Crypto media outlet CoinDesk is reportedly considering a potential sale as its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) looks to strengthen its balance sheet. According to the Wall Street Journal, CoinDesk has sought the help of investment bankers from financial advisory firm Lazard, who are helping the firm weigh options including a full or partial sale. You know, I just realized that Coindesk is for sale. pic.twitter.com/QqmBPOClpu — Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) January 19, 2023 DCG has purportedly received multiple offers exceeding $200 million to buy out the media firm over the last few months, which would result in a phenomenal …

Japanese regulators are reconsidering some major cryptocurrency restrictions related to the use of stablecoins like Tether (USDT) or USD Coin (USDC). The Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan will lift the ban on the domestic distribution of foreign-issued stablecoins in 2023, local news agency Nikkei reported on Dec. 26. The new stablecoin regulations in Japan will allow local exchanges to handle stablecoin trading under condition of asset preservation by deposits and an upper limit of remittance. “If payment using stablecoins spreads, international remittances may become faster and cheaper,” the report notes. Allowing stablecoin distribution in Japan will also require more …

After the collapse of Terraform Labs’ cryptocurrency, Terra (LUNA), and its stablecoin, Terra (UST), the notion of “algorithmic stabilization” has fallen to a low point in popularity, both in the cryptocurrency world and among mainstream observers. This emotional response, however, is strongly at odds with reality. In fact, algorithmic stabilization of digital assets is a highly valuable and important class of mechanism whose appropriate deployment will be critical if the crypto sphere is to meet its long-term goal of improving the mainstream financial system. Blockchains, and other similar data structures for secure decentralized computing networks, are not only about money. …

Humanitarian groups have increasingly used blockchain technology to solve problems with lack of banking or inadequate identity verification in developing or war-torn nations. Two new projects have been announced in December, including one that provides cash aid to Ukrainian refugees through the Stellar network and another that plans to offer cash and vouchers through the Partisia network. But past blockchain projects have had mixed results. Some projects have been effective at allowing recipients to bypass red tape and receive the aid they need, but with others the use of blockchain has turned out to be superfluous. On Dec. 15, Stellar …

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has asked its customers to convert their Tether-issued USDT (USDT) stablecoin to USD Coin (USDC), a USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle and co-founded by Coinbase in 2018. The cryptocurrency exchange suggested that USDC is a much more secure alternative in the wake of the FTX collapse saga and has also exempted any fee on the conversion of USDT to USDC on its platform. The firm said: “We believe that USD Coin (USDC) is a trusted and reputable stablecoin, so we’re making it more frictionless to switch: starting today, we’re waiving fees for global retail customers …

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls regained some control on Nov. 30 and they were successful in keeping BTC price above $16,800 for the past 5 days. While the level is lower than traders’ desired $19,000 to $20,000 target, the 8.6% gain since the Nov. 21, $15,500 low provides enough cushioning for eventual negative price surprises. One of these instances is the United States stock market trading down 1.5% on Dec. 5 after a stronger-than-expected reading of November ISM Services fueled concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve (FED) will continue hiking interest rates. At the September meeting, FED Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that …

If early November’s FTX collapse was crypto’s “Lehman moment” — as more than a few pundits have suggested — will the FTX contagion now spread to stablecoins? After all, Tether (USDT), the market leader, briefly lost its United States dollar peg on Nov. 10. In normal times, this might have raised alarm bells. But, these aren’t normal times. In fact, in the days following FTX’s Nov. 11 bankruptcy filing, stablecoin “dominance,” i.e., the sector’s share of overall cryptocurrency market capitalization, increased to 18%, an all-time high. Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and most altcoins appeared to be feeling the pain from …

Binance crypto exchange announced on Nov. 17 that deposits of Solana-based USDT and USDC have been “temporarily suspended until further notice” on the platform. The exchange referred to the tokens as “USDT (SOL)” and “USDC (SOL),” as USDT and USDC stablecoins remain available for deposits on Binance on other blockchains. Binance did not provide more information on the measure, adding that Binance “reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change or cancel this announcement at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.” Other exchanges, including OKX and ByBit, are also among the platforms delisting Solana-based …

Circle, the company behind the issuance of USDC Coin (USDC) said recent events have caused it to miscalculate its financial projections — referring to the collapse of FTX and a decision by rival exchange Binance. In September, crypto exchange Binance announced it will auto-convert USDC to its own stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), last week saw the collapse of FTX. Circle’s 2022 miscalculated projection was noted in its amended S-4 registration statement which was filed to the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov. 14. The S-4 is a registration statement is a document that companies fill out and submit …

Circle, the issuer of the United States dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), has added support for Apple Pay — with the intention of bringing the crypto and traditional payment systems closer together. Circle made the announcement in a Nov. 15 blog post suggesting it may boost sales for crypto-native businesses as they can facilitate traditional payments from non-crypto-using customers while enabling customers to “buy crypto with Apple Pay on their preferred exchange.” According to Circle, the addition of Apple Pay support will benefit traditional businesses by allowing them “to shift more retail payments to digital currency.” Apple Pay is available …

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization dropped by 24% between Nov. 8 and Nov. 10, reaching a $770 billion low. However, after the initial panic was subdued and forced future contracts liquidations were no longer pressuring asset prices, a sharp 16% recovery followed. This week’s dip was not the market's first rodeo below the $850 billion market capitalization level, and a similar pattern emerged in June and July. In both cases, the support displayed strength, but the $770 billion intraday bottom on Nov. 9 was the lowest since December 2020. The 17.6% weekly drop in total market capitalization was mostly impacted …

Plunging cryptocurrency prices are not the only consequence of this week’s FTX-induced crypto contagion. Significant market volatility this week induced by the collapse of the FTX exchange has impacted stablecoins with many of them de-pegging temporarily. According to CryptoQuant senior analyst Julio Moreno, nearly all leading stablecoins have experienced some level of peg volatility this week. The world’s dominant stablecoin, Tether (USDT) temporarily declined to $0.97 on Nov. 10 as redemptions surpassed $600 million over the past two days, he noted. CoinGecko currently reports that USDT is still slightly below its peg, trading at $0.998 at the time of writing. …