The legislation assumes that all crypto activity must pass through financial intermediaries licensed by the US government, warns Gnosis co-founder. The regulatory provisions outlined in the US Digital Asset Market Structure Clarity Act, otherwise known as the CLARITY Act, threaten to give large financial institutions control over crypto, according to Dr. Friederike Ernst, co-founder of the Gnosis blockchain protocol. Regulations in the CLARITY crypto market structure bill assume that activity must pass through centralized intermediaries, which risks consolidating crypto rails in the hands of a few entrenched players, Ernst told Cointelegraph. “Blockchain’s real breakthrough was not just a new financial infrastructure. It was the ability for users themselves to become owners of the networks they rely on," she said. Ernst added: Read more
The threat actor manipulated the platform by using Thena tokens to bypass the maximum supply cap and borrow several different digital assets. Venus Protocol, a decentralized lending and borrowing platform, said on Sunday it had detected suspicious trading activity in the liquidity pool for the Thena (THE) token, the native cryptocurrency of the Thena decentralized finance platform. The unusual trading activity only affected pools for the Cake (CAKE) token, the native cryptocurrency of the PancakeSwap decentralized exchange, and the Thena token, according to an announcement from Venus Protocol. The Venus team said: The suspicious trading activity is suspected to be a supply cap attack that was executed in two phases: a steady accumulation of about 84% of the total THE token market cap, coupled with a lending attack, according Allez Labs, which was identified by Venus Protocol as its risk manager. The Venus exploiter used the Theta token as collateral to borrow 6.67 million CAKE tokens, 1.58 million USDC (USDC)...
The blockchain co-founder said the goal is to make the "self-sovereign" method of Ethereum users running their own nodes a user-friendly experience. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted a proposal, or a pull request, on Saturday that would merge the backend programs used by nodes to interact with Ethereum’s Beacon Chain, which handles consensus and staking, and the protocol’s execution layer into one unified code structure to simplify node setup. Ethereum node runners, also called validators, currently have to run two separate programs, which each require setup and synchronization to coordinate and communicate the data produced by Ethereum’s consensus and execution layers. This raises the technical complexity of running a node or providing validation services for the Ethereum network, preventing ordinary users from running their own infrastructure and forcing reliance on third-party service providers. Read more
Bitcoin edged toward an important weekly close above $70,000 that would include a reclaim of an important 200-week trend line. Bitcoin (BTC) inched higher on Sunday as bulls sought to seal a weekly close above $70,000. Key points: Bitcoin eyes its highest daily close in over a week with a fresh weekend push above $70,000. Read more
During the Iran conflict, gold attracted safe-haven demand, while Bitcoin’s reaction reflected liquidity conditions and broader market sentiment rather than acting as a classic crisis hedge. The 2026 Iran conflict created a major geopolitical shock that triggered volatility across global markets. It pushed investors to reassess traditional safe-haven assets such as gold and emerging alternatives like Bitcoin. Gold initially benefited from safe-haven demand but later declined as the US dollar strengthened and bond yields rose. This showed that macroeconomic forces can override crisis-driven buying. Bitcoin experienced volatility but recovered quickly, reflecting its growing role as an alternative asset. However, its price movements remained closely tied to market sentiment and liquidity conditions. Read more