Blockchain's transparency traces illicit flows better than fiat systems. Industry-wide information sharing and unified AML rules close gaps, without curbing liberty. Opinion by: Ana Carolina Oliveira, chief compliance officer at Venga Crypto doesn’t have a money laundering problem on its own. At least, not when compared to traditional finance, where the practice is at least twice as prevalent and over 90% of which is believed to go undetected. Money laundering is a general problem wherever we see the transfer of funds. That’s the good news. Blockchain records everything for posterity. When money laundering does occur, an indelible record is created that allows the illicit financial flows to be traced from end to end. Read more
USDC’s market cap is approaching a record $80 billion, with one analyst linking the surge to capital flight and turmoil in Dubai’s real estate market. The market capitalization of the USDC stablecoin is approaching a record high near $80 billion as demand surges in the Middle East, with one analyst linking the spike to capital flight from the United Arab Emirates. According to data from CoinMarketCap, USDC (USDC)’s circulating supply has risen to roughly $79.2 billion, marking a new all-time high for the dollar-pegged stablecoin. The stablecoin’s market cap previously hit a high of below $79 billion in December last year. The increase comes after supply expanded by billions of dollars in recent weeks. The stablecoin’s market cap stood at just over $70 billion in early February and at $75 billion earlier this month. Read more
US spot Bitcoin ETFs brought in about $767 million over five straight days of inflows for the first time so far this year. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) logged their first five-day inflow streak of 2026, bringing in roughly $767.32 million this week. The funds recorded $180.33 million in net inflows on Friday, extending the run of positive flows that began earlier in the week. The strongest day of the streak came on Tuesday, when spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs attracted $250.92 million, according to data from SoSoValue. The last time the funds saw a comparable streak was in late November 2025, when spot Bitcoin ETFs logged five consecutive days of net inflows from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2, bringing in a combined $284.61 million. Read more
BlackRock launched a staked Ether exchange-traded fund on Thursday, expanding its crypto offerings beyond its flagship spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs that launched in 2024. BlackRock’s digital assets head, Robert Mitchnick, said the $14 trillion asset manager won’t get too creative with the types of crypto exchange-traded funds it offers, even as it launched a staking-focused Ether ETF on Thursday. Speaking on CNBC’s Crypto World segment on Friday, Mitchnick acknowledged that some of the crypto ETF structures that other asset managers are experimenting with may appeal to certain investors, but said BlackRock will continue to take a more measured approach: "Will we see some more exotic structures coming into the space? I think no question,” Mitchnick said. “Some of those will be interesting. Some of them will resonate with investors.” Read more
Stanley Druckenmiller said stablecoins are more efficient, faster and cheaper than fiat running on traditional banking infrastructure. Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller said blockchain and stablecoins may only be a decade away from powering the global payments system — though he isn’t sold on the idea of crypto functioning as a store of value. In an interview with Morgan Stanley recorded on Jan. 30 and released on Friday, the former hedge fund manager said blockchain-based tokens — particularly stablecoins — boost productivity in the payments space: "Blockchain and the use of stablecoins, if you want to throw crypto into that, tokens, incredibly useful in terms of productivity," Druckenmiller said. Read more
Bitcoin showed remarkable strength throughout the week, but BTC’s correlation to tech stocks and its reactive spot ETF flows suggest the bear market isn’t over yet. Key takeaways: Bitcoin sits above $71,000 as weak US economic data and the US and Israel-Iran war drive investors toward scarce assets. Tech stocks’ correlation to BTC and rising oil prices suggest that the 5-month correction from $126,000 might not be over. Read more
One judge sided with Custodia Bank, stating that a master account is “indispensable” for a bank’s day-to-day operations and being denied one is “akin to a death sentence.” A US federal court has rejected Custodia Bank’s final attempt to challenge the Federal Reserve’s authority over granting master accounts — effectively ending the crypto-focused bank’s five-year-long battle for direct access to the central bank’s payment system. The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said in a filing on Friday that it wouldn’t hear Custodia's final appeal on that point in a 7-3 vote. Custodia first applied for a master account in October 2020, which allows financial institutions to hold reserves directly at the Federal Reserve and access its payment rails, enabling them to settle transactions without relying on intermediary banks. Read more