Coindesk

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)The crypto world is buzzing as President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration nears. Bitcoin is holding above $100,000 and altcoins like SOL, ADA, LINK, XRP and LTC are shining as it's not just about a potential strategic bitcoin reserve anymore. Reports suggest Trump could announce crypto as a policy priority.Things are heating up for ether too. A blockchain address associated with Trump's World Liberty Finance (WLF) project snapped up nearly $10 million of ETH this week, according to Arkham Intelligence. And keep your eyes on layer-1 blockchain Near Protocol's NEAR. The token's supply dynamics look bullish, with the ratio of staked to unstaked NEAR rising, according to data source Flipside.Overall, the outlook for the...

Publicly traded U.S. crypto mining companies doubled their bitcoin (BTC) holdings last year, taking the total to 92,473 valued at $8.6 billion as of end-December while the price of the largest cryptocurrency rose 120%, according to data from TheMiningMag.The biggest amount, almost half of the total, is held by MARA Holdings (MARA) with 44,893 BTC. MARA has the second-largest stash among publicly listed companies, surpassed only by MicroStrategy's (MSTR) 450,000 BTC.The strategy of investing in bitcoin and keeping it for the long term, known as HODL after a typing error made more than a decade ago, has grown in popularity in the past 12 months.Three other miners hold more than 10,000 BTC: Riot Platforms (RIOT) with 17,722 BTC, Hut 8...

Bitcoin (BTC) mining stocks tracked by JPMorgan have enjoyed a strong start to the year, with 12 of the 14 companies outperforming the world's largest cryptocurrency in the first two weeks, the Wall Street bank said in a research report Thursday.The network hashrate has risen 2% month-to-date to an average of 793 exahashes per second (EH/s) and is 51% higher than a year ago, the report said.The hashrate refers to the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain and is a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty.The hashprice, a measure of daily mining profitability, has dropped less than 1% since the end of December, the bank noted, as "hashrate growth...

XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value, has replaced bitcoin (BTC) as the most-traded digital asset on Coinbase (COIN), the Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange that's seen as a proxy for U.S. demand.Bitcoin retained its position as most-traded crypto asset on Binance, the largest exchange by volume, which is off-limits to U.S. investors.Volume trends are consistent with the recovery in the U.S. demand for XRP, which is closely linked to blockchain-based payment network Ripple, as presaged by the Coinbase premium indicator a week ago.Interest in XRP, the biggest gainer following Donald Trump's election victory in November, increased after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse met the president-elect almost two weeks ago. It's also been supported by speculation of a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF)...

Stars cannot align more positively for crypto in the U.S., the world's largest economy, if the latest media reports are anything to go by. Still, one key indicator shows a lack of excitement among U.S. investors.Late Thursday, Bloomberg reported that President-elect Donald Trump will likely issue an executive order announcing crypto as a national imperative or priority with a voice in his administration. Trump could also announce the creation of a crypto advisory that will advocate the digital asset industry's policy goals.The report comes amid heightened expectations that Trump will announce an executive order supporting the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve on the first day of the office.Trump, a one-time crypto skeptic, embraced the industry in the lead-up to the...