Author: Kryptonews

Ongoing sanctions against nation-states last year pushed the total value of crypto received by illicit addresses to its highest in history, as blacklisted entities sought to evade sanctions at scale.Throughout 2025, there were “unprecedented volumes associated with nation-states’ on-chain behavior,” blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said in their 2026 crypto crime report on Thursday.Illicit cryptocurrency addresses received at least $154 billion in 2025, a 162% increase year-over-year from 2024’s $59 billion, primarily driven by the value received by sanctioned entities. At the same time, Russia, which is facing sanctions due to its invasion of Ukraine, launched its ruble-backed A7A5 token in February…

Bank of America has joined Goldman Sachs in lifting Coinbase from “neutral” to “buy” this week, citing Coinbase’s lead role in bringing the financial system on-chain and becoming an “everything exchange.”In a research note released on Thursday, BofA said Coinbase’s expansion from trading to tokenizing real-world assets, including stocks and exchange-traded funds, as well as its move into prediction markets, is positioning it to cross-sell more products to new and future users and lead a “new financial system.”“While the stock is off 40% from its July highs, under the surface of the 4Q25 crypto correction the company’s product velocity has…

In about two months, the fate of a cow named Angus will be decided. At present, the outlook is grim: Angus is slated to be turned into roughly 1,200 hamburger patties and four leather handbags. But MSCHF—the art collective behind viral artworks ranging from Big Red Boots to a branded ATM publicly displaying users’ account balances—appears to be hoping that might still change in the next 64 days. Angus, who lives on a farm in upstate New York, is the subject of MSCHF’s ongoing project Our Cow Angus, which began in August 2024 when the group purchased the animal. To…

IntroductionIn a world where financial markets increasingly respond to global geopolitics, the convergence of cryptocurrency and energy policy is becoming a dominant force shaping digital asset investment strategies. As of 2024, the renewed U.S. interest in Venezuelan oil markets marks a pivotal moment that could substantially impact Bitcoin mining infrastructure and economics. Analysts at Bitfinex are closely watching this development, anticipating a potential reduction in Bitcoin mining costs as oil-rich Venezuela reenters the global energy trade. Given that electricity is the primary input cost for mining operations, any policy shift or market event that lowers power prices will raise mining…

In a year in which the United States will hold elections that could upset the balance of power in Congress, a cryptocurrency advocacy organization backed by Coinbase said its first priority is to “help get federal digital asset market structure legislation signed into law.”In its year-in-review report released on Thursday, Stand With Crypto (SWC) said it had added 675,000 people across the US to its advocacy efforts, bringing its total to 2.6 million. Though SWC said it would continue to mobilize its members “to support pro-crypto candidates in the congressional races” as part of the 2026 midterm elections in the…

2026 could mark the clearest break yet from everything investors thought they understood about Bitcoin cycles.For more than a decade, markets have leaned on the four-year halving model to predict peaks, crashes and recoveries. Under that framework, 2025 should have marked the top, with 2026 shaping up as a painful down year. But a growing number of analysts now say that model is no longer reliable, and the next phase of crypto may look very different.In a new Cointelegraph video, we break down fresh outlooks from four major crypto companies: Grayscale, Galaxy Digital, Bitwise and 21Shares, to explore what 2026…

Temple Digital Group has launched a private, institutional trading platform built on the Canton Network, offering continuous, 24/7 trading of digital assets using a central limit order book and non-custodial market structure.According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on Thursday, the platform supports trading in cryptocurrencies and stablecoins and is designed to allow institutions to transact with approved counterparties while maintaining privacy and regulatory oversight, with participants retaining custody of assets rather than relying on a central intermediary.The system is built around a price-time priority central limit order book with sub-second matching and includes execution monitoring and transaction cost analysis…

Sperone Westwater’s closure has exposed a deeper legal and financial dispute than first suggested by the gallery’s sudden shutdown at the end of 2025. Newly filed court documents allege governance failures, disputed payments to artists, and years of internal deadlock at the 50-year-old New York firm. As Artnet News reported earlier this week, the gallery closed amid a legal battle between its two principals, Gian Enzo Sperone and Angela Westwater, who each control 50 percent of the company. The dispute centers on the dissolution of Sperone Westwater Inc., which also owns the Norman Foster–designed building on the Bowery that has housed…

Zcash’s technical and fundamental catalysts raise the odds of ZEC price declining to as low as $200 in the coming weeks after core developers exited the project.Zcash (ZEC) slid more than 20% on Thursday to about $381, marking its weakest price level in three weeks, as markets reacted to the sudden resignation of the core development team from the Electric Coin Company (ECC). Key takeaways: ZEC/USD hourly price chart. Source: TradingViewFormer CEO Josh Swihart confirmed that the team will form a new company to continue privacy-focused development. But his assurance failed to lift the market’s mood, prompting many analysts to…

The TRU price fell to $0.0000000029 from $0.16 after the protocol reported a security incident and crypto sleuths tracked stolen Ether.The Truebit protocol reported a security incident “involving one or more malicious actors” with a smart-contract address suggesting the loss of $26 million worth of Ether.In a Thursday X post, Truebit said it was in contact with law enforcement and “taking all available measures” following the security incident. Crypto sleuths monitoring the protocol reported that the exploit had resulted in the removal of 8,535 Ether (ETH), worth about $26.6 million at the time of publication. Source: TruebitThe affected smart contract…