Category: crypto

The Bitcoin 2026 Conference at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas drew over 40,000 attendees but faced backlash for its institutional-heavy speaker lineup, including figures like SEC Chair Paul Atkins and BlackRock’s Robert Mitchnick. Early adopters criticized the shift away from Bitcoin’s decentralized roots towards corporate and regulatory influences.

Stablecoins have become essential in on-chain finance, creating a global settlement layer and banking-as-a-service stack for programmable dollars. The a16z crypto report predicts stablecoins will support on-chain credit systems and extend USD reach into emerging markets. It highlights the shift towards on-chain finance and the regulatory challenges and opportunities in the banking industry.

dLocal has launched Stablecoin Full, a solution allowing merchants to accept, convert, and pay out stablecoins in over 44 emerging markets through one API. The product treats stablecoins as a local payment method, simplifying operations for global merchants and aligning with local regulations and compliance standards in each market.

Bitget Research Chief Analyst Ryan Lee believes that Bitcoin and Ethereum are currently supported by institutional ETF demand and lower leverage. He predicts that Bitcoin will reach $80,000 to $85,000 in the short term, while Ethereum will target $2,800 to $3,000. The rally is different from previous cycles as it is led by institutional allocation…

Bitcoin is nearing the upper boundary of a two-month ascending channel at $77,500, with the MACD histogram turning negative. The FOMC meeting on April 28 and 29 could be a major catalyst. The article analyzes Bitcoin’s technical structure, key levels, and on-chain data influencing its next move.

Israeli regulators have approved the launch of BILS, a shekel-pegged stablecoin issued by local virtual exchange Bits of Gold. This makes BILS one of Israel’s first shekel-pegged stablecoins, with reserves held in Israel through designated accounts. The approval follows a two-year pilot on the Solana blockchain and aims to regulate stablecoin activity in the country.

Anza and Firedancer have introduced early versions of Falcon, a post-quantum signature solution for Solana to prepare for potential future quantum attacks. Falcon-512 offers the smallest signature among NIST standards, aiming to protect Solana without impacting network performance. The migration process is expected to be manageable and fast when needed.

Canada has introduced Bill C-25 to block cryptocurrency donations in federal elections, aiming to tighten controls on political funding. The legislation has passed its second reading in the House of Commons and will now move to committee for further review. This move is part of a broader trend of increased scrutiny on crypto donations in…

Senator Thom Tillis is threatening to oppose the Senate’s crypto market structure bill if ethics restrictions on White House crypto activity are not added. Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego also emphasized the need for bipartisan agreement on ethics provisions tied to federal officials. The bill’s progress hinges on reaching a compromise on these issues.

Bitbank, a Japanese crypto exchange, has introduced a crypto-linked credit card that allows users to pay bills using assets held on its platform. The EPOS Crypto Card offers 0.5% cashback in bitcoin, ether, or Aster, with plans to add more payment options. This marks a new development in Japan’s regulated crypto payment market.