Today in crypto, Canary Capital is seeking regulatory approval to list an exchange-traded fund backed by Pudgy Penguins’ governance token. Meanwhile, Coinbase has emerged as the largest node operator on the Ethereum network, and Solana Labs’ founder expressed regret for downplaying backlash over a controversial Solana ad mocking gender identity.Canary files for PENGU ETFAsset manager Canary Capital has filed to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding Pengu (PENGU), the governance token […]

Bitcoin (BTC) price rallied to an intraday high of $87,453 in the early hours of the NY trading session but quickly retraced its gains to $83,655 shortly after US President Donald Trump made a video appearance at the Digital Asset Summit in New York. Prior to the video statement, rumors circulated on X, suggesting that President Trump would announce zero capital gains taxes on certain cryptocurrencies or issue a favorable statement about the US strategic Bitcoin reserve. To the disappointment […]

Marco Santori, former chief legal officer at crypto exchange Kraken, praised the political campaign donations made by industry firms during the 2024 election as “democracy at work.”In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, the former Kraken executive argued that crypto voters tilted the election in favor of then-candidate Donald Trump and the Republican Party.The executive also said that the donations from crypto firms, many of which are now having regulatory lawsuits dismissed, do not […]

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) — the US’s primary clearinghouse for securities transactions — has committed to promoting Ethereum’s ERC-3643 standard for permissioned securities tokens, according to a March 20 announcement. DTCC is joining the ERC3643 Association, a nonprofit dedicated to catalyzing the standard’s adoption with the goal of “promoting and advancing the ERC3643 token standard,” it said. The endorsement highlights how US regulators are […]

Bitcoin (BTC) volatility climbed to 3.6% on March 19 — the highest point since August 2024, according to data from CoinGlass. The volatility reflects heightened market uncertainty amid structural unknowns in the US economy, according to Uldis Tearudklans, chief revenue officer at UK-based cryptocurrency exchange Paybis.“The policy landscape is becoming more complex with the emergence of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency,” Tearudklans said. “While the initiative to […]

Bullish Bitcoin (BTC) positions using leverage on the Bitfinex exchange surged to their highest level in nearly six months, reaching 80,333 BTC on March 20—equivalent to $6.92 billion. The 27.5% increase in Bitcoin margin longs since Feb. 20 has fueled speculation that the 12.5% BTC price gain from the $76,700 low on March 11 is driven by leverage and may not be sustainable.Bitfinex BTC margin longs, BTC. Source: TradingView / CointelegraphHowever, Bitcoin’s price does not always move in […]

Pump.fun has launched its own decentralized exchange (DEX) called PumpSwap, potentially displacing Raydium as the primary trading venue for Solana (SOL) memecoins. Starting on March 20, memecoins that successfully bootstrap liquidity, or “bond,” on Pump.fun will migrate directly to PumpSwap, Pump.fun said in an X post. Previously, bonded Pump.fun tokens migrated to Raydium, which emerged as Solana’s most popular DEX largely thanks to memecoins trading activity. According to Pump.fun, […]

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance has clarified its views on proof-of-work mining, arguing that such activities do not constitute “the offer and sale of securities” as outlined in the Securities Act of 1933, so long as they meet certain criteria.In a March 20 statement, the SEC division addressed the “mining of crypto assets that are intrinsically linked to the programmatic functioning of a public, permissionless network” and determined that […]

Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin discussed the future of the smart contract network at the Digital Asset Summit and said layer-2 (L2) scaling networks would continue to be central to the Ethereum ecosystem.In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph’s Turner Wright, Lubin said applications will require next-generation databases powered by high-throughput blockchain technologies. The Ethereum co-founder added:“The Ethereum ecosystem is so big and so mature that it will be best for new kinds […]

Onchain sleuth ZachXBT said he had identified the mysterious whale who profited $20 million from highly leveraged trades on Hyperliquid and GMX as a British hacker going by the name William Parker. According to ZachXBT’s March 20 X post, Parker — who was previously known as Alistair Packover before changing his name — was arrested last year for allegedly stealing around $1 million from two casinos in 2023. Parker also made headlines a decade ago for allegations of hacking and gambling, […]

BlackRock’s head of digital assets, Robbie Mitchnick, described the firm’s Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) as a “tremendous success” but acknowledged a key limitation. Speaking on March 20 at the Digital Asset Summit, he noted that the ETF is “less perfect” without staking, highlighting a crucial feature absent from the current offering.“A staking yield is a meaningful part of how you can generate investment return in this space,” Mitchnick said. “And all the [Ether] […]

Asset manager Canary Capital has filed to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding Pengu (PENGU), the governance token of the Pudgy Penguins non-fungible token (NFT) project, US regulatory filings show. The ETF is the latest in a slew of filings for new US investment products tied to spot cryptocurrencies, including altcoins and memecoins. According to the filing, the ETF is intended to hold spot PENGU as well as various Pudgy Penguins NFTs. It would be the first US ETF to hold NFTs if […]

The crypto market is currently facing significant pressure, largely due to US President Donald Trump’s trade war and deteriorating macroeconomic conditions. These factors have put markets under strain, with some analysts predicting that the bull run is over and a bear market may be on the horizon.In a recent Cointelegraph interview, Kevin O’Leary, also known as “Mr. Wonderful,” shared his thoughts on the current state of the market and what could be ahead. Despite the turbulence, […]

The Bitcoin (BTC) Coinbase premium index reached its highest level since Feb. 20 after BTC prices rallied 5% on March 19. Bitcoin’s Coinbase premium index. Source: CryptoQuantReturn of Coinbase premium highlights Bitcoin accumulationThe Coinbase premium index measures the price difference between Coinbase and Binance prices for BTC pairs, where a higher value signals US investors dictating stronger buying pressure. The index gauges US retail interest, but Woonminkyu, a verified analyst on […]

Update (March 20 at 4:41 PM UTC): This article has been updated to clarify that the token sale was not directed at the TON Foundation. The Open Network Foundation, also known as TON Foundation, said several venture capital firms invested more than $400 million in the TON blockchain, signaling growing interest in the Telegram messaging ecosystem. Sequoia Capital, Ribbit, Benchmark, Draper Associates, Kingsway, Vy Capital, Libertus Capital, CoinFund, SkyBridge, Hypersphere and Karatage […]

US President Donald Trump is steadily aligning his administration with the crypto industry. On March 20, he addressed a community conference for the first time since being elected. Speaking at the Blockworks Digital Asset Summit on March 20 in a pre-recorded statement, Trump reiterated that the US would take steps to ensure it is the “crypto capital of the world.”The president lauded the recent regulatory shift in the crypto industry over the previous administration and added:“Pioneers […]

Bitcoin (BTC) sought to reinforce higher support at the March 20 Wall Street open as bulls broke out of a key downtrend.BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewTrump pledges to make US “Bitcoin superpower”Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD returning above $86,000.Now circling the daily open, Bitcoin continued to build on strength which came the day prior thanks to encouraging macroeconomic signals from the US Federal Reserve.Rumors of a further […]

Opinion by: Robin Singh, CEO of KoinlyIn the race between regulation and Bitcoin (BTC) all-time highs, there is no doubt tax agencies will double down on their crypto-tracking systems well before Bitcoin hits $1 million.Crypto investors shouldn’t become complacent or assume they can skate by until the million-dollar price tag. In addition to their laser focus on the future, they are becoming skilled at scrutinizing the past. Many jurisdictions have the power to backtrack on previous years, […]

Opinion by: Dan Hughes, founder of Radix Crypto has spent years betting on layer-2 (L2) solutions as its magic bullet for fixing issues with scalability. What if they’re the very thing putting us at risk?Instead of paving the way for mass adoption, this fixation has created a tangled web of rollups, bridges and fragmented liquidity, threatening blockchain’s core principles of decentralization and security. The dream of a seamless, decentralized network is fading, overshadowed by a complex […]

XDAO, a protocol based on The Open Network (TON), has enabled over 367,000 decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to achieve legal status through its initiative that automates legal recognition for such organizations. In an announcement, XDAO said it had streamlined the DAO creation process to allow DAOs to achieve legal status. An XDAO spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the protocol offers a standard for other “sub-entities” within its legal framework. “Basically, those […]

Amid the growing adoption of cryptocurrency reserves in countries like the United States, legal activists in Russia are pushing to create a potential crypto fund.Evgeny Masharov, a member of the Russian Civic Chamber, has proposed creating a government cryptocurrency fund that would include assets confiscated from criminal proceedings.The projected cryptocurrency fund would aim for revenues for the government, targeting social projects, Masharov said, according to a March 20 report by the local […]

The crypto industry is set to debut the first Solana futures exchange-traded fund (ETF), a significant development that may pave the way for the first Solana spot ETF as the “next logical step” for crypto-based trading products, according to industry watchers.Volatility Shares is launching two Solana (SOL) futures ETFs, the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), on March 20.The debut of the first Solana futures ETF may bring significant new […]

Ripple is celebrating the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision not to pursue a court case against the firm, but it provides little legal certainty for the crypto industry. The US financial regulator has apparently dropped an appeal against Ripple, the issuing firm of crypto asset XRP. The industry saw the case as a prime example of regulatory overreach by the SEC under former chair Gary Gensler.Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the decision “provides a lot of […]

Tether, the $143-billion stablecoin giant, was the world’s seventh-largest buyer of US Treasurys, surpassing some of the world’s largest countries.Tether, the issuer of USDt (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin, was the world’s seventh-largest US Treasury buyer, surpassing Canada, Taiwan, Mexico, Norway, Hong Kong and numerous other countries.The stablecoin issuer acquired over $33.1 billion worth of Treasurys, compared to over $100 billion purchased by the Cayman Islands in the first […]

What is California’s crypto scam tracker tool? On Feb. 16, 2023, the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) in California launched the crypto scam tracker tool to help residents spot and avoid crypto scams. The tracker details crypto scams identified through a review of complaints submitted by the public.California’s DFPI crypto scam tracker is a searchable database that compiles complaints about fraudulent schemes. Investors can use […]

Solana (SOL) price is up today, buoyed by a significant recovery in the broader cryptocurrency market.Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows SOL’s price is trading at around $134, up more than 6% in the last 24 hours. Solana price has rebounded roughly 20% from its local low of around $112 reached on March 11.SOL/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewSeveral factors driving the SOL price up today, including:SOL price rally comes following the launch of the first […]

The cryptocurrency market is up today, with the total market capitalization rising by approximately 3.2% in the last 24 hours to reach $2.8 trillion on March 20. The gains were led by Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), which have risen around 3% and 4%, respectively.Crypto market performance Jan. 30. Source: Coin360Let’s look at the top catalysts driving the crypto market rebound today.Risk-on sentiment pushed the crypto market upThe crypto market rebound mirrors gains in US equities following […]

Update March 20, 10:50 am UTC: This article has been updated to add a Wu Blockchain report on Bithumb listings, claiming that multiple crypto projects paid intermediary fees to have their tokens listed. South Korean prosecutors raided crypto exchange Bithumb following suspicions that its former CEO embezzled funds to purchase an apartment. On March 20, Seoul’s Southern District Prosecutors’ Office reportedly searched Bithumb’s offices in the country. The investigation centered around […]

Aleksei Andriunin, a Russian national charged with manipulating cryptocurrency through the Gotbit market maker platform, has reportedly struck a plea deal with prosecutors in the United States.Gotbit founder and CEO Andriunin has agreed to forfeit about $23 million in Tether USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) in a plea deal with Massachusetts federal prosecutors, the legal news service Law360 reported on March 19.As part of the plea, Andriunin will plead guilty to three counts charging […]

A Coinbase report revealed that the crypto exchange is the largest node operator on the Ethereum network, controlling 11.42% of the total staked Ether.In a performance report, Coinbase said it had 3.84 million Ether (ETH), worth about $6.8 billion, staked to its validators. The exchange said that, as of March 3, it has 11.42% of the total staked ETH. Anthony Sassano, host of The Daily Gwei, said that Coinbase's stake makes the exchange the “single largest node operator” in the […]