Crypto

Northern Data, which is majority-owned by Tether, sold its Bitcoin mining arm to businesses owned by Tether executives, the Financial Times reports. The Tether-backed data centre operator Northern Data reportedly sold its Bitcoin mining business, Peak Mining, to three companies run by Tether executives. Northern Data was sold for up to $200 million to Highland Group Mining, Appalachian Energy, and an Alberta-based company, run by Giancarlo Devasini, Tether co-founder and chair, and its CEO, Paolo Ardoino, the Financial Times reported on Friday.  Filings reportedly show that Highland Group’s directors are Devasini and Ardoino, and the sole director of the Alberta company is Devasini, while it remains unclear who runs Delaware-based Appalachian Energy. Read more

Lawmakers led by Republican Mike Carey argue that current IRS rules penalize stakers with an administrative burden and potentially over-tax unrealized gains. A group of 18 bipartisan US House lawmakers is pushing the country’s tax agency to review its rules on crypto staking taxes before the start of 2026.  In a letter sent to Internal Revenue Service acting commissioner Scott Bessent on Friday, the lawmakers, led by Republican Mike Carey, asked for a review and update guidance on “burdensome” crypto staking tax laws. “This letter is simply requesting fair tax treatment for digital assets and ending the double taxation of staking rewards is a big step in the right direction,” Carey said.  Read more

Kaspersky found a new malware, dubbed Stealka, that disguises itself as game mods and pirated software to steal crypto wallets, passwords, and browser data. New malware has been discovered that targets crypto wallets and browser extensions while disguising itself as game cheats and mods, said cybersecurity firm Kaspersky. Kaspersky reported on Thursday that it had uncovered a new infostealer dubbed “Stealka,” which targets Microsoft Windows user data. Attackers have used the malware, which was discovered in November, to hijack accounts, steal cryptocurrency, and install crypto miners on their victims’ computers while masquerading as video game cracks, cheats, and mods. Read more

Uniswap’s fee switch proposal, designed to boost its token’s supply-demand dynamics via token burns, has passed a community vote threshold and is set to take effect this week. The highly anticipated Uniswap protocol fee switch, dubbed “UNIfication,” is set to pass and go live later this week, having reached the 40 million vote threshold needed to trigger one of the biggest upgrades in the decentralized exchange protocol’s seven-year history. As of early Monday, nearly 62 million votes have already been cast in favor of the UNIfication governance proposal since voting opened on Dec. 20, with voting set to close on Thursday, Christmas Day. Uniswap Labs CEO Hayden Adams said on Thursday that a successful vote would follow a two-day timelock period in which Uniswap v2 and v3 fee switches would flip on the Unichain mainnet, triggering the burning of more Uniswap (UNI) tokens. Read more

Bitcoin’s “miners are dumping” story is comforting in the way simple stories always are. Price slides, miners run out of oxygen, coins hit exchanges, and the price is shoved around by a single, easy villain. But miners are not a single actor, and selling pressure isn't just a mood. It's math, contracts, and deadlines. When […] The post Bitcoin miners are bleeding at $90,000, but the “death spiral” math hits a hard ceiling appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Putting real-world assets onchain opens up new markets, increases capital velocity and democratizes access to finance, advocates say. Tokenization will transform the financial industry faster than digital technology disrupted legacy media, such as print newspapers, physical copies of music and other analog formats, according to Keith Grossman, president of crypto payments company MoonPay. “While many feared digitization would destroy media, what it actually did was force its evolution,” Grossman said, adding that real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, the process of representing traditional assets onchain, will force traditional institutions to adapt. He added: Financial incumbents like Citi, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and others will continue to exist in a different form, Grossman said, much like media companies continued to exist after the shift to digital distribution in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which disrupted business models that worked for decades. Read more

The Bitcoin Development Pledge aligns with the king’s vision of applying modern digital technologies to serve the people of Bhutan and future generations.

Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn says options markets, falling volatility and macro risks make next year hard to forecast even as the firm keeps a bullish long-term view.

Bitcoin is a decentralized software protocol that has a collective action problem, unlike centralized companies, according to Jameson Lopp. Migrating Bitcoin (BTC) to post-quantum standards will take at least 5-10 years, according to Bitcoin core developer and co-founder of crypto custody company Casa, Jameson Lopp, who weighed in on the ongoing quantum computer debate. Lopp agreed with Adam Back, the CEO of crypto infrastructure company Blockstream, that there is no near-term threat to Bitcoin from quantum computers. Lopp said in an X post. We should hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” he added. In a separate post, he said the Bitcoin protocol is more challenging to upgrade to post-quantum standards than centralized software because of its distributed consensus model. Read more

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said post-quantum cryptography exists, but would slow blockchains without hardware support.

Binance’s growth reflects how liquidity, clear regulations, diversified stablecoins, and resilient infrastructure create a reliable trading environment.

David Sacks announced on Dec. 18 that Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott and Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman confirmed a January 2026 markup for the CLARITY Act. “We look forward to finishing the job in January!” The problem: a January markup isn't finishing anything. It's the opening move in a multi-year pipeline where the most […] The post CLARITY Act explicitly leaves DeFi rules blank, risking a total retail protection collapse if negotiations fail appeared first on CryptoSlate.

[PRESS RELEASE – San Francisco, United States, December 21st, 2025] Self-Custody Wallet Eliminates Cross-Chain USDT Friction with Integrated Swaps, Bridges, and Anti-Scam Protection Gem Wallet, a fully open-source self-custody wallet, today announced a comprehensive USDT infrastructure spanning 10+ blockchains, addressing the fragmented stablecoin experience that has plagued crypto users. With USDT now exceeding $140B in […]

IcomTech falsely marketed crypto mining profits while promoters pocketed investor funds, according to the Justice Department.

BitMex co-founder Arthur Hayes thinks Bitcoin will range until year's end, but it could jump to $200,000 before March. Here's why.

Charles Hoskinson explains the "poisoned transaction" Cardano hack that took place back in November, and how it split the chain in two: “I don’t wanna have figure out, like, ‘How do we reimburse all these guys?’ They were honestly following the protocol, their nodes didn’t understand that there was a split.”

Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson talks hash vs lattice-based cryptography, and how November's “poisoned transaction” hack could have destroyed Cardano if they were BFT-based “Ethereum is embracing STARKs and hash-based crypto. [Cardano is] embracing lattice-based crypto on our side. You know, it’s Blu-ray vs HD DVD, we’ll see which one the market picks.”

Bitcoin price expectations diverged into the weekly close as $150,000 targets met calls for a drop to levels not seen in over a year. Bitcoin (BTC) circled $88,000 on Sunday as traders braced for fresh volatility into the weekly close. Key points: Bitcoin market participants have mixed views over short-term BTC price action with the market stuck below $90,000. Read more

On Dec. 15, Elizabeth Warren put two names at the top of a letter that signals where she thinks US crypto policy is actually written: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pamela Bondi. The ask is simple on paper but awkward in practice. Are their departments investigating what she calls “national security risks” tied […] The post Elizabeth Warren is using PancakeSwap to force Trump’s regulators into a conflict trap they can’t escape appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Despite bearish markets, Bitwise sees Bitcoin reaching 2026 highs as four-year cycles weaken, institutions embrace, volatility declines, and correlations fall.