Bitcoin rose toward $93,000 as Donald Trump made remarks suggesting tougher action on Colombia and Mexico following the US operation in Venezuela. Bitcoin climbed toward $93,000 on Monday as US President Donald Trump made comments suggesting the United States could pursue tougher action against Colombia and Mexico, extending geopolitical uncertainty in the region following the weekend operation in Venezuela. Speaking on Sunday, Trump criticized Colombia over cocaine trafficking and said a new US military operation focused on the country “sounds good to me,” according to Reuters, while also warning that “something is going to have to be done” in Mexico. “Colombia is very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long," Trump warned. Read more
Arkham data shows wallets associated with the Official Trump meme team pulling about $94 million in USDC from TRUMP liquidity pools in December and routing the funds to Coinbase. Onchain analysts tracking the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin on Solana have flagged large transfers from wallets labeled as parts of the “Official Trump Meme” cluster moving about $94 million in USDC from TRUMP liquidity pools over the past month. The most recent movement, highlighted by blockchain data platform Arkham, involved 33 million USDC (USDC) being withdrawn from liquidity on Tuesday and sent to an entity labeled Fireblocks, which then routed funds to wallets labeled as belonging to Coinbase. Public Solana records on Solscan corroborate the large USDC outflows from TRUMP‑linked wallets. Read more
Trump‑era tariffs, bruising rate realities and a burned‑out memecoin cycle are forcing crypto to shed its Peter Pan phase and build tokens with real utility, says Animoca Brands’ Yat Siu. For Animoca Brands co‑founder Yat Siu, 2025 will be remembered as “the Trump year,” not because US President Donald Trump saved crypto, but because the industry bet too heavily on him and mispriced everything from tariffs to rate cuts. Trump was supposed to be crypto’s cheat code in 2025. Instead, Bitcoin (BTC) is limping into the year’s end, facing its fourth annual decline in history. Memecoin liquidity has been sucked into political side quests, and one of the sector’s longest‑running builders thinks the market over‑trusted the new president. “If I had to give it a grade, I would say B-/C+,” Siu said. Traders treated Trump as if crypto were his “first child,” he says, when in reality, “we’re probably his third, fourth or fifth child, maybe even an eighth child.” Read more
The Trump family’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial, has seen its fair share of controversy, and its token is ending the year significantly down. World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto portfolio project, started the year with high hopes. But as the year draws to a close, the fund has barely seen gains. US President Donald Trump announced the launch in September 2024 while he was still on the campaign trail for the 2024 elections. Led by his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, it marked a significant shift in tone for crypto policy in the US. The program started strong. It launched its own World Liberty Financial (WLFI) governance token and made large acquisitions of high-market-cap cryptocurrencies. Read more
Keonne Rodriguez said on social media that he will report to prison on Friday to begin his five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. Keonne Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty to one felony count related to his role at Samourai Wallet, is calling on US President Donald Trump to pardon him, citing similar language that has been successful in previous pardon applications. In a Thursday X post, Rodriguez said he would report to prison on Friday, where he will serve a five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. The Samourai co-founder claimed there were no “victims” to his crime, and blamed his incarceration on “lawfare perpetrated by a weaponized Biden DOJ.” In a message tagging Trump, Rodriguez expressed hope that the US president would issue a federal pardon for him and William “Bill” Lonergan Hill, another Samourai executive who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years. Rodriguez blamed “activist judges” for his legal troubles, claiming he was targeted by a “political ...
Keonne Rodriguez said on social media that he will report to prison on Friday to begin his five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. Keonne Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty to one felony count related to his role at Samourai Wallet, is calling on US President Donald Trump to pardon him, citing similar language that has been successful in previous pardon applications. In a Thursday X post, Rodriguez said he would report to prison on Friday, where he will serve a five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. The Samourai co-founder claimed there were no “victims” to his crime, and blamed his incarceration on “lawfare perpetrated by a weaponized Biden DOJ.” In a message tagging Trump, Rodriguez expressed hope that the US president would issue a federal pardon for him and William “Bill” Lonergan Hill, another Samourai executive who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years. Rodriguez blamed “activist judges” for his legal troubles, claiming he was targeted by a “political ...
The financial regulator dropped several cases against crypto companies in 2025, and is reportedly “no longer actively pursuing a single case against a firm with known Trump ties.” The US Securities and Exchange Commission has dismissed cryptocurrency cases under the Trump administration at a significantly higher rate than those involving other aspects of securities laws. According to a Sunday report from The New York Times, since US President Donald Trump took office in January, the SEC has paused, dropped investigations related to or dismissed about 60% of cases involving companies and projects in the cryptocurrency industry. The report cited high-profile cases, including the SEC’s lawsuits against Ripple Labs and Binance, adding that the financial regulator was “no longer actively pursuing a single case against a firm with known Trump ties.” The SEC told The New York Times that political favoritism had “nothing to do” with its crypto enforcement strategy, and the shift to dismiss investigations and cases w...
Trump hasn’t confirmed who he will have replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell with next year, but two recent hints, taken together, point to his crypto-friendly adviser. Prediction market odds on Kevin Hasset becoming the next chair of the US Federal Reserve spiked after US President Donald Trump appeared to hint at who he has in mind during a White House event. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump introduced guests, welcoming Hassett as a “potential Fed chair.” “It’s a great group, and I guess a potential Fed chair is here too,” he said. “I don’t know, are we allowed to say that, potential? He’s a respected person, that I can tell you. Thank you, Kevin.” Read more
Kevin Hassett, a White House economic adviser, has reportedly emerged as a leader among the Trump administration’s short list to replace Jerome Powell. US President Donald Trump is slated to choose a new Federal Reserve chair by Christmas, and the frontrunner, Kevin Hassett, could be a boon for the crypto industry. Hassett is a White House economic adviser who has reportedly emerged as a strong candidate for the Fed chair position. He is the director of the National Economic Council and oversaw the digital asset working group directed by the White House earlier this year. Trump has been trying to increase his administration’s control over the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank, thereby expanding the White House’s influence over monetary policy. Read more
Already convicted of one felony charge and facing a possible retrial on two others, the Tornado Cash co-founder’s future is uncertain. More than 65 cryptocurrency and blockchain companies and advocacy groups have called on US President Donald Trump to step in as federal prosecutors may be preparing to retry Tornado Cash co-founder and developer Roman Storm. In a letter to Trump dated Thursday and shared with Cointelegraph, advocacy organizations including the Solana Policy Institute, Blockchain Association and DeFi Education Fund, among others, made several requests regarding crypto-related policies. The groups asked Trump to direct the IRS and US Treasury to clarify tax policy on digital assets, protect DeFi from regulators and encourage regulatory clarity through financial regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Read more