Cointelegraph.com

Found 8791 news

  • Crypto firms’ open letter urges top US colleges to teach DeFi
    Cointelegraph.com - 14:00 Mar 18, 2026
    Crypto firms’ open letter urges top US colleges to teach DeFiCrypto firms argue that DeFi should be taught at top schools so that students can eventually take on a rapid rise in non-technical crypto jobs on Wall Street. Twenty-one crypto organizations have signed an open letter urging US colleges to incorporate decentralized finance into their curricula, arguing that there will be massive demand for crypto talent on Wall Street. “Our purpose with this letter is simple: to respectfully urge higher education institutions across the United States to further integrate digital assets, blockchain, and decentralized finance into their business and legal curricula,” the open letter reads, which was published on Wednesday. The campaign was spearheaded by decentralized protocol aggregator 1Inch, with signatories including the Solana Policy Institute, Blockchain Association, DeFi Education Fund and crypto platforms like Aave, MyEtherWallet, Delphi Digital and Messari. Read more
  • Big Questions: Can Bitcoin save you from the dreaded Cantillon Effect?
    Cointelegraph.com - 13:00 Mar 18, 2026
    When new money is created, those closest to the money printer get richer. Named the Cantillon Effect, it may be a good reason to buy Bitcoin.
  • Crypto cards aren't the future, but onchain credit is
    Cointelegraph.com - 12:30 Mar 18, 2026
    Crypto cards aren't the future, but onchain credit isCrypto cards force asset sales and tax hits. Onchain credit enables yield-bearing collateral power spending without liquidation, making cards obsolete interfaces. Opinion by: Vikram Arun, co-founder and CEO of Superform Crypto cards aren't the future of payments. They're a temporary interface for a world that hasn't fully accepted cryptocurrencies. They rely on banks as issuers, Visa or Mastercard as gatekeepers, and compliance rules that look exactly like TradFi.  Read more
    Tags: Crypto
  • RedotPay defends team reshuffle amid funding talks and IPO plans
    Cointelegraph.com - 11:47 Mar 18, 2026
    RedotPay defends team reshuffle amid funding talks and IPO plansRedotPay says it restructured teams for efficiency after a Bloomberg report flagged executive turnover, China sensitivities and new funding talks. Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments company RedotPay said it has “consolidated” teams to improve efficiency as it scales, after a report claimed executive turnover and sensitivities tied to its mainland China connections. On Wednesday, a Bloomberg report claimed RedotPay is facing leadership churn and sensitivities tied to China as it explores raising up to $150 million. Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said that at least five senior hires left the stablecoin company within a year, including two compliance chiefs, and described a demanding work culture with extended hours. In February, Bloomberg reported that RedotPay is considering a US IPO that could raise over $1 billion and value the company at more than $4 billion. The company was reported to be working with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies on a potential New York listing that could take...
    Tags: RedotPay
  • Connecticut suspends Bitcoin Depot as 2026 revenue outlook worsens
    Cointelegraph.com - 11:27 Mar 18, 2026
    Connecticut suspends Bitcoin Depot as 2026 revenue outlook worsensConnecticut halts Bitcoin Depot’s operations, with the company expecting lower revenue in 2026 amid mounting regulatory pressure and a steep decline in its stock price. Bitcoin Depot, a publicly traded cryptocurrency ATM provider, is facing mounting regulatory pressure in the US amid a steep stock decline and a weak revenue outlook. The Connecticut Banking Commissioner, through the Consumer Credit Division, issued a temporary cease-and-desist order against Bitcoin Depot on March 9, summarily suspending its money transmission license in the state. The order cites multiple alleged violations of the Connecticut Money Transmission Act, including failure to maintain minimum net worth, excessive fees and incomplete refunds to consumers who fell victim to scams. Read more
  • UK lawmakers seek moratorium on crypto donations to political parties
    Cointelegraph.com - 10:51 Mar 18, 2026
    UK lawmakers seek moratorium on crypto donations to political partiesA UK parliamentary committee urged an immediate moratorium on crypto political donations until stronger safeguards are in place. A cross-party parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom has urged the government to impose an immediate moratorium on cryptocurrency donations to political parties until stronger safeguards are in place. In a report published on Wednesday, the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy said the government should amend the Representation of the People Bill to impose an “immediate moratorium on crypto donations” until the Electoral Commission produces statutory guidance ahead of the next general election, due by August 2029. The committee also called for the creation of a Political Finance Enforcement Unit to oversee these activities and reduce the minimum threshold for declaring political donations from 11,180 British pounds ($14,900) to 500 pounds ($668), and proposed increasing the maximum custodial sentences to three years for wrongdoing involving foreign financing. Rea...
  • Tally winds down, citing lack of viable market for DAO tooling
    Cointelegraph.com - 10:30 Mar 18, 2026
    Tally winds down, citing lack of viable market for DAO toolingTally said its platform served more than one million users, supporting governance across hundreds of organizations and processing over $1 billion in payments. Decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance platform Tally is shutting down after five years of operations, citing a lack of sustainable business models for governance tooling in the crypto market.  Tally co-founder and CEO Dennison Bertram said the company will begin winding down at the end of March. He added that the company is not moving forward with a planned initial coin offering (ICO), concluding that it could not confidently deliver on the expectations that would come with selling tokens to investors.  Tally’s closure comes despite years of activity on its platform, which supported governance for hundreds of organizations and processed more than $1 billion in payments, according to Bertram. At its peak, the company said it helped secure up to $80 billion in value and served more than 1 million users. Read more
    Tags: Tally
  • Bitcoin stalls at $76K: Key BTC price levels to watch ahead of FOMC
    Cointelegraph.com - 10:19 Mar 18, 2026
    Bitcoin stalls at $76K: Key BTC price levels to watch ahead of FOMCBitcoin price traded at $74,000 as investors braced for Jerome Powell’s post-FOMC speech that could see volatile swings toward key BTC price levels. Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $74,000 on Wednesday, 2.6% below its six-week high of $76,000 reached on Tuesday, as traders brace for volatility following the US interest rate decision. Key takeaways: The odds of the US Federal Reserve leaving interest rates unchanged today are 100%. Read more
  • Ethereum aims to cut bridge times by 98% to 13 seconds with new rule
    Cointelegraph.com - 10:18 Mar 18, 2026
    Ethereum aims to cut bridge times by 98% to 13 seconds with new ruleEthereum’s FCR aims to reduce bridge times by up to 98%, bringing L1-to-L2 and exchange deposits down to 13 seconds without a hard fork. Ethereum client teams are testing an opt-in fast confirmation mechanism that could cut the time some layer-2 networks and exchanges wait to recognize mainnet deposits to about 13 seconds. The proposed Fast Confirmation Rule (FCR) would reduce “deposit time from Ethereum L1 to L2s or exchanges to about 13 seconds, an 80-98% reduction for most L2s and exchanges,” Ethereum researcher Julian Ma wrote on X. Most users today rely on canonical bridges, where transfers typically wait for multiple block confirmations or full finality, a process that can take around 13 minutes. However, many exchanges and L2s do not wait for finality, instead relying on “k-deep” confirmation rules, which offer no formal guarantees. In k-deep confirmation, a transaction is considered finalized only after k blocks (with k being a specific number). Read more
    Tags: Ethereum
  • Bitcoin ETF inflow streak nears October run, but totals still lag
    Cointelegraph.com - 08:49 Mar 18, 2026
    Bitcoin ETF inflow streak nears October run, but totals still lagUS spot Bitcoin ETFs draw $1.2 billion over seven days, far short of October 2025’s nine-day $6 billion streak, as XRP ETFs turn green. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) extended their inflow streak to seven consecutive days, marking the longest run since October 2025. Spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs added $199.4 million on Tuesday, bringing their seven-day streak to around $1.2 billion, according to data from SoSoValue. The latest inflows suggest continued institutional interest, though total inflows remain far below the roughly $6 billion seen during the October 2025 run. Total trading volumes fell to $2.6 billion on Tuesday, while total assets under management in Bitcoin ETFs climbed to $96.7 billion. Net year-to-date flows remain negative, following $1.8 billion in cumulative monthly outflows and $1.7 billion in cumulative inflows. Read more
  • Australian crypto shopping surges, but so do banking blocks: Survey
    Cointelegraph.com - 06:42 Mar 18, 2026
    Australian crypto shopping surges, but so do banking blocks: SurveyOnline shopping was the leading real-world use case for crypto among Australians, followed by paying for services such as freelancing and video game purchases. More Australians reported using cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services in 2026 compared to the year before, but banking friction has continued to weigh on crypto users, according to a new report by crypto exchange Independent Reserve. The annual survey of 2,000 “everyday Australians” was conducted between Jan. 12 and Jan. 30. It found that the share of Australians using crypto to buy goods or pay for services doubled from 6% to 12%, with the report suggesting “more Aussies are viewing crypto as a practical payment method rather than just a speculative bet.” Read more
  • Key US senator eyes breakthrough for stalled crypto bill this week
    Cointelegraph.com - 06:05 Mar 18, 2026
    Key US senator eyes breakthrough for stalled crypto bill this weekThe Senate Banking Committee has been looking to advance its crypto market structure bill since postponing a markup in January. US Senator Tim Scott says he expects a possible compromise this week on a stablecoin yield payments provision that has stalled a crypto market structure bill in the Senate. “I believe that this week we will have the first proposal in my hands to take a look at,” Scott, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee that is working to advance the bill, said on Tuesday at a crypto lobby event in Washington, D.C. “If that actually happens before the end of this week, and I think that it will [...] I think we’re going to be in much better shape,” he added. Read more
  • Bitcoin inflows to exchanges spike as BTC hits resistance at $75K
    Cointelegraph.com - 05:42 Mar 18, 2026
    Bitcoin inflows to exchanges spike as BTC hits resistance at $75KSpikes in large deposits to exchanges have been associated with increased selling pressure, according to analysts at CryptoQuant. Centralized crypto exchanges recorded a spike in hourly Bitcoin inflows on Monday as the crypto market rallied, with one analyst warning it could signal selling pressure.  Hourly Bitcoin flows into exchanges spiked to 6,100 BTC on March 16, the highest since Feb. 20, reported head of research at CryptoQuant, Julio Moreno, on Tuesday.  He added that the share of large inflows reached 63% of total inflows, which is the highest since mid-October 2025.  Read more
    Tags: Bitcoin
  • Bitrefill links Lazarus Group to employee laptop hack, stolen funds
    Cointelegraph.com - 01:11 Mar 18, 2026
    Bitrefill links Lazarus Group to employee laptop hack, stolen fundsBitrefill didn’t reveal how much money was drained in the March 1 incident but said it will absorb the losses using its operational capital. Crypto e-commerce store Bitrefill has revealed it was the victim of a cybersecurity attack on March 1, with the methods used closely resembling those of Lazarus Group, North Korea’s notorious hacking organization. In a post to X on Tuesday, Bitrefill said the hackers used malware, on-chain tracing, and reused IP and email infrastructure to compromise an employee’s laptop, enabling them to drain funds from the company’s hot wallets while also accessing 18,500 purchase records, potentially revealing “limited customer information.” Bitrefill said BlueNoroff Group, another North Korean hacking organization with close ties to the Lazarus Group, may have also been involved or been the sole attacker. Read more
  • SEC will consider most crypto assets not securities under federal law
    Cointelegraph.com - 22:06 Mar 17, 2026
    SEC will consider most crypto assets not securities under federal lawThe interpretative notice included information on token taxonomy and what digital assets the regulator would consider a security under federal law. In one of its first actions since signing a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it would interpret how “non-security crypto assets” fall under federal securities laws. In a Tuesday notice, the SEC said its interpretation of how to address crypto assets would serve as an “important bridge” as lawmakers in the US Congress consider market structure legislation which will codify how financial regulators oversee digital assets.  The commission said the interpretation would provide a “coherent token taxonomy for digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities,” address how a “non-security crypto asset” may or may not be considered an investment contract under the SEC’s purview, and clarify federal securities laws on “airdrops, ...
  • US lawmakers introduce bill to crack down on prediction markets war bets
    Cointelegraph.com - 20:58 Mar 17, 2026
    US lawmakers introduce bill to crack down on prediction markets war betsThe BETS OFF Act from two Democratic lawmakers came in response to several “highly unusual bets” on the US-Israel conflict with Iran, suggesting insider information. Two Democratic lawmakers in the US Congress have introduced legislation in response to “government corruption” over bets on prediction markets platforms. In a Tuesday announcement, Texas Representative Greg Casar and Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy said they had introduced the Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and ​Federal Functions (BETS OFF) Act after several Polymarket accounts made “highly unusual bets” that a war between the US and Israel against Iran would begin. Murphy said on March 4 that it was likely that people with “inside information” of US President Donald Trump’s plan to bomb Iran had made the bets. Read more
  • Moody’s brings credit ratings onchain with Canton Network integration
    Cointelegraph.com - 20:41 Mar 17, 2026
    Moody’s brings credit ratings onchain with Canton Network integrationThe move marks an early step toward embedding traditional risk assessment into blockchain-based financial infrastructure. Moody’s Ratings has debuted a system to deliver its credit analysis onchain, bringing its ratings data into blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The system, called Token Integration Engine (TIE), connects Moody’s traditional ratings data to blockchain networks, allowing permissioned participants to access credit insights within blockchain-based financial workflows. It is built for institutional use, with issuers controlling participation while Moody’s retains oversight of its ratings process. The company claims it is the first credit rating agency to deliver its credit analysis onchain. In June 2025, Moody’s teamed up with a fintech startup called Alphaledger to run a pilot program to explore how traditional credit ratings could be integrated into blockchain systems. Read more
  • Bitcoin holds $70K, bringing spot ETF buyers close to breakeven: Is the bull market back?
    Cointelegraph.com - 20:27 Mar 17, 2026
    Bitcoin holds $70K, bringing spot ETF buyers close to breakeven: Is the bull market back?A Bitcoin price rally to $80,000 would bring the bulk of spot BTC ETF holders to breakeven on their positions and possibly signal the resumption of the crypto bull market. Bitcoin (BTC) is closing in on its average entry price for US spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors at $79,900. The narrowing gap between Bitcoin’s market price and the ETF holders’ cost basis coincides with onchain data that shows early signs of accelerated buying from investors. Bitcoin’s sustained price rally above $70,000 puts a key investor cohort back in focus. The ETF cost basis level acted as support in mid-2024, and a break above this level brings many ETF holders closer to breakeven. The flow data adds further context to this shift. According to Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr., the ETF flows flipped positive after persistent outflows through mid-February. Read more
    Tags: Bitcoin
  • Tether launches AI training framework for smartphones and consumer GPUs
    Cointelegraph.com - 19:10 Mar 17, 2026
    Tether launches AI training framework for smartphones and consumer GPUsPart of the QVAC platform, the framework can use non-Nvidia hardware, expanding support beyond the dominant GPUs typically used for AI training. Tether, issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap, USDT, has released a new AI training framework that it says allows large language models to be fine-tuned on consumer hardware, including smartphones and non-Nvidia GPUs. According to Tuesday’s announcement, the system, part of its QVAC platform, uses Microsoft’s BitNet architecture and LoRA techniques to reduce memory and compute requirements, potentially lowering the cost and hardware barriers to developing AI models. The framework supports cross-platform training and inference across a range of chips, including AMD, Intel and Apple Silicon, as well as mobile GPUs from Qualcomm and Apple. Read more
  • Arizona AG files charges against Kalshi over ‘illegal gambling‘
    Cointelegraph.com - 18:53 Mar 17, 2026
    Arizona AG files charges against Kalshi over ‘illegal gambling‘A Kalshi spokesperson said that the criminal case was based on ”paper-thin arguments” and claimed the company was exclusively under federal jurisdiction. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that her office filed gambling and related criminal charges against the companies behind prediction markets platform Kalshi. In a Tuesday notice, Mayes said that the charges alleged that Kalshi operated an “illegal gambling business in Arizona without a license” and offered election wagering, in violation of state laws. Arizona authorities alleged that Kalshi’s prediction markets platform allowed state residents to bet on event contracts related to sports and state and federal elections.  “Kalshi may brand itself as a ‘prediction market,’ but what it's actually doing is running an illegal gambling operation and taking bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law,” said Mayes. “No company gets to decide for itself which laws to follow.” Read more

8791 items