Bitcoin Ends July at Highest Monthly Close Since 2017 Peak

Bitcoin Ends July at Highest Monthly Close Since 2017 Peak
Bitcoin closed July at $11,351, according to Messari.

Market Wrap: Bitcoin Pushes to $11,450, DeFi Value Locked Now at $4B

Market Wrap: Bitcoin Pushes to $11,450, DeFi Value Locked Now at $4B
The crypto market continues its bullish run and investors are plowing crypto into DeFi.

Bitcoin’s Option Market Is Now Skewed Bullish

Bitcoin’s Option Market Is Now Skewed Bullish
Bitcoin’s price jumped to fresh 11-month highs on Friday with options market betting on a sustained bull move.

Suspected Twitter Hacker Arrested In Florida

Suspected Twitter Hacker Arrested In Florida
A Florida teenager suspected of spearheading the massive Twitter hack and subsequent high-profile bitcoin scam is in custody.

What a Professional Trader Thinks of the Fed, Robinhood and Real Estate, Feat. Tony Greer

What a Professional Trader Thinks of the Fed, Robinhood and Real Estate, Feat. Tony Greer
The editor of the Morning Navigator newsletter discusses a variety of macro topics and how to trade against a very strange market.

Money Reimagined: Let’s Be Privacy Scolds

Money Reimagined: Let’s Be Privacy Scolds
Technical solutions to protect financial privacy may not suffice. Stronger cultural norms around minding one’s own business are needed as well.

Blockchain Bites: Dollar’s Decline, Ether’s Moneymakers and Coinbase’s Considerations

Blockchain Bites: Dollar’s Decline, Ether’s Moneymakers and Coinbase’s Considerations
Coinbase is considering adding 19 new assets, the SEC tapped CipherTrace for its Binance-specific tracing tools and 132% of Ether wallets are in profit.

Bitcoin News Roundup for July 31, 2020

Bitcoin News Roundup for July 31, 2020
With the dollar dropping to its lowest level since May 2018 and a reshuffle in Japan's central bank, CoinDesk's Markets Daily is back.

FinCEN Issues Warning on Coronavirus Scams Demanding Crypto

FinCEN Issues Warning on Coronavirus Scams Demanding Crypto
The advisory regarding cybercriminals exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic asks firms to be especially vigilant regarding their dealings with virtual currencies.

Putin Signs Russian Crypto Bill Into Law

Putin Signs Russian Crypto Bill Into Law
Russia's president signed the first of two bills on digital assets into law on Friday.

Ripple Paid MoneyGram $15.1M in ‘Market Development Fees’ in Q2

Ripple Paid MoneyGram $15.1M in ‘Market Development Fees’ in Q2
With the $15.1 million in Q2, MoneyGram has so far received $43 million for providing liquidity for Ripple’s XRP-based settlement system.

Coinbase Considering 19 Additional Cryptos for Exchange Listing

Coinbase Considering 19 Additional Cryptos for Exchange Listing
The popular trading platform has once again expanded its list of crypto contenders.

Ethereum 2.0: Closer Than Ever, Still Plenty of Work to Do

Ethereum 2.0: Closer Than Ever, Still Plenty of Work to Do
Five years later, Ethereum is still chugging along as a decentralized platform for self-executing code. Eth 2.0 is quite close, but for real this time.

CoinDesk Live Recap: Co-Founders Revisit Ethereum’s Launch Drama

CoinDesk Live Recap: Co-Founders Revisit Ethereum’s Launch Drama
Ethereum was always a wild experiment. Now, five years later, a few co-founders explain why they are more bullish than ever.

First Mover: Chainlink’s Soaring Token Shows Lucrative ‘Oracle’ Role in Fast-Growing DeFi

First Mover: Chainlink’s Soaring Token Shows Lucrative ‘Oracle’ Role in Fast-Growing DeFi
Chainlink's LINK token soared almost 60% in July as cryptocurrency traders fawned over DeFi projects and their rapid growth.

Bank of Japan Puts Top Economist in Charge of Digital Yen Initiative

Bank of Japan Puts Top Economist in Charge of Digital Yen Initiative
The central bank's most senior economist now runs the department responsible for the digital currency task force and working group with other central banks.

Bitcoin on Track for Highest July Price Gain in 8 Years

Bitcoin on Track for Highest July Price Gain in 8 Years
Bitcoin appears on track to register its best July price performance for eight years and confirm a major bullish breakout in the process.

Elrond Launches Onto Mainnet, Reduces 99% of Token Supply

Elrond Launches Onto Mainnet, Reduces 99% of Token Supply
Elrond’s move onto mainnet will replace 19.98 billion testnet tokens with 20 million mainnet tokens at a rate of 1000:1.

KeeperDAO Raises Seven-Figure Seed Investment From Polychain, Three Arrows

KeeperDAO Raises Seven-Figure Seed Investment From Polychain, Three Arrows
The funding comes at a time when DeFi has seen an explosion in growth.

Ripple Says XRP Lawsuit Based on ‘Unsupported Leaps of Logic’

Ripple Says XRP Lawsuit Based on ‘Unsupported Leaps of Logic’
Ripple has hit back at the lead plaintiff in an ongoing class-action lawsuit accusing the firm and its CEO of securities fraud.

Twitter Says ‘Phone Spear Phishing’ Let Hackers Gain Employee Credentials

Twitter Says ‘Phone Spear Phishing’ Let Hackers Gain Employee Credentials
Twitter has provided an update on what happened the day the social media giant lost control over its platform.

Ethereum History in 5 Charts

Ethereum History in 5 Charts
Five years ago this week, the first general-purpose blockchain went live on mainnet. Here are five charts for understanding Ethereum's evolution.

Audius Rallies EDM Artists, Crypto VCs to Back Vision for Music Payments on Ethereum

Audius Rallies EDM Artists, Crypto VCs to Back Vision for Music Payments on Ethereum
Audius, a streaming service built on Ethereum, has raised $3.1 million from Multicoin Capital, Blockchange Ventures, Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures.

Blockchain Bites: Plus Token Ponzi Popped, Cardano Forked and tZERO Cut

Blockchain Bites: Plus Token Ponzi Popped, Cardano Forked and tZERO Cut
Cardano is now running as a proof-of-stake network, the Marines banned crypto mining and crypto reacts to the congressional inquiry into Big Tech's market dominance.

Suspects Detained in Ukraine for Bomb Threats Demanding Bitcoin

Suspects Detained in Ukraine for Bomb Threats Demanding Bitcoin
Ukraine's security service detained two suspected terrorists who threatened to blow up buildings if they didn't receive bitcoin.

CoinList Launches ‘Pro’ Exchange for Token Sale Buyers

CoinList Launches ‘Pro’ Exchange for Token Sale Buyers
The new CoinList Pro exchange aims to help institutional traders participate in the platform's dozen or so token sales in 2020.

Bitcoin News Roundup for July 30, 2020

Bitcoin News Roundup for July 30, 2020
With the price of bitcoin hovering near recent highs and some wondering whether we're poised for a pullback, CoinDesk's Markets Daily is back for your latest news roundup.

Dharma Adds Uniswap Trading in Bid to Become ‘the Robinhood of DeFi’

Dharma Adds Uniswap Trading in Bid to Become ‘the Robinhood of DeFi’
Dharma, the Coinbase-backed decentralize finance startup, is adding token-exchange protocol Uniswap as its latest in-app offering.

Ether Addresses in Profit Have Soared 132% in a Year

Ether Addresses in Profit Have Soared 132% in a Year
Even with ether close to yearly highs, profitable addresses have more than doubled since last July.

SEC Wants to Start Scrutinizing Binance Chain Transactions

SEC Wants to Start Scrutinizing Binance Chain Transactions
Company executives anticipated that regulators might one day take an interest in Binance Chain

Central Banks Are Privacy Providers of Last Resort

Central Banks Are Privacy Providers of Last Resort
If central banks issue digital currencies, they'll be thrown into a debate about financial privacy in the modern era. Is that what they want?

Bank of England Building Payments Network to Support a Potential Digital Pound

Bank of England Building Payments Network to Support a Potential Digital Pound
CoinDesk has learned the Bank of England's new settlement system is being built so it can be forwards compatible with a digital currency.

Coda Protocol Touts User Growth One Year Into Testnet

Coda Protocol Touts User Growth One Year Into Testnet
The O(1) Labs project thinks recursive zk-SNARKs are the key to more manageable blockchains.

China Aims to Be the World’s Dominant Blockchain Power – With Help From Google, Amazon and Microsoft

China Aims to Be the World’s Dominant Blockchain Power – With Help From Google, Amazon and Microsoft
China's BSN could be met with geopolitical resistance as it continues to extend its global reach.

Paxful Chips Away at LocalBitcoins’ Russian P2P Market Dominance

Paxful Chips Away at LocalBitcoins’ Russian P2P Market Dominance
Paxful’s year-old foray into Russian crypto markets is paying off for the peer-to-peer exchange.

Circle Gets $25M From DCG to Drive USDC Mainstream

Circle Gets $25M From DCG to Drive USDC Mainstream
USDC backer Circle is teaming with Genesis Trading in a $25 million deal aimed at pushing the stablecoin to the fintech masses.

First Mover: Sleepy Fed Meeting Belies Tense Economic Reality (Brrr) That May Buoy Bitcoin

First Mover: Sleepy Fed Meeting Belies Tense Economic Reality (Brrr) That May Buoy Bitcoin
It didn't really matter to bitcoin traders that the Federal Reserve's meeting this week was so anticlimactic. The real action is ongoing – in the form of more money injections.

Dapp Data Storage Provider Bluzelle to Begin Mainnet Launch in August

Dapp Data Storage Provider Bluzelle to Begin Mainnet Launch in August
Distributed data storage network Bluzelle is starting the launch of its mainnet on Aug. 8, the company announced Thursday.

tZERO Slashes Jobs, Salaries as It Gears Up for Another Funding Round

tZERO Slashes Jobs, Salaries as It Gears Up for Another Funding Round
In an attempt to improve its cash burn rate, tZERO has slashed its headcount and asked senior staff to take equity as it prepares for a new raise.

Police Arrest 27 Alleged Masterminds Behind $5.7B Plus Token Crypto Scam

Police Arrest 27 Alleged Masterminds Behind $5.7B Plus Token Crypto Scam
Chinese police have arrested 27 leaders and 82 others suspected of operating the Ponzi scheme.

Malaysia’s Stock Exchange Eyes Blockchain for Bond Market Digitization

Malaysia’s Stock Exchange Eyes Blockchain for Bond Market Digitization
Known as Project Harbour, the initiative will use distributed ledger technology as a register for a bond marketplace.

Cardano Introduces Proof-of-Stake With ‘Shelley’ Hard Fork

Cardano Introduces Proof-of-Stake With ‘Shelley’ Hard Fork
It's alive! Cardano has successfully hard forked to its major upgrade, Shelley, which introduced proof-of-stake to the network

CoinDesk Live Recap: Ethereum’s DeFi Luminaries Discuss What’s Next

CoinDesk Live Recap: Ethereum’s DeFi Luminaries Discuss What’s Next
MakerDAO's Rune Christensen, Compound's Robert Leshner and Uniswap's Hayden Adams discussed the state of the $3.8 billion DeFi market.

CoinDesk Live Recap: The DAO Hack Is Still a Mystery

CoinDesk Live Recap: The DAO Hack Is Still a Mystery
The DAO attack was a foundational episode in Ethereum history. On Tuesday, CoinDesk Live gathered a handful of blockchain veterans to look back.

A Crypto Derivatives Exchange Is Getting a Nasdaq Listing in Q3

A Crypto Derivatives Exchange Is Getting a Nasdaq Listing in Q3
Originally postponed due to the pandemic, EQUOS.io is still set to be the first crypto exchange on the Nasdaq.

Recent Bitcoin Rally Pushes ‘Addresses in Profit’ to 93%

Recent Bitcoin Rally Pushes ‘Addresses in Profit’ to 93%
August 2019 was the last time this many bitcoin addresses were in profit.

Bitcoin Scaling Tech Could Have Saved Companies and Users $500M in Fees: Report

Bitcoin Scaling Tech Could Have Saved Companies and Users $500M in Fees: Report
Implementing transaction batching and SegWit could have saved bitcoin companies and users $500 million in fees – if they'd just use the technology.

How DeFi Could Disrupt Traditional Finance, Feat. Sergey Nazarov

How DeFi Could Disrupt Traditional Finance, Feat. Sergey Nazarov
"Imagine a world without counterparty risk..." - Chainlink's co-founder Sergey Nazarov shares why the move from brand-based contracts to math-based contracts is inevitable.

Federal Reserve Keeps Rates Close to Zero, Continues Buying Treasurys

Federal Reserve Keeps Rates Close to Zero, Continues Buying Treasurys
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would hold benchmark U.S. interest rates close to zero and continue buying Treasury bonds to support the coronavirus-devastated economy.

Coinbase Now Offers 2% Rewards on Dai Stablecoin Accounts

Coinbase Now Offers 2% Rewards on Dai Stablecoin Accounts
The program applies to customers residing in the U.S., U.K., The Netherlands, Spain, France and Australia.