A New Jersey jury has convicted a man for his role in a drug trafficking and money laundering operation that used wire transfers and cryptocurrency to move illicit funds.

The scheme, which prosecutors in the case say ran for six years, involved importing and distributing fentanyl-related substances.

Crypto-Fueled Drug Network

The federal jury found William Panzera guilty on January 27, with court records showing that he and his associates imported synthetic opioids from suppliers in China and

Although the previous month (and the start of the new year) began on the wrong foot, with BTC standing firmly within fix-digit price territory, the asset managed to turn it around and charted a new all-time high a couple of weeks back.

All eyes have now turned to February, which is historically a highly profitable month for the largest cryptocurrency.

Strong January Ends

Recall that BTC experienced a massive correction at the end of 2024, with its price tumbling from $100,000 on December 26 t

Ethereum experienced a surge this week, briefly breaking above a key resistance region. However, it lacked sufficient momentum, appearing to be a false breakout.

If ETH faces a more profound rejection at current levels, lower prices could follow.

Technical Analysis

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

Ethereum saw a strong push from buyers at the $3K support range, driving the price slightly above a substantial resistance region. This key region includes:

The 100-day moving average at $3.3K

The bull

Ripple has been facing a prolonged period of low market activity, leading to sideways movement and minimal volatility near the $3.2 level.

However, emerging technical signals suggest that a potential correction may be on the horizon.

XRP Analysis

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

XRP has steadily climbed toward the $3.2 resistance, a crucial supply zone that has historically posed challenges for buyers. This level is a major obstacle, requiring strong bullish momentum to be reclaimed.

Meanwhile, p

Tezos Layer 1 saw a 30.4% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) rise in transaction fee revenue, reaching 11,100 XTZ in Q4 2024. Meanwhile, Etherlink, Tezos’ first EVM-compatible smart roll-up, grew even faster, with a 44% quarterly increase, hitting 6,669 XTZ.

Despite this, the overall network activity on Tezos dropped by 5% during the same period, with monthly transactions and contract calls averaging 3.2 million.

According to Messari’s latest report, this decline is consistent with the ongoing shift t

The scientific research process faces major hurdles, especially in converting basic research into real-world applications through translational research. The “Valley of Death” results in 80-90% of research projects failing before reaching human trials, with only 0.1% of drug candidates becoming approved treatments.

Misaligned incentives among academia, funding organizations, and industry exacerbate issues like insufficient funding, weak collaboration between scientists and clinicians, and poor

Historical data has shown that growing stablecoin liquidity is associated with sustained gains in the crypto market. This means that bitcoin’s next rally could be around the corner because stablecoin liquidity is expanding.

According to a CryptoQuant report, liquidity impulse for Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) have begun to expand again, with the latter experiencing a growth pace not seen in a year.

Bitcoin Rally Around the Corner

Since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, liqu

TL:DR;

XRP became one of the top performers of 2024, and the start of 2025 was also quite promising as it came just 1% away from its all-time high of $3.4.

It has retraced since then, and the question now is whether it will be able to go into uncharted territory this year. Here’s DeepSeek’s answer.

XRPUSD. Source: TradingView XRP to New ATH Finally?

The daily chart above shows that XRP was stuck below $1 for years, and it was predominantly trading within a tight range between $0.35 and $0.6

Bitcoin had a solid Friday, at least at first, as it pumped above $106,000 before the bears resumed control of the market and pushed it south by over four grand.

Most altcoins are quite sluggish on a daily scale, with SOL, ADA, XRP, and SUI in the red, while PEPE and DOT have charted some gains.

BTC to $102K

The largest cryptocurrency started the business week on the wrong foot as the AI mania that started in China called DeepSeek sent the entire market into a severe correction. On Monday mor

TL;DR

The SEC doubled down on its appeal against the 2023 ruling favoring Ripple, while the non-profit organization Better Markets sided with the regulator, arguing that XRP is a security.

With pro-crypto Mark Uyeda replacing Gary Gensler at the SEC, analysts speculate on potential outcomes that could favor Ripple.

The Tussle Goes on

While the lawsuit between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started in 2020, its final resolution remains to be seen. The past few year

The parents of the disgraced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried are looking into options to obtain a pardon for their son from former US President Donald Trump, according to a Bloomberg report.

Stanford Law School professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried have reportedly held discussions in recent weeks with attorneys and individuals linked to Trump’s circle regarding potential clemency for their 32-year-old son, who was sentenced to 25 years for fraud in 2024. It remains uncertain whether they

On Jan. 30, the firm announced the Grayscale Bitcoin Miners ETF with the ticker MNRS. The product is a passively managed ETF tracking the mining industry and the Indxx Bitcoin Miners Index.

“MNRS provides exposure to Bitcoin Miners and the global Bitcoin mining industry at a time when we’re seeing unprecedented interest and growth in Bitcoin,” stated Grayscale.

The fund provides exposure to companies involved in Bitcoin mining and network verification, mining pool services, and infrastructure

Solana-based meme coin creation platform Pump.fun has been hit with a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing it of violating U.S. securities laws.

The suit, filed on January 30, alleges that every token created through Pump.fun constitutes an unregistered security, from which the platform has profited nearly $500 million in fees.

Alleged Securities Violations and Investor Losses

The lead plaintiff, Diego Aguilar, claims to have suffered financial losses trading three specific Pump.fun-created

The Czech Republic’s central bank head recently echoed statements he made earlier in January boasting plans for the Central European nation to begin stockpiling Bitcoin, in remarks published by the Financial Times Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Czech National Bank (CNB) said it would start analyzing the prospects of introducing additional asset classes to its reserve, and many indicated that BTC was among those.

Czech Central Bank Ready to Hodl Bitcoin

“Those [Trump] guys can now kind of create

Kraken is bringing back crypto staking to the United States with a new product available in 37 states and two territories. Starting January 30th, eligible users can stake select cryptocurrencies through Kraken Pro.

This involves bonded staking, where assets are locked to a network for a set period. Kraken delegates these assets to validators, who verify transactions and produce blocks.

Rewards are then passed back to users after fees. The service will support 17 assets, including Ethereum (ETH

It was another eventful week in the cryptocurrency space and it all began on Monday morning as a Chinese AI company splashed the waters. DeepSeek arrived at the scene with a bang, indicating that it can do everything ChatGPT does but is faster and cheaper, which put into question the need for highly powerful chips from giants like Nvidia.

Aside from the market-wide crash in stocks, including NVDA’s double-digit dump, the news sent shockwaves across crypto as well. BTC stood around $105,000 ahea

Bitcoin has been consolidating above a crucial support region, signaling strong buyer interest and a potential bullish breakout.

If BTC reclaims the $108K resistance, it could trigger a short liquidation cascade, propelling the price toward $115K.

Technical Analysis

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

Bitcoin’s price action remains on a bullish trajectory, with the ascending channel’s middle trendline acting as a strong support zone in recent months. This dynamic support has repeatedly held price dec

TL;DR

Shiba Inu’s team and community removed more than one billion tokens from the circulating supply in the last 24 hours.

However, SHIB’s price remains in red territory on a weekly scale.

The Burning Goes Through the Roof

The second-largest meme coin, Shiba Inu, saw its burn rate skyrocket by approximately 7,200% in the past 24 hours. This resulted in over 1.1 billion tokens being sent to a null address.

While the USD equivalent of the destroyed stash is insignificant, continuous efforts

Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced the integration of USDT into Bitcoin’s ecosystem, including its base layer and the Lightning Network. This integration utilizes Taproot Assets, a protocol powered by Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade and developed by Lightning Labs.

The announcement was made during a fireside chat at the first Plan ₿ Forum in El Salvador by Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark.

In a statement, Ardoino said,

“Tether is committed to driving innovation in

TL;DR

Pi Network has once again extended the Grace Period, sparking concerns over the lack of progress.

While doubts persist, the project continues to attract new users, with strong adoption in countries like South Korea and India.

Nothing Surprising

The team behind Pi Network extended the deadline for Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verifications and migration to the mainnet to February 28, 2025. The move aims to provide users with “additional time and opportunity to secure their Pi.”

The previou