Coindesk

Coinbase has acquired the team behind Iron Fish, a privacy-focused blockchain project, to strengthen privacy features on its layer 2 network Base, the company announced.The deal does not include the Iron Fish blockchain or its native token, which will continue to operate independently “and unaffiliated with Coinbase or Base,” under the Iron Fish Foundation.The acquisition brings Iron Fish's key developers, including CEO Elena Nadolinski and Jason Spafford, to Coinbase in a bid to form a new privacy-focused team within Base, working to develop privacy-preserving tools for on-chain transactions.Coinbase said the move was made to ensure everyone has access to enhanced privacy, which it said “isn’t optional” but is a “core building block.”Privacy can be a challenge for blockchain networks, which...

Major tokens XRP, dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano (ADA) plummeted as much as 9% in the past 24 hours after President Donald Trump dashed hopes of a diversified U.S. strategic crypto reserve.Late Thursday, Trump directed his administration to establish a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve to hold bitcoin (BTC) previously seized by the government with an additional “crypto stockpile” of other assets. Assets for the non-bitcoin stockpile will be any crypto that the government otherwise seizes.That reversed days of bullish momentum fueled by Trump’s earlier comments at including tokens XRP, ADA, ether (ETH) and Solana’s SOL — dousing hopes of buying pressure on all these assets using taxpayer money.DOGE spiked as much as 12% earlier in the week as asset manager Bitwise filed...

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to establish a strategic bitcoin(BTC) reserve that includes BTC seized by the U.S. government through law enforcement actions.White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks said on X that the stockpile will also include other coins forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings while stressing that no taxpayer money will spent on acquiring BTC or other coins.According to Arkham Intelligence, the U.S. government currently holds 198,000 bitcoins worth about $17.3 billion. Treating the same as reserve essentially takes out over $17 billion in selling pressure from the market.Still, bitcoin extended losses, hitting lows near $84,700, reflecting investor disappointment over the lack of new BTC purchases for the U.S. government. Prices, however, have...

President Donald Trump has directed his administration to establish a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve to hold the assets that have been seized by the government, and he's additionally called for a crypto stockpile of other types of assets.At this point, all of the assets contemplated by the order would be those seized in civil or criminal forfeitures. The bitcoin will be stored for long-term value in what was termed a "digital Fort Knox.""The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings," said David Sacks, Trump's crypto czar, in a statement posted on social media site X.In a video showing the president signing the order, Trump says...

Four and half years ago, when Zain Zaidi was applying to grad school, he submitted his academic transcripts. But, through an administrative error, the documents were lost, and he almost lost his place. Understanding how someone’s life could be altered by not being able to prove something like an academic credential, Zaidi set out to try and make it easier. Instead of going to grad school, Zaidi started TransCrypts, which helps companies verify employment information. The blockchain-powered startup recently won CoinDesk’s Pitchfest at Consensus Hong Kong.Zaidi says if we’re not able to prove data about ourselves, we give up something important about who we are. “We as consumers can’t actually verify who we are, own who we are,” Zaidi told...