Coindesk

Bitcoin (BTC) miners' daily revenue and gross profit rose for the second consecutive month in December, hitting the highest levels since April, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Monday.Mining profitability increased as the rally in the world's largest cryptocurrency continued to outpace network hashrate growth, the bank noted.JPMorgan estimated that bitcoin miners earned an average of $57,100 per exahash per second (EH/s) in daily block reward revenue last month, 10% more than in November.Still, "daily revenue and gross profit per EH/s is still 43% and 52% below pre-halving levels, respectively," analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote.The network hashrate grew by 6% in December to an average of 779 EH/s, the report said. Hashrate refers to the total...

FTX EU, the European arm of Sam Bankman Fried’s now-bankrupt cryptocurrency trading empire, has been sold to Backpack Exchange, a crypto trading company founded by former Alameda Research and FTX employees.FTX EU, which held a MiFID II-license under the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), cost Backpack $32.7 million, the exchange said.Backpack’s new European arm will offer a full suite of crypto derivatives throughout the EU, starting out by capitalizing on its position as the only regulated perpetual futures provider across Europe, according to Armani Ferrante, CEO of Backpack Exchange.A number of crypto trading firms have applied for a MiFID license, which allows firms to also offer crypto-asset services under Europe’s new Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regime, once a...

A return to markets after the holidays and anticipation of Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president is building bullish sentiment for bitcoin and the broader crypto market.The asset is up 10% in the past week, retaking the $102,000 level late Monday and reversing nearly all losses from early December. It fell from a peak of nearly $109,000 on Dec.17 to a local low of just below $92,000 on Dec.30, which momentarily sparked fears of a deeper downturn.The surge comes as U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) raked in $987 million on Monday, their highest since Nov.21, data from SoSoValue shows.Fidelity’s FBTC led inflows with $370 million pouring in, followed by BlackRock’s IBIT with $209 million and Ark Invest’s ARKB with...

Five years after COVID-19 sparked a global remote-work revolution, the pendulum seems to be swinging back. Some of the very companies that once embraced remote work, like Amazon and X (formerly Twitter) are now asking employees to return to the office. For many, this makes sense. These organizations were conceived as “in-person” enterprises, with workflows and cultures built around physical proximity. Remote work was a necessary adaptation during a global crisis, but for some, its efficiencies may not justify a permanent transition.Remote-first is not a temporary patch for us; it is our foundation as it is for many companies in the Web3 and crypto sector. From the moment Binance was established in 2017, it was designed as a global, remote-first...

Michael Barr, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision, will step down from his position on Feb. 28 — or earlier, if a successor is confirmed — according to a Monday announcement from the Federal Reserve.Barr will continue to serve as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.In a statement included in the Federal Reserve’s announcement, Barr suggested that he decided to voluntarily resign in order to avoid a potential dispute with the incoming Trump administration.“The position of vice chair for supervision was created after the Global Financial Crisis to create greater responsibility, transparency, and accountability for the Federal Reserve's supervision and regulation of the financial system,” Barr said. “The risk of a dispute over the position could...