Coindesk

Token debuts remain a contentious issue, often criticized for their poor execution that allows individuals, supposedly armed with insider information about impending launches, to profit through front-running campaigns.The latest example is the "Base is for everyone" token announced by Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 solution Base on Wednesday. Three crypto wallets bought tokens ahead of the official announcement on X, resulting in significant profits, according to blockchain sleuth Lookonchain.At around 19:30 UTC on Wednesday, Base announced the debut of its token minted via Zora, an on-chain social network, empowering creativity by turning any content posted on its network into tradable coins. The token quickly rose to a market capitalization of over $15 million, bringing significant gains to at least three crypto...

A federal judge agreed to pause an ongoing lawsuit between 18 state attorneys general and a decentralized finance lobbyist group against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, after the parties noted the SEC's new leadership. The state AGs, all Republicans, filed the lawsuit alongside the DeFi Education Fund last November after Donald Trump's win in the 2024 presidential election. They allege that the federal securities regulator had exceeded its authority in filing lawsuits against crypto exchanges. In Wednesday's filing, the SEC suggested that Paul Atkins' confirmation as the new agency chair could end the litigation."As support, the Defendants state that due to a leadership transition in the Securities and Exchange Commission, this case could potentially be resolved,"...

A modest bitcoin rally to a possible challenge of the $86,000 level quickly reversed during U.S. afternoon trading hours on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned on the effects of President Trump's tariff regime."The level of the tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated," said Powell in a speech. "The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth."In other words, stagflation — a throwback to a sizable portion of the 1970s when the U.S. experienced weak economic activity alongside double-digit inflation."We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension," continued Powell.The price of bitcoin (BTC) fell about 2.5%...

Eric Trump, U.S. President Donald Trump's second son, is set to appear at this year’s Consensus conference to discuss his vision to reshape bitcoin mining in the United States. Trump will talk about American Bitcoin, a new venture formed with Hut 8 where he serves as Chief Strategy Officer. "The launch of American Bitcoin represents a transformative moment for Bitcoin mining in North America," said Trump in a statement. “I am so proud to finally unveil our bold vision for this initiative, which we believe will become the world’s largest and most efficient pure-play Bitcoin miner." Launched on March 31, American Bitcoin said it aims to become the world’s largest pure-play Bitcoin miner, targeting over 50 EH/s of mining capacity. Eric Trump is scheduled...

Bitcoin was born as a response to institutional failure, a decentralized escape hatch from corruptible centralized finance and a north star of self sovereignty. Bitcoin’s true vision was a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. That phrase is right there in the Bitcoin white paper’s title from Satoshi himself.You're reading Crypto Long & Short, our weekly newsletter featuring insights, news and analysis for the professional investor. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.Today, Bitcoin is many things:A store of valueA form of digital goldA macro assetBut Bitcoin is not electronic cash. It is too volatile for daily use, too slow to scale and too rigid to adapt as a cash equivalent. Somewhere along the way, Bitcoin gave up...