Coindesk

Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) stock outperformed peers on Friday, even after its first quarter results missed Wall Street's estimates, as the company's focus on lowering costs is seen as positive by analysts. Jefferies analysts said that with the bitcoin BTC price improving in the second quarter of this year and MARA focusing on more sustainable energy sources such as solar and flared gas-driven data centers, power costs should come down in the coming quarters and help margins. "MARA is expanding infrastructure at its 114 MW wind farm and has fully energized its 25 MW micro flared gas data center, both of which should drive down power costs," said analyst Jonathan Petersen in a note. If the mining firm continues to...

It was a pretty positive week for crypto as prices rose, big deals were signed, and stablecoins continued to penetrate deep into the financial system. Even ETH, a perennial downer of late, rose sharply, reaching nearly $2300 at press time. The CoinDesk 20, a barometer for the whole market, has risen 15%-plus since Monday. Bitcoin was near ATH levels this week on the back of more positive “trade” news. Bearish positions were liquidated and ETF flows were up, Omkar Godbole reported. ETH’s resurgence may have had something to do with its Pectra upgrade, which went off without a hitch (as Ethereum upgrades tend to). Pectra will make staking easier (and bigger) and boost efficiency. Margaux Nijkerk, our Ethereum reporter, had...

Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, said it secured a MiFID II license from Malta allowing it to offer derivative products across the European Economic Area.The license from Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) will enable the company to offer perpetual futures and other derivatives across the European Union's 27 nations plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, once the required conditions are met, Gemini said Friday."There are technical and operational steps to ensure we launch these products in a compliant and secure manner, which we hope to do so in the coming months," a Gemini spokesperson said. Exchanges have been moving into derivatives as the next frontier for revenue growth. One of the largest crypto exchanges, Coinbase (COIN),...

Bettors on crypto prediction platform Polymarket have, in recent months, developed an enviable reputation for beating the bookies.So it came as a surprise on Thursday when they got the outcome of the papal conclave very wrong indeed.Winner Robert Francis Prevost wasn’t among the favorites, with bettors only giving the US-born cardinal around a 1% chance of succeeding Pope Francis ahead of the result.Polymarket bettors, like traditional betting markets, gave Cardinal Pietro Parolin the highest odds, at 28%.With over $28 million of bets placed on candidates other than Prevost, the result was a total wipeout for many bettors.The event throws into question the perceived heightened accuracy of betting markets like Poymarket over conventional polls.Polymarket lets users bet on the outcomes of...

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 3138.72, up 6.0% (+178.07) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.Nineteen of assets are trading higher.Leaders: UNI (+13.5%) and NEAR (+11.7%).Laggards: BCH (-0.6%) and POL (+1.1%).The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.Source link