Coindesk

San Salvador — Tether, the crypto company behind the largest stablecoin, is introducing its $140 billion USDT token to Bitcoin — the blockchain that underpins the largest and oldest cryptocurrency — and Bitcoin-based scaling service Lightning Network, the company said on Thursday.Announced at the Plan B conference in San Salvador, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that bringing USDT to Bitcoin and Lightning aims to offer "practical solutions for remittances, payments, and other financial applications that demand both speed and reliability.”Stablecoins are a $200 billion digital asset class with their prices anchored to an external asset, predominantly the U.S. dollar. They serve as a bridge between government-issued money and blockchain-based digital assets, and are increasingly popular for everyday uses like payments,...

Memecoin generator Pump.fun was hit with another proposed class action lawsuit on Thursday, accusing the company and its executives of raking in nearly $500 million in fees while violating U.S. securities laws.The suit, filed in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), hinges on the crypto industry’s biggest lingering question — when is a token a security? Though the suit alleges that every token created using Pump.fun’s platform is a security, and thus subject to U.S. securities laws, that’s far from a matter of settled law. Under the new Donald Trump Administration, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicated it's changing tack on crypto regulation, creating a new crypto task force charged with establishing a clear regulatory framework for...

Last week, through Executive Order, President Trump took a significant step toward reshaping the future of digital assets by establishing a Crypto Council led by investor and entrepreneur David Sacks. This Executive Order, coupled with the recent reversal of SAB 121 – an ill-conceived policy that made it prohibitively difficult for banks to custody crypto assets – demonstrates that the new administration is serious about removing barriers to crypto adoption.This council represents a golden opportunity to undo significant damage inflicted on the crypto industry during the Biden Administration. Instead of regulatory hostility, Trump’s Crypto Council can help chart a path toward innovation, responsible oversight, and, most importantly, the protection of the customers and retail investors who helped him win the...

Could Bitcoin (BTC) soon find its way on to the balance sheet of a European central bank?That possibility took at least a small step forward on Thursday after the board of the Czech National Bank (CNB) approved a proposal to consider investing reserves in other assets.Put forth by the central bank Governor Aleš Michl, the proposal was to study investing the bank's reserves in "additional asset classes." In an interview with the FT earlier this week, though, Michl had made clear his interest in this exercise was in possibly adding bitcoin as a reserve asset."My goal is to diversify the portfolio, so if bitcoin is good , then let’s have it," said Michl."Based on the results of the analysis, the...

The telecommunications industry stands at a critical juncture. As global data consumption skyrockets, traditional telecom operators face a perfect storm of challenges: stagnant subscriber growth, costly infrastructure maintenance and an insatiable demand for bandwidth. This capacity crunch is not just a problem for carriers; it's a looming crisis for consumers who increasingly rely on seamless connectivity in their daily lives.The telecom squeezeIn 2024, AT&T projected $4.7 billion in site lease costs. Add in Verizon and T-Mobile, and the annual cost of leases for wireless coverage in the US approaches a staggering $15 billion. As infrastructure costs rise, margins on internet access are projected to rise more slowly for telecom companies. Meanwhile, demand continues to explode, with global data consumption over...