Author: Ethan Carter
Ethan is a seasoned cryptocurrency writer with extensive experience contributing to leading U.S.-based blockchain and fintech publications. His work blends in-depth market analysis with accessible explanations, making complex crypto topics understandable for a broad audience. Over the years, he has covered Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, NFTs, and emerging blockchain trends, always with a focus on accuracy and insight. Ethan's articles have appeared on major crypto portals, where his expertise in market trends and investment strategies has earned him a loyal readership.
Bitcoin BTC$90,712.26 attempted a late weekend rally, but even those minor gains were largely reversed in early U.S. trading on Monday, with the price quietly settling near the $90,000 mark for the rest of the day.Trading around $90,500 as U.S. stocks closed, bitcoin was down about 1% over the past 24 hours.Major altcoins also struggled to maintain their gains. Ethereum’s ether ETH$3,130.53 dipped slightly but managed to climb to its highest relative price against BTC in over a month. Other notable gainers included privacy-centric Zcash ZEC$409.05 and institutional-focused blockchain Canton Network (CC), both achieving double-digit gains. The wider cryptocurrency market,…
Key takeawaysThe pricing pattern influenced by halving events is losing its effectiveness as increased BTC supply diminishes the relative impact of each halving.Grayscale indicates that institutional investment currently shapes the Bitcoin market more than preceding cycles characterized by retail speculation.Unlike the volatile surges seen in 2013 and 2017, Bitcoin’s most recent price increase has been more stable, with a 30% decline reflecting a typical bull-market correction.Market dynamics are increasingly influenced by interest-rate expectations, bipartisan US regulatory efforts, and Bitcoin’s role in institutional investment portfolios.Since its inception, Bitcoin’s (BTC) pricing has adhered to a predictable pattern, wherein programmed events halve Bitcoin…
Do Kwon is set to be sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to two felony counts, with a US federal judge inquiring about the Terraform Labs co-founder’s legal issues in South Korea and Montenegro.In a filing on Monday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Paul Engelmayer asked Kwon’s legal team and attorneys for the US government regarding the charges and the “maximum and minimum sentences” he may face in South Korea, where he is anticipated to be extradited after potentially serving time in the United States.Kwon pleaded guilty to two counts of wire…
The conventional banking sector has attempted to decelerate the influx of entities striving for charters as trust banks serving clients in digital assets. Jonathan Gould, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, remarked that such reluctance could “risk reversing innovations.””The OCC receives near daily communications from current national banks about their own ambitions for engaging and innovative offerings,” he stated at the Blockchain Association’s policy summit on Monday in Washington. “This consistently strengthens my confidence in the OCC’s capacity to supervise new entrants and evolving operations of existing banks in a fair and impartial manner.”Gould noted…
Argentina is contemplating a significant shift in its bitcoin policy. The central bank of Argentina, Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA), is reportedly working on regulations that would enable commercial banks to provide trading and custody services for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to their customers. If these regulations are approved, they could be enforced as soon as April 2026. This potential change would lift a ban that was imposed in May 2022, when the BCRA prohibited banks from conducting or supporting any transactions involving digital assets, citing concerns about financial stability and money laundering. Since then, most crypto activities…
The Tether-backed Stable protocol has unveiled its USDT-powered blockchain, StableChain, along with a new governance foundation and native token.The protocol states that the new layer-1 network is designed specifically for stablecoin transactions, utilizing Tether’s USDt (USDT) for gas fee payments, eliminating the reliance on volatile assets for processing payments.In conjunction with the mainnet launch, Stable also introduced the Stable Foundation and the STABLE governance token on Monday, effectively decoupling network security from payment flows settled in USDT.This rollout comes after a pre-deposit campaign that attracted over $2 billion from more than 24,000 wallets, as well as a $28 million seed…
Key takeaways:Luke Judges asserts that technical strength alone cannot ensure long-term competitiveness, indicating that XRP may gain from Solana’s pragmatism and swift execution.Judges posits that Solana’s market success stems from practical engineering and a rapid go-to-market strategy rather than protocol design alone.David Schwartz presents a differing view, claiming that XRPL’s reliability and stability are more important than pursuing high-throughput chains.Judges emphasizes that onboarding developers, providing tools, and incentivizing validators are essential for sustainable growth and minimizing centralization risks.Luke Judges, global partner success lead and director of Ripple, shared insights on the evolving XRP Ledger ecosystem and its competitive framework, drawing…
Last month’s $500 million share sale by Ripple attracted major players in global finance, but only after investors insisted on a range of downside protections resembling those found in structured credit rather than a standard venture capital round, as reported by Bloomberg.Participants in the funding round, which valued Ripple at $40 billion—the highest for any privately held crypto company—include Citadel Securities, Fortress Investment Group, Marshall Wace, Brevan Howard-affiliated vehicles, Galaxy Digital, and Pantera Capital.Bloomberg’s Ryan Weeks notes that several funds perceived this as a concentrated bet on a single volatile asset.Investors established that more than 90% of Ripple’s net asset…
Ondo Finance, a tokenization specialist, saw its native cryptocurrency rise on Monday following the conclusion of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the platform. U.S. regulators are now facilitating the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA).The SEC has wrapped up a “confidential” investigation that began in 2024 under the previous leadership of Gary Gensler, without pursuing any charges, as stated by the Ondo team in an X post.The investigation focused on whether Ondo’s approach to tokenizing certain real-world assets was in line with federal securities laws and whether the ONDO token could be classified as a security, according to…
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the UK, responsible for regulating the nation’s financial sector, has unveiled proposals aimed at enhancing the “UK investment culture” and is seeking input from the cryptocurrency industry.In discussion and consultation documents published on Monday, the FCA invited crypto entities to share their thoughts on initiatives focused on “broadening consumer access to investments” as well as revising rules concerning “client categorization and conflicts of interest.” Source: FCAThe discussion paper highlighted that “almost all of the underperformance on high [digital engagement practices] apps can be linked to trading in cryptoassets and [contracts for difference].” The proposal…