Cointelegraph.com
Source:
https://cointelegraph.com
Found 6874 news
-
Cointelegraph.com - 22:35 Dec 29, 2025
Viral “U cards” are quietly onboarding Chinese users to crypto, and the digital yuan can now earn depositors interest at banks. Asia Express. Stablecoins are finding an indirect path into China via payment cards going viral on social media. Locally referred to as U cards, overseas Visa or Mastercards linked to stablecoin balances such as USDT, have surged in popularity on Chinese social platform Xiaohongshu, also known as Little Red Book. Posts explain how to obtain the cards with ease and use them for everyday overseas payments, such as subscriptions to services. Such cards allow users to spend dollar-denominated stablecoins while merchants receive fiat currency, meaning Chinese businesses never directly touch crypto. Conversion is handled by overseas banks or licensed payment institutions, placing the transaction outside Chinas domestic financial rails. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 21:36 Dec 29, 2025
According to Coinbase researcher David Duong, decentralized platforms and shifting trader behavior have pushed perpetual futures into a more central market role. Crypto derivatives activity picked up sharply in 2025 as traders increasingly turned to onchain perpetual futures, according to Coinbase researcher David Duong. By late in the year, decentralized exchanges were processing more than $1 trillion in monthly perpetual futures volume, underscoring the growing role of onchain derivatives markets. In a post published Monday on X, Duong said the trend was driven in part by the absence of a traditional altcoin season, which led traders to seek higher returns through leverage rather than spot markets. He added that the “unprecedented degree of leverage” available in perpetual futures allowed traders to amplify exposure with relatively small amounts of capital. Duong noted that the surge in activity has been driven mainly by decentralized trading platforms, with onchain venues such as Aster and Hyperliquid acco... -
Cointelegraph.com - 21:05 Dec 29, 2025
Although recovery of assets affected in a $3.9 million exploit of the Flow blockchain isn't guaranteed, many users responded positively to a change in the remediation plan. The Flow Foundation, behind addressing a remediation plan following a $3.9 million exploit of the blockchain, has scrapped a proposal that would involve rolling back the layer-1 Flow chain after community criticism. In a Monday X post, Alex Smirnov, founder of bridge provider deBridge, said there would be “no rollback” and no reorganization of the blockchain as part of an updated recovery. Flow released a technical implementation plan, saying it had already temporarily restricted accounts affected by the exploit and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) operations were read-only as part of phase one of the recovery. “There will be no chain reorganization,” said Flow. “All legitimate transactions that occurred prior to the halt remain valid and will not require resubmission or reconciliation.” Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 20:55 Dec 29, 2025
Tokenized stocks have surged to a $1.2 billion market, with insiders comparing their growth to stablecoins and DeFi’s early boom in 2020. Demand for tokenized equities has accelerated since their mainstream debut earlier this year, pointing to this emerging asset class as a potential early signal of broader blockchain adoption beyond Bitcoin and stablecoins. The combined market capitalization of tokenized stocks has climbed to a record $1.2 billion, according to data from Token Terminal, driven by strong growth in September and December. “Tokenized stocks today are like stablecoins in 2020,” Token Terminal said, underscoring how early the market remains. Stablecoins were still in their infancy in 2020, but they have since grown into a $300 billion sector this year. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 19:32 Dec 29, 2025
A key lawmaker overseeing financial institutions reportedly tried to secure a job for one of his sons at a crypto exchange while raising concerns about a competitor. Kim Byung-kee, floor leader of South Korea’s Democratic Party, is facing scrutiny following a report alleging that he sought to pressure Dunamu, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, after his son secured a position at a competitor. According to a Sunday report by news outlet Kyunghyang Shinmun, Kim, a member of the South Korean National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, allegedly tried to secure a job for one of his sons at crypto exchange Bithumb while simultaneously raising concerns in the National Assembly about Upbit, a competitor crypto exchange operated by Dunamu. The report claims that Kim instructed his staff to “attack Dunamu” as part of monopoly concerns after South Korean giant Naver agreed in November to acquire the company in a $10 billion deal. The merger would likely still be subject to regulatory approval. Read mor... -
Cointelegraph.com - 18:59 Dec 29, 2025
The purchase lifts the company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 672,497 BTC and ranks among its smaller acquisitions this year compared with earlier multibillion-dollar buys. Strategy announced its latest Bitcoin purchase of 2025, adding 1,229 BTC after a year of accelerated accumulation that saw the company disclose more acquisitions than in the previous two years combined. According to a Form 8-K filed on Monday, the coins were acquired Dec. 22-28 for an aggregate purchase price of $108.8 million, funded through at-the-market stock sales. The purchase brings Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 672,497 BTC (BTC) at an average purchase price of $74,997 per coin, according to the filing. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 18:40 Dec 29, 2025
Luke Gromen still backs debasement but is trimming Bitcoin risk as BTC lags gold, trends weaken and quantum headlines weigh on sentiment. Luke Gromen still believes governments will rely on inflation and weaker currencies to manage heavy debt. He is more cautious on Bitcoin in the short term and sees a possible move toward the $40,000 range in 2026. His main red flags are Bitcoin lagging gold, trend damage on key moving averages and “quantum risk” headlines weighing on sentiment. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 18:26 Dec 29, 2025
BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund has distributed $100 million from Treasury yields, offering a real-world test of blockchain-based financial infrastructure. BlackRock’s first tokenized money market fund has paid out $100 million in cumulative dividends since its launch, highlighting the growing real-world use of tokenized securities amid rising institutional adoption. The milestone for the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) was announced Monday by Securitize, which serves as the fund’s issuer and tokenization partner, overseeing onchain issuance and investor onboarding. Launched in March 2024, BUIDL was initially issued on the Ethereum blockchain. The fund invests in short-term, US dollar–denominated assets, including US Treasury bills, repurchase agreements and cash equivalents, offering institutional investors a blockchain-based vehicle to earn yield while maintaining liquidity. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 18:07 Dec 29, 2025
Bitcoin and several major altcoins are stumbling near their overhead resistance levels, indicating that the bears remain active at higher levels. Key points: Bitcoin continues to face significant selling near the $90,500 level, making it a critical short-term resistance to watch. Several altcoins show a positive divergence on the RSI indicator, indicating that the selling pressure may be reducing. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 16:15 Dec 29, 2025
Incoming liquidity from the US Federal Reserve and bullish technical breakouts are aligning to support a $1,000 price outlook for Zcash. Zcash’s (ZEC) price could be gearing up for a push toward its “first stop” target of $1,000, according to Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX. Key takeaways: ZEC has risen 40% since Arthur Hayes’ Dec. 19 liquidity call, with privacy narratives gaining momentum. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 15:15 Dec 29, 2025
The amount of Ether waiting to be staked has surpassed that awaiting withdrawal, making a rally to $5,000 possible in 2026. The amount of Ether (ETH) in the queue to be staked has surpassed that waiting to be unstaked, an occurrence that has previously preceded massive ETH price rallies. Key takeaways: Ethereum staking queue surpasses the exit queue, historically an occurrence that has led to major ETH price rallies. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 14:18 Dec 29, 2025
Hacken says Web3 losses climbed to nearly $4 billion in 2025, with North Korea behind over half the damage, and regulators are under pressure to turn security guidance into hard rules. The Hacken 2025 Yearly Security Report puts total Web3 losses at about $3.95 billion, up roughly $1.1 billion from 2024, with just over half of that attributed to North Korean threat actors. A report shared with Cointelegraph shows losses peaked at more than $2 billion in the first quarter of the year before falling to around $350 million by Q4, but Hacken warns that the pattern still points to systemic operational risk rather than isolated coding bugs. The report frames 2025 as a year where the numbers worsened, but the underlying story became clear. Smart contract bugs matter, but the biggest, least recoverable losses are still coming from weak keys, compromised signers, and sloppy off‑boarding. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 14:00 Dec 29, 2025
Altcoins lagged Bitcoin in 2025, but XRP, Zcash and Algorand outperformed on regulatory clarity, privacy demand and tokenization. Crypto markets got more institutional and more regulated in 2025, but the familiar “altcoin season” many traders expected never fully arrived. Bitcoin (BTC) hit fresh highs earlier in the cycle, yet much of the rest of the market lagged. Bitcoin was down approximately 7% year-to-date after an early-October sell-off, while the total market capitalization of altcoins declined by more than 46% from its 2025 peak, according to TradingView data. Even so, a handful of tokens managed to outperform during a year defined by selective risk taking and heavy scrutiny. XRP (XRP) drew fresh momentum from regulatory developments, Zcash (ZEC) rallied as interest returned to financial privacy, and Algorand (ALGO) got a boost from real-world tokenization efforts. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 13:12 Dec 29, 2025
Trust Wallet said it has identified 2,596 compromised addresses following its Christmas Day exploit as investigators work to separate real victims from false claims. Trust Wallet has moved into a verification phase after a Christmas Day exploit involving its browser extension; while thousands of wallets have been identified, the company has received far more reimbursement claims than expected. On Monday, Trust Wallet CEO Eowyn Chen said the company had identified 2,596 wallet addresses tied to the compromised extension. Still, it has received almost 5,000 claims, suggesting a significant amount may be false or duplicate submissions. “Because of this, accurate verification of wallet ownership is critical to ensure funds are returned to the right people,” Chen wrote. “Our team is working diligently to verify claims; combining multiple data points to distinguish legitimate victims from malicious actors.” Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 12:50 Dec 29, 2025
China’s central bank will let banks pay interest on digital yuan wallets from Jan. 1, 2026, reshaping e-CNY as deposit-like money as the US bans CBDCs. China’s central bank is rolling out a new framework for the digital yuan that will allow commercial banks to pay interest on e-CNY wallet balances starting Jan. 1, 2026, a move officials say will push the central bank digital currency (CBDC) beyond its original role as a cash substitute. The new CBDC framework will allow banks to treat the digital yuan as part of their asset-liability operations, Lu Lei, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, wrote in a PBOC-affiliated China Financial Times article published on Monday. “The digital RMB will move from the digital cash era to the digital deposit currency (Digital Deposit Money) era,” said Lei in the report. “It has the functions of monetary value scale, value storage, and cross-border payment.” Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 11:55 Dec 29, 2025
Weekly fund flows point to lingering caution, with investors favoring newer products and select regions over broad market exposure. Crypto exchange-traded products recorded $446 million in net outflows last week, extending a cautious trend persisting since October’s sharp market correction. According to asset manager CoinShares, the latest withdrawals bring total outflows since Oct. 10 to $3.2 billion, signaling that investor confidence has yet to recover as the year ends. The weekly outflows contrast with year-to-date (YTD) inflows of $46.3 billion, a figure broadly consistent with 2024 levels. CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, said that total assets under management (AUM) have risen by just 10% YTD. He said this indicated that “the average investor has not seen a positive outcome this year once flows are taken into account.” Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 11:22 Dec 29, 2025
RWA protocols have overtaken decentralized exchanges by total value locked, as tokenized Treasurys, private credit and commodities become core onchain building blocks. Real-world asset (RWA) protocols are one of decentralized finance’s (DeFi’s) winners in 2025, overtaking decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to become the fifth-largest category by total value locked (TVL), according to DefiLlama. RWAs now account for about $17 billion in TVL, up from $12 billion in Q4 2024, highlighting how quickly tokenized Treasurys, private credit and other real-world claims have moved from niche experiments to core DeFi plumbing. As DefiLlama noted, “At the start of this year, they weren’t even in the top 10 categories.” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at Kronos Research, told Cointelegraph that RWA growth is being driven by “balance-sheet incentives rather than experimentation,” with higher-for-longer rates making tokenized Treasurys and private credit attractive as onchain, yield-bearing assets, amid improving regulat... -
Cointelegraph.com - 11:22 Dec 29, 2025
Bitcoin needs a return of retail and institutional demand for BTC to clear the next big hurdle at $90,000 and spark a new rally toward six figures. Bitcoin’s (BTC) end-of-year rally toward $90,000 appeared to be stalling due to a lack of demand and weak onchain activity. Still, a new technical setup suggested that momentum may increase once the BTC/USD pair breaks above $90,000. Key takeaways: Apparent demand and buying from US investors must recover to secure a new year rally for BTC. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 10:36 Dec 29, 2025
The largest corporate Ethereum holders continue seeking passive yield through staking, effectively reducing the sellable Ether supply on the open market. Corporations are increasingly turning to Ethereum staking to earn passive yield, a shift that is tightening the amount of Ether available for sale on the open market. BitMine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate Ether (ETH) holder, staked 342,560 ETH worth over $1 billion in the two days leading up to Sunday, according to blockchain data platform Lookonchain. Staking involves locking ETH into Ethereum’s proof-of-stake network to secure the blockchain in exchange for a passive annual percentage yield (APY) of about 3%–5%. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 10:13 Dec 29, 2025
Onchain data shows activity holding up on Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum and Avalanche even as fee revenue declines across the crypto sector. Several of the biggest blockchain networks handled more transactions in December even as user fees fell, a sign that recent scaling upgrades are increasing capacity and easing competition for block space, according to data compiled by Nansen. Data from Nansen showed that Bitcoin, Tron, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche and The Open Network (TON) recorded month-over-month increases in transactions, while fee revenue declined sharply across the same period. Ethereum transactions increased by 16% despite a 57% decline in fee revenue. Polygon showed a similar divergence, with transaction counts jumping 82% while fees dropped 47%. Arbitrum and Avalanche also showed a very notable transactions-up, fees-down pattern. Read more
6874 items