Coindesk

Avalanche AVAX found support after a substantial decline on the short-term, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model.The token is down 5.6% in the last 24 hours, underperforming the CoinDesk 20 — an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, memecoins and exchange coins — which lost 3.2% in the same period of time.Technical Analysis• AVAX-USD pair declined 6.46% before staging a recovery.• A high-volume support zone emerged around $20.76-$20.85, where strong buying interest reversed the downtrend.• Price action formed a descending channel with resistance at $21.65, which was broken when AVAX climbed above $21.20.• V-shaped reversal pattern formed with strong buying momentum emerging around the $21 psychological support level.• Heavy accumulation occurred, with trading volume...

Morpho, a permissionless cryptocurrency lending protocol, unveiled an update that seeks to further align decentralized finance (DeFi) with traditional lending by bringing more in the way of bespoke, predictable loan terms.Morpho V2 delivers market-driven fixed-rate, fixed-term loans with customizable terms, features previously unseen in DeFi, which are required to meet the demands of institutions and enterprises looking to build or migrate financial products on-chain, Morpho said in a press release on Thursday.DeFi, a blockchain-based and automated system of lending and borrowing on-chain assets, is set to surge this year, just as it did in 2021, particularly because of the involvement of institutional finance and real-world assets (RWAs).But DeFi infrastructure needs to surpass certain on-chain confines such as a reliance on...

Conduit, a stablecoin-focused cross-border payments provider, said on Thursday it has teamed up with Brazil's Braza Group for real-time foreign exchange (FX) swaps between the Brazilian real and major foreign currencies using stablecoins.The service allows users to convert Brazilian real to U.S. dollars or euros and settle transactions in minutes with stablecoins —a sharp departure from the traditional FX infrastructure, where settlement can take up to three days, according to the press release.Braza, which owns Brazil’s largest FX bank and processed $67 billion in transactions last year, launched its own real-pegged stablecoin BBRL on XRP Ledger earlier this year. Braza will mint BBRL tokens when a payment originates in Brazil. Conduit then swaps the BBRL for dollar- or euro-pegged stablecoins...

Christopher Wong, a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent and a leading figure in the agency’s cryptocurrency investigations, has joined blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs."Chris is not only one of the most talented and respected investigators in the world, he’s also an inspiring colleague who makes everyone around him better," Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs, told CoinDesk. "He’s been a critical part of elite teams throughout his career, and now brings that same excellence to our mission at TRM." During his ten years with the FBI, Wong worked on some of the most high-stakes crypto crime cases to date. He co-led the investigation into the 2016 Bitfinex hack, which resulted in the largest crypto seizure in U.S....

Strategy (MSTR) has officially launched trading of its third "bitcoin-backed preferred stock", STRD, on the Nasdaq, with shares making their debut on Wednesday. The new security, formally named the 10% Series A Perpetual Stride Preferred Stock (STRD), closed the day slightly higher, gaining 0.24%. STRD offers a fixed 10% annual dividend, making it the highest-yielding instrument among Strategy’s capital offerings, which also include STRF and STRK. Unlike those, STRD is non-convertible and non-cumulative, meaning dividends are paid only when declared by the board and do not accrue if missed. Despite this added risk, the product is positioned to attract long-term investors seeking strong yield with no management fees.Strategy aims to raise nearly $1 billion through the offering by selling 11.76...