Coindesk

Following a rocketing higher in its stock price since beginning to add bitcoin to its balance sheet less than a year ago. Metaplanet has announced a 10-to-1 stock split set to take effect on April 1.The Tokyo-based firm first started buying bitcoin in April 2024 and since has accumulated 2,031 tokens worth nearly $200 million. The purchases were the driving factor in Metaplanet being the best-performing Japanese equity over the past 12 months with a gain of 3,900%.That price rise has created a “substantial financial burden for investors,” the company said in a press release announcing the split.“To address this, we have decided to conduct a stock split to lower the price per trading unit, thereby improving liquidity, expanding our...

The total hashrate of the U.S.-listed bitcoin (BTC) miners tracked by JPMorgan (JPM) has almost doubled from a year ago and now accounts for about 29% of the global network, the bank said in a report on Tuesday.The combined hashrate of the 14 companies "has increased ~95% y/y to 244 EH/s, versus a 45% increase in the network hashrate," analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote.The network hashrate is a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty. The Bitcoin network hashrate has risen about 6% so far this month, and has climbed 45% in the last 12 months, the report said."Average bitcoin price also declined modestly from January, pressuring mining economics," the authors wrote.The hashprice, a measure of...

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)While bitcoin (BTC) is little changed over the past 24 hours, down just 0.7%, the broader market is in a bearish mood following the Libra token debacle, which has led to accusations of fraud and calls for the impeachment of Argentina's President Javier Milei.The CoinDesk 20 Index is down around 2.3% over the past day, and the near- to medium-term market movement probably hinges on how the U.S.-Russia negotiations in Riyadh go. The talks are focusing not only on ending the conflict in Ukraine, but also on “normalization” of ties between the countries.An additional layer of uncertainty comes from FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamas-based subsidiary of FTX, which starts repaying creditors today....

The apparent LIBRA token rug pull is the the latest incident to negatively affect the Solana memecoin ecosystem, Galaxy Research said in a report on Monday.The narrative had already began to sour following the TRUMP token's introduction in January and the ensuing "liquidity suck" that it caused. LIBRA could lead to more damage to the memecoin complex, the report said. This could reduce the need for investors to hold Solana's sol (SOL), Galaxy said, noting that sol's rise has been driven mainly by demand for SOL-denominated assets such as memecoins.Galaxy noted that the cryptocurrency has plummeted in U.S. dollar terms and versus rival ether (ETH), since the launch of LIBRA. Solana was trading 8.6% lower over 24 hours at $168.73...

U.S.-based art collective Kanbas made the largest non-fungible token (NFT) purchase in three years last week, scooping up a 1-of-1 artwork by Sam Spratt for $3 million.The artwork is called "X.Masquerade" and is the sixth chapter in the "Story of Luci." It ties into into an upcoming invite-only event that allows supporters to participate in a game by purchasing a "Mask of Luci" for 2.56 ETH ($6,800)."We’re proud to stand beside him and help share Masquerade with the world. It is our way of honoring Sam’s trust, the monumental work he’s created, and—above all—the shared values that underpin it," Kanbus posted on XThe purchase comes alongside a timely boost to the NFT sector following a marketing push from NFT...