion coronavirus-aid package. He signaled

International financial authorities and 20 of the world’s largest economies are establishing official standards for regulating and issuing sovereign digital currencies. The Group of Twenty (G20) — an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union — said in a report today that it is working with

Bitcoin bounced close to $11,600 before retreating a bit while ether options traders are less active than they were in September. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $11,552 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 1.7% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,186-$11,598 BTC is above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish

Not everyone is happy with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s decision to ban individual investors from speculating on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and there’s an argument to be made that the agency’s rationale was hollow.   But the ban is likely to have a minimal impact, partly because the market is so small, CoinDesk’s Muyao Shen reported Monday, citing analysts and

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s decision to ban individual investors from speculating on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is likely to have a minimal impact, partly because the market is so small, according to analysts and industry executives who track the trading business. Some U.K.-based brokerages that had offered the crypto derivative products to retail traders

On this “Speaking of Bitcoin” episode, join hosts Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and special guest Martin Rerak, creator of AllYourFeeds.com, for a look at how “AI curation” is being used to figure out what’s useful information and what’s just fluff. In the early days of Bitcoin, there were just a few places you might

Andrei Anisimov, whose LInkedIn profile still describes him as a “Senior Software Engineer” at Coinbase, tweeted Saturday that this had been his last week at the cryptocurrency exchange. At press time it wasn’t clear whether Anisimov was one of the 60 people who accepted a severance package that was offered this week.

The virtual event invest: ethereum economy takes place on Wednesday, Oct. 14. CoinDesk’s Christine Kim spoke to colleagues Michael J. Casey and Aaron Stanley about the most compelling and under-discussed topics about Ethereum 2.0 headlining next week’s conference.   For free, early access to new episodes of this and other CoinDesk podcasts subscribe to CoinDesk Reports

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner (SEC) Hester Peirce, well known for her pro-cryptocurrencies views, said increased interest in the space will necessarily force the regulatory body to shift toward a more accommodating stance, but it won’t be easy, according to a recent interview with Cointelegraph. UPDATE 23:59 UTC Adds comments from Peirce about hurdles