From touchscreen and QR-code devices to NFC cards and Bitcoin-only models, this guide compares hardware wallets by security, connectivity, usability and recovery options to help users choose the right fit. A hardware wallet is a device designed to protect the private keys used to approve cryptocurrency transactions. In plain terms, your crypto remains on the blockchain, while a hardware wallet holds the keys that let you access it. The main differences between wallets are which coins they support, how they connect to your phone or computer, and how you check and approve a transaction. This guide explains those differences and what they mean when choosing a wallet. Cointelegraph tested Trezor Safe 7, Ledger Stax, Flex, Nano Gen5, Nano X, Nano S Plus and Coinkite’s Opendime. Testing used sma…
In February, ai.com drew enough traffic to crash its website after a $15 million Super Bowl ad, but months later, users are still wondering what’s happened to their promised AI agent. Crypto.com says its personal AI agent venture, pitched to perform a broad set of tasks from trading stocks to updating online dating profiles, is still under construction, months after a Super Bowl debut that got so much attention it crashed the website. Ai.com, a business line of Crypto.com, promoted the launch of its AI platform in a $15 million ad during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl in February. The website crashed within minutes as curious users flocked to reserve a handle for their own personal AI agent. However, nearly eight months later, the website continues to display a message that AI agent…
Seven commissioner seats at the SEC and CFTC will be empty after Friday, leaving only a few leaders at financial regulators to oversee aspects of the $3 trillion crypto industry. Update (Sept. 29, 8:45 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from the CFTC. Two of the United States’ financial agencies tasked with overseeing and enforcing digital asset regulation will be down to just three commissioners after Friday, following the departure of a Republican member. On Friday, Hester Peirce, who served as a commissioner with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for eight years, will leave the agency about two months before the end of the 18-month extension for her second term. The departure of Peirce, whom many in the industry knew as “Crypto Mom” for her views…
Fairshake pledged an initial $30 million on media opposing the Democratic candidate in Ohio’s Senate race in what some see as a repeat of spending by the crypto industry in 2024. A political action committee (PAC) aligned with and largely funded by the cryptocurrency industry reported spending more than $11 million on ads supporting Republican Jon Husted and opposing Democrat Sherrod Brown in a race for one of Ohio’s seats in the US Senate. In a Thursday filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Defend American Jobs PAC, affiliated with the Coinbase- and Ripple Labs-backed group Fairshake, reported spending $11.4 million on media supporting Husted and opposing Brown’s potential return to the Senate. The ad buys appeared to be part of Fairshake’s pledge to initially spend $30 m…
Stablecoins and tokenized assets are pushing banks, exchanges and crypto companies into the same markets, from payments to stocks and ETFs. The line between crypto companies and traditional finance is blurring. Binance is buying a $100 million stake in Circle, Canada’s six largest banks are exploring tokenized deposits and the New York Stock Exchange is working with Blockchain.com to bring US stocks and ETFs onchain. Crypto companies want a bigger role in payments and traditional assets, while banks and exchanges are bringing those markets onchain without giving up their place at the center of the financial system. This week’s Crypto Biz highlights how stablecoins and tokenized assets put crypto companies and traditional finance on increasingly overlapping turf, with both sides vying for c…
Most DATs now trade below the value of their crypto holdings, weakening a financing model that once helped companies expand their balance sheets. The crypto treasury model has largely lost its early advantage, with most digital asset treasury (DAT) companies no longer commanding the premiums that allowed them to raise capital and accumulate more crypto without diluting existing shareholders, according to a new report from DWF Ventures. The report, published Thursday, found that only four of the 20 largest DATs by assets under management trade above an mNAV of 1, meaning their market value exceeds the value of their crypto holdings. They are Bit Digital, Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies and BitMine. The widespread discounts suggest investors are no longer willing to pay the same premium for c…
Glassnode’s Altcoin Cycle Signal printed a new altseason signal after a month of Bitcoin and altcoin market-cap gains. Bitcoin’s (BTC) rise to $86,000 this week has dragged altcoin markets higher as the industry’s market cap reclaimed $3 trillion. Key points:
Bitcoin traded near $86,000 as major altcoins gained, while rising derivatives leverage pointed to growing speculative activity across crypto markets. The cryptocurrency market cap briefly climbed back above $3 trillion earlier on Tuesday as Bitcoin and the biggest altcoins extended a broad rally, while increasing leverage pointed to growing speculative activity. Bitcoin (BTC) traded around $86,000, up about 4.5% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. Ether (ETH) gained about 2.3% to $2,745, while XRP rose 5.7% to $1.53 and Solana (SOL) advanced 3.6% to $117. BNB gained 1.6%, while Dogecoin (DOGE) was among the stronger large-cap performers, rising about 11%. The total crypto market cap stood just below $3 trillion at the time of writing, up about 4.3% over the previous day.
Solstice CEO Ben Nadareski says deeper liquidity and growing institutional participation could make future crypto bull runs less volatile than previous cycles. Ben Nadareski, CEO of Solana-based decentralized finance platform Solstice, said crypto markets are unlikely to return to the extreme boom-and-bust cycles as deeper liquidity brings stability to digital assets. Speaking on Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction show, Nadareski said liquidity across major crypto trading pairs has increased significantly, even during bear markets, reducing the conditions that produced sharp price swings seen in previous cycles. He added that crypto is increasingly a market for institutional capital and household wealth rather than speculative trading.
The digital asset-aligned PAC joined other groups to spend more than a combined $300 million in the 2024 Ohio Senate race, resulting in Sherrod Brown’s loss to Bernie Moreno. Fairshake, the political action committee (PAC) funded largely by cryptocurrency companies Coinbase and Ripple Labs, plans to spend $30 million opposing Democrat Sherrod Brown’s bid to return to the US Senate. In a statement to Cointelegraph, Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter confirmed reporting by the New York Times that the PAC initially planned to spend $30 million opposing Brown’s 2026 election bid to represent Ohio in the Senate. Vetter said that the PAC expected to announce additional expenditures before the midterm elections on Nov. 3. Fairshake spent about $41 million supporting Republican Bernie Moreno and…
Coinbase draws scrutiny after the CLARITY Act stalls, while the SEC moves ahead with tokenized stocks and crypto firms push deeper into payments. The crypto industry spent much of the past two years preparing for regulatory clarity in Washington. This week, one of its biggest legislative priorities hit a major roadblock. The CLARITY Act failed to advance in the Senate on Tuesday, falling short of the 60 votes needed to bring the bill to the floor for debate. The setback significantly narrows the bill’s path this year, with the Senate calendar tightening ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Strategists say crypto exchanges such as Coinbase may have more at stake than most from the stalled legislation.
Coinbase, Strategy and other crypto-linked stocks rallied Friday as the CFTC and SEC moved ahead with crypto-related actions under existing authority. Crypto-linked stocks rebounded sharply on Friday, reversing losses that followed the Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act earlier this week, as Bitcoin climbed back above $80,000. Strategy led the gains, rising more than 13%, while Coinbase and American Bitcoin climbed about 11% each. Robinhood gained nearly 9%, according to Yahoo Finance data. Source: Yahoo Finance
Crypto.com’s CEO said its sister exchange was cleared to offer US access to single-stock perpetual futures, as the latest platform to bridge TradFi and digital assets. OG.com has received authorization from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer single-stock futures in the US. Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of crypto.com, made the announcement its sister futures exchange in a Thursday X post that received regulatory approval to list single-stock futures in the US. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has acknowledged OG.com’s 1-N filing, authorizing the platform to offer single-stock futures in the US, .
German crypto adoption is progressing through family offices and wealth managers, while the UK’s retail-facing cryptocurrency market remains “nascent,” according to the researcher. Cryptocurrency adoption is advancing in Germany, particularly among younger investors, while the UK is gradually falling behind, largely due to lagging regulations, according to CoinShares crypto researcher Luke Nolan. German cryptocurrency adoption is showing “very good progress” through “family offices, wealth managers, individual advisors” and younger generations looking to invest inherited wealth in digital assets, Nolan told Cointelegraph on the Chain Reaction show on Thursday. In contrast, the UK is “still very much behind,” said Nolan, adding that the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) only lifte…
The CLARITY Act still has a procedural path after Senator Thom Tillis moved to reconsider the failed cloture vote, though industry executives are divided over whether Congress has enough time left. Crypto industry leaders are looking to US financial regulators to fill the regulatory gap after a major crypto bill establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets stalled in the Senate on Tuesday. The Senate voted 49-50 on a motion to invoke cloture and advance the CLARITY Act, short of the 60 votes needed as Democrats raised concerns over US President Donald Trump’s crypto investments. Industry executives said the result was a disappointment, but pointed to potential rulemaking from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission as the next best sourc…
Circle and Coinbase shares fell about 10% as the failed Senate vote weighed on crypto-linked equities, with Bitcoin miners and treasury companies also declining. Crypto-linked stocks fell sharply on Tuesday after the US Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, with shares of Circle and Coinbase dropping about 10%. Bitcoin treasury companies were also hit, with American Bitcoin falling around 8%, while Strategy and Strive each declined about 5%, according to Yahoo Finance data. Bitcoin miners joined the selloff, with Riot Platforms falling about 6%, CleanSpark nearly 5%, Hut 8 more than 4% and IREN almost 4%. Coinbase (COIN) shares fell 9.9% on Tuesday. Source: Yahoo Finance
Crypto’s moment of CLARITY finally arrives with a key Senate vote on Tuesday. AI swarm fears prompt development slowdown, with some predicting big falls in AI stock prices. The CLARITY act heads for a crucial Senate vote on September 15, with Politico reporting that Democrat senators were called to a meeting on Sunday by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss their position. While Polymarket puts the odds of CLARITY becoming law this year at just 24%, the odds of there being 60 votes in favor of the cloture vote on Tuesday are higher, as it would simply move the bill into the amendment and debate phase. That’s where the rubber would hit the road on issues that have drained support so far including ethics provisions for elected officials, stablecoin yield, and protections for decentralize…
Robinhood will route event contracts through OG.com’s CFTC-regulated infrastructure as it expands its prediction markets business. Robinhood has taken equity stakes in Crypto.com and its newly spun-off prediction market platform OG.com as part of a multi-year deal to use OG.com’s regulated infrastructure for event contracts. Under the agreement, Robinhood will route retail event contracts through OG.com’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated derivatives exchange and clearinghouse, with the rollout beginning Tuesday for eligible US customers. According to Tuesday’s announcement, the online brokerage will receive initial equity stakes in both Crypto.com and OG.com, with the stakes priced at the valuations established by an earlier Citadel Securities investment in the platfor…
Corporate crypto bets are getting bigger as rising markets reward direct exposure, putting balance-sheet strategies and institutional adoption back in focus. Crypto’s August rally put corporate conviction to the test. Bitcoin (BTC) miners that spent much of the crypto downturn courting AI investors are once again trading like leveraged bets on BTC, while Strategy and Strive are adding thousands more Bitcoin to their balance sheets. The same concentration is playing out elsewhere. Bitmine is closing in on owning 5% of Ether’s (ETH) circulating supply despite billions in unrealized losses, while 21 major financial institutions are taking a different approach by developing stablecoins for payments and settlement. Bitcoin’s August rally lifted beaten-down mining stocks by as much as 67%, rev…
Grayscale, a16z, and the CCI asked the SEC to preserve existing classification rules and avoid treating novel exchange-traded products as a single category, while proposing different routes to clearer and faster reviews. Crypto industry participants urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to avoid a blanket restriction on “novel” exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and instead evaluate products based on their individual risk parameters. Venture capital firm a16z asked the SEC to evaluate novel products according to their underlying characteristics, coordinate fund-registration and exchange-listing reviews and adopt more predictable timelines. Digital asset investment manager Grayscale and the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) supported optional confidential pre-filing processes. A…
