Coindesk

Several U.S. states are getting closer to putting public money into cryptocurrencies effort, spurred by President Donald Trump since he announced plans to do the same on a federal level. And Texas is now among the leading contenders.On Thursday, the Texas state senate passed the so-called SB 21 bill which would allow the state to invest some of the public’s money into digital assets, specifically bitcoin (BTC).Bitcoin, according to a statement from Texas Senator Charles Schwertner last week, “has proven itself through multiple boom and bust cycles,” making it a great reserve asset in times of a “devastating national deficit” along with “inflation and uncertainty,” as Schwertner described.New Hampshire also passed a bill on Wednesday through a state house committee,...

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried suggested on Thursday in an interview with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson that one of the reasons he’d been given a harsh prison sentence was because he was getting closer to the Republican Party in the lead-up to his arrest.“One fact that might be relevant. In 2020 I was center-left and I gave to Biden's campaign," he said. "I was optimistic he'd be a sort of solid center-left President. I spent the next few years in DC a lot. I made dozens of trips there, and was really, really shocked by what I saw, not in a good direction, from the administration."“By late 2022 I was giving to Republicans privately as much as Democrats. And...

Today, hundreds of millions of people own bitcoin and other tokens hosted on blockchains worth trillions of dollars.Increasingly, though, blockchains host far more than tokens. In fact, blockchains are our future tech stack, and they can host sophisticated Web apps too, which live fully-onchain, just like tokens. These apps are implemented entirely from network-resident code (i.e. smart contract software and its evolutions).This has huge potential: by the end of 2025, more than 5 billion people will own internet-connected smartphones with Web browsers. So what might drive them to create and use fully-onchain web apps, which can sport seamless Web3 functionality?I believe a new blockchain revolution is imminent, thanks to advancing AI and “self-writing app” technology.This relates to an important emerging...

The latest in a series of reversed tariff threats by President Trump isn't having the hoped-for effect on risk markets at least halfway through the U.S. trading day on Thursday.The stock market initially bounced off a sharply lower opening and bitcoin (BTC) rose through $91,000 as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — in an appearance on CNBC — said the president would exempt Mexico from his new 25% tariff for any goods or services covered under a previous trade agreement. The nicer stance toward the country's neighbor to the south was confirmed later by a social media post from Trump.The positive moves in markets were short-lived though, with the Nasdaq at its session low just past the noon hour on the east...

Blockchain-based asset management firm Superstate said on Thursday it has registered its digital transfer agent, Superstate Services LLC, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a move aimed at bridging tokenized assets with existing financial regulations.Transfer agents help issuers manage shareholder records, process transactions, and distribute dividends. As securities increasingly move on-chain, digital transfer agents play a critical role in maintaining compliance and governance. Superstate Services will use blockchain-integrated record-keeping to track ownership in real time. A smart contract-driven allowlist will ensure that only approved investors can acquire tokenized shares. "Through this innovative approach, Superstate advances tokenized security compliance while integrating into the existing regulatory regime," the company said in a statement.Superstate's registration comes after SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who...