Coindesk

Donald Trump’s Official Token Surges 25%, Some Observers See it as Bet on His Presidency

TRUMP memecoin riches have spurred billions of dollars for the newly sworn-in U.S. President Donald Trump, an amount he termed as “peanuts” compared to corporate bigwigs in his first address of the token since launch."I don't know much about it other than when I launched it. I heard it was successful,” Trump said in a press conference on Tuesday when asked by a reporter. “Where is it today? Several billion?“That's peanuts for these guys,” he added, referring to the networth of other businessmen in the room that included SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Oracle's Larry Ellison.Token prices zoomed 25% in the past 24 hours, beating gains in bitcoin (BTC) and other majors, to reverse losses from earlier in...

Deribit’s Crypto Trading Volume Nearly Doubled to Over $1T in 2024

Need evidence of the crypto market's maturation? Look no further than Deribit, the crypto exchange that registered record trading volumes in 2024.Total trading volume in Deribit's product suite, which comprises crypto options, perpetual futures, volatility futures, and spot market, rose 95% from $608 billion in 2023 to $1.185 trillion in 2024.Options alone registered a trading volume of $743 billion, a 99% year-on-year growth, accounting for a giant share of the total exchange activity. Deribit listed BTC options in 2016 and has since cemented its position as the world's leading crypto options exchange.“Deribit saw an increase in activity throughout the year, particularly in Q4 as institutional investors demonstrated heightened optimism around the U.S. presidential election, as well as the $100k Bitcoin...

Trump-Affiliated World Liberty Financial Makes Another TRX Buy

World Liberty Financial Financial (WLFI), the crypto project backed by the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, has made another purchase of Tron's TRX for its treasury on-chain data shows.“As a strong advocate for blockchain technology and innovation in cryptocurrencies, I'm excited to see World Liberty Financial integrate TRON as a key part of its growing treasury. TRX's inclusion as the fourth-largest asset in WLFI's holdings highlights its trust in the Tron blockchain network," Justin Sun, founder of Tron, said in a statement to CoinDesk."This most recent purchase was to the tune of $2.6 million and adds an additional 10.8 million TRX to the WLFI treasury. The total holdings of TRX now come in at $7.5 million."With WLFI leading efforts...

Solana Bull Bets Big on SOL Rallying to $400

A significant SOL options block trade crossed the tape on Deribit via the OTC network Paradigm late Monday, suggesting expectations for a price rally to $400 by the end of February.The trade, structured as a bull call spread, involved a long position in the $280 call and a simultaneous short position in the $400 call, with 10,000 contracts for each leg and both legs set to expire on Feb. 28, according to block flows tracked by Amberdata. Block trades are large orders usually placed by institutions executed over-the-counter (OTC), outside the exchange's order book. A bull call spread achieves its maximum profit when the underlying asset's price is at or above the short call's strike price, which is $400 in...

The Ethereum Foundation Has Lost Its Way

The Ethereum Foundation is a paradox. Despite its commitment to decentralization, it operates as a centralized entity, with a director, a treasury, paid developers, and an inner circle. These structures, while necessary for coordination, create tensions with Ethereum's decentralized ethos.The Foundation TodayIt is not widely known, but the current foundation was constructed in a less than ideal way. The previous director, Ming, was ousted in a coordinated effort by a group of people who have never been publicly identified or held accountable for it. I spoke with Ming days before her removal and she assured me she had no intent of leaving. I was later given information about who was responsible for her removal, but was not given much insight...