Coindesk

Crypto regulation has come a long way. No longer is it a pass-off game between various government bodies: Digital assets now have dedicated overseers in a lot of regions. One of the pioneers in the space is Dubai's crypto regulator, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). What sets VARA apart is its ability to effectively communicate guidelines and regulation to crypto firms, according to its senior official."Set and forget does not work for crypto, it's all about feedback and open channels," said Sean McHugh, senior director of market assurance at VARA. "Since we are exclusively focused on crypto, it allows us to get a little deeper into the tech and our rules are written for the modern-era."Dubai has become a...

TradFi giant Northern Trust (NTRS) will provide custody and cash management services for trade finance focused stablecoin issuer Haycen, the company said in a press release Thursday.Northern Trust Asset Servicing will be responsible for providing Haycen with global custody services for its client fiat deposits, and Northern Trust Asset Management will provide cash sweep services, the company said.Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to another asset, such as the U.S. dollar or gold. They play a major role in cryptocurrency markets and are also used to transfer money internationally.Haycen is a trade finance digital payments provider, with operations in the U.K. and Europe. The company offers wholesale stablecoin-based solutions for non-bank lenders in global trade.Trade finance is a vital...

Risk assets such as bitcoin (BTC), xrp (XRP), solana (SOL) are back in focus as President Donald Trump warned of even more reciprocal tariffs if other countries collude to do "economic harm" to the U.S."If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA," he wrote in a Truth Social post in early Asian hours Thursday, "large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!""Liberation day in America is coming, soon," Trump wrote in a separate post. "For years we have been ripped off by virtually every country in the world, both friend...

President Donald Trump has threatened bigger import tariffs against the European Union (EU) and Canada if they worked together "to do economic harm" to the U.S."If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!” Trump said in a late Wednesday night post on Truth Social.Financial markets, however, remain steady in the wake of the new threat, with BTC in stasis below $88,000. Germany's DAX futures fell 0.3% while their Wall Street counterparts traded flat to positive.The resilience in the market likely stems from Federal...

BlackRock is looking to add more people to its digital asset team as the industry grows in popularity among Wall Street firms.Since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, big names in finance have taken several steps to expand their presence in crypto. While BlackRock has long been a pioneer in the space, especially among traditional financial banks, the asset manager seems to have more in store.Four roles on BlackRock’s digital asset team were added to its website on Wednesday, including Director of Digital Assets, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Vice President for Digital Asset and ETF Legal Counsel and Associate for Digital Asset.According to the job description, three of the roles are based in New York and another one in...