Coindesk

Coinbase Asset Management is rolling out a new fund for institutions to receive a yield on their bitcoin (BTC) holdings.Opening on May 1 for non-US institutional investors, the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund aims to deliver a 4% to 8% annualized net return, according to a press release on Monday. Among those backing the fund, Abu Dhabi-based Aspen Digital said yield will initially be generated through basis trading, with lending and options strategies to be used in the future.The so-called bitcoin basis trade involves capitalizing on the spread between futures and spot markets. It became popular at the tail end of 2024 as hedge funds notched a record high of $14.2 billion in BTC short positions, whilst simultaneously buying spot bitcoin...

Did AI write the sentence that you’re reading right now? Did AI create the photograph you just saw online? Was the shocking, controversial story that tipped an election actually real, or AI-fueled misinformation?These are questions Clara Tsao has wrestled with for years, ranging from protecting national security (where she was the CTO of a team focused on countering homegrown extremism) to creating a better internet, where she’s co-founder of the Trust & Safety Professional Association. (She also somehow finds time to be the President of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows and serve as Senior Advisor at Tech Against Terrorism.)“For me, it's always been about, how do we bring more democracy to the web, because it's an open network that...

Political bettors on Polymarket and other platforms are paying attention to Canada as the nation heads to the polls.As the country's 45th election comes to a close, a contract asking bettors to predict who will be Canada's next Prime Minister gives the Liberal Party's Mark Carney a 78% chance, and the Conservatives' Pierre Poilievre a 22% shot.Political bettors are slightly more skeptical of Carney's chances of winning than the polls, but both are pointing in the same direction. A poll aggregator from public broadcaster CBC puts Carney's chances at 89%.Myriad Markets, another prediction market, is giving Carney similar odds to Polymarket.FanDuel, a licensed betting platform open only to residents of Ontario, Canada, initially gave the Conservatives a sharp, contrarian lead...

Strategic allocation away from U.S. assets by investors could see bitcoin hit a new all-time high in the second quarter of the year, Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick said in a report Monday.Kendrick sees the world's largest cryptocurrency as reaching $120,000 this quarter as he reiterated his previous target of $200,000 by the end of 2025. Bitcoin was trading around $95,300 at publication time.Kendrick noted that the U.S. Treasury term premium, which is closely correlated to the bitcoin price, is at a 12-year high. Accumulation by whales has also been strong. In addition, bitcoin time-of-day analysis suggests that American investors may be looking for non-U.S. assets, he said.Lastly, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows in the last week suggest "safe-haven reallocation from gold...

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)Bitcoin (BTC) was little changed Monday, adding less than 1% amid renewed trade tensions and concerns of geopolitical instability that spread into the Indian subcontinent, where India and Pakistan are exchanging small-arms fire.The cryptocurrency rose 0.75% in the past 24 hours, turning positive for the year and decoupling from traditional risk assets as investors questioned the durability of the U.S.’s role as the global financial anchor. The broader market, measured through the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, rose 2.2%.Stock-index futures in the U.S. are pointing to a slight drop and gold fell over 1% with investors likely taking profit from the precious metal’s 25% year-to-date rally. Equities endured a sell-off after China...