Coindesk

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)Investors are still rotating money into altcoins, lifting valuations for ETH, RAY, ENA, MKR and other tokens while leaving bitcoin (BTC) little changed above $100,000.While the biggest cryptocurrency by market value is just 7% short of hitting a new high, its 30-day options-based implied or expected volatility, represented by Deribit's DVOL index, is hovering near the lowest level since June 2024.This type of calm usually precedes big moves. Georgii Verbitskii, a market analyst and founder of TYMIO, a crypto investor app put it best: "Options implied volatility is extremely low, the market doesn't seem to believe in strong moves, and 1- to 3-month option pricing is still cheap. That kind of complacency...

Standard Chartered (STAN) is now providing banking services for institutional prime broker FalconX. The San Mateo, California-headquartered broker will access a range of currency pairs, helping to enhance the speed and reliability of its cross-border settlement, FalconX said in an announcement on Wednesday.Prime brokers are an important cog in financial markets, providing financing, trading and custody services to large institutions.FalconX is seeking to bridge the gap between traditional finance and cryptocurrency through bringing its service up to the level one would find at a TradFi institution.The prime broker also plans to use Standard Chartered's banking support as a gateway to other products and services that would attract institutional clients, such as asset managers, hedge funds, token issuers and payment...

Ether (ETH) and dogecoin (DOGE) led majors gains on Wednesday with a 9% jump in the past 24 hours, extending a bullish streak that’s seen both tokens gain double digits over the past week.The broader crypto market showed modest gains with total capitalization up 1.7%, per CoinGecko, with bitcoin (BTC) hovering around $103,700 in Asian morning hours.Ethereum traded above $2,600, with dogecoin around 24 cents. XRP, BNB Chain’s BNB, Cardano’s ADA and Solana’s SOL gained between 3%-5%.Despite a burst of green across major altcoins, crypto traders are starting to feel the weight of macro markets and warn of profit-taking in the short term. A stronger dollar and renewed trade tensions temper momentum, even as bitcoin flirts with record territory.“The strengthening...

Quantum computing poses a real threat to crypto, and slow-moving governance processes risk leaving blockchains vulnerable, according to Colton Dillion, a co-founder of Quip Network, which provides quantum-proof vaults for storing digital assets.While the technology, which uses the quantum states of subatomic particles to perform calculations instead of transistors and binary code, is still in its infancy, companies including Google and Microsoft are pressing forward with research and development. The goal is a massive step-up in speed that makes tough calculations like cracking encryption, such as that used to protect blockchains, faster and simpler.And when quantum computing becomes available, any attacker is unlikely to announce their presence immediately. “The threat won’t start with Satoshi’s keys getting stolen," Dillion said in...

Shares of stock and crypto trading platform eToro (ETOR) have debuted at $52 a share after the company hit the Nasdaq exchange on Tuesday evening.The company raised about $310 million from investors as it sold 6 million shares at a price of $52 a piece. The listing values the company at $4.2 billion.The price is significantly higher than the marketed range, as the company received a much higher demand than previously anticipated.EToro becomes the first company to go public after a rough couple of months in markets across the U.S., as President Donald Trump is in discussions to make several tariff deals with leaders around the world.Because of that, many companies, including eToro, had delayed going public, but Bloomberg reported...