Sotheby’s is auctioning off 100 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. Bids have gone past USD 4 million. What’s driving collector/investor interest? — NFT sensation Bored Ape Yacht Club has quickly become one of the most sought after NFT projects in the crypto space, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in trading volume for its cartoon collection of primate images since the end of August. Market interest is so intense that another stalwart…

Traditional finance keeps raising its Bitcoin exposure. Morgan Stanley’s recent buy of Grayscale Bitcoin shares would make the Wall Street stalwart the second-largest holder of GBTC. — While crypto enthusiasts tend to see themselves as opponents of traditional finance, one of the world’s biggest investment banks has been steadily increasing its holdings of (and exposure to) their favourite digital coin.

Both countries are trying to become the blockchain industry's global home. But they’re just two jurisdictions positioning to attract head offices and startup investment. — A year ago, if you asked the average blockchain enthusiast which countries were the most coin friendly, they’d probably have said Malta or Estonia. But life comes at you fast in crypto. Today, Singapore and Switzerland are emerging as the most accommodating markets for new digital asset investment — while…

Solana’s native crypto SOL has nearly doubled in price, driven up by spiking DeFi and NFT activity on the high-volume blockchain. — SOL is on a roll. The price of the super-fast Solana network’s native token hit another all-time high — of USD 79.56—continuing a meteoric rise that’s seen its price nearly double in less than a week. According to data from CoinGecko, SOL’s price was sitting at just under USD 39…

Cyber villains have been watching the DeFi deluge and they’re following the money, leading to a 250% spike in DeFi-related theft. — Decentralised finance (DeFi) has been on a year-long joyride with nearly USD 80 billion now locked up in its protocols. As money flows in, cyber criminals have the sector firmly in their crosshairs. A report issued this week by blockchain forensics company CipherTrace says cyber theft and fraud have cost…

Circle thinks USDC can win the stablecoin wars. But questions about reserves could smother the company’s ambitions. — Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire nailed his colours to the mast this week when he claimed the company's USDC token is storming toward circulation in the ‘hundreds of billions of dollars.’ The comments come at a time when stablecoins, crypto tokens that are price-pegged to a fiat currency, are having a…

Under pressure from regulators, the exchange has shuttered its tokenised equities service, which let users dip a toe in crypto markets without risking direct exposure. — In the latest sign that financial regulators are bringing the world’s biggest crypto exchange to heel, Binance has halted stock token trading. The measure is ‘effective immediately’ for new stock token purchases. All support for existing stock tokens will end on 13th October.

US digital asset firms are about to feel the squeeze as Washington plans to fund its gargantuan infrastructure programme with new crypto taxes. — A spectre is haunting crypto, the spectre of heavy-handed state intervention. The digital currency industry has lived for years under the constant threat of new regulations designed to tame its wild ways. …

With Ethereum’s ‘London’ hard fork about to go live, it's worth revisiting why analysts think ETH is heading for new highs. — Editor’s note: An update of our story from February ahead of this week’s ‘London’ hard fork: Ethereum (ETH), the world’s second-biggest crypto by market cap, reached a record-breaking high of USD 1,439 in February, the first time the digital asset has crossed the USD 1,400 threshold since January 2018.