Mixers, privacy coins and the threat quantum computing could pose to Bitcoin were all points of speculation across the industry following the release of Trump’s Cyber Strategy. Crypto industry executives are combing through US President Donald Trump’s National Cyber Strategy after it was released on Friday, searching for hints about what it could signal for government support of the crypto industry. “Crypto and blockchain are explicitly named as technologies to be 'protected and secured.’ This is a first for any US cybersecurity strategy,” Galaxy Digital’s head of firmwide research Alex Thorn said in an X post on Friday. Crypto and blockchain were mentioned once in the six-page report: Read more
If the crypto industry and community banks cannot find common ground on the CLARITY Act, the only winners will be the “big banks,” according to crypto executive Austin Campbell. A crypto executive has pushed back against claims by the president of a community banking association that any compromise between the banking sector and the crypto industry on the US CLARITY Act would be a mistake. “If community banks and crypto can't find a way to work together, we already know who the winners are. It's not the community banks. It's not consumers. It's not the crypto industry,” Zero Knowledge Consulting founder Austin Campbell said in an X post on Friday. “It is the big banks,” Campbell said. Read more
Bitcoin’s price volatility tends to scare off buyers, but data shows investors who hold for at least three years have a higher chance of locking in significant returns. Bitcoin (BTC) gets a bad name among some investors due to its steep double-digit drawdowns that punish late buyers, but data suggests the outcome can change with time. Since 2017, investors who bought BTC near the market highs faced losses of about 40%–50% in the next two years, but data shows many of those positions turned profitable when held for longer than three years. By contrast, entries near bear-market lows have historically produced triple-digit percentage returns over similar two to three-year periods. Onchain valuation metrics further help explain where these stronger accumulation zones tend to appear. Read more
A pilot involving the central bank and major financial institutions tested whether distributed ledger infrastructure could streamline bond issuance, trading and settlement. Canada has completed a pilot program testing the use of distributed ledger technology in bond markets, culminating in the issuance of the country’s first tokenized bond, according to a Friday announcement from the Bank of Canada. The experiment, known as Project Samara, involved the Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank Group, and explored if blockchain-style infrastructure could streamline bond issuance, trading and settlement. As part of the pilot, Export Development Canada issued a $100 million Canadian dollar ($73.6 million) bond with a maturity of less than three months to a closed group of investors. The security was issued, traded and settled on a distributed ledger platform, with payments processed using wholesale central bank deposits rather than commercial bank money. Read more
A new war, private credit market weakness and spiking commodities prices add tail risk to Bitcoin’s price. Is $65,000 BTC’s next stop? Key takeaways: Bitcoin faced pressure as rising oil prices and weak US data sparked risk-off sentiment and drove investors to gold. A redemption spike in private credit funds from BlackRock and Blackstone signaled growing anxiety among retail investors. Read more
Nevin Shetty was convicted of wire fraud related to secretly moving $35 million in funds from a Seattle startup to his own crypto platform in 2022 to use for DeFi investments. A Seattle judge has sentenced the former chief financial officer of a local startup to two years in prison following his conviction for wire fraud related to a cryptocurrency business. In a Thursday notice, the US Justice Department said Nevin Shetty would serve two years in prison after he “secretly moved approximately $35 million in company funds to a cryptocurrency platform he controlled as a side business.” He moved the funds to the HighTower Treasury platform in 2022 before a crypto market downturn, resulting in the disclosure of the transfer. According to the DOJ, Shetty was able to transfer the funds without any executives or board members at the Seattle startup knowing about it, then using the money to invest in “high-yield DeFi lending protocols that promised to generate returns of 20% or more.” He initially earned $133,000 in...
Bitcoin sold off below $70,000 on Friday, leading analysts to conclude that this week’s breakout to $74,000 was a relief rally rather than a longer-lasting sign of a trend change. Key points: Analysts believe that Bitcoin will have to stay above the $68,000 level to continue its recovery. Several major altcoins have turned down from their overhead resistance levels, indicating that bears remain in control. Read more