Coindesk

Kraken is nearing a $1.5 billion deal for U.S. futures trading platform NinjaTrader, according to a Wall Street Journal report.The deal could be a way for the crypto exchange to move into another asset class and increase its users, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.The report added that Kraken could announce the deal as soon as Thursday and that NinjaTrader would remain a standalone platform under Kraken.Kraken and NinjaTrader did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.Source link

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse sees closely related XRP as part of the White House’s proposed digital asset stockpile and anticipates the launch of an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) before the end of 2025, per a Bloomberg Markets interview.Garlinghouse’s optimism came after the resolution of Ripple’s long-standing legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which concluded with the agency dropping its case against the company on Wednesday.“XRP was named by the President of Truth Social. (He said) there’s gonna be a bitcoin strategic reserve and a crypto stockpile that will include things like XRP,” Garlinghouse told Bloomberg’s Sonali Basak, referring to the initiative formalized by President Donald Trump’s executive order in early March.The Ripple CEO also foresaw a...

Crypto markets are experiencing a modest move to the upside following today’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, in which the U.S. central bank left interest rates steady at 4.25%-4.50%Bitcoin (BTC) has risen 4.5% in the last 24 hours and is now trading for $85,500, its highest point since March 9.The CoinDesk 20 — an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization except for stablecoins, memecoins and exchange coins — is up 6%. Ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) have both surged by 7%, while Ripple’s XRP token has risen 10% off the back of CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s announcement that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to drop its case against the company.Crypto stocks are also doing...

Two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking futures in Solana (SOL) are coming on the market on Thursday.According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Volatility Shares LLC is launching two ETFs, the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) which will track Solana futures and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), which offers leveraged exposure.SOLZ will have a management fee of 0.95% while traders will be charged 1.85% for SOLT, according to the filing.The products will be the first-ever funds tracking futures in Solana, which at a market cap of $66.5 billion is the sixth largest cryptocurrency on the market. The token is up 6% over the past 24 hours, in line with the broader crypto market.The launch of...

As expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve left its benchmark fed funds rate range steady at 4.25%-4.50% on Wednesday, the second consecutive pause since three straight rate cuts to end 2024.The Fed's quarterly economic projections showed a sharp decline in expectations for economic growth, with the GDP increase in 2025 now seen at just 1.7% versus 2.1% at the December projection. The growth outlook for 2026 and 2027 was trimmed as well."Uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased," the Fed said in an accompanying statement, which is likely a reference to the tariff regime being threatened by President Trump.Core PCE inflation, though, is now seen at 2.8% this year versus the previous 2.5% projection. The core inflation outlooks for 2026 and...