Coindesk

Gold-backed cryptocurrencies like Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) retreated from record highs on Friday amid a global financial-markets sell-off that erased $2.5 trillion from U.S. equities alone in a single day after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariffs.The tokens, which are backed by physical gold and track its price, initially rallied as investors sought shelter from the uncertainty the tariffs introduced. Gold is usually seen as a haven investment, but large-scale losses in equity markets often force investors to liquidate safer assets to cover margin calls and cash out losses.PAXG climbed to an all-time high of $3,191 with XAUT following closely behind to reach $3,190, exceeding spot gold’s peak of $3,167. The initial rise didn’t last,...

In the early-1990s, telephone companies ran ads for long distance calls highlighting the cost per minute for a U.S. customer to speak to someone in another country. Today, that business does not exist. You can now Facetime or Zoom anyone, anywhere, for free.What changed?The shift to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) ultimately drove the price of calls down to nearly zero.Today, we are experiencing a similar transformation as a global, embedded financial layer emerges within the internet. This will ultimately drive money transfer costs closer to zero, transforming a system long burdened by high fees, delays and middlemen.Stablecoins are the application driving this evolution. The maxim “adoption is slow until it is fast” captures their explosive growth in recent years....

Riot Platforms (RIOT) reported strong operational performance in March 2025, highlighted by continued expansion into the artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) sector. The company's bitcoin (BTC) production last month rose to 533 BTC, the most since the reward halving almost a year ago. The figure represents a month-on-month increase of 13% and 25% more than a year before. Bitcoin holdings grew to 19,223 BTC.Riot said it plans to "aggressively pursue" development of its Corsicana facility to capitalize on rising demand for compute infrastructure used in AI and HPC. A recently completed feasibility study by industry consultant Altman Solon confirmed the significant potential of the site to support up to 600 megawatts of additional capacity for AI/HPC applications. Key...

OKX's Europe company—also known as OKCoin Europe, a subsidiary of crypto exchange OKX—was fined 1.05 million euros ($1.2 million) by Malta's financial watchdog on Thursday for breaching the country's money laundering rules.The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) said the company failed to assess the money laundering and financing of terrorism risks emanating from the products it offers and had violated parts of the country's Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Regulations."Regulatory compliance is a top priority for OKX, and we remain committed to meeting and exceeding global regulatory standards," OKX said in a statement.The company also said it had addressed gaps identified in its compliance framework following the authority's 2023 review. In the new notice, FIAU also commended...

The U.S. employment situation continued to roll along in strong fashion in March, adding another piece to the puzzle as the Federal Reserve contemplates the path of short-term interest rates in a world that's markedly changed in the last 48 hours.Nonfarm payrolls rose by 228,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday morning. Economists had expected a gain of just 135,000 following February’s increase of 117,000 jobs (revised from an originally reported 151,000).The unemployment rate for March, however, rose a tick to 4.2% against economist consensus of 4.1% and February's 4.1%.The price of bitcoin (BTC) was little-changed in the minutes following the report at $82,600.Ahead of the jobs report, the CME FedWatch Tool — which gauges market...