CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data The election of Donald Trump promises a new era for digital assets characterized by greater regulatory certainty and a surge in market activity. The question now is whether this shift is sustainable, or a temporary reaction to the political climate. According to CCData’s latest Exchange Review report, aggregated spot and derivatives volumes, the most common measure evaluated for market participation, recorded a new yearly high in 2024, greatly exceeding the previous record set in 2021 ($75 trillion vs $64 trillion). With the election driving market activity and speculation, November and December were…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data An industry-wide debate over crypto institutional adoption and centralized custody risk will trigger a surge of interest in self-custody, OKX's President Hong Fang said in a recent interview with CoinDesk. While institutional adoption and the increasing popularity of crypto ETFs are a net positive for the industry, there may be a shift in industry narrative to caution against custody concentration risk, Fang argued. She predicts that most native crypto users will adopt self-custody this year. On OKX, assets held in its self-custody wallets (almost $50 billion) exceed assets on its centralized exchange…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data Grant Cardone is the founder and CEO of Cardone Capital, a firm that manages about $5 billion in real estate. And he just introduced a new fund that invests property-generated cash flow into bitcoin (BTC). “Nobody else has ever done this to scale. Nobody's ever done this particular model,” Cardone told CoinDesk in an interview. “And the response from our investors is phenomenal.” “There’s a buddy of mine who’s known me for 15 years. He's never invested a penny with me. He's also never bought any bitcoin. He told me bitcoin was…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data Coinbase has petitioned a U.S. appeals court to rule on whether or not the crypto trading activity on its platform should be subject to securities laws. In a Tuesday court filing, lawyers for Coinbase urged the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to hear its case, arguing that it “presents the single best opportunity to decide the fundamental legal question of how to treat the secondary trading of digital assets.” “This case cries out for the Court’s immediate attention,” lawyers for Coinbase wrote in their petition. “Whether secondary-market trading of digital assets falls…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data It’s Thursday, Jan. 16 and sports betting influencer Liam (@bets_liam) has just reviewed the latest “NFL Divisional Round Bets” from The Favorites Podcast, an NFL sports betting show with 70,000+ subscribers. Liam takes to X and tweets his reactions: The twist? He’s an AI agent powered by Memetica.ai, a no code AI agent consumer platform built by the team at Qstar Labs. You're reading Crypto Long & Short, our weekly newsletter featuring insights, news and analysis for the professional investor. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. AI…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data Sentiment towards Ethereum's ether (ETH) has sunk to depressed levels in recent times, but the latest maneuver of President Donald Trump-related crypto platform could spur hope for a reversal. World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform linked to the Trump family, this week deposited a total of 10,000 ether (ETH) worth $33 million to liquid staking platform Lido Finance (LDO) to stake and earn rewards, blockchain data by Arkham Intelligence showed. Lido is the largest ether staking platform with $31 billion of assets posted on the platform. The transactions came…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data A new exchange-traded fund (ETF) by global investment management firm Calamos that promises to protect investors from the volatility in bitcoin’s price hit the market on Wednesday. CBOJ, the first of three ETFs, provides investors with 100% downside protection while offering 10% to 11.5% upside potential over a one-year period, according to a press release. A representative of Calamos told CoinDesk that as of 12:11 p.m. ET, the ETF traded roughly 635,714 shares. The other two funds, CBXJ and CBTJ, set to launch on Feb. 4, will provide 90% and 80% protection,…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data The crypto industry is waiting for President Donald Trump to issue an executive order that will steer the federal government toward a new, more welcoming era for digital assets oversight. That'll be good for Trump's own business, and that's one of the reasons Democrats in the House of Representatives are already shouting about ethical lapses in the administration. A Trump executive order on crypto stands to increase the value of at least two components of Trump's family business: crypto venture World Liberty Financial and the eponymous token (TRUMP) launched right before he…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data Konstantin Lomashuk, the founder of the Lido staking protocol, has teased his intention to build a "Second Foundation" to advance Ethereum's ecosystem. Over the past several days, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined plans for a major restructuring of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), the nonprofit organization responsible for supporting Ethereum’s development. In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Buterin shared details of the reorganization, which he said would streamline decision-making processes and address inefficiencies. The announcement has sparked criticism, with some arguing that Buterin’s central role in the restructuring process…

CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data The release of Ross Ulbricht and the lifting of sanctions on Tornado Cash mark pivotal moments for the crypto community. It’s more than symbolic. It’s an opportunity to clearly rebrand the U.S. as a safe place to build the internet of money. Ross’ freedom comes after over a decade of imprisonment — a journey defined by relentless advocacy, legal battles, and unwavering support from the crypto community. His release matters deeply to me because over a decade ago I launched Silk Road 2.0, his site’s successor. His double life sentence without parole…