Debanking has been a major problem for crypto firms but is more pronounced for smaller projects lacking financial and legal resources.

Ledn co-founder Mauricio di Bartolomeo offered several affordable solutions for small crypto startups to avoid debanking while maintaining the regulatory compliance key to fostering relationships with financial institutions.

The Ledn co-founder told Cointelegraph that startups should seek cost-effective legal counsel from law firms that offer special startup pr

A federal judge sided with Coinbase in a hearing with BiT Global by saying she would not issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the exchange from delisting Wrapped Bitcoin.

In a Dec. 18 virtual hearing in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín said BiT Global’s legal team had failed to show “imminent irreparable harm” in its arguments over Coinbase delisting wBTC. BiT Global filed a lawsuit against the crypto exchange o

Grayscale’s newest Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) pulled more than $1 billion in net inflows in 2024, Grayscale told Cointelegraph on Dec. 17. 

Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust manages a total of more than $4 billion as of Dec. 17, Grayscale said.

The asset manager spun out two new ETFs — Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust and Grayscale Mini Ethereum Trust — from its older BTC and Ether (ETH) funds in July. 

The spinoffs separated the low-cost Mini Trusts from Grayscale’s older and costlier B

Bitcoin's (BTC) price dropped below $105,000 after making a new all-time high of $108,365 on Dec. 17. The short-term drop occurred ahead of the United States Federal Reserves interest rate announcement on Dec. 18. Currently, the market anticipates a 25 basis point cut.

In spite of short-term volatility, one crypto analyst highlighted a bullish scenario taking shape, with Bitcoin long-term holders positioning themselves for future gains.

Bitcoin LTH profit-taking drops from $10 billion to $3 bi

In this week’s newsletter, read about non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea registering a foundation in the Cayman Islands and fueling rumors of a potential token airdrop. Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu says that NFTs will be bigger than in 2021 and 2022, NFT project CyberKongz receives a Wells notice from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Pudgy Penguins’ token plummets more than 50% after its launch. 

OpenSea Cayman Islands registration fuels token airdrop rumors

Bitcoin (BTC) stayed below $105,000 on Dec. 18 as markets awaited the next US Federal Reserve interest rates decision.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin traders see Fed rate cut confirmation

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price support retests characterizing the landscape around the day’s Wall Street open.

Due at 2:30 pm Eastern Time, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement on rates will be followed by a speech and p

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Ethena announced a strategic partnership with Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial on Dec. 18. 

The partnership aims to integrate Ethena’s sUSDe token — a staked version of its USDe “synthetic dollar” — with World Liberty Financial’s Aave instance, enabling users to deposit USDe and receive rewards in both sUSDe and World Liberty’s WLF token. 

Ethena Labs announced the partnership on X.com. Source: Ethena Labs

Per an announcement posted to X.com:

Stani Kulechov, CEO and founder of Avara, the parent entity for the suite of Aave companies, recently backed a proposal to drop support for Polygon markets from the Aave platform. 

The proposal to drop Polygon followed an early-stage Polygon improvement proposal (PIP) from Allez Labs and Morpho to use stablecoins in Polygon's proof-of-stake Portal bridge to generate yield.

According to Kulechov, the suggested Polygon improvement proposal posed an unacceptable safety risk to Aave, as bridge exp

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has more than doubled the ranks of approved virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs) with the addition of four firms.

A rigorous licensing process

Accumulus GBA Technology (Hongkong), DFX Labs, Hong Kong Digital Asset EX and Thousand Whales Technology (BVI) received licenses on Dec. 18. They joined HashKey, OSL and HKVAX. According to an SFC announcement, the new exchanges were approved under the agency’s swift licensing procedure for deemed

Bitcoin (BTC) has pulled back after making a new all-time high above $108,000 on Dec. 17, indicating that the bears have not given up and are selling on rallies. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes wrote in his “Trump Truth” blog post that the crypto markets are likely to dump following United States President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025. Hayes said that selling will occur after market participants realize that any crypto policy changes will take about a year to enact.

In contr

Kim Nam-kuk, a member of South Korea’s National Assembly, could be sentenced to six months in prison for allegedly not reporting all his cryptocurrency holdings to the government.

According to a Dec. 18 report from South Korean news outlet Dong-A Ilbo, prosecutors in Kim’s case requested a six-month prison sentence for the lawmaker, who is currently on trial in Seoul.

Kim allegedly reported his total assets at 1.2 billion won — roughly $834,356 at the time of publication — in 2021, despite own

Tokenization startup Plume Network has closed a $20 million funding round to support the development of its real-world assets ecosystem. 

According to a Fortune report on Dec. 18, the investment round was led by Brevan Howard Digital, Haun Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, and Galaxy Ventures. Previous investors in the startup included SV Angels and Portal Ventures. 

The funding follows Plume’s testnet launch in July in partnership with Celestia. The company is developing a tokenization ecosystem

HashKey Chain, a public blockchain developed by Hong Kong-based HashKey Group, officially launched its Ethereum layer-2 mainnet on Dec. 18.

The mainnet launch follows a month-long successful testnet period during which more than 860,000 wallet addresses were registered, a reported 24.72 million transactions were recorded, and over 300,000 community members participated. 

Hashkey Group announced the mainnet launch on X.com. Source: Hashkey HSK

According to a blog post from Hashkey Group, a tot

Opinion by: Daniele Bernardi, Founder of DIAMAN

Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, recently made an interesting statement regarding Bitcoin. His company holds a significant amount of Bitcoin in its treasury, second only to BlackRock, the world’s most prominent asset manager, which has launched a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). 

According to Saylor, Bitcoin (BTC) will grow at an average annual interest rate of 29% over the next 21 years, and by 2045, in his best-case scenario, Bitcoin wi

Cryptocurrency market commentators and observers have predicted positive market trends associated with United States President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, but BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has a different perspective.

Hayes cautioned against the high expectations of quick crypto policy changes promised by Trump, highlighting a gap between market expectations and the realities of policy implementation.

In his “Trump Truth” blog post published on Dec. 17, Hayes said his i

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest lender, is reportedly developing its own layer-2 (L2) blockchain on Ethereum using ZKsync technology to address compliance challenges associated with using public blockchains in regulated finance.

The L2 solution, part of Project Dama 2, looks to improve transaction efficiency and secure regulatory safeguards, integrating directly with Ethereum, according to Bloomberg.

Project Dama 2 is part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian, which bring

What is PancakeSwap SpringBoard?

On Dec. 4, 2024, PancakeSwap launched a no-code platform called SpringBoard to simplify the PancakeSwap ecosystem’s token development and launch process. It enables you to easily develop, modify and distribute tokens regardless of your level of technical expertise. PancakeSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the BNB Smart Chain.

Issuing tokens on PancakeSwap used to be a complex process, requiring projects to hire blockchain developers with coding expertis

Opinion by: Mohammed AlKaff AlHashmi, Co-founder of Haqq Network.

The world is now embracing the evolution of Web3. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, there is nothing short of a Web3 revolution taking place. With its remarkable level of crypto adoption, a young, tech-savvy population and a supportive regulatory environment, Indonesia is set to become a global leader in Web3 innovation in the coming years. As the local market grows, however, more solutions must be found that align with the Indonesian pop

As cryptocurrency adoption grows in Europe and regulatory frameworks develop, compliant stablecoins are capturing a significant share of the market, signaling a notable shift in their usage across the region.

A new report by research firm Kaiko and Netherlands-based crypto exchange Bitvavo highlights the expansion of cryptocurrency trading in Europe, with euro trading volumes rising and stablecoin use adapting to new regulations.

Monthly trading volumes for the euro exceeded 2023’s average

Th

The cryptocurrency community has fired back against Coinbase’s explanation for delisting Wrapped Bitcoin, which the exchange linked to the “unacceptable risk” associated with Tron founder Justin Sun.

On Dec. 17, Coinbase filed a response to a lawsuit brought by Sun-affiliated BiT Global, which accused Coinbase of harming the Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) market by delisting WBTC in November.

In the filing, Coinbase cited risks tied to Sun, including accusations of financial misconduct and regulatory