Crypto

Similar XRP funding conditions preceded rebounds of about 50% in August and September 2024 and about 100% in April 2025. XRP (XRP) funding rates on Binance have been mirroring the behavior seen ahead of sharp price rebounds since 2024. Key takeaways: Crowded XRP shorts (negative funding) have preceded rebounds. Read more

The Justice Department ramps up crypto fraud enforcement as scams surge, losses hit record highs, and AI aids financial crime.

PricewaterhouseCoopers says that crypto is working in a “fragmented global ecosystem,” tackling different challenges in different markets. Crypto adoption is growing at different rates around the world, with some regions advancing much faster than others, says accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). “While crypto networks are borderless, adoption is not,” PwC said in its Global Crypto Regulation Report 2026. “Payments, remittances, savings, capital markets, and tokenization use cases are emerging unevenly across regions.” PwC said that crypto adoption still depends on economic conditions, financial inclusion, and existing financial infrastructure, leading to a “fragmented global ecosystem” where the technology solves “very different problems” across different markets. Read more

Bitcoin miners have powered down to ease the load on the grid in the past, such as in 2022, when Texas miners curtailed their activities amid a major winter storm. A winter storm threatening to pelt most of the southern US with ice and heavy snow this weekend could see Bitcoin miners curtail their operations until the front has passed. American weather forecasting company AccuWeather reported on Thursday that a “massive winter storm” could extend for 1,800 miles from far west Texas to the mid-Atlantic coast, cutting power, preventing travel in over a dozen states and affecting upwards of 60 million people. When large storms have caused havoc to power grids in the past, Bitcoin miners have powered down to ease the load on the grid. In 2022, when a major winter storm hit Texas, crypto miners across the state voluntarily curtailed their activities. Read more

The American Bankers Association’s fight over stablecoin yields has become its top priority as Congress looks to pass crypto market structure legislation before the midterms. The American Bankers Association (ABA) has made cracking down on stablecoin yield a top priority for 2026, amid its ongoing debate with US lawmakers that it will hurt the banking industry’s competitiveness. The ABA said on Tuesday that one of several priorities it has this year is to “stop payment stablecoins from becoming deposit substitutes that slash community bank lending by prohibiting paying interest, yield or rewards regardless of the platform.” Stablecoin oversight topped a list of five priorities, which also included fighting financial fraud, stopping arbitrary interest rate caps, and focusing on indexing and mission-driven banks. ABA CEO and president Rob Nichols said the priorities are guided by input from various banks and businesses of all sizes and models. Read more

Bitcoin’s slide below $90,000 has pushed on-chain realized profit metrics into negative territory, a level last seen before the previous bear market.

The Justice Department will drop its case against Nathaniel Chastain, a former OpenSea manager who successfully appealed a wire fraud and money laundering conviction. US prosecutors will not retry their wire fraud and money laundering case against a former manager at the nonfungible token platform OpenSea, following a federal appeals court's July reversal of the convictions. On Wednesday, prosecutors told a Manhattan federal court that they entered into a one-month deferred prosecution agreement following the appeals court ruling, after which the case will be formally dismissed. In a letter, Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton, a former SEC chair, said the decision was made based on Chastain already serving parts of his initial sentence, including three months behind bars, and that he agreed not to contest the forfeiture of 15.98 Ether (ETH) worth $47,330 that that prosecutors alleged was obtained through the scheme. Read more

The White House came under scrutiny for sharing a modified arrest image on X, as the administration pushes tougher limits on manipulated media.

Santiment data revealed LINK discussions rising despite broader market weakness.

The former Alameda Research chief and key witness against Sam Bankman-Fried has exited federal custody but remains subject to long-term bans, injunctions, and supervision tied to the FTX collapse.

Some Bitcoiners are “highly skeptical” that quantum computing is to blame for Bitcoin’s sideways price action, while others argue it’s a major issue. Bitcoin backers have minimized claims that fears around quantum computing being a threat to the cryptocurrency sooner than expected are dragging on its price. Glassnode lead analyst James Check said in an X post on Thursday that linking Bitcoin’s price to quantum computing fears “is akin to blaming market manipulation for red candles, and declining exchange balances for green ones.”  Check argued that while quantum computing may be “keeping some capital away” from Bitcoin (BTC), the weakness in Bitcoin’s price performance has been driven far more by heavy selling from long-term holders.  Read more

The deal brings a startup-focused spend platform with artificial intelligence and stablecoin capabilities into a major U.S. bank.

The SEC opened just 13 crypto enforcement cases in 2025, down 60% from 2024, with most new actions under Chair Paul Atkins focused on alleged fraud. The post SEC Crypto Crackdown Shrinks 60% Under Trump Pick Paul Atkins appeared first on Cryptonews.

Bitcoin derivatives markets show traders holding steady, but the path back to $95,000 relies on institutional inflows returning, especially after this week’s $1.58 billion outflow. Key takeaways: Bitcoin funding rates sit at 7%, showing bullish traders are still hesitant to increase leveraged positions. The spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $1.58 billion in outflows while gold hit record highs, signaling a shift toward safe assets. Read more

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire says AI agents have no alternative to stablecoins and will conduct everyday activities with the tokens within as little as three years. Within three to five years, billions of artificial intelligence agents that can work without human input will use crypto and stablecoins for everyday payments on behalf of users, says Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle. “Three years, five years from now, one can reasonably expect that there will be billions, literally billions of AI agents conducting economic activity in the world on a continuous basis,” Allaire said on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao shared a similar view on stage at the WEF on Thursday, saying the “native currency for AI agents is going to be crypto” and will do everything from buying tickets to paying restaurant bills. Read more

The Center for Countering Digital Hate reports that Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok produced an estimated 23,338 sexualized images of children.

XRP has retreated by 8% in the past week, even though it started the year with a strong rally. On-chain data shows that, when trading interest has dried up like this, it has often been a contrarian signal that favors a bullish XRP price prediction.Despite its latest retreat below $2, XRP has booked a 5% […] The post XRP Price Prediction: When Traders Get This Quiet, XRP Has a History of Going Wild – Is It About to Happen Again? appeared first on Cryptonews.

South Korea’s Gwangju prosecutors are probing missing seized Bitcoin after an audit, with phishing suspected after a wallet password was exposed. Local reports say funds were tied to illegal gambling and stored on a USB, prompting scrutiny of state custody, as regulators have expanded seizure rules. The post South Korea’s Seized Bitcoin Vanishes in Major Phishing Heist – Prosecutors Probe $300M Loss appeared first on Cryptonews.

Coinbase said the group will assess how future quantum advances could affect blockchain security and outline long-term solutions.

Top markets on Myriad this week include predictions on a new Bitcoin all-time high, the battle between gold and Ethereum, and Zcash's price.