Crypto

The European Commission plans to expand ESMA oversight of MiCA crypto companies and trading venues, aiming to streamline EU markets and narrow the gap with the US. The European Commission has proposed expanding the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) over crypto and broader financial markets in a bid to narrow the competitive gap with the United States. Published Thursday, the package would transfer “direct supervisory competences” for key pieces of market infrastructure, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), trading venues and central counterparties, to ESMA and strengthen its coordination role in the asset management sector. The proposal still needs approval from the European Parliament and the Council, where it is under negotiation. Read more

Cayman foundation formations climbed more than 70% year over year to exceed 1,300 by the end of 2024, extending a multi-cycle shift toward offshore structures. According to a Cayman Finance report, early 2025 data showed that more than 400 additional registrations indicate the trend has continued despite recent moves by the United States to recast […] The post Crypto Cayman foundations surge 70% as a new court ruling exposes tokenholders to devastating personal liability risks appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Onchain data points to a major Bitcoin price drop in the making, while a bearish technical structure projected a drop to $68,000. Bitcoin (BTC) is flashing early signs of a deeper correction, as the latest recovery pauses at $93,000. New analysis shows Bitcoin’s “market structure” increasingly resembles the first quarter of 2022, which marked the beginning of the bear market. Key takeaways: Bitcoin's onchain structure mirrors early 2022, risking a deep bear market if key levels are lost.  Read more

Argentina’s state oil company, YPF, is reportedly exploring crypto payments at its fuel stations as adoption of digital assets rises, following the recent rollout of US dollar transactions. Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), Argentina’s state-controlled energy company, is reportedly considering allowing drivers to pay for gasoline and diesel with cryptocurrency, as digital assets continue to gain traction in everyday transactions across the country. The plan could rely on a third-party processor rather than direct wallet payments, including local and international platforms such as Lemon, Ripio or Binance to handle conversions, local news outlet La Nación reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The review comes two months after YPF began accepting US dollar payments at its stations, a step that made it the country’s first fuel chain to price and process sales in US dollars. The policy came amid a broader push by Economy Minister Luis Caputo to encourage the circulation of hard curre...

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was also an underperformer, down 3.2% from Wednesday.

[PRESS RELEASE – San Francisco, California, USA, December 4th, 2025] 54% of investors now use ChatGPT for trading and investment decisions. Only 11% trust the results. That gap, between AI’s promise and its spectacular failure in markets, represents billions in misallocated capital. TrueNorth just raised $3M to build the specialized intelligence that closes it. The […]

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was on the cypherpunk mailing list, can code in C++ and had every reason to want to invent Bitcoin. But did he? Over the years, weve explored some intriguing theories about who (or what) created Bitcoin, ranging from the top government spy agency in America to a time-traveling AI and even the lizard people.  However, some are adamant that the creator of Bitcoin is much more human and has been under our noses this whole time, sporting a guru beard, sandals, and wearing a T-shirt with Satoshi written on it in large letters: the billionaire Twitter and Block founder Jack Dorsey.  I believe that Jack has been outwardly signaling that hes Satoshi for more than a decade, deBanked chief editor Sean Murray tells Magazine.  Read more

U.S. spot XRP ETFs recorded a net inflow of $50.27 million on December 3, pushing their cumulative total to $874.28 million.

Portal to Bitcoin raised $25 million and launched an HTLC-based atomic OTC desk aimed at enabling trustless, crosschain large trade settlement. Bitcoin-native interoperability protocol Portal to Bitcoin has raised $25 million in funding amid the launch of what it describes as an atomic over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk. According to a Thursday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the company raised $25 million in a round led by digital asset lender JTSA Global. The fundraise follows previous investments by Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, Arrington Capital and others. Alongside the fresh funding, the company rolled out its Atomic OTC desk, promising “instant, trustless cross-chain settlement of large block trades.” The newly deployed service is reminiscent of crosschain atomic swaps offered by THORChain, Chainflip, and more Bitcoin-focused systems such as Liquality and Boltz. Read more

[PRESS RELEASE – Zug, Switzerland, December 4th, 2025] Ika, the fastest parallel MPC network, today announced a mainnet upgrade that enables EdDSA signatures directly from dWallets, significantly expanding Ika’s native cross-chain coverage to include Solana, Zcash, Cardano, Stellar, Near, and other EdDSA-based ecosystems. This upgrade extends Ika’s core promise: natively control accounts and assets across […]

Southeast Asian nations are ramping up enforcement as illegal mining operations drain power grids and bankroll cybercrime networks.

A new wave of self-custodial smart accounts aims to eliminate seed phrases, introduce card-based spending and remove the fear of losing access to crypto forever. Crypto’s longstanding user-experience hurdle, the dreaded seed phrase, is facing a serious challenge. As wallet providers experiment with programmable smart accounts and simplified recovery, the debate about self-custody is shifting from technical responsibility to everyday usability. In this week’s episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, host Nathaniel Whittemore, Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson, and Ready (formerly Argent) CEO Itamar Lesuisse address how privacy, self-custody, Bitcoin-backed borrowing and seed-phrase-free wallets are converging to reshape how people store and spend digital assets. One recurring concern among crypto newcomers and veterans alike is the fragility of seed-phrase security. As Jenkinson noted, users often underestimate how easy it is to lose access: Read more

US stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act are splitting global liquidity with Europe, creating regional markets and potentially leading to cross-border friction, a report says. The United States’ new approach to stablecoin regulation is reshaping global liquidity flows and driving a sharp structural split with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime, effectively creating separate US and EU stablecoin liquidity pools, according to a new report from blockchain security auditor CertiK. The report finds that the US digital asset market entered a new phase of regulatory clarity in 2025, with federal legislation and administrative reforms now broadly aligned around how digital assets are issued, traded and custodied. At the center of that shift is the GENIUS Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump in July, which establishes the first federal framework for payment stablecoins. The law imposes strict reserve requirements, bans yield-bearing stablecoins, and formally integrates stablecoin ...

Jobless claims shock at 191K vs 219K expected—Bitcoin holds steady but December rate cut odds now in question. The post [LIVE] Bitcoin Price Alert: U.S. Jobless Claims Crash to 191K: Will Strong Labor Data Kill Fed Rate Cuts? appeared first on Cryptonews.

Digital Asset said the roughly $50 million in funding from BNY, iCapital, Nasdaq and S&P Global will help scale the Canton Network as institutions warm to onchain tokenization. Institutional blockchain infrastructure provider Digital Asset, the creator of the Canton Network, has raised about $50 million in strategic investments from BNY, iCapital, Nasdaq and S&P Global, according to a person familiar with the deal. According to an announcement on Thursday, the strategic funding will build on Digital Asset’s strong momentum to scale the Canton Network following recent funding milestones that raised $135 million. The participation of these four big names highlights the range of institutions supporting the Canton Network, as big banks, exchanges, data, and wealth infrastructure all lend their weight to the same underlying blockchain stack. Read more

The combined company will fold RockawayX's infrastructure, liquidity, and asset management units into Solmate.

Kraken and Deutsche Börse plan to connect foreign exchange, tokenized stocks and Eurex derivatives in a phased rollout targeting institutional clients. Deutsche Börse Group, a global exchange organization, has entered into a strategic partnership with the US crypto exchange Kraken with a mission of bridging traditional and digital markets. Kraken and Deutsche Börse are joining forces to create unified access across traditional and digital asset markets, according to a joint announcement on Thursday. The companies plan to improve institutional access to regulated crypto products, including spot trading, tokenized markets and derivatives, as well as enhanced liquidity for institutions across multiple jurisdictions. Read more

Meanwhile, the underlying asset's price stands still at $2.15.

The investment giant is pointing to AI and digital assets like stablecoins as big forces driving change and growth in the economy.

The donation came as the UK government considered banning crypto contributions to political parties under a proposed Elections Bill. United Kingdom political party Reform UK has received a record 9 million British pounds (about $12 million) donation from early crypto investor Christopher Harborne. The sum is the largest single political gift ever made by a living person in Britain and comes months before local elections scheduled for May, the BBC reported on Thursday, citing newly published figures from the Electoral Commission. Harborne, a British national now based in Thailand, has a history of backing UK political campaigns. He previously donated to the Conservatives under Boris Johnson and to the Brexit Party, later rebranded as Reform UK, during the 2019–2020 cycle, per the report. Read more