Cointelegraph.com
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Cointelegraph.com - 07:41 Feb 25, 2026
Hong Kong will build a digital asset platform for tokenized bond issuance and settlement, while moving ahead with stablecoin licensing and CARF. Hong Kong will set up a new digital asset platform this year to support the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds, as the city pushes to move tokenization from pilot deals into core market infrastructure. In his 2026-27 budget speech delivered on Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said CMU OmniClear Holdings, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), will build the platform and extend it to other digital assets. The system will be linked with regional tokenization platforms. Chan said the platform would be “gradually extended to other digital assets and linked with other tokenisation platforms in the region,” adding that the move would consolidate Hong Kong’s role in digital asset development. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 05:36 Feb 25, 2026
River reports that Bitcoin adoption surged in 2025, cementing it as a mature asset class, even as its price has halved since hitting a peak in October. Bitcoin’s adoption by institutions, banks, merchants, public companies, and nation-states has boomed in 2025, despite the recent price drawdown, says the financial services company River. “There is no bear market in Bitcoin adoption,” River said in a report published on Tuesday, which noted that while Bitcoin (BTC) is down 50% from its all-time high, “adoption is compounding in ways that aren’t affecting the price, yet.” “Trust in Bitcoin has grown faster than that of any asset in history,” it said. “What began as an experiment is now a globally recognized store-of-value, with adoption patterns that rival the internet.” Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 05:13 Feb 25, 2026
South Korean prosecutors reportedly accused a man of poisoning a business partner with pesticide in a dispute over losses due to crypto trading. A South Korean man has been indicted on attempted murder charges after allegedly poisoning his business partner with pesticide-laced coffee amid a dispute over more than $816,000 in crypto losses, according to local reports. The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office has accused a man in his 30s of adding the pesticide methomyl to his business partner’s drink during a meeting at a café in November, local news outlets Chosun and Asia Business Daily reported on Monday. After drinking the coffee, the victim lost consciousness and collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital and regained consciousness three days later, according to reports. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 04:50 Feb 25, 2026
Bitcoin rallied above $66,000 following a positive close from US stock markets, putting Monday’s AI and tech-stock driven sell-off to rest. Will $60,000 remain the BTC bottom? Bitcoin’s (BTC) bleed slowed on Tuesday as US markets recovered from Monday’s AI and software-stocks-driven selloff. At the US market closing bell, the Dow locked in a 370-point gain, while the S&P 500 held on to a 0.77% rally. The swift recovery of US equity markets appears to have played a role in easing negative pressure on crypto investors looking to cut risk asset exposure. Bitcoin analysts continue to stress the importance of the former $65,000 support being reclaimed and the $60,000 level holding, with many suggesting that a dip below the latter figure would swiftly usher in new lows in the low $50,000 range. While Bitcoin now trades 49% away from its all-time high, BTC market resource Material Indicators flagged a $4.5 million spot purchase by “mega whales” on Tuesday morning. In the post, Material Indicators noted that while ... -
Cointelegraph.com - 04:08 Feb 25, 2026
Coinbase, World Liberty Financial and Laser Digital are also in line for a banking charter in the US, after Crypto.com received conditional approval for a charter on Monday. Global financial services firm Payoneer is the latest in a growing number of companies to file for a national trust bank charter in the US, which could enable it to issue a stablecoin and provide various crypto services. Payoneer said on Tuesday it filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form PAYO Digital Bank, a week after it partnered with stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge to add stablecoin capabilities to its platform, which is mainly focused on cross-border transactions. Payoneer said that it is seeking to issue a GENIUS Act-compliant stablecoin, PAYO-USD, to serve as the holding currency in Payoneer wallets, in addition to allowing customers to pay and receive stablecoins. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 03:22 Feb 25, 2026
Bitcoin Depot is moving to require ID for all transactions as regulators have cracked down on crypto ATM operators over scams and money laundering concerns. The biggest Bitcoin ATM operator in the US has begun phasing in a new requirement for users to provide identification for every transaction at its crypto ATMs amid increasing pressure from regulators and lawmakers for operators to curb illicit activity. Bitcoin Depot said on Tuesday that it began the rollout earlier in February across the company’s US network ATMs, with the goal of helping to detect suspicious activity in real time and eliminate misuse by bad actors, such as account sharing, identity theft, and account takeover. “Continuous verification allows us to detect suspicious activity based on customers, locations, or transaction amount before a transaction is approved,” Bitcoin Depot CEO Scott Buchanan said in a statement. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 03:12 Feb 25, 2026
Bloomberg reports that Stripe is in early acquisition talks with PayPal as the payments giant has battled competition, leadership turmoil and an 85% stock drop from its peak. Payment processing firm Stripe is reportedly considering an acquisition of all or parts of its rival PayPal Holdings. Stripe is in early talks and has expressed preliminary interest in PayPal or parts of its business, though no deal is guaranteed, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Stripe, which enables enterprises to accept payments, make payouts, and automate financial processes, said on Tuesday that it was valued at $159 billion in a tender offer to shareholders and employees, a 74% jump from a year ago. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 01:03 Feb 25, 2026
Anthropic alleges Chinese AI companies DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax made 24,000 accounts and 16 million Claude exchanges to scrape its AI bot for training. Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has accused three AI firms of illicitly using its large language model Claude to improve their own models in a technique known as a “distillation” attack. In a blog post on Sunday, Anthropic said that it had identified these “attacks” by DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax, which involve training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one. Anthropic accused the trio of generating “over 16 million exchanges” combined with the firm’s Claude AI across “approximately 24,000 fraudulent accounts.” Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 00:05 Feb 25, 2026
Bitwise’s acquisition of Chorus One expands the company’s staking capabilities to more than 30 blockchains, including Solana, Hyperliquid, Monad, Avalanche and Sui. Crypto asset manager Bitwise has acquired the staking services company Chorus One, which oversees more than $2.2 billion in staked assets and could help Bitwise expand its portfolio of crypto staking products. Bitwise said on Tuesday that 50 of Chorus One’s employees will join Bitwise Onchain Solutions, where several billion dollars' worth of crypto assets are already staked. The acquisition could see Bitwise diversify its range of exchange-traded products, including staking, as the Securities and Exchange Commission has shown support for a broader range of crypto investment products. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 22:42 Feb 24, 2026
Ether faces a bearish trend as onchain fees and network deposits hit multiyear lows. Until derivatives metrics stabilize, ETH price remains at risk. Key takeaways: ETH futures liquidations reached $224 million after a 9% price drop, while the network’s onchain activity fell to a 12-month low. ETH’s high correlation with Bitcoin and massive outflows from exchange-traded funds suggest further downside risk for Ether price. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 22:00 Feb 24, 2026
The EU authority tracking compliance under the MiCA framework issued a warning to those marketing crypto derivatives as “perpetual futures or perpetual contracts.” The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the financial markets regulator and supervisor in the European Union, issued a notice to remind entities to assess investment vehicles providing leverage exposure to cryptocurrencies. In a Tuesday notice, ESMA said that derivatives products, including those marketed as “perpetual futures or perpetual contracts” tied to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH), likely fell within the scope of intervention measures applied to contracts for differences, or CFDs. The EU Authority warned companies to “take appropriate steps to identify, prevent, or manage conflicts of interest that may arise from the offering of these products.” “Where these derivatives meet the definition of a CFD, they are subject to the applicable product intervention requirements, including leverage limits, a mandatory ... -
Cointelegraph.com - 21:49 Feb 24, 2026
The exchange now allows US customers to trade thousands of stocks and ETFs commission-free alongside crypto, with 24/5 access and instant funding. Coinbase has opened stock and exchange-traded fund trading to all US users, allowing customers to buy and sell equities alongside crypto within the same app on a 24/5 basis. The rollout includes commission-free trading, fractional shares, and instant funding with USD or USDC. According to a company post on Tuesday, thousands of stocks are available to trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, with approximately 6,000 securities currently supported and plans to expand that number in the coming weeks. Coinbase said it aims to introduce stock perpetual futures for non-US users through Coinbase Bermuda Ltd., subject to regulatory approval, and said it intends to offer tokenized equities in the future. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 21:41 Feb 24, 2026
Kraken’s new contracts, built on the xStocks framework, offer up to 20x leverage on tokenized benchmarks tied to US equities and gold. Crypto exchange Kraken has launched trading of tokenized equity perpetual futures on its regulated derivatives platforms, allowing eligible non-US clients to trade 24/7 leveraged exposure to major US stock indexes, gold and individual companies including Nvidia, Apple and Tesla. According to Tuesday’s announcement, the contracts are structured as perpetual futures, derivatives that trade without expiry, and are offered to eligible clients outside the United States. Kraken described the products as the first regulated tokenized equity perpetual futures to be listed on a derivatives venue. The products are built using the xStocks framework, which issues blockchain-based representations of publicly traded stocks and exchange-traded funds. Kraken said the contracts reference tokenized equity benchmarks rather than directly holding the underlying shares. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 21:30 Feb 24, 2026
MoonPay debuts infrastructure enabling AI agents to transact with stablecoins onchain as both crypto and non-crypto companies race to build the “agent economy.” Crypto payments and stablecoin infrastructure company MoonPay has introduced a new software layer that gives artificial intelligence systems direct access to blockchain-based financial networks, a development that could allow AI agents to independently hold and move digital assets rather than rely on human intermediaries. The product, called MoonPay Agents, is a non-custodial tool that allows AI agents, or agentic AI, to create wallets, hold digital assets and execute onchain transactions without human intervention, once funded. The launch reflects a broader push to integrate autonomous AI systems with crypto infrastructure, potentially allowing algorithms to interact directly with decentralized finance protocols and other blockchain applications. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 20:15 Feb 24, 2026
Bitcoin remains pinned below $65,000 as random bouts of intense selling pressure persist, but one onchain indicator has stabilized, providing insight into when spot market demand may return. Onchain data tracking Bitcoin’s (BTC) investor profitability has dropped back toward the long-term average, indicating a possible valuation reset. At the same time, crypto exchange order flow shows an easing of aggressive selling pressure, with the spot cumulative volume delta (CVD) rising marginally even as the spot trading volume dropped to $6 billion from $7.6 billion. These changes are shaping the expectations around when stronger spot demand may return for BTC and whether or not this would lead to a trend reversal. Glassnode analyst Chris Beamish said that the Bitcoin market value to realized value (MVRV) ratio has normalized after the prior +1 standard deviation extremes were fully reset. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 20:14 Feb 24, 2026
Users placed more than $7 million betting on the outcome of the crypto sleuth's investigation, expected to be announced on Thursday. Users of prediction markets platform Polymarket are making bets on which crypto platform will be the next target on online sleuth ZachXBT, known for investigations into scams and hacks. As of Tuesday, Polymarket showed a 29% chance that ZachXBT would name decentralized liquidity platform Meteora on Thursday as part of what was described as a “major investigation” into “one of crypto’s most profitable businesses.” The crypto sleuth said in a Monday X post that the investigation was related to allegations of insider trading. According to ZachXBT, the investigation would reveal that multiple employees of the yet-unnamed exchange “abused internal data to insider trade over a prolonged period of time.” Polymarket users had the chance to bet on Meteora, MEXC, Axiom, Wintermute, and others ahead of the announcement. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 19:03 Feb 24, 2026
Ether whale order sizes are shrinking, while a $2 billion short cluster near $2,000 frame a tightening liquidity scenario for ETH after a sixth week of red price action. Ether (ETH) whale activity on a major exchange has slowed since the start of 2026, with roughly 2 million ETH traded in large-sized transactions over the past 45 days. ETH is currently in the midst of its worst weekly losing streak since 2022, with exchange flow trends and futures market liquidation data impacting investor expectations for Ether’s short and long-term price direction in the broader market. CryptoQuant data shows that the average ETH whale sell orders on Binance have fallen to around 1,350 ETH in recent weeks, down from roughly 2,250 ETH in early January. Assuming 15 to 35 whale-sized executions per day, the cumulative gross sell-side turnover since Jan. 8 is estimated at around 1.8 to 2 million ETH over the past 45 days. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 18:38 Feb 24, 2026
A 9.8% shareholder has doubled down on calls for Empery Digital to sell its BTC holdings, return capital to investors and remove its CEO and board. A major shareholder in Empery Digital has called on the company to abandon its Bitcoin-centric strategy, sell its digital asset holdings and return the proceeds to investors, along with demanding the resignation of the CEO and the entire board of directors. In a letter to the company’s board on Monday, Tice P. Brown, who is the beneficial owner of roughly 9.8% of Empery Digital’s outstanding shares, accused management of entrenching themselves at shareholders’ expense. Brown said that Empery Digital’s leadership privately approached him on Feb. 18 with an offer to repurchase all of his shares at a price equal to 100% of their market net asset value (mNAV), which he called “a large premium to prevailing market valuations.” He declined the proposal, saying it was designed to preserve management’s positions rather than return capital to shareholders. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 17:26 Feb 24, 2026
The approval allows WisdomTree’s tokenized Treasury money market fund to trade and settle around the clock within the US regulatory framework. US-based asset manager WisdomTree has launched 24/7 trading and instant settlement for the WisdomTree Treasury Money Market Digital Fund (WTGXX), enabling round-the-clock secondary trading of a registered tokenized mutual fund within the US regulatory framework. The company said it is the first time a registered tokenized mutual fund has been allowed to trade and settle around the clock under the Investment Company Act of 1940 using a dealer-principal model. The structure allows shares to settle instantly, giving investors real-time access to yield-bearing US Treasurys exposure. To implement the model, WisdomTree entities obtained exemptive relief from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Its affiliated broker-dealer, WisdomTree Securities, also received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which oversees US broker-dealers, to ... -
Cointelegraph.com - 16:58 Feb 24, 2026
Two major news outlets published similar reports on Monday claiming that Binance had fired or suspended employees involved in an investigation into crypto going to Iranian entities. Binance CEO Richard Teng took to social media on Tuesday to attack what he called “inaccurate reporting” by the Wall Street Journal regarding investigators at the crypto exchange uncovering $1.7 billion in digital assets moving to Iranian entities. In a Tuesday X post, Teng said the report, published on Monday, contained “defamatory claims,” including a letter from Binance’s legal team “demanding immediate corrections and a full retraction of these false statements.” “Your Article is false, seriously misleading to your readers, and defamatory of our client,” said the letter to WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker from lawyers at Withers Bergman. “Our client has written to you directly seeking correction of the major matters of significant concern and we call upon you to act responsibly, and to remove your Article pending this correcti...
8006 items