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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" version="2.0"> <channel> <title>CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data</title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com</link> <atom:link href="https://www.coindesk.com/arc/outboundfeeds/rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <atom:link href="https://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" rel="hub"/> <description>Full text content from https://www.coindesk.com/ for syndication.</description> <lastBuildDate>Sun, 23 Feb 2025 01:34:46 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com">News</category> <copyright>© 2025 CoinDesk, Inc.</copyright> <generator>CoinDesk</generator> <ttl>5</ttl> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod><sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <image> <url>https://downloads.coindesk.com/arc/failsafe/feeds/coindesk-feed-logo.png</url> <title>CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data</title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com</link> </image> <item><title><![CDATA[Ethereum 'Roll Back' Suggestion Has Sparked Criticism. Here's Why It Won't Happen]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/02/22/ethereum-roll-back-suggestion-has-sparked-criticism-here-s-why-it-won-t-happen</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">3faab052-58c6-4d74-a12f-c4820bd40306</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 20:43:42 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-22T20:50:04.581Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/cda9b12574f47c29f60e1550669e9f5638593011-1500x956.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[(Jacob Lund/Shutterstock)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[Call for "roll back" by some, to negate Bybit hack, immediately provoked a fierce reaction from the Ethereum community, which was firm in its belief that it wouldn't happen. ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[On Friday, cryptocurrency <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank">exchange Bybit was allegedly hacked</a> by North Korea’s <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/north-korean-hackers-were-behind-crypto-s-largest-left-of-all-time" target="_blank">Lazarus group</a>, which drained nearly $1.4 billion in ether (ETH) from the exchange.Following the hack, Arthur Hayes, BitMEX co-founder and claiming to be a major ether (ETH) holder, <a href="https://x.com/CryptoHayes/status/1893055659001749537?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" target="_blank">wrote a post</a> on X to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on whether he will “advocate to roll back the chain to help @Bybit_Official.” Meanwhile, in an X spaces session, Bybit’s CEO Ben Zhou revealed that his team had also <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/22/bybit-sees-over-usd4-billion-bank-run-after-crypto-s-biggest-hack" target="_blank">reached out</a> to the Ethereum Foundation to see if it was something the network would consider, noting that such a decision should be based on what the network's community wants.Hayes's post immediately provoked a fierce reaction from the Ethereum community, which was firm in its belief that it wouldn't happen. Some even questioned whether the BitMEX founder was joking. CoinDesk reached out to Hayes over X to clarify his comments.Ethereum members, like the core developer teams, are vastly against “rolling back” the network because it would override core elements of decentralization. If Buterin decided on his own that it would happen, then that would be seen as the end of Ethereum’s ethos, which heavily involves various developer teams and other community members when it comes to the health and state of the blockchain.“Rolling back the chain would give ETH no purpose. What's the point if you can just change rules,” said user @the_weso <a href="https://x.com/the_weso" target="_blank">in a post on X</a>.Some <a href="https://x.com/rajgokal/status/1893194119675064726" target="_blank">outside the</a> Ethereum community pointed <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/05/09/coindesk-turns-10-how-the-dao-hack-changed-ethereum-and-crypto" target="_blank">to the 2016 DAO hack as an example</a> when $60 million in ETH was stolen. The network went forward with a hard fork, splitting the old network into two, and the new chain continued on as Ethereum.That hard fork was not a “rollback,” though; it was known as an “irregular state transition.” Ethereum technically can’t “roll back” the network because it relies on an account model, where accounts hold users' ETH.At the time of the hack, developers upgraded their nodes to a new client or software. Those who didn’t upgrade their nodes were still on the old chain, which became known as Ethereum Classic.When the nodes upgraded to the new software, the stolen ETH could move from one Ethereum account address to the next.“The 'irregular state change' that they implemented at the time of the DAO hard fork was this: they airlifted all the ETH in the DAO smart contracts out to a refund contract that would send you 1 ETH for every 100 DAO tokens you sent in,” wrote Laura Shin of Unchained i<a href="https://x.com/laurashin/status/1893300043542675510" target="_blank">n a post on X</a>.Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/arthur-hayes-proposes-rolling-back-ethereum-network-to-negate-usd1-4b-bybit-hack" target="_blank">Arthur Hayes Floats the Idea of Rolling Back Ethereum Network to Negate $1.4B Bybit Hack, Drawing Community Ire</a> ]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Margaux Nijkerk]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/tech"><![CDATA[ Tech]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ethereum]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Hack]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ hard fork]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Analysis]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bybit Sees Over $4 Billion ‘Bank Run’ After Crypto’s Biggest Hack]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/22/bybit-sees-over-usd4-billion-bank-run-after-crypto-s-biggest-hack</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">10997254-24e3-4fe3-90d0-6d4fb738666a</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 19:56:09 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-22T20:28:03.645Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/0c8a0c389c4df381e479498f22f5b4aaf46b6e1e-5184x2916.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Bybit CEO Ben Zhou (Danny Nelson/ CoinDesk)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The exchange, facing a bank run and needing to process withdrawals, worked to secure a loan and developed new software to access frozen funds. ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Major cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has seen total outflows of over $5.5 billion after it suffered a <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank">near $1.5 billion hack</a> that saw hackers, believed to be from North Korea’s Lazarus Group, drain its ether cold wallet.The total assets tracked on wallets associated with the exchange plunged from around $16.9 billion to $11.2 billion at the time of writing, according to data from <a href="https://defillama.com/cex/bybit?usdInflows=true" target="_blank">DeFiLlama</a>. The exchange is now looking to understand exactly what happened.In an X spaces session, Bybit’s CEO Ben Zhou revealed that shortly after the incident, he called for “all hands on deck” to serve their clients with processing withdrawals and responding to inquiries about what was going on.During the session, Zhou revealed that the security breach saw the hackers make off with roughly 70% of their clients’ ether, which meant that Bybit needed to quickly secure a loan to be able to process withdrawals. Yet, Zhou found that ether wasn’t the most withdrawn token, with most users instead withdrawing stablecoin from Bybit.The exchange, Zhou noted, has reserves to cover these withdrawals, but the crisis deepened as, in response to the incident, Safe moved to temporarily shut down its smart wallet functionalities to “ensure absolute confidence in our platform’s security.”Safe is a decentralized custody protocol providing smart contract wallets for digital asset management. Some exchanges integrated Safe, which allows users to maintain custody of their funds and has multisig functionality to enhance the security of their cold wallets.<img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/faf9b7eec3822c18298bbf41a137227a48c16023-863x320.png?auto=format" alt="" />While the exchange had reserves to back up users’ withdrawals, $3 billion worth of USDT was in a Safe wallet that had just been shut down as the wallet moved to understand the situation, according to Zhou. On social media, Safe said that while it had "not found evidence that the official Safe frontend was compromised," it was temporarily shutting down "certain functionalities" out of caution.While Zhou and Bybit’s team were figuring out how to securely withdraw their $3 billion, withdrawals were mounting. Within two hours of the security breach, the exchange was facing requests to move over $100,000 off its platform, Zhou revealed.Responding to the situation, Zhou told his security team to engage Safe to “find a better way to get this money out.” The team ended up developing new software with code “based on Etherscan” to verify the signatures “on a very manual level” to move the stablecoins back to their wallet and cover the withdrawal surge.The exchange’s team had to remain up all night to be able to fulfill withdrawals, according to Zhou. As the exchange managed to move the $3 billion in stablecoin reserves, it was facing a bank run of “about 50%” of all the funds within the exchange.Zhou said that since the incident, the exchange has moved a significant amount of funds off of Safe cold wallets and is now determining what system it will use to replace Safe.<h2>Pushing to "Roll Back" Ethereum Was not Off the Table</h2>Since the security breach, Bybit has engaged authorities. During the session, Zhou said that the Singaporean authorities took the issue “very seriously” and that he believes it has already been escalated with Interpol.Blockchain analysis firms, including Chainalysis, were engaged. Zhou said, “As long as Bybit is there and continues to track [the stolen ether], I hope we can get these funds back.”Notably, he revealed that pushing to "roll back" the Ethereum blockchain, which was suggested by some industry players on social media, including BitMEX co-founder <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/arthur-hayes-proposes-rolling-back-ethereum-network-to-negate-usd1-4b-bybit-hack" target="_blank">Arthur Hayes</a>, had been on the table for some time if the community agreed with it.“I had my team talking to Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation to see if there’s any recommendations they can offer to help. I do really thank all these guys on Twitter asking if there is a possibility to roll back the chain. I’m not sure what was the response on their side, but anything that would help we would try,” Zhou said.When asked if "rolling back" the chain is even possible, Zhou responded he doesn’t know. “I’m not sure it’s a one-man decision based on the spirit of blockchain. It should be a work in process to see what the community wants,” he said.It's worth noting that a blockchain "rollback" refers to a state change that would allow for the funds to be recovered. While rolling back the Bitcoin blockchain is technically possible, such a state change on Ethereum would be more complex, given its smart contract interactions and state-based architecture. Nevertheless, any state change would require consensus and likely lead to a contentious hard fork, drawing criticism from the community. This would likely <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/05/09/coindesk-turns-10-how-the-dao-hack-changed-ethereum-and-crypto" target="_blank">split </a>the Ethereum blockchain into two networks, each with its own supporters.As for what exactly caused the hack to occur, is still unclear. Per Zhou, Bybit’s laptops have not been compromised. He said the movements of the transaction’s signers have been scrutinized but appear to have been routine.“We know the cause is definitely around the Safe cold wallet. Whether it’s a problem with our laptops or on Safe’s side, we don’t know.,” Zhou added.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Francisco Rodrigues]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/business"><![CDATA[ Finance]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ethereum]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Hack]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bank Run]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Binance Research Survey Shows 95% of Latin American Crypto Users Plan to Buy More in 2025]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/binance-research-survey-shows-95-of-latin-american-crypto-users-plan-to-buy-more-in-2025</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">24cca026-eebe-4b24-a2c6-91e021bfc1c5</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 19:47:03 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-22T19:47:04.113Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/d050e4be1c5616c5c0df43f77406eebe7e1d4c9f-1920x1277.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Binance investor on ipad with keyboard (Kanchanara/Unsplash)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The survey found that investors entered the cryptocurrency space looking for significant returns and financial freedom.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[A vast majority of Latin American cryptocurrency users—95%—plan to expand their holdings in 2025, according to a Binance Research survey of more than 10,000 investors in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico.The findings show that 40.1% of respondents are expecting to buy more crypto within the next three months, 15.3% are looking to do so in the next six months, and 39.7% within 12 months. Only 4.9% have no plans to keep on investing this year.Latin America led the world in crypto adoption in 2024, growing by 116%, according to <a href="https://www.triple-a.io/cryptocurrency-ownership-data" target="_blank">research from payments firm Triple-A </a>quoted in the report. The region now has 55 million cryptocurrency users, making up nearly 10% of total cryptocurrency users.This rapid expansion has been fueled by rising asset prices, regulatory advancements, and new financial products like spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Brazil has just last week become the first country to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/19/brazil-set-to-launch-world-s-first-spot-xrp-etf" target="_blank">approve a spot XRP ETF.</a>Market performance has also bolstered investor confidence. "Latin America is a rapidly expanding region for the crypto sector, and the results of this research reinforce what we have observed in our operations,” Binance’s regional VP for Latin America, Guilherme Nazar, said.Binance’s research shows that half of those inquired already use cryptocurrencies for over a year, with most entering the space expecting significant returns and searching for financial freedom. Portfolio diversification, privacy, and protecting their money were also quoted as motives to invest in the space. Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/11/13/how-a-115m-crypto-fund-with-big-ambitions-plans-to-invest-in-latin-america" target="_blank">How a $115M Crypto Fund With Big Ambitions Plans to Invest In Latin America</a>]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Francisco Rodrigues]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Binance]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ latin america]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Ether Price Spikes Further on Reports of Bybit Starting to Buy ETH]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/ether-price-spikes-further-on-reports-of-bybit-starting-to-buy-eth</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">8f41c4fc-2d66-4f07-b1a2-14ec47e0af87</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:26:20 +0000</pubDate> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/abc7d1dd01270fb8f15f16714372cfa1dcf787a9-2400x1600.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Bybit lost roughly $1.5 billion in crypto to a theft Friday. (appshunter.io/Unsplash)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The rise comes amid reports that Bybit has allocated 100 million USDT to a new wallet to buy the cryptocurrency.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[The price of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, ether (ETH), has risen by more than 2.3% in the last 24 hours, while the broader CoinDesk 20 Index has risen by just 0.76% during the same period. Bitcoin is down around 0.3%.The rise comes amid reports that Bybit, the cryptocurrency exchange that<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank"> was hacked for $1.5 billion</a> worth of ether and staked ether by North Korean hacking group Lazarus, has moved 100 million USDT into new addresses and moved half of that into addresses to purchase 36,900 ETH over-the-counter.The funds, worth around $101 million, were then moved to addresses tagged as belonging to the cryptocurrency exchange, crypto journalist Colin Wu <a href="https://x.com/WuBlockchain/status/1893327226831282310?t=Yc_FDL-f9MwD_pLiuzj8Cw&s=19" target="_blank">reported</a>, citing, Arkham Intelligence data. Bybit’s CEO Ben Zhou reportedly said in an “ask me anything” session that the company’s assets are “far greater than $1.5 billion,” adding that “there is a cold wallet in safe with nearly 3 billion US dollars in USDT,” according to <a href="https://x.com/WuBlockchain/status/1893272190369640705" target="_blank">the same source</a>. Bybit’s hacker is now holdings an estimated 489,000 ETH valued at approximately $1.34 billion, around 0.4% of ether’s total supply, which makes it the <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/ether-supply-squeeze-bybit-hacker-emerges-as-world-s-14th-largest-eth-holder" target="_blank">14th-largest holder of the cryptocurrency.</a>The addresses associated with the hacker are now closely monitored in the space and are blacklisted by major cryptocurrency exchanges. “The stolen funds have already been marked, making it extremely difficult for the hacker to use them. Any attempt to transfer these funds to a major exchange would result in an immediate block,” StealthEX CEO Maria Carola told CoinDesk.Since the hacker may not be able to use the funds in any way, some analysts are <a href="https://x.com/pythianism/status/1893067295909650944" target="_blank">suggesting</a> that the 0.4% of the ETH supply it holds is “essentially gone.”]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Francisco Rodrigues]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ethereum]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ FastNews]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[SEC Drops OpenSea Investigation Easing Pressure on NFT Market]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/sec-drops-opensea-investigation-easing-pressure-on-nft-market</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">194826d4-d2ae-4e84-a7b9-a52465ee4f02</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:35:01 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-22T15:35:02.162Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/35cdc41cf0c4d49c2cdb92b2049bcfafc1f36b86-1440x1080.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[OpenSea logo on phone (Unsplash)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The regulator’s decision comes after Coinbase said the SEC will vote on a deal to abandon its enforcement case against it.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is closing its investigation into major non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea, the platform’s founder and CEO Devin Finzer said on social media.The regulator<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/08/28/opensea-gets-wells-notice-from-sec-calling-nfts-sold-on-platform-securities" target="_blank"> issued a Wells notice</a> against OpenSea in August 2024, indicating it was planning on pursuing an enforcement action against it. The regulator alleged the platform may have been operating as an unregistered securities marketplace. The SEC’s move comes as the regulator is slated to vote on a deal negotiated with Coinbase to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/sec-poised-to-drop-coinbase-lawsuit-marking-big-moment-for-u-s-crypto" target="_blank">drop its lawsuit against the exchange</a>, which is seen as a boon for the cryptocurrency industry and NFT creators.“This is a win for everyone who is creating and building in our space. Trying to classify NFTs as securities would have been a step backward—one that misinterprets the law and slows innovation,” Finzer <a href="https://x.com/dfinzer/status/1893086281300582772" target="_blank">posted</a>. Reacting to Finzer’s post, Chris Akhavan, chief business officer of NFT marketplace Magic Eden, suggested it was a <a href="https://x.com/chrisakvn/status/1893087360000426273" target="_blank">victory for the wider cryptocurrency space</a>. “While we are competitors in the trenches, we share a deep belief in NFTs and what they will enable,” Akhavan wrote. The announcement led to an uptick in activity for the native token of NFT marketplace LooksRare. The token, LOOKS, saw a surge in active addresses shortly after the announcement that represents an “approximately fivefold increase compared to the usual figures,” according to data from TheTie.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Francisco Rodrigues]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ OpenSea]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ NFT]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ SEC]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Ether Supply Squeeze? Bybit Hacker Emerges as World's 14th-Largest ETH Holder]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/ether-supply-squeeze-bybit-hacker-emerges-as-world-s-14th-largest-eth-holder</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">adbb5e60-7603-45b1-afad-7790aca421d9</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:22:48 +0000</pubDate> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/abc7d1dd01270fb8f15f16714372cfa1dcf787a9-2400x1600.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Bybit lost roughly $1.5 billion in crypto to a theft Friday. (appshunter.io/Unsplash)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[Ether trades 2% higher as the hacked ETH is seen as a permanently lost supply. ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[The Bybit hacker, supposedly a North Korean entity, is now one of the world's largest ether holders, which may have bullish implications for the cryptocurrency's spot price.According to data from <a href="https://intel.arkm.com/explorer/entity/7fb57cc1-fd8e-449f-bd4b-025a5a461e53" target="_blank">Arkham Intelligence</a> and Coinbase executive <a href="https://x.com/jconorgrogan/status/1893019485100970094" target="_blank">Connor Grogan</a>, this malicious actor holds 489,000 ETH, valued at approximately $1.34 billion, constituting about 0.4% of ether's total supply, making it the 14th-largest Ether holder globally. That puts the hacker <a href="https://x.com/jconorgrogan/status/1893019485100970094" target="_blank">ahead of</a> the Ethereum Foundation, Ethereum's CEO Vitalik Buterin and Fidelity. It's important to note that the addresses linked to this entity are being closely monitored and backlisted by exchanges, which means the hacker will likely struggle to offload these coins in the market.In simpler terms, the hacked ether supply is likely lost permanently. Furthermore, Bybit, which has reportedly <a href="https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/bybit-loan-to-cover-ethereum-losses-from-record-crypto-hack/#:~:text=Bybit%20has%20secured%20a%20%E2%80%9Cbridge,the%20lost%20crypto%2C%20Zhou%20added." target="_blank">secured a bridged loan</a> from unnamed partners to cover nearly 80% of the ether lost in the Friday hack, will likely need to purchase coins in the market."As far as this supply is concerned, it's essentially gone. No OTC desk or exchange will facilitate the movement of such a large amount. Meanwhile, Bybit is short 402k ETH. The bridge loan may cover immediate needs, but purchasing will still be necessary," Vance Spencer, co-founder of the crypto VC firm Framework Ventures, <a href="https://x.com/pythianism/status/1893067295909650944" target="_blank">said on X</a>.That probably explains why ether has bounced 2.6% to $2,730 from the overnight low of around $2,614. Funding rates in perpetual futures tied to ether remain positive, implying a bias for long positions, according to data source Coingecko.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Omkar Godbole]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ether]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ethereum]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Crypto Exchanges Start to Fill Bybit's $1.4B Hole as Hackers Move Stolen Funds]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/exchanges-start-to-fill-bybit-s-usd1-4b-hole-as-hackers-move-stolen-funds</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">b23c8db6-5c0e-4ff7-bf99-75fb7949a06b</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:24:35 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-22T09:36:25.278Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/c8e0c7749afacc68b95131f116f3c7f4f4cbbf91-2048x1152.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[16:9 hacks, exploits, theft, crime, embezzlement (fikry anshor/Unsplash, modifiied by CinDesk)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA["At Bitget we strongly believe in supporting the community and everyone contributing towards the growth of crypto," company CEO Gracy Chen told CoinDesk.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Crypto exchange Bitget has transferred 40,000 ether (ETH), worth $105 million, to Bybit, offering crucial support to its industry counterpart in the wake of the over billion-dollar hack suffered by the exchange.The funds transferred are from Bitget's own reserves, not user deposits, which remain securely stored on the platform and can be cross checked through the proof of reserves, the exchange's CEO, Gracy Chen, said in a note shared with CoinDesk, while assuring more support if needed."At Bitget we strongly believe in supporting the community and everyone contributing towards the growth of crypto," Chen said.A <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/north-korean-hackers-were-behind-crypto-s-largest-left-of-all-time" target="_blank">suspected North Korean entity</a> drained approximately $1.4 billion in ether from Bybit on Friday. The hack prompted an unprecedented wave of withdrawal requests from users, with the exchange successfully processing 99% of them, effectively facing a significant market stress test.Part of the stolen funds started to move during Asian afternoon hours on Saturday with over 5,000 ETH moved through eXch mixer - a service that masks wallet address - before being sent to bridge protocol ChainFlip where the stash was converted to bitcoin (BTC).In an <a href="https://x.com/Chainflip/status/1893217622507851837" target="_blank">X post</a>, ChainFlip said it couldn't block fund movements as it was a fully decentralized applications that relies on automated smart contracts, but that it had "turned off some frontend services to stop the flow."On the other hand, Bitget has blacklisted wallets tied to the hacker that drained ether worth millions from Bybit on Friday."We will block any transactions flowing in from illicit addresses to the exchange once it has been monitored. Our team of security, and researchers, are currently tracking these activities," Chen said.Despite the hack, Bybit had managed to process over 350,000 withdrawal requests and has since restored normal withdrawal operations, per an X post.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Shaurya Malwa, Omkar Godbole]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Hack]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bitget]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ether]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Arthur Hayes Floats the Idea of Rolling Back Ethereum Network to Negate $1.4B Bybit Hack, Drawing Community Ire]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/arthur-hayes-proposes-rolling-back-ethereum-network-to-negate-usd1-4b-bybit-hack</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">134cd348-2790-4a4d-996a-c5a5439850c4</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:09:37 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-22T19:16:54.866Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/7d40296cdad6503cd131c24cde9797fb8b55388c-8192x5464.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Arthur Hayes, CIO, Maelstrom, pictured at CfC St. Moritz 2025 (CfC St. Moritz)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA["I would support it because we already voted no on immutability in 2016," Hayes said on X, while Ethereum community strongly criticized it. ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[CORRECTION (Feb. 22, 19:16 UTC): Reworks the story throughout to clarify and include more context of the so-called "rollback" and the criticism around it. Also removed the percentage of ETH held by hackers in 2016). Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and major ether (ETH) holder, asked Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin if he would be willing to entertain the idea of rolling back the network to assist hacked exchange Bybit, which lost nearly $1.4 billion in ether (ETH) on Friday."@VitalikButerin will you advocate to roll back the chain to help @Bybit_Official," Hayes said in the social media <a href="https://x.com/CryptoHayes/status/1893055659001749537?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" target="_blank">post</a>. "My own view as a mega $ETH bag holder is $ETH stopped being money in 2016 after the DAO hack hardfork. If the community wanted to do it again, I would support it because we already voted no on immutability in 2016 [wh]y not do it again?" he added Buterin was yet to reply as of time of publication. While some, including <a href="https://x.com/laurashin/status/1893076283577258361?s=46&t=LcdHxOgtVViJTm8qmgGf-g" target="_blank">Unchained's Laura Shin</a>, wondered if Hayes's post was a joke, it did raise a serious question about whether rolling back is even feasible. CoinDesk reached out to Hayes about the post and hasn't received a comment at the time of writing. "I wish we could roll back for the Bybit hack, I'm not against the idea. But the DAO hack was 15% of ETH with a clean recovery path. Today, a rollback would break bridges, stablecoins, L2s, RWAs and so much more. ETH ecosystem is just too interconnected now for a clean solution like 2016," said Gautham Santhosh, co-founder of Polynomial.fi.<h2>The problem with "rollback"</h2>Hayes' suggestions of rolling back the blockchain as one of the potential ways to address hacking involves reverting the blockchain to a state before a specific event, in this case, the hack. That way, malicious transactions resulting from the hack can be erased, effectively restoring lost or stolen funds. Implementing a rollback requires consensus from the network participants.For instance, in 2016, the Ethereum network saw a <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/05/09/coindesk-turns-10-how-the-dao-hack-changed-ethereum-and-crypto" target="_blank">controversial revision</a> of the network using a hard fork to reverse a theft of $60 million in ether from The DAO (the percentage the hackers <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/a-history-of-the-dao-hack" target="_blank">took control </a>of is still up for debate). The hard fork split the chain into two – Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. However, the term "rollback" was never used during that revision; it was referred to as an “irregular state transition.” The move still triggered huge and important debates over so-called “immutability” in blockchains.Immutability is a security feature that prevents data from being changed after it's added to the blockchain, making it trustworthy and tamper-proof. A similar controversy played out in the Bitcoin community in 2019 when Binance's CEO Changpeng Zhao and his team <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/05/08/binance-considered-pushing-for-bitcoin-rollback-following-40-million-hack" target="_blank">considered pushing for a "rollback" approach</a> (the term was later rephrased by CZ as "re-org" and decided not to pursue the approach) on the Bitcoin network following a $40 million hack. However, the Bitcoin mining community <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/05/08/what-a-bitcoin-reorg-is-and-what-binance-has-to-do-with-it" target="_blank">criticized</a> the idea of going back against the principle of decentralization and immutability.Similarly, the Ethereum community criticized the idea of "rollback" in this case, noting that the idea wouldn't even have been <a href="https://x.com/adietrichs/status/1893304456864747864?s=46&t=LcdHxOgtVViJTm8qmgGf-g" target="_blank">considered</a> by the community.Theoretically, an actual "rollback" won't be possible on Ethereum, as the network uses something called "<a href="https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/accounts/" target="_blank">accounts</a>" to store the ether, which can be analogous to bank accounts. When the 2016 hack occurred, the nodes upgraded to new software, and the ETH held was moved to new addresses.However, the idea of reversing a transaction in light of a hack isn't a new one; at least one smaller blockchain network, Vericoin, actually <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2014/07/14/8-million-vericoin-hack-prompts-hard-fork-to-recover-funds" target="_blank">executed</a> such a procedure previously.The Bybit hack came into light <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank">on Friday</a> when on-chain sleuth ZachXBT noted suspicious outflows of over $1.4 billion from the exchange, with the attacker quickly swapping mETH and stETH for ether through a decentralized exchange.The hackers were later <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/north-korean-hackers-were-behind-crypto-s-largest-left-of-all-time" target="_blank">identified</a> by ZachXBT as the North Korean Lazarus Group. The attacker then split 10,000 ETH to 39 different addresses and another 10,000 ETH to nine addresses, Polynomial.fi's Santhosh said on X.Bybit CEO Ben Zhou <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank">said</a> that the hacker "took control of the specific ETH cold wallet and transferred all the ETH in the cold wallet to this unidentified address." Zhou confirmed that the exchange "is solvent even if this hack loss is not recovered."Margaux Nijkerk contributed to the revised story. Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/22/ether-price-spikes-further-on-reports-of-bybit-starting-to-buy-eth" target="_blank">Ether Price Spikes Further on Reports of Bybit Starting to Buy ETH</a>]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Omkar Godbole]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Hack]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ethereum]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Vitalik Buterin]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Arthur Hayes]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bybit CEO Labels Pi Network a Scam, Citing Official Police Warning]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-ceo-labels-pi-network-a-scam-citing-official-police-warning</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">e405f955-94f8-4485-beae-c4eb5554b80d</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 22:40:37 +0000</pubDate> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/598c9d77fde9d77f6e237a63ca3c79c4424e54d6-6960x4640.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Bybit CEO labels Pi Network a scam (exploringzhongguo/Unsplash)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The token is down by more than 60% since launch.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said Thursday that his exchange will not list the Pi Network's PI token, which was controversially released on Thursday, citing a Chinese <a href="https://www.hengyang.gov.cn/gaj/jqts/20230705/i3046572.html" target="_blank">police warning</a> from 2023 that alleged the project was a scam targeting elderly people, leaking their personal information and leading to the loss of their pensions. "There are multiple other reports out there questioning the project legitimacy," Zhou <a href="https://x.com/benbybit/status/1892608824869327026?" target="_blank">posted</a> on X. "Yes, I still think you are a scam, and no, Bybit will not list scam." The Pi Network didn't respond to CoinDesk's request for comments. The token went live alongside the project's mainnet release on Thursday. Users who "mined" tokens by clicking their smartphone screens once a day were finally able to transfer and sell tokens. Zhou, however, found himself in the middle of a separate issue on Friday, with his exchange Bybit, which was <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/north-korean-hackers-were-behind-crypto-s-largest-left-of-all-time" target="_blank">hacked</a> by North Korea's Lazarus Group for $1.5 billion. The PI token debuted on OKX at $0.67, rose as high as $2 and then slumped 65% and is <a href="https://www.okx.com/price/pi-network-pi" target="_blank">currently around $0.69.</a>One issue that raised concerns was a marketing tactic that rewarded users who recruited other users. Each time a user persuaded someone else to sign up using their code, the first person's "mining" rewards were increased. The idea had some drawing comparisons to the <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/08/17/fugitive-bitconnect-founder-kumbhani-indicted-in-us-is-now-wanted-in-india-too" target="_blank">2017 Ponzi scheme, Bitconnect</a>."Pi Network is the <a href="https://x.com/cryptobeastreal/status/1892632967865868708" target="_blank">biggest ponzi [scheme]</a>," X user CryptoBeast alleged, posting to their 656K followers. The project also offers users the option of locking their tokens for as long as three years. In return, they are promised increased rewards. The same technique was at the heart of the Hex project, whose founder, Richard Schueler, known online as Richard Heart, is a fugitive sought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for, among other things, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/07/31/us-sec-sues-richard-heart-hex-pulsechain-on-unregistered-securities-fraud-allegations" target="_blank">defrauding his investors</a>.The token has a market cap of $4.18 billion based on a circulating supply of $6.33 billion. However, its inflationary nature means the maximum supply is 100 billion, giving a fully diluted value (FDV) at a staggering $67 billion, assuming it holds the current price. At launch, FDV rose as high as $200 billion, almost double that of Solana.Some exchanges have been undeterred by the concerns raised. OKX, Bitget and Gate have racked up a total of $620 million in trading volume for PI trading pairs between them, according to <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pi/" target="_blank">CoinMarketCap</a>.Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/20/pi-network-s-token-debuts-at-usd195b-fdv-despite-minimal-liquidity" target="_blank">Pi Network's Token Debuts at $195B Value Despite Minimal Liquidity</a>]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Oliver Knight]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/business"><![CDATA[ Finance]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ponzi scheme]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ scam]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[North Korean Hackers Were Behind Crypto's Largest 'Theft of All Time']]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/north-korean-hackers-were-behind-crypto-s-largest-left-of-all-time</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">be0049a7-8fce-43b4-858f-a1b915e64c2d</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 22:04:12 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T22:28:19.429Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/03e2d9be0c65442154bdff629a58c6496d145707-1280x717.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[(Pixabay)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[Lazarus Group was behind Bybit's $1.5 billion hack on Friday, Arkham Intelligence said, citing ZackXBT.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence said North Korea's Lazarus Group was behind Bybit's $1.46 billion hack. In an earlier post on social media platform X, Arkham <a href="https://x.com/arkham/status/1892975780218409203" target="_blank">offered a bounty</a> of 50,000 ARKM tokens for anyone who could identify the attackers for Friday's hack. Later, the platform said onchain sleuth ZachXBT submitted <a href="https://x.com/arkham/status/1893033424224411885?s=46" target="_blank">"definitive proof"</a> that the attackers were the North Korean hacker group. "His submission included a detailed analysis of test transactions and connected wallets used ahead of the exploit, as well as multiple forensics graphs and timing analyses," the post said. Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank">Bybit Loses $1.5B in Hack but Can Cover Loss, CEO Confirms</a>The hack that rocked the crypto market and saw most prices tumbling was called the "largest crypto theft of all time, by some margin," by Elliptic's Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist. "The next largest crypto theft would be the $611 million stolen from Poly Network in 2021. In fact it may even be the largest single theft of all time."Blockchain data provider Nansen told CoinDesk that the attackers first withdrew nearly $1.5 billion worth of funds from the exchange into a main wallet and then spread the funds across several others. "Initially, the stolen funds were transferred to a primary wallet, which then distributed them across more than 40 wallets," Nansen said. "The attackers converted all stETH, cmETH, and mETH to ETH before systematically transferring ETH in $27 million increments to over 10 additional wallets," Nansen said. The attack appeared to have been caused by something called "<a href="https://www.ledger.com/academy/cryptos-greatest-weakness-blind-signing-explained" target="_blank">Blind Signing</a>," where a smart contract transaction is approved without the comprehensive knowledge of its contents. "This attack vector is quickly becoming the favorite form of cyber attack used by advanced threat actors, including North Korea," said blockchain security firm Blockaid's CEO Ido Ben Natan. "It’s the same type of attack that was used in the Radiant Capital breach and the WazirX incident.""The problem is that even with the best key management solutions, today most of the signing process is delegated to software interfaces that interact with dApps. This creates a critical vulnerability — it opens the door for malicious manipulation of the signing process, which is exactly what happened in this attack," he said. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou <a href="https://x.com/benbybit/status/1892963530422505586" target="_blank">wrote earlier on X</a> that a hacker "took control of the specific ETH cold wallet and transferred all the ETH in the cold wallet to this unidentified address." He also confirmed that the exchange "is solvent even if this hack loss is not recovered."Oliver Knight contributed to the reporting of this story Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/bitcoin-ether-slumps-as-crypto-prices-crumble-on-report-of-massive-usd1-4b-bybit-security-incident" target="_blank">Bitcoin, Ether Slump as Crypto Prices Dip on Report of Massive $1.5B Bybit Hack</a>]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Aoyon Ashraf]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Hack]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Plunging U.S. Stocks Help Add to Crypto's Bad Day]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/plunging-u-s-stocks-help-add-to-crypto-s-bad-day</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">a1047d8f-7a6b-4cfe-b58b-133542d1cf82</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 20:35:47 +0000</pubDate> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/80f2f833ba0f2c369edfb8875c4b8cbd636e7e6e-1440x1080.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Crypto prices continued to plunge on Thursday (Eva Blue/Unsplash)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The week's uptrend was quickly upended by the hack at crypto exchange Bybit.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Only a handful of hours ago crypto markets were buoyed as the Securities and Exchange Commission signaled its intent its <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/sec-poised-to-drop-coinbase-lawsuit-marking-big-moment-for-u-s-crypto" target="_blank">dismiss a lawsuit </a>against Coinbase (COIN).The welcome regulatory news sparked 5% gains for COIN and the likes of increasingly important crypto trading platform Robinhood (HOOD), and sent bitcoin (BTC) breaking out of its recent tight trading range to within sight of the $100,000 level.The first bomb to break the good vibes came late in the U.S. morning when Bybit was stung by <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank">about a $1.5 billion hack</a> — the largest such exploit ever in crypto. That news sent bitcoin and ether (ETH) sliding roughly 2% in a manner of minutes.Prices quickly seemed to stabilize and — at least in the case for bitcoin — bounce a bit.<h4>Et tu stocks?</h4>Any sort of bounce, however, was quickly snuffed out as modest losses for U.S. stocks began to accelerate in afternoon trading.Among the excuses for the quick retreat was a poor reading from the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which unexpectedly slipped to 64.7 versus forecasts for 67.8. The same survey's inflation expectations rose to 3.5% against an expected 3.3%.An outlier, but perhaps also a reason for selling, was a new coronavirus scare out of China. Discovered by researchers at the Wuhan Institute, HKU5-CoV-2 is "strikingly similar" to the virus that caused the 2020 pandemic, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14421599/coronavirus-potential-cause-pandemic-discovered-china.html" target="_blank">according to the Daily Mail</a>.Shortly before the close of trading on Friday, the Nasdaq is lower by 2.2% and the S&P 500 by 1.7%. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has fallen nine basis points to 4.42%.As for crypto, bitcoin has more than erased its gains of the past couple of days, trading back to $95,000 and lower by nearly 4% over the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) has pulled back to $2,650, also lower by about 4%. The broader <a href="https://todayincrypto.coindesk.com/" target="_blank">CoinDesk 20 Index</a> is down 4.4%.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Stephen Alpher]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[U.S. Marshals Service Can't Say How Much Crypto It Holds, Complicating Bitcoin Reserve Plan]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/u-s-marshals-service-managing-seized-assets-can-t-say-how-much-crypto-it-holds</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">b75c85e7-7492-4f05-ab94-f68709e1b76d</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:03:08 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T19:23:55.217Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/240df95c2ce66fd46f6413081a4e7316be59f232-4937x3291.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Credit: Getty Images]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[ The agency has been plagued with procedural and organizational issues for years.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) is tasked with managing assets seized by law enforcement in the course of criminal investigations, like real estate, cash, jewelry, antiques or vehicles.It is also supposed to be handling cryptocurrencies — for example, the billions of dollars worth of bitcoin (BTC) seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from darknet marketplace Silk Road in 2013.However, the USMS doesn’t seem to know how much crypto it currently has. In fact, the agency is struggling to come up with a rough estimate of even its bitcoin holdings, a source familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.That could be a problem, in light of White House Crypto Czar David Sacks' <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/04/trump-s-crypto-czar-sacks-says" target="_blank">announcement earlier this month</a> that the U.S. government is actively studying the possibility of constituting a national crypto reserve — meaning that the government might stop liquidating seized cryptocurrencies, and even potentially make crypto purchases.“When you start talking about reserves, you need to be familiar with the unique properties of the assets, like forks, airdrops, and the constant volatility,” said Les Borsai, co-founder of Wave Digital Assets, a firm that provides asset management services and has been in a dispute with the USMS over not getting hired as a contractor, in an interview with CoinDesk. “You have to have the agencies educated enough or dealing with professionals that understand how to help them achieve their goals.”Even if the crypto reserve never sees the light of day, managing and liquidating seized digital assets is a crucial role for the agency, especially since asset forfeiture is used to help fund the Department of Justice (DOJ).“As far as I'm aware, the USMS is currently managing this with individual keystrokes in an Excel spreadsheet,” Chip Borman, vice president of capture strategy and proposals at Addx Corporation, a firm that provides technological solutions to the U.S. government and was also turned down for a USMS contract, told CoinDesk. Borman said he saw USMS processes occur in real time in 2023. “They're one bad day away from a billion-dollar mistake.”<h2>USMS history of crypto management</h2>The agency’s troubles with crypto aren’t new. Timothy Clarke, CEO of crypto consulting firm ECC Solutions, told CoinDesk that a lot of frustration had built up against the USMS from both the public and private sectors over the years.As recently as 2019, the agency “only handled a handful of cryptocurrency assets, like eight or 10, so all the different U.S. government agencies had to do their own storage, instead of the USMS doing its job and intaking seizures,” said Clarke, a former special agent at the Department of Treasury.Not only would the USMS take weeks to provide bitcoin deposit addresses to agencies when they’d just made a seizure, he said, but the agency would simply share them over email without any sort of encryption or verification process. At other agencies, like IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), such sensitive information is usually either communicated in video calls or via read-only encrypted attachments with follow-up calls for passwords and read-back verification of the addresses — and that’s if specialists don’t come directly on-site to handle crypto wallets themselves.“It was very, very unsecure,” Clarke said. “It’s just shocking that nothing happened in the years they did that.”The USMS declined to comment.Back in 2022, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/news/doj-oig-releases-report-us-marshals-services-management-seized-cryptocurrency" target="_blank">warned</a> that the USMS was struggling in the management and tracking of its holdings.“The USMS did not have adequate policies related to seized cryptocurrency storage, quantification, valuation, and disposal, and in some instances, guidance was conflicting,” the OIG said. For example, the USMS did not have measures in place to track forked assets — cryptocurrencies that are created whenever a blockchain does a split, known in the industry as a hard fork — think Bitcoin Cash (BCH) or Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV), both of which forked off of Bitcoin. “As a result, the USMS may fail to identify and track forked assets, and thereby lose the opportunity to sell those assets when they are forfeited,” the OIG said.The spreadsheets on which the agency was relying to track its various crypto holdings also contained inaccuracies, the OIG found.In November 2022, five months after the OIG report was published, USMS <a href="https://sam.gov/opp/06efebc228e1418089ad54787a608cc6/view" target="_blank">stated</a> (while it was looking for a contractor to help it handle its crypto assets) that it had lost control of two Ethereum wallets due to a software update. “It is unclear if the private key is incorrect, or the wallet malfunctioned,” the agency said. “The Contractor will identify the issue(s) and potentially open the wallet. If the wallet cannot be opened, documentation of efforts taken to unlock or open the wallet will be provided to the USG.”Clarke told CoinDesk that it was unclear whether the issues with the Ethereum wallets had occurred before, during, or after the OIG audit. The OIG report itself makes no mention of mismanaged Ethereum wallets or missing ether (ETH). “At a minimum it speaks to a lack of a backup wallet and lack of competent storage, update, and handling procedures,” Clarke said.“The perception is that everything has remained the same since the 2022 OIG Findings,” John Millward, chief operating officer at Addx, told CoinDesk in an interview.Millward said he understood there to be a single employee managing the assets disposal “right now on a retail account,” though the agency wasn't available to confirm such details. He said the task had not been assigned to a senior employee “despite the massive financial responsibilities and liability this one person controls.”<h2>Liquidating crypto ahead of stockpile decision</h2>In July 2024, at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, President Trump said that, if elected, he would instruct the federal government to stop selling seized bitcoin. That was an idea first pushed by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), one of bitcoin's most vocal backers in Congress, who introduced legislation aimed towards constituting a national bitcoin reserve.On Jan. 15, only a few days before Trump was set to take office, Lummis wrote a letter to Ronald L. Davis — who at the time was still director of the USMS — in which she expressed her alarm that DOJ attorneys appeared to be engaged in a process to liquidate the 69,370 bitcoin (worth roughly $6.6 billion) seized from Silk Road.“Recent court filings from earlier this month show that the Department of Justice is citing bitcoin price volatility to justify an expedited sale of these assets,” she wrote. “Even more troubling, the Department continues to aggressively push forward with liquidation plans despite pending legal challenges, demonstrating an unusual urgency to dispose of these assets,” she added. “This rushed approach, occurring during the presidential transition period, directly contradicts the incoming administration's stated policy objectives regarding the establishment of a National Bitcoin Stockpile.”Lummis asked the USMS (which handles seized assets, but does not make decisions with regards to liquidations) to share the total amount of bitcoin it currently holds, to explain why that information has not been made readily available in a public manner, and to describe its tracking and management procedures. The agency was given until Jan. 31 to answer, but has yet to formally respond, according to a source familiar with the matter.The USMS has contacted Lummis’ office twice since the letter was issued, the source said, but the agency was unable to answer how much bitcoin it had under its control, blaming the shake-up caused by the change in administrations. Lummis’ office declined to comment.Significant amounts of bitcoin are apparently being held by various agencies across the administration — including the DOJ and Department of Treasury — and the USMS has no reconciliation process to figure out where it all sits, the source said.<h2>USMS procurement struggles</h2>The OIG noted in 2022 that the USMS was taking proactive steps to boost its management procedures by seeking to enlist the private sector. The move would “assist the USMS in addressing some of the issues we identified,” the OIG said.However, the agency has taken a long time to award these contracts, and its decisions have been questioned by some of the parties involved.The USMS started looking into procurement in 2018 and first <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/04/22/bitgo-will-custody-crypto-for-us-marshals-service-in-45m-deal" target="_blank">awarded</a> the contract to crypto exchange Bitgo in April 2021. However, it was determined that the exchange did not meet the definition of a “small business” (which was one of the requirements for the contract). The award then <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/07/28/us-marshals-service-chooses-anchorage-digital-for-custody-of-seized-digital-assets" target="_blank">passed on</a> to crypto custody firm Anchorage Digital in July 2021 — yet Anchorage was also found too large to meet the small-business criteria.The agency switched gears in 2024, awarding two different contracts: the first for the management of so-called Class 1 cryptocurrencies (meaning coins supported on centralized exchanges and in cold-storage wallets) and the second for Class 2-4 cryptocurrencies (coins that don’t meet Class 1 requirements). Crypto exchange Coinbase <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/u-s-marshals-service-chooses-coinbase-to-safeguard-trade-its-large-cap" target="_blank">won the award</a> for Class 1 in July, while the Class 2-4 contract went in October to Command Services & Support (CMDSS), a technology service provider with experience working with the DOJ.<h2>Controversial awarding</h2>These awards were both contested in court. Anchorage’s protest, against Coinbase, was <a href="https://www.gao.gov/docket/b-422736.2" target="_blank">dismissed</a>, but it’s unclear whether the firm has filed another protest. The U.S. government spending website <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_15M50024FA4400016_1544_15M50024DA4400010_1544" target="_blank">suggests</a> that Coinbase has yet to receive payment for the contract. (Anchorage declined to comment. Coinbase did not respond to a request for comment.)The Class 2-4 award, meanwhile, is the subject of an ongoing protest by Wave, which claims that CMDSS lacks the proper licensing for the contract — CMDSS isn’t licensed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nor the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — and that the agency failed to properly investigate a conflict of interest from CMDSS employing a former USMS official with access to nonpublic information.The USMS, for its part, has stated that the winning bidder wasn’t required to be licensed with the SEC or FINRA in the first place; the agency also claims to have properly investigated any conflicts of interest related to former USMS employees.“If you don't care about the basics, like being licensed to handle securities, which is the most basic understanding of handling digital assets, then what are you doing? It just shows you how little they know about the process,” Borsai said. CMDSS did not respond to a request for comment.Addx competed against Wave and CMDSS for the contract. Nevertheless, Millward said that it would have made more sense for Wave than CMDSS to secure the award, since the firm possessed technical upside and offered to perform the work for a lower price.“I think there’s a lot of personal trust in the leadership of the awarded entity to figure it out and not make the USMS look bad,” Millward said.<h2>Dealing with smaller cryptocurrencies</h2>The central theme from USMS's critics is that the agency doesn't sufficiently understand digital assets.“They treat crypto like it's a boat or a piece of real estate,” Borsai said. “The USMS could not possibly understand what they hold if they do not understand the assets. … They will never get an accurate figure, unless they go all-in on a multi-agency shared system.”Millward and Borman said that the USMS had difficulty understanding that custody firms need the same amount of resources to manage a specific number of Class 2-4 coins regardless of whether the tokens are worth billions of dollars or merely cents. The agency had suggested to Addx that if it won the award it may have been paid only in a percentage of the assets it would end up managing, instead of a flat fee. The agency seemed surprised when Addx explained how expensive the custody solutions would be.“They said, ‘We anticipate never having more than $500 in value at any given time,’” Borman said. “They don’t understand that by judge’s decree, that fob that contains 20 cents worth of bitcoin needs to be tracked and analyzed, and destroying some fellow’s 20 cents is just as egregious as crashing a Lamborghini on the way to the impound lot.”]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tom Carreras]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/policy"><![CDATA[ Policy]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ US Marshals Service]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bitcoin]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Department of Justice]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Cynthia Lummis]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ bitcoin reserve]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Feature]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Exclusive ]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[CZ Suggests Bybit Halt Withdrawals, Offers Help With $1.5B Hack]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/cz-suggests-bybit-halt-withdrawals-offers-help-with-usd1-5b-hack</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">b59a0753-2233-475d-bb04-3241b5630918</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:31:34 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T19:54:38.988Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/7d91d954b2ea61b282dce3992b1b08c900ff8c70-2048x1048.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Binance, CZ, Changpeng Zhao (Photos from Smorshedi/Wikimedia Commons and CoinDesk/Flickr, modified by CoinDesk)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[Bybit CEO has said that the exchange is solvent and withdrawals remain open.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has recommended that Bybit should halt withdrawals as a security precaution following Friday's $1.5 billion hack."Not an easy situation to deal with. Might suggest to halt all withdrawals for a bit as a standard security precaution. Will provide any assistance if needed. Good luck," he wrote in an X post. In response to concerns that it would stoke further fear, CZ added: "1.5 billion is fear enough. Better to be safe than sorry now."Arkham <a href="https://intel.arkm.com/explorer/entity/bybit" target="_blank">data</a> shows that Bybit still has $20 billion in assets, and the company's CEO, Ben Zhou, said that the exchange "is solvent even if this hack loss is not recovered."Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT revealed that the hacker is beginning to split up the stolen ether, with two batches of 10,000 ETH being split up across 48 addresses. $200 million worth of mETH & stETH has also already been swapped on decentralized exchanges."We have been monitoring the Bybit incident very closely and will do our best to assist our partners in tracking the relevant funds, providing all the support within our capabilities," Tron founder Justin Sun <a href="https://x.com/justinsuntron/status/1892977492715258207" target="_blank">posted on X</a>.Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank">Bybit Loses $1.5B in Hack but Can Cover Loss, CEO Confirms</a>]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Oliver Knight]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/business"><![CDATA[ Finance]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ CZ]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Hack]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why The SEC Needs to Allow Staking in Exchange-Traded Products]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/opinion/2025/02/20/why-the-sec-needs-to-allow-staking-in-exchange-traded-products</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">0a543919-a0a9-4590-94e0-e2172cc757ec</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:43 +0000</pubDate> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/ecf3eefc80837ca0b2b5a49dfc41431a9083a6c4-1900x1268.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[sec]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[A bipartisan challenge to the SEC's exclusion of staking from ETPs is an essential step to maintaining America’s competitiveness in the digital asset markets. ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[For far too long, the U.S. has been falling behind the rest of the world on staking policy. Now, in just the first 30 days of the Trump Administration, staking has been mentioned in Congressional hearings, listed as a top priority by the SEC’s newly created crypto task force and is today the focus of <a href="https://www.lummis.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Digital-Asset-ETP-Staking-Letter-Final.pdf" target="_blank">a bipartisan letter</a> from lawmakers challenging the previous SEC’s stance on its inclusion in exchange-traded products (ETPs). Many in the digital asset sector celebrated when the first spot ether ETFs were approved in September of last year. It was a giant leap forward for the second-largest cryptocurrency, achieving legitimacy in the eyes of U.S. regulators. But there has been one glaring omission within these financial products: the ability to stake the held assets and profit by doing so. Now a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) is leading the way to correct that. In a letter delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, they are challenging the SEC's directive to exclude protocol staking in ETPs, highlighting how this position could undermine both investor protections and the competitiveness of U.S. markets.The SEC’s prohibition on staking within ETPs is based on a faulty understanding of how staking works on proof-of-stake networks like Ethereum. Staking is not an investment product in itself. Rather, it is a fundamental technical requirement for securing and validating transactions on proof-of-stake networks. When token holders stake their assets, they contribute to the network's security, and in doing so earn rewards generated by the protocol itself — not from any centralized authority.<h2>International competitiveness</h2>The SEC's directive to spot ether ETP issuers to exclude staking raises serious concerns about America's competitive position in global digital asset markets. While the United States hesitates, other major financial centers including Switzerland, Canada, Germany and Australia have embraced staking in their digital asset ETPs, recognizing its integral role in network security and operational stability. Just last month, the U.K. <a href="https://www.dlapiperintelligence.com/investmentrules/blog/articles/2025/uk-governmen-confirms-new-law" target="_blank">issued</a> a statutory instrument acknowledging that arrangements for qualifying crypto asset staking do not amount to a collective investment scheme, reinforcing its importance in securing and maintaining blockchain networks.Because staking is essential for securing proof-of-stake networks, it also means that if there were no one staking their ether, then all of the assets within these ETPs would be at risk. This means that, perversely, the SEC has forced American investors into a position where their investments are only protected by assets held in other jurisdictions.Crucially, the impact of these regulations extends beyond just the Ethereum blockchain, but applies to possible future ETPs of other networks that also use proof-of-stake such as Solana, Avalanche and Polkadot. As the digital asset sector grows, the impact of this misguided regulation will only deepen.Getting this regulation wrong hurts both American investors and the U.S. economy. Either investors accept domestic products without staking and the associated rewards, limiting their financial returns, or they seek exposure through off-shore alternatives, driving capital offshore and out of U.S. stock exchanges. Without staking, ether ETP holders gradually lose their relative network ownership position due to the inflationary nature of staking rewards.This economic reality makes U.S. products less competitive and less attractive to investors seeking comprehensive exposure to the Ethereum ecosystem. Even more troubling, this outcome appears to contradict the SEC's core mission of investor protection, likely pushing investors toward investment vehicles in other jurisdictions that may not meet the investor protection standards available to investors in the U.S.The technical risks associated with staking, when managed by sophisticated validators, are minimal and well-understood. The often-cited "slashing risk" — a penalty mechanism for dishonest validation attempts — has affected just 0.001 percent of staked ether to date. This data suggests that the SEC's cautious stance may be disproportionate to the actual risks involved.<h2>What’s at stake</h2>As we await the SEC's response to the important questions raised by Congress, American investors continue to be at a distinct disadvantage. The path forward requires a balanced approach that recognizes staking for what it is — a technical mechanism for network security — while ensuring there is appropriate oversight when it is offered within regulated investment products.As the letter rightly points out, while only Congress can create a comprehensive regulatory framework, the SEC has the authority to permit staking in ETPs. Doing so would align with both the agency’s mandate to protect investors and the goal of maintaining U.S. leadership in global financial markets.The bipartisan Congressional letter to SEC Commissioners Uyeda and Peirce endorsing Protocol Staking in Digital Asset ETPs is a significant milestone for investors – both crypto native and institutional. With Uyeda having criticized what he has called the “weaponization” of the SEC’s enforcement functions and crypto advocate Paul Atkins being nominated to take over the role of SEC Chair, we have a rare opportunity to make progress on one of the most common sense issues in the digital asset landscape.It’s beyond time for the SEC to assume a leadership position when it comes to protocol staking, which powers the digital asset sector. This befits the aspirations of the American economy and the Americans who rely on it.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jennie Levin, Alison Mangiero]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/opinion"><![CDATA[ Opinion]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Staking]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Exchange-Traded Products]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ SEC]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Regulation]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[U.S. Senators Push for SEC to Rethink Crypto Staking in Exchange Funds]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/u-s-senators-push-for-sec-to-ok-crypto-staking-in-exchange-funds</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">117f7667-01a2-4c43-81c1-f1fbc22786be</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:35 +0000</pubDate> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/0e3daa6eb8f4e105981a4d3bec6958a4622424c3-3483x1959.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Sen. Cynthia Lummis (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The Securities and Exchange Commission blocked staking when crypto exchange-traded funds were granted, but the lawmakers suggest the SEC may have been off-base.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Staking should potentially be added to the menu for crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a bipartisan group of U.S. senators argued in <a href="https://www.lummis.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Digital-Asset-ETP-Staking-Letter-Final.pdf" target="_blank">a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission</a> (SEC) on Thursday.Issuers of crypto ETFs had originally planned to include the staking feature in their fund offerings, but the SEC, under its past leadership, had balked at the idea. The agency, run by Chair Gary Gensler until the administration of President Donald Trump arrived last month, had previously pursued enforcement actions against firms such as Kraken, arguing staking amounted to an unregistered securities offering.The senators' letter — backed by Cynthia Lummis, the Republican chair of a Senate subcommittee that focuses on digital assets — calls for reconsidering the practice, which involves locking up digital tokens to support blockchain operations in return for rewards. Protocol staking is key to the security of ecosystems such as Ethereum, supporters contend."We encourage the SEC to consider the potential benefit to investors from allowing protocol staking in certain digital asset [exchange-traded products]," the letter to SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda argued. Other Republicans joined Lummis in the correspondence, and so did two Democrats: her <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/video/sens-lummis-gillibrand-discuss-regulatory-landscape-for-crypto-in-the-us" target="_blank">usual crypto partner</a>, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and also Ron Wyden of Oregon.Read More: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/news-analysis/2024/07/25/staking-in-ether-etfs-is-a-question-of-when-not-if-and-issuers-remain-hopeful" target="_blank">Staking in Ethereum ETFs Might Be a Question of When, Not If</a>]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jesse Hamilton]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/policy"><![CDATA[ Policy]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Regulation]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Breaking News]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ U.S. Senate]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Sen. Cynthia Lummis]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Staking]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ exchange-traded funds]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Costa Rica Makes First Foray Into Crypto with New Bitcoin ETF]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/costa-rica-makes-first-foray-into-crypto-with-new-bitcoin-etf</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">4cc831ae-f75e-48a9-aa0c-afc51d5c7215</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:09:53 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T18:24:15.544Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/dffbdf887b9b89dcd130aa4adfb6e76bfa96b580-4171x3232.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Toucan in Costa Rica. Credit: Zdeněk Macháček]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[It will mark the first time that Costa Ricans will have access to any type of crypto investment product through the country's banking system.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[State-owned Banco Nacional (BN), the largest commercial bank in Costa Rica and one of the biggest in Central America with over $7 billion in assets, is launching a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund through its investment management arm, BN Fondos, according to <a href="https://delfino.cr/2025/02/bn-lanza-primeros-fondos-de-inversion-en-criptomonedas-y-sp-500-de-centroamerica" target="_blank">local reports</a>.This marks the first time that Costa Ricans will have access to any type of crypto investment product through the country's banking system.The firm is also launching a S&P 500 ETF alongside the bitcoin vehicle. The minimum investment amount for each fund is $100. Investments will be taken in U.S. dollars instead of Costa Rican colones.“[Costa Rican] regulation doesn’t permit investments in things that aren’t investment vehicles, and bitcoin isn’t considered an investment vehicle from a regulatory perspective, but the ETF is,” said Pablo Montes de Oca, general manager at BN Fondos.Banco Nacional serves over 2.1 million customers in Costa Rica — more than 40% of the country’s population.Costa Rica <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/11/27/why-costa-rica-is-taking-a-hands-off-approach-to-regulating-crypto" target="_blank">doesn’t have any formal crypto laws</a>, but under the country’s constitution and civil code, as far as private parties are concerned, any activity that is not explicitly forbidden by the law is permitted. Costa Ricans are therefore technically allowed to trade and own cryptocurrencies based on the fact that no law prohibits it.A comprehensive crypto regulation bill called the Crypto Asset Market Law was introduced at the Legislative Assembly in 2022, but it got stuck at the commission level. The bill aimed to codify the use of cryptocurrencies for the payment of goods and services in Costa Rica, but without making any of them — not even bitcoin — legal tender.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tom Carreras]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Costa Rica]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bitcoin ETF]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bitcoin, Ether Slump as Crypto Prices Dip on Report of Massive $1.5B Bybit Hack]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/bitcoin-ether-slumps-as-crypto-prices-crumble-on-report-of-massive-usd1-4b-bybit-security-incident</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">73f55ed2-cc49-4693-9faf-d8281415da49</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:57 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T18:47:04.357Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/cf6a5b86d126c4966d039f010a421739b9e24a1b-1440x1080.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[CDCROP: Red arrows pointing down falling drop (Getty Images)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The move happened as crypto exchange Bybit saw a sudden $1.5 billion worth of ETH outflow.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Cryptocurrency prices dropped on Friday, reversing early gains on reports that crypto exchange Bybit was seeing $1.5 billion worth of crypto outflows in a potential security incident.Bitcoin (BTC) slid to near $97,000 after hovering near $100,000 earlier during the day, while ether (ETH) slipped nearly 4%, dipping below $2,700. The sudden downturn liquidated roughly $100 million worth of leveraged derivatives trading positions, overwhelmingly longs anticipating prices to rise, CoinGlass data shows.<img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/195187795594706c8a6ae7f33f3c5cd96a7d38f5-1600x858.png?auto=format" alt="" />The move happened after well-followed blockchain sleuth ZachXBT noted a "suspicious" $1.5 billion ETH outflow. Ben Zhou, CEO of Bybit confirmed the hack in an <a href="https://x.com/benbybit/status/1892963530422505586" target="_blank">X post</a>.UPDATE (Feb. 21, 16:07 UTC): Adds details about liquidation and updates price actions. Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt" target="_blank">Bitcoin and Ether Tumble on Potential $1.46B Bybit Hack</a>]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Krisztian Sandor]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bitcoin]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Ether]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ FastNews]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Hack]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bybit Loses $1.5B in Hack but Can Cover Loss, CEO Confirms ]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/21/bybit-experiences-usd1-46b-in-suspicious-outflows-zachxbt</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">f5bee267-9595-4083-99a5-c06d820419c4</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:34:03 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T18:41:02.200Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/0c8a0c389c4df381e479498f22f5b4aaf46b6e1e-5184x2916.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Bybit CEO Ben Zhou (Danny Nelson/ CoinDesk)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[A portion of staked ether is currently being liquidated on decentralized exchanges.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has experienced $1.46 billion worth of "suspicious outflows," according to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT.The wallet in question appears to have sent 401,346 ETH ($1.1 billion) as well as several other iterations of staked ether (stETH) to a fresh wallet, which is now liquidating mETH and stETH on decentralized exchanges, etherscan <a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x47666Fab8bd0Ac7003bce3f5C3585383F09486E2" target="_blank">shows</a>. The wallet has sold around $200 million worth of stETH so far.Bybit CEO Ben Zhou <a href="https://x.com/benbybit/status/1892963530422505586" target="_blank">wrote on X</a> that a hacker "took control of the specific ETH cold wallet and transferred all the ETH in the cold wallet to this unidentified address.""Please rest assured that all other cold wallets are secure. All withdrawals are normal," he added."My sources confirm it's a security incident," ZachXBT added on <a href="https://t.me/investigations/213" target="_blank">Telegram</a>.$1.46 billion would equate to the largest cryptocurrency hack of all time in dollar terms, with $470 million being lost in the Mt Gox Hack, $530 million in the 2018 hack of CoinCheck, and $650 million in the Ronin Bridge exploit.BTC and ETH dropped more than 1.5% and 2%, respectively, following the transfers.UPDATE (15:44 UTC, Feb. 21): Adds quote from Bybit CEO and details of historical crypto hacks.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Oliver Knight]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/business"><![CDATA[ Finance]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Hack]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bybit Makes Liquidation Data More Transparent Aiming to Lure Institutional Investors ]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/bybit-makes-liquidation-data-more-transparent-aiming-to-lure-institutional-investors</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">d6571b33-bab1-4e82-86ce-4f17ff776700</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:05:40 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T17:21:35.746Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/f11e7189bbcda79c4c376d266df52d3b46045f1b-1920x1280.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Price chart on an exchange (Nick Chong/Unsplash)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The move is meant to help lure instituional investors and improve market transparency.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Major cryptocurrency exchange Bybit said all of its liquidation data is now publicly available through an upgrade to its application programming interface (API).With the upgrade, the API delivers liquidation data updates every 500 milliseconds, twice as fast as the previous version, which provided just one update per second per trading pair, it said.The change ensures that every liquidation event is captured in real time, eliminating blind spots that previously obscured the true scope of market activity“The real spirit of crypto is transparency. By making all liquidation data fully public, we’re empowering traders and analysts with the insights they need,” CEO and co-founder Ben Zhou said in a statement.Liquidation data helps traders identify market trends, support and resistance levels, and potential volatility spikes. Examining the data will provide traders, analysts, and institutional investors with real-time insights into market activity.Earlier this month, significant volatility led to over <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/03/xrp-dogecoin-plunge-25-as-crypto-liquidations-cross-usd2-2b-on-tariffs-led-dump" target="_blank">$2.2 billion in liquidations</a> being reported in just 24 hours. At the time, Zhou said that the “real total liquidation is a lot more than $2B, by my estimation it should be at least $8-10B.”He revealed that on Bybit alone, liquidations hit $2.1 billion in the previous 24 hours. API limitations, he said, were to blame for the lack of proper data on these events.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Francisco Rodrigues]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bybit]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Liquidations]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: Litecoin (LTC) Gains 6.8%, Leading Index Higher]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/coindesk-indices/2025/02/21/coindesk-20-performance-update-litecoin-ltc-gains-6-8-leading-index-higher</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">104c4814-9c42-4994-a2a5-759d75de9625</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:10:12 +0000</pubDate> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/d15a72bb0d9dc7f55e2d7fbcb29deb8015c9e00b-640x480.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[null]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[Polkadot (DOT) was also among the top performers, rising 4.9% from Thursday.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/indices/" target="_blank">CoinDesk Indices</a> presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/indices/cd20/" target="_blank">CoinDesk 20 Index</a>.The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 3321.84, up 1.4% (+45.53) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.18 of 20 assets are trading higher.Leaders: LTC (+6.8%) and DOT (+4.9%).<img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/d15a72bb0d9dc7f55e2d7fbcb29deb8015c9e00b-640x480.jpg?auto=format" alt="" />Laggards: XRP (-0.5%) and XLM (-0.1%).<img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/5cb2368618b23f812f2ff895cf2f67d6bd35322b-640x480.jpg?auto=format" alt="" />The <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/indices/cd20/" target="_blank">CoinDesk 20</a> is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[CoinDesk Indices ]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/coindesk-indices"><![CDATA[ CoinDesk Indices]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ CoinDesk Indices]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ CoinDesk 20]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ charts]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Prices]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[COIN Jumps 5%, HOOD Gains 4%, BTC Challenges $100K as SEC Set to Drop Case Against Coinbase]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/coin-jumps-5-bitcoin-challenges-usd100k-as-sec-set-to-drop-charges-against</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">8b12be76-83e4-4389-a0a3-dc3f5a6e4c69</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:04:48 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T19:55:50.298Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/afb72db5244609c27e04ac1bb3950f260319c35e-3840x2160.png" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[FastNews (CoinDesk)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The agency's withdrawal of the lawsuit could boost crypto prices, marking a milestone in U.S. regulatory oversight for the digital asset industry.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[Coinbase (COIN) shares jumped 5% ahead of Friday market opening on news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/sec-poised-to-drop-coinbase-lawsuit-marking-big-moment-for-u-s-crypto" target="_blank">poised to drop charges </a>against the crypto exchange. Popular trading app Robinhood (HOOD) — whose recent growth in at least in part thanks to crypto trading — rose 4%. The broader crypto market was also climbing higher with bitcoin (BTC) nearing $100,000 for the first time since early February. The Coindesk 20 Index, a broad-market benhmark, was up 1.7% over the past 24 hours. Tokens that the SEC characterized as securities in previous lawsuits initiated under former chair Gary Gensler's leadership also advanced as sentiment improved, <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories/alleged-sec-securities" target="_blank">CoinGecko data</a> shows.The agency's potential withdrawal marks a milestone of U.S. regulatory improvements for the digital asset industry that <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/20/sec-dropping-coinbase-case-could-boost-robinhood-stock-tokens-alleged-as-securities" target="_blank">could boost crypto prices and stocks related</a> to digital asset trading.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Krisztian Sandor]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Market Wrap]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Bitcoin]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Coinbase]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ SEC]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[SEC Dropping Coinbase Case Could Boost Robinhood Stock, Tokens Alleged as Securities]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/20/sec-dropping-coinbase-case-could-boost-robinhood-stock-tokens-alleged-as-securities</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">3bdd271c-cf18-4197-9aa4-7dc6d38041d5</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:03:44 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T17:24:34.387Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/cb0bf014fcfb96a3b856413652b97154bb22a97e-720x406.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Robinhood shares could benefit from SEC dropping Coinbase case. (Shutterstock)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[More tokens could be added to exchanges, increasing their trading revenue. This might also open the floodgates to crypto firms' IPOs in the U.S.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) potentially dropping its Coinbase lawsuit could help boost sentiment for not only crypto tokens that were alleged as securities under the last presidential administration but also popular exchange Robinhood's (HOOD) shares.Read more: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/sec-poised-to-drop-coinbase-lawsuit-marking-big-moment-for-u-s-crypto" target="_blank">SEC Poised to Drop Coinbase Lawsuit, Marking Big Moment for U.S. Crypto</a>While the SEC hasn't officially voted on the Coinbase case, it will likely be welcomed by the industry that has faced enforcement by the agency under the Joe Biden administration. Robinhood was one of the exchanges that had to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/06/09/robinhood-ends-support-for-some-tokens-named-in-sec-lawsuit-as-securities" target="_blank">delist</a> all of the tokens that were alleged to be securities in June 2023. However, after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election last year, the exchange <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/11/13/robinhood-adds-sol-pepe-ada-xrp-following-trump-victory" target="_blank">added back</a> some of those tokens, including Solana's SOL, which the SEC alleged were securities. With the Coinbase case set to be dropped, exchanges such as Robinhood feel less risk in adding more tokens to their platform, potentially increasing trading revenue. Most recently, the popular crypto platform said its fourth-quarter revenue rose 115% from the previous year, topping Wall Street's estimates, mainly boosted by a rise in <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/12/robinhood-s-big-earnings-beat-could-bode-well-for-coinbase" target="_blank">crypto trading revenue</a>. According to Cryptorank.io, the <a href="https://cryptorank.io/tags/sec-securities?sort=marketCap&direction=desc" target="_blank">top five tokens</a>, based on market cap, that were alleged securities include BNB, Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Tron (TRX) and Toncoin (TON).<img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/cfdf06357fb5a675caa4b5f10f056161afa99497-771x826.png?auto=format" alt="" />The move might also encourage more companies to list their firms publicly in the U.S. markets. Several crypto companies are already rumored to be considering initial public offerings (IPOs) in the U.S., including Blockchain.com, BitGo, Gemini, EToro, Bullish Global (CoinDesk's parent company), Ripple and Circle.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Aoyon Ashraf]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/markets"><![CDATA[ Markets]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ market analysis]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Coinbase]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Robinhood]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ SEC]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[SEC Poised to Drop Coinbase Lawsuit, Marking Big Moment for U.S. Crypto]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/sec-poised-to-drop-coinbase-lawsuit-marking-big-moment-for-u-s-crypto</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">1a5709b9-6643-4e76-89e3-342669e96480</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:58:50 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T17:47:52.332Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/e1866f942a548ef4eeb4002eb9611a92f45eecb9-1440x1080.jpg" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[CDCROP: Brian Armstrong CEO Coinbase (CoinDesk)]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[The company says the commission will vote on a deal negotiated by staff to abandon the enforcement case at the core of the agency's previous crypto stance.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will vote soon on a deal negotiated with Coinbase to entirely drop the agency's legal pursuit of the crypto exchange, <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/righting-a-major-wrong" target="_blank">according to the company's top lawyer</a>.While the SEC has been making moves almost daily to reverse past positions on digital assets, the pending vote would mark a watershed moment that could start a series of legal dominoes to free other crypto businesses from enforcement actions. Because the deal between Coinbase and SEC staff assumes a dismissal of the case "with prejudice," said Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, the regulator's accusations of securities violations would be shut down permanently."It's a great day for Coinbase, yes, but it's also a great day for crypto in America," Grewal said in an interview with CoinDesk. "We have every expectation, based on representations that have been made to us, that that approval will come, and with that, the dismissal will then be filed."He restated it in simpler terms: "We win; they lose."And Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in <a href="https://x.com/coinbase/status/1892923603814936896?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" target="_blank">a video posted on Friday</a> that "this is an important signal about where things are going."When the SEC <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/06/06/sec-sues-coinbase-on-unregistered-securities-exchange-allegations" target="_blank">first went after Coinbase</a> — the most prominent of the U.S.-based crypto platforms — it represented a shot across the bow of the industry. The SEC alleged Coinbase violated federal law by not registering as a clearing house, broker or trading venue, based on the agency's view of the so-called Howey test that determines whether an asset is a security. The company chose to fight the accusations in federal court, and that legal clash had been fierce, most recently seeing a judge <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/01/07/coinbase-granted-significant-advance-in-court-clash-with-gensler-s-sec" target="_blank">side with Coinbase's effort</a> to elevate an appeal of the central question at dispute: Are these tokens being traded really securities under the SEC's jurisdiction?The industry had long expected it might have to wait for the courts — eventually even the U.S. Supreme Court — to rule on former SEC Chair Gary Gensler's assertion that most tokens are actually crypto securities. But the surrender of the SEC in this dispute is likely to be echoed in other cases, which would put the final word on the legal definition into the hands of Congress. So, the commission vote could throw the industry's major focus toward lobbying instead of legal wrangling.The enforcement meetings for the SEC — currently made up of Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda, Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce and Democrat Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw — typically take place on Thursdays, so the final decision on the staff recommendation may be delayed as long as a week. Crenshaw has been a vocal skeptic of the digital assets industry and its compliance, so it remains unclear whether she'd be willing to sign off on the dismissal.An SEC spokesman declined to comment on the agreement revealed by Coinbase.<h2>SEC allies</h2>Uyeda and Peirce, who was named the head of the agency's new Crypto Task Force, had long been sympathetic to the digital assets industry's contention it was being mishandled by the SEC. Once Donald Trump was sworn in as president, he gave the agency's gavel to Uyeda on an interim basis, and Uyeda began making swift moves to shift its course on crypto. This is the latest and — assuming a yes vote — arguably the most significant of the changes so far.Eventually, former Commission Paul Atkins will take over after he secures a Senate confirmation. But Uyeda and Peirce both served Atkins as counsels during his tenure at the SEC, so Atkins is generally expected to follow the same path on crypto that Uyeda is already clearing.Earlier this week, the agency <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/new-sec-cyber-unit-closes-chapter-on-agency-s-crypto-enforcement-emphasis" target="_blank">shifted its enforcement unit</a> — once laser-focused on crypto — to a wider responsibility over "emerging technologies," suggesting a withdrawal from the era of heavy attention on crypto cases. It also <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/sec-backs-off-crypto-dealer-fight-continues-resetting-industry-approach" target="_blank">dropped its appeal</a> in the fight to defend its effort to force a wide swath of crypto activity into its recent rule to expand the definition of what makes a "dealer" under SEC oversight.In another marquee crypto case, the regulator <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/11/binance-and-sec-move-to-halt-case-find-an-early-resolution" target="_blank">recently asked to hit pause</a> on the Binance enforcement dispute. Those accusations of securities-law violations overlapped to some degree with the complaint against Coinbase, though the Binance suit also included <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/06/05/sec-sues-crypto-exchange-binance-ceo-changpeng-zhao" target="_blank">accusations of fraud and conflicts of interest</a>.The SEC had similarly signaled last week that something was brewing with Coinbase when it <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/14/sec-asks-court-for-coinbase-case-deadline-extension-citing-potential-resolution-prospects" target="_blank">asked for a delay</a> in court proceedings, suggesting negotiations were underway toward a resolution and signaling the agency's new crypto task force would help the enforcement team come up with a "potential resolution.""The SEC’s unilateral surrender in its lawsuit against Coinbase is a historic mistake that endangers investors, markets, and financial stability," said Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets, a Washington-based advocacy group that regularly speaks out about crypto dangers. "The SEC used to enforce the law without fear or favor but is now favoring the crypto industry and fearing billionaire crypto kingpins who are publicly belittling the agency."<h2>The vote</h2>In the coming days, lawyers across the industry will watch the SEC's Coinbase vote, and then the judge's response in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. If the SEC formally backs off the accusations Coinbase improperly listed unregistered securities, it'll have to do the same in any similar cases."I'm hopeful that our getting this case dismissed will offer up a template for other cases to be resolved as well," Grewal said. "And if that were the case, we'd be delighted, because we felt that Gary Gensler's entire campaign against crypto was a distortion — frankly, an abuse — of legal process."As the agency continues to resolve past actions, it's signaled that the future intention is to focus on fraud over compliance disagreements. And Uyeda said as recently as Thursday that the SEC's new task force will be guiding its enforcement."One focus of this task force will be to ensure that we deploy enforcement resources judiciously," he <a href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/uyeda-remarks-enforcement-directors-panel-022025?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery" target="_blank">said at an event in Washington</a>.Grewal acknowledged the next priority quickly becomes U.S. legislation that can establish clear regulations at the federal level. To that end, Coinbase has been among the leading crypto companies delving into the political arena, deploying tens of millions of dollars in the 2024 elections (through the Fairshake PAC) to secure a friendlier Congress. <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/news-analysis/2024/12/02/crypto-cash-fueled-53-members-of-the-next-u-s-congress" target="_blank">One in 10</a> members of this Congress were boosted by Fairshake ads in their campaigns last year."We've seen Congress announce its commitment to legislation as early as the first 100 days," Grewal noted. "So we're very eager, with this cloud now lifted, to focus our full attention on getting legislation passed on market structure and stablecoins. That is, frankly, long overdue."UPDATE (February 21, 2025, 13:11 UTC): Adds request to SEC for comment.UPDATE (February 21, 2025, 15:06 UTC): Adds response from the SEC.UPDATE (February 21, 2025, 15:51 UTC): Adds comment from Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets.UPDATE (February 21, 2025, 15:55 UTC): Adds quote and link to CEO Brian Armstrong's video.]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jesse Hamilton]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/policy"><![CDATA[ Policy]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Coinbase]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ SEC Enforcement]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Legal]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ U.S. Congress]]></category><category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Breaking]]></category></item><item><title><![CDATA[Crypto Daybook Americas: Ye Adds to Memecoin Turmoil as Broader Market Languishes ]]></title> <link>https://www.coindesk.com/daybook-us/2025/02/21/crypto-daybook-americas-ye-adds-to-memecoin-turmoil-as-broader-market-languishes</link> <guid isPermaLink="false">4830f3cf-6777-4100-9fef-0f463e41f616</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:updated>2025-02-21T12:25:16.863Z</atom:updated> <media:content url="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/d884afbe5b53a7e89960cbb6a386ad90b7f4e6b8-700x430.png" type="image/jpeg" height="600" width="800"> <media:description type="plain"><![CDATA[Bitcoin and ether’s 24-hour performance]]></media:description> </media:content> <description><![CDATA[Your day-ahead look for Feb. 21, 2025]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)Cryptocurrency prices are rising after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s former crypto enforcement unit <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/02/20/new-sec-cyber-unit-closes-chapter-on-agency-s-crypto-enforcement-emphasis" target="_blank">transitioned into the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit</a> and amid dovish comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic.Renaming the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit is significant because it shows the agency is moving away from its crypto focus that often led to <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/en-es/blog/we-asked-the-sec-for-reasonable-crypto-rules-for-americans-we-got-legal" target="_blank">accusations of regulation by enforcement </a>and legal battles with major industry participants.“In the near to medium term, clearer regulations will likely boost institutional participation, leading to improvements in market infrastructure,” BackPack founder and CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk. Bitcoin is now above $98,000 after adding 1.2% in 24 hours, while the broader CoinDesk 20 Index rose 1.35%.Yet, volatility is still <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/daybook-us/2025/02/19/crypto-daybook-americas-btc-volatility-drops-on-wait-and-see-stance-as-fomc-minutes-due" target="_blank">relatively low</a>. "These environments may feel slow and frustrating, but they rarely persist for long — volatility tends to mean revert,” Wintermute OTC trader Jake O told CoinDesk.With tensions between the U.S. and its European allies growing, investors are hoping Germany's election on Sunday will lead to a stable coalition government that will push out economic reforms to stimulate growth and boost defense spending. Germany is Europe’s largest economy and a positive result could lead to a more risk-on approach.Open interest has already moved up ahead of the election. Still, the crypto market <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/crypto-market-faces-weak-demand-needs-trump-initiatives-to-kick-in-jpmorgan-says" target="_blank"> lacks positive catalysts</a> in the near term, JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a report.In fact, the market is nearing backwardation — where spot prices rise above futures prices — in a “negative development” that’s “indicative of demand weakness” by institutional investors using regulated CME futures contracts to gain exposure to the market. Stay alert!<h2>What to Watch</h2>Crypto:Feb. 21: TON (The Open Network) becomes the <a href="https://blog.ton.org/ton-telegram-exclusive-partnership-2025" target="_blank">exclusive blockchain infrastructure</a> for messaging platform Telegram’s Mini App ecosystem.Feb. 24: At <a href="https://x.com/TimBeiko/status/1890426997333250129" target="_blank">epoch 115968</a>, testing of <a href="https://www.kraken.com/learn/ethereum-pectra-upgrade" target="_blank">Ethereum’s Pecta upgrade</a> on the Holesky testnet starts.Feb. 25, 9:00 a.m.: Ethereum Foundation research team <a href="https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/1889753380261658976" target="_blank">AMA on Reddit</a>.Feb. 27: Solana-based L2 <a href="https://x.com/SonicSVM/status/1887344622101270633" target="_blank">Sonic SVM (SONIC) mainnet launch (“Mobius”)</a>.MacroFeb. 21, 9:45 a.m.: S&P Global releases February’s (Flash) U.S. Purchasing Managers' Index (Flash) reports.Composite PMI Prev. 52.7Manufacturing PMI Est. 51.5 vs. Prev. 51.2Services PMI Est. 53 vs. Prev. 52.9Feb. 24, 5:00 a.m.: Eurostat releases eurozone's (final) consumer inflation data for January.Core Inflation Rate YoY Est. 2.7% vs. Prev. 2.7%Inflation Rate YoY Est. 2.5% vs. Prev. 2.4%EarningsFeb. 24: Riot Platforms (<a href="https://www.riotplatforms.com/overview/financials-results/financial-info/" target="_blank">RIOT</a>), post-market, $-0.18Feb. 25: Bitdeer Technologies Group (<a href="https://ir.bitdeer.com/financials/quarterly-results" target="_blank">BTDR</a>), pre-market, $-0.17Feb. 25: Cipher Mining (<a href="https://investors.ciphermining.com/" target="_blank">CIFR</a>), pre-market, $-0.09Feb. 26: MARA Holdings (<a href="https://ir.mara.com/" target="_blank">MARA</a>), post-market, $-0.13<h2>Token Events</h2>Governance votes & callsSky DAO is discussing withdrawing a <a href="https://forum.sky.money/t/smart-burn-engine-liquidity-unwind/26027" target="_blank">portion of the Smart Burn Engine’s LP tokens</a> to stop malicious actors from acquiring them.DYdX DAO is discussing increasing the limit on the maximum notional value of liquidations that can occur within a given block on the dYdX protocol to <a href="https://dydx.forum/t/drc-update-liquidations-configurations/3426" target="_blank">enhance the speed and efficiency</a> of risk reduction during liquidations.UnlocksFeb. 21: Fast Token (FTN) to unlock 4.66% of circulating supply worth $78.6 million.Feb. 28: Optimism (OP) to unlock 1.92% of circulating supply worth $34.23 million.Mar. 1: Sui (SUI) to unlock 0.74% of circulating supply worth $81.07 million.<h2>Conferences:</h2>CoinDesk's Consensus to take place in <a href="https://consensus2025.coindesk.com/" target="_blank">Toronto on May 14-16</a>. Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.Feb. 23-March 2: <a href="https://www.ethdenver.com/" target="_blank">ETHDenver 2025</a> (Denver)Feb. 24: <a href="https://stg-3.com/event/rwa-london-summit/" target="_blank">RWA London Summit 2025</a>Feb. 25: <a href="https://hederacon.hedera.com/" target="_blank">HederaCon 2025</a> (Denver)March 2-3: <a href="https://www.cryptoexpoeurope.com/" target="_blank">Crypto Expo Europe</a> (Bucharest, Romania)March 8: <a href="https://bitcoinalive.io/" target="_blank">Bitcoin Alive</a> (Sydney, Australia)<h2>Token Talk</h2>By Oliver KnightWith a botched launch from Argentine president Javier Milei and a token proposed by self-professed Nazi Kanye West, now known as Ye, this week in memecoin land has been one to forget. Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter said the craze is <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/02/19/memecoin-craze-is-unquestionably-over-as-crypto-heads-towards-maturation-nic-carter-says" target="_blank">"unquestionably over,"</a> a view that might be cemented by a report revealing that West is planning to introduce YZY token — and will own 70% of the supply.The rest of the crypto market remains relatively unperturbed by the potential demise of the sector: ETH and LTC are up by 3% this week whilst TRX has risen by 7.7% as liquidity appears to be rotating from speculative tokens back to more utilitarian projects.NEAR leads the pack on Friday, surging by 11% after <a href="https://x.com/NEARProtocol/status/1892636556428497263" target="_blank">announcing</a> the "first truly autonomous" AI agents. The agents will be able to autonomously own, trade and manage assets on-chain.<h2>Derivatives Positioning</h2>BTC open interest on centralized exchanges rose nearly 5% to $37.3 billion in the past 24 hours. This, coupled with the reversal in funding from positive to negative, suggests a potential short squeeze scenario. Short liquidations have dominated the futures markets over that period, nearing a total of $110 million compared with $6.11 million in longs.Among the assets with over $100 million in open interest, Maker DAO, Virtuals Protcol and Artificial Super Intelligence saw the highest one-day increase, rising by 39.2%, 35.5% and 28.00%, respectively.Among the options instruments, the call option on BTC with a strike price of $99,000 and expiring Feb. 22 has traded with the most volume on Deribit. The next most popular options instrument is the call on BTC with a strike price of $108,000, expiring on Feb. 28. The action hints at the optimistic short-term sentiment in the market over the past couple of days.<h2>Market Movements:</h2>BTC is up 0.28% from 4 p.m. ET Thursday to $98,632.42 (24hrs: +1.35%)ETH is up 2.09% at $2,800.02 (24hrs: +2.15%)CoinDesk 20 is up 0.92% to 3,298.29 (24hrs: +1.49%)Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is unchanged at 2.99%BTC funding rate is at 0.0010% (1.0961% annualized) on BinanceDXY is up 0.29% at 106.68Gold is down 0.31% at $2,929.76/ozSilver is down 0.12% to $32.91/ozNikkei 225 closed +0.26% at 38,776.94Hang Seng closed +3.99% at 23.477.92FTSE is up 0.20% at 8,680.19Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.18% at 5,471.08DJIA closed Thursday down -1.01% at 44,176.65S&P 500 closed -0.43% at 6,117.52Nasdaq closed -0.47% at 19,962.36S&P/TSX Composite Index closed -0.44% at 25,514.08S&P 40 Latin America closed +0.76% at 2,480.21U.S. 10-year Treasury rate was down 2 bps at 4.49%E-mini S&P 500 futures are unchanged at 6,138.25E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.13% at 22,170.75E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are up 0.10% to 44,309<h2>Bitcoin Stats:</h2>BTC Dominance: 61.02 (-0.35%)Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.02842 (2.01%)Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 807 EH/sHashprice (spot): $54.92Total Fees: 5.34 BTC / $526,892CME Futures Open Interest: 178,500 BTCBTC priced in gold: 33.4 ozBTC vs gold market cap: 9.49%<h2>Technical Analysis</h2><img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/d1f2a06d02152ed8150cdfcf96da1649b63bd798-2252x1402.png?auto=format" alt="" />TAO has emerged as one of the strongest-performing assets over the past week, fueled by the launch of the dynamicTAO upgrade. This momentum has propelled the price above all key exponential moving averages on the daily time frame, signaling renewed strength.Adding to the bullish sentiment, the price action has formed an inverse head and shoulders pattern. TAO’s recent listing on Coinbase provided an extra catalyst, driving its price up nearly 20% to a high of $495 since the initial announcement.<h2>Crypto Equities</h2>MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Thursday at $323.92 (+1.65%), up 0.37% at $324.85 in pre-marketCoinbase Global (COIN): closed at $256.59 (-0.80%), up 0.86% at $258.80Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$25.65 (+1.30%)MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $15.95 (+1.08%), up 0.38% at $16.01Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $11.60 (+0.35%), up 0.52% at $11.66Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $11.84 (-1.50%), up 0.51% at $11.90CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $10.06 (+1.72%), up 0.80% at $10.14CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $22.49 (-1.27%), down 0.31% at $22.42Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $52.24 (+0.04%), unchangedExodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $47.80 (-1.26%), down 2.72% at $46.50<h2>ETF Flows</h2>Spot BTC ETFs:Daily net flow: -$364.8 millionCumulative net flows: $39.63 billionTotal BTC holdings ~ 1.169 million.Spot ETH ETFsDaily net flow: -$13.1 millionCumulative net flows: $3.16 billionTotal ETH holdings ~ 3.807 million.Source: <a href="https://farside.co.uk/btc/" target="_blank">Farside Investors</a><h2>Overnight Flows</h2><img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/2da2c85f0938bf7e3f89769bb5299b44ac223b88-560x928.png?auto=format" alt="" /><h2>Chart of the Day</h2><img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/1f7d3078d1798271eeac287517d93b9e32ad740a-3501x2409.png?auto=format" alt="" />Bitcoin's price action has triggered short liquidations totaling $97.9 million at the $98,890 level, according to CoinGlass. The next key resistance levels, based on the liquidation heat map, are $99,185 and $99,332, where liquidations worth $65.2 million and $67.9 million, respectively, are clustered.On the downside, significant long liquidations are positioned at $97,415 and $97,194, amounting to $69.3 million and $70.7 million, respectively. These key levels highlight potential areas of volatility as bitcoin navigates its current price range.<h2>While You Were Sleeping</h2><a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/21/crypto-market-faces-weak-demand-needs-trump-initiatives-to-kick-in-jpmorgan-says" target="_blank">Crypto Market Faces Weak Demand, Needs Trump Initiatives to Kick In, JPMorgan Says</a> (CoinDesk): JPMorgan said CME futures data reveals weak institutional interest in crypto, with any pro-crypto initiatives from the Trump administration unlikely to emerge until the second half of the year.<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-21/south-african-firm-to-amass-bitcoin-hoard-in-first-for-continent" target="_blank">South African Firm to Amass Bitcoin Hoard in First for Continent</a> (Bloomberg): Altvest Capital adopted bitcoin to be a treasury reserve asset. It bought one BTC and is considering a $10 million share sale to expand its digital holdings.<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/20/block-xyz-earnings-q4-2024.html" target="_blank">Block Shares Fall on Profit, Revenue Miss</a> (CNBC): At its Q4 2024 earnings call, Block (XYZ) executives commented on Proto, their bitcoin mining initiative. CFO Amrita Ahuja said the project should drive growth in the second half.<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-21/japan-yields-fall-as-ueda-warns-boj-can-step-in-to-smooth-market" target="_blank">Japan Yields Fall as Ueda Warns BOJ Can Step In to Smooth Market</a> (Bloomberg): Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda vowed to buy government bonds if long-term yields spike. Earlier, 10-year yields hit 1.455% — the most since 2009.<a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/u-k-inflation-reaches-10-month-high-complicating-bank-of-englands-rate-path-892cfd91" target="_blank">U.K. Retail Sales Rise for First Time in Five Months</a> (The Wall Street Journal): In January, retail spending in the U.K. rose 1.7% from December, led by a 5.6% jump in food store sales as more people ate at home.<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/microsoft-new-chip-timeline-bitcoin-quantum-resistant" target="_blank">New Microsoft Chip Shortens Timeline to Make Bitcoin Quantum-Resistant: River</a> (Cointelegraph): Bitcoin-focused financial services firm River said Microsoft’s Majorana — though not yet a threat — could reach a 1-million-qubit scale by 2027–2029, potentially enabling attacks on the blockchain.<h2>In the Ether</h2><img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/8d4776e0dcc06d229092fd169add4254439d45d6-831x978.jpg?auto=format" alt="" /><img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/4efd4c8bef092a43a2e7cb6142134444d720f018-520x977.jpg?auto=format" alt="" /><img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/76efcd5508d3f2202fb7506e92eb474fc1eccb1b-683x961.jpg?auto=format" alt="" /><img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/8b8c83e19b113668182019b304d70a2b6e8b36ca-810x973.jpg?auto=format" alt="" /><img src="https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/f994a111e1a39a8ab178f0a2892b329e2f4542d7-515x739.jpg?auto=format" alt="" />]]></content:encoded> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Francisco Rodrigues, Oliver Knight]]></dc:creator> <category domain="https://www.coindesk.com/daybook-us"><![CDATA[ Crypto Daybook Americas]]></category> <category domain="tag"><![CDATA[ Crypto Daybook Americas]]></category></item> </channel> </rss>