Coindesk

Finance is increasingly a weapon of war. United States policymakers and our allies focus too narrowly on macroeconomic tools like sanctions and promoting the dollar as a reserve currency when the modern front is evolving. Today, the real battles are being waged on smartphones and in the global currency markets.China is waging a multi-decade plan to displace the United States' greatest asset: the dollar. The dollar is critical to the United States' economic and geopolitical power as the global reserve currency. Without it, our influence would weaken, and our debt would become a bigger problem. This is precisely what the Chinese Communist Party and the Kremlin want.China and Russia have shed billions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasury holdings while...

Over the past year, the crypto industry has attracted users on an exponential scale, with monthly active addresses tripling from 70 million in 2023 to over 220 million in 2024. With over 300 chains listed, the ecosystem should be able to cater to the needs of all types of users sustainably. However, in this sprawling landscape, a majority of activity and liquidity is locked within multiple Ethereum Layer 2’s.In its current state, Ethereum is reminiscent of early 1500s Europe, which experienced breakthroughs like the printing press and advanced shipbuilding that enhanced resource management. Today, Ethereum's flourishing DeFi ecosystem is equipped with primitives such as lending and borrowing, staking and restaking. However, much like Europe's challenges with scarce and overutilized resources,...

Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this piece owns shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR)It's been a tough month for MicroStrategy (MSTR), the software developer turned bitcoin (BTC) accumulator. Its stock has tumbled almost 50% since November, when it joined the Nasdaq 100 index and peaked at a 600% gain since the start of the year.That still leaves the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company a whopping 342% ahead in 2024, the biggest return among the highest-profile crypto-linked assets in traditional finance (TradFi).It's been a volatile year, packed with geopolitical and technological developments to rattle financial markets. The continuing wars in eastern Europe and the Middle East, elections across the globe, the unwinding of the yen carry trade in August and the growth of artificial...

Ether (ETH), the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, is likely to outperform larger rival bitcoin (BTC) in 2025, Steno Research said in a report Sunday, citing historical trends and Donald Trump's U.S. election victory.Bitcoin is predicted to reach a minimum of $150,000 next year, up from about $94,000, while ether will more than double to at least $8,000 from $,3400, the report said.Steno said it expects the ether/bitcoin ratio to rise to 0.06 in the next 12 months from the current 0.0357, echoing the price action seen in previous cycles.Altcoins will be in focus, it said. "This expectation is partly based on the argument that Donald Trump's U.S. presidential victory is more favorable for altcoins than for bitcoin," analyst Mads...

XRP trading volumes on South Korea's biggest crypto exchanges have overtaken those of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) in a sign of flurried interest that often precedes price volatility.Total trading volume against the won on UpBit, Bithumb and Korbit, the country’s largest exchanges by volumes and users, topped $800 million in dollar value in the past 24 hours.XRP registered over $200 million in volumes on Bithumb and $600 million on UpBit, with bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes less than half of those on both exchanges. Interest in other assets, such as dogecoin (DOGE) or ether (ETH) was even lower, reaching just a 10th of the demand seen for XRP.A wild increase in trading volume is often a harbinger of increased volatility...