Sujith Somraaj

Blockstack aims to decentralize. Image: Shutterstock

Stacks Token Soars 130% on the Week Amid Bitcoin NFT Hype

STX, the native token powering the Bitcoin-adjacent Stacks blockchain, has gained 19% overnight, according to data from CoinGecko. At press time, STX is changing hands at roughly $0.70, slightly lower from its 180-day high of $0.75, reached earlier today. On a weekly note, STX is up a whopping 132%. The weekly gains not only handed hefty profits to short-term holders but also helped the coin regain its billion-dollar market capitalization. Bitcoin NFTs Are Emerging on Stacks. Can They Thrive? De

Solana is the second-largest smart-contract network behind only Ethereum. Image: Shutterstock

Solana Soars Double-Digits as Helium Network Announces Merge Date

Solana bulls are back in action. SOL, the native token powering the layer-1 blockchain Solana, has gained over 11% overnight and is the largest gainer among the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, according to data from Coingecko. At press time, SOL trades at around $26.09, retreating from its new 90-day high of $26.96 earlier today. On a weekly note, the so-called Ethereum killer has gained a whopping 21% and is now the 12th-largest cryptocurrency in market capitalization. Last w

Decentraland Leads Metaverse Token Rally After Optimistic CPI Report

Crypto markets turned bullish following an optimistic CPI report which suggested the worst of inflation may be over for the U.S. economy. The crypto market capitalization is up 2.7% to $945 billion in the last 24 hours, per data from Coingecko. Metaverse and NFT-related cryptocurrencies have also rallied alongside the broader market and posted hefty gains today. MANA, the token powering the metaverse game Decentraland, is up 11.6% over the past 24 hours and the fourth largest gainer among the t

Bitcoin and Ethereum. Image: Shutterstock

Bitcoin, Ethereum Hit Monthly Highs Ahead of Inflation Report

Ahead of the Fed's upcoming CPI report, Bitcoin and Ethereum are bullish. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the rate of change in the price of various goods and services in the United States. It's used as a key indicator for measuring inflation. Bitcoin (BTC) broke its near-term sidewise momentum, with the leading cryptocurrency hitting a new monthly high of $18,287.30, according to data from Coingecko. At press time, BTC is changing hands at around $18,165, up 4.1% over the past 24 hours

ARK Invest's Cathie Wood. Image: ARK Invest

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Boosts Coinbase Holdings by Another $1.45M

Ark Invest, the investment firm led by Cathie Wood, purchased another 33,756 shares in crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), on Tuesday, according to an investor email seen by Decrypt. The purchase is worth roughly $1.45 million based on COIN’s price of $43.23 at press time, with the shares allocated to the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) fund. Yesterday’s purchase marks the firm’s second over the last week. On January 5, Ark added 172,276 shares of Coinbase to two of its funds, ARKW and ARKF. Ark’s ARKW

Gala games is a popular crypto-based gaming platform. Image: Shutterstock.

GALA Soars 140% Over the Week as Gaming, NFT Coins Rally

So far, it's been a green year for cryptocurrencies. The broader crypto market capitalization has zoomed 6.7% to $884 billion since the start of the year, according to data from CoinGecko. Gaming and NFT-related cryptocurrencies, including Gala (GALA), Decentraland (MANA), Apecoin (APE), and The Sandbox (SAND), are no exception and have posted hefty double-digit gains over the past week. GALA, the native token powering Gala’s crypto gaming ecosystem, is up a whopping 139.8% over the past week

Ethereum Staking Tokens Rally as Shanghai Upgrade Nears

As the withdrawal date for unstaking Ethereum closes in, tokens powering various liquid staking protocols are enjoying a hefty rally. Lido Finance (LDO) and Rocket Pool (RPL), for example, have already posted significant gains over the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko. LDO, the governance token powering Lido Finance, Ethereum’s largest liquid-staking protocol, gained over 17.2% in the last 24 hours and trades at around $1.88. Intense trading for the liquid-staking derivative crypt

Developers Burn 5 Trillion BONK as Solana-Based Meme Coin Slides

The developers behind Solana-based meme coin BONK burned their allocation of 5 trillion BONK tokens early Friday, in a bid to stem the token’s bearish momentum. After the token burn event, which saw nearly $1 million worth of BONK removed from circulation, BONK’s circulating supply shrunk 5% to 94.16 trillion, per data from Solana block explorer Solscan. $BONK represents the best of Solana. Our community is working together across the ecosystem to make positive change for all of us. The 5 Trill

FTX is the cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. Image: Shutterstock

SDNY Launches FTX Task Force To Investigate and Recover Victim Funds

The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District Of New York (SDNY) has announced the formation of an FTX task force to handle further investigations and prosecutions related to FTX. “The Southern District of New York is working around the clock to respond to the implosion of FTX,” Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for SDNY, said in a statement. Calling its response an “all-hands-on-deck moment,” Williams added that, “We are launching the SDNY FTX task force to ensure that this urgent work cont

Lido Finance is a popular staking platform for cryptocurrencies. Source: Shutterstock

Lido Finance Up 8% After Overtaking MakerDAO’s TVL

Lido Finance’s LDO token is up by almost 8% in the past 24 hours, reaching a weekly high of $1.26 earlier today. LDO's price surge comes after the liquid staking protocol overtook DAI creator MakerDAO to become the largest DeFi protocol by total value locked (TVL) earlier this week. Over the past month, MakerDAO’s TVL has slipped by over 8% to $5.93 billion, according to data from DeFiLlama. In the same period, Lido Finance’s TVL retreated by around 2% and now stands at $5.99 billion, resulting

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong at TechCrunch Disrupt 2018. Image: Wikimedia

‘Financial Regulators Should Be Limited to Centralized Actors’: Coinbase CEO

Smart contracts shouldn’t be regulated the same as centralized custodians, argued the Coinbase chief. In a recent blog post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared a “realistic blueprint” for regulating cryptocurrencies and restoring trust in the industry following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. According to Amstrong, “regulation should be limited only to centralized actors” in the cryptocurrency industry, where transparency is limited. 1/ I often get asked: “What does regulatory clarity

Metaverse Tokens Flow, Apecoin Plummet Double-Digits Over The Week

It’s been a bearish past week, fueled by the hawkish Fed’s 50 basis point hike, wiping off nearly $62 billion from the cryptocurrency market, per data from Coingecko. Metaverse and NFT-related cryptocurrencies have been no exception. Cryptocurrencies powering the niche, including Flow (FLOW) and Apecoin (APE), have all posted significant double-digit losses over the past week. FLOW, the token powering Flow Blockchain, an NFT-centric blockchain network, has lost 22% of its value over the past wee

GOP Congressman Cawthorn Fined for Promoting ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Cryptocurrency

The United States House Committee on Ethics slapped Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) with a $15,237 fine for violating rules protecting against conflicts of interest by promoting a cryptocurrency he had invested. The cryptocurrency he promoted is a less-known anti-Joe Biden meme coin called “Let's Go Brandon” (LGB). The term “Let’s Go Brandon” is a coded expletive to insult President Joe Biden. According to the House Committee’s report, after a seven-month-long investigation, the Investig

Silvergaate is a crypto-friendly bank. Image: Shutterstock.

Silvergate CEO Tackles 'Misinformation', Short Sellers Amid Stock Downgrade

Silvergate Capital Corp (NYSE: SI) shares have plummeted 8.49% to $24.24 during Monday’s trading after Morgan Stanley slapped the stock with a rating downgrade. Weak Q3 performance coupled with the FTX fallout is the primary reason behind the Wall Street bank’s decision to downgrade Silvergate's share rating from equal weight to underweight. According to Barron’s, Morgan Stanley analysts outlined significant uncertainties surrounding the crypto bank’s digital deposits and expected a 60% drop in

Metaverse is a fast growing industry. Image: Shutterstock.

Axie Infinity Leads Metaverse, NFT Token Rally as Trade Volumes Surge

Metaverse and NFT-focused cryptocurrencies, including Axie Infinity (AXS),Flow (FLOW), Apecoin (APE), and Sandbox (SAND), have posted significant gains over the past 24 hours. Play-to-earn (P2E) gaming platform Axie Infinity’s AXS governance token soared 25.6% in the last 24 hours, making it the largest gainer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, per Coingecko. As of this writing, AXS trades at around $8.54 and is the 46th-largest cryptocurrency boasting a market capitalization just north of $970

Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Image: Shutterstock

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Scoops Another $1.4M of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust

Ark Invest, the investment firm led by Cathie Wood, has purchased another 176,945 shares worth about $1.4 million in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) fund, according to an investor email seen by Decrypt. This is the firm’s second large GBTC purchase in just as many weeks. According to Bloomberg, the Florida-based investment fund bought nearly 315,000 GBTC shares totaling $2.8 million last week. Ark now holds nearly 6.357 million GBTC shares representing 0.4% of the firm’s total investments. Ark

Ethereum Plunges 7% as 'FTX Drainer' Dumps ETH for Bitcoin

Ethereum has slipped over 7% on the day as the attacker who purportedly drained FTX wallets dumped a significant portion of their accumulated ETH and traded it for Bitcoin. Over the weekend, per blockchain tracker PeckShieldAlert, the exploiter swapped thousands of ETH for renBTC, a form of wrapped Bitcoin, before swapping the resulting tokens for Bitcoin. According to data from Etherscan, the on-chain Ethereum holdings of the "FTX Accounts Drainer" dropped 26% from 250,735 to 185,735 over the s

The Australian Securities Exchange is the country's largest stock exchange. Image: Shutterstock.

Australia’s Biggest Stock Exchange Shelves Blockchain Project, Writes Off $170M

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has shelved its seven-year-long project to ramp up the exchange’s CHESS clearing and settlement system using blockchain after an independent audit by Accenture reported issues. ASX developed CHESS (Clearing House Electronic Subregister System) 25 years ago to process securities trading electronically. According to ASX, the project incurred a pre-tax loss of roughly $170 million (~$255 million AUD), which the company has written off. Australia rolls out plans

Solana is the network behind the SOL cryptocurrency. Image: Shutterstock

Solana Plummets More Than 41% Over The Week Amid FTX Collapse

It’s been a choppy week for Solana. The 15th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has lost 41.2% of its value over the past week, according to data from Coingecko. SOL, Solana’s native token, dropped from $20.16 on November 9 to $14.24 at press time, making it the worst performer among the top-100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Owing to the week’s bearish price action, SOL is down nearly 94.5% from its all-time high of $259.96 recorded in November 2021, per data from Coi

Altcoins are cryptocurrencies that do not include Bitcoin. Image: Shutterstock.

FTX Attacker Still Owns Altcoins Worth $338 Million

A day after FTX filed for bankruptcy, the firm’s hot wallets were drained by hackers, walking away with nearly $650 million in altcoins. Now, after various bridgings and on-chain chicanery, the attacker is left with holdings of more than $367 million across various major blockchains. The attacker laundered proceeds using decentralized exchanges (DEX) and cross-chain bridges, reported blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence. A total of almost $20 million in PAXG was frozen across the a

Coin Prices

Stories by Sujith Somraaj