Coindesk

Financial derivatives provider Eightcap is now offering a contract for difference (CFD) based on the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), which offers a weighted performance of the largest digital assets.The CD20 CFD is now available to traders in both fiat and USDT pairs as an over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives product to retail traders, according to an announcement on Monday.CFDs are derivatives instruments where traders and brokers exchange the difference in an asset's value at the opening and closing of a contract.The CD20 CFD will "bridge the gap between traditional finance and the digital asset space by delivering institutional-grade crypto index access within a robust, compliant framework," Eightcap said in the announcement.Melbourne-based Eightcap holds regulatory licenses in the U.K., European Union (EU) and...

Spanish police arrested five members of a suspected crypto fraud operation that allegedly laundered 460 million euros ($540 million) stolen from over 5,000 victims.The bust, carried out by Guarda Civil, the armed wing of the country's law enforcement agencies, saw three arrests from searches in the Canary Islands and two in Madrid on June 25.The investigation was supported Europol, as well as police forces from Estonia, France and the U.S.The criminal network raised funds through cash withdrawals, bank transfers and crypto payments, Europol said in a statement on Monday.Investigators suspect the organization of having set up a corporate and banking network out of Hong Kong to receive, store and transfer criminal funds through accounts in different names and in different...

The Bank of Korea (BOK) suspended its central bank digital currency project, Singaporean financial newspaper Business Times reported on Monday. The project had reached the stage of developing a pilot program with participating banks.The central bank told the banks it will pause discussions related to the initiative, according to the report, which cited an unidentified BOK official.South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung, who took office June 4, courted the country's cryptocurrency community during his election campaign. Among his promises was a pledge to support a won-based stablecoin market.Earlier this month, Lee's ruling Democratic party submitted a bill that would allow qualifying companies to issue stablecoins. CBDCs are a form of fiat currency that are meant to act as a digital counterpart...

Bitcoin (BTC) has been consolidating above $100,000 since the start of May. The only time the price drop below $100,000 was on 22 June, which was a weekend when tensions escalated between Iran and the U.S.However, due to typically low trading volume over weekends, price action is often less reliable during those periods since crypto is the only industry that trades continuously.Despite ongoing discussions about public companies acquiring bitcoin globally, on top of the availability of exchange-traded funds in the United States, investors are still wondering why bitcoin has not yet broken to new all-time highs above $112,000.On-chain data, specifically the revived supply breakdown by age, shows elevated levels of bitcoin being sold by investors who have held their coins...

Bitcoin (BTC) options flow on the leading decentralized onchain platform Derive.xyz shows that traders are preparing for downside price volatility over the next couple of weeks.As of Monday, 20% of the platform's total BTC options open interest, valued at over $54 million, was concentrated in the July 11 expiry put options with strikes at $85,000, $100,000, and $106,000, according to data shared by Derive."This suggests that traders are positioning for potential downside, possibly bracing for macro uncertainty or profit-taking after recent strength," Nick Forster, founder of Derive told CoinDesk.A put option gives the holder the right to sell the underlying asset, such as BTC, at a predetermined price on or before a specified future date. A put buyer is implicitly...