Coindesk

MetaDAO's push to revolutionize governance via markets-based decision-making is getting a boost from the creator of its creed: Robin Hanson.The crypto group on Thursday hired Hanson – a George Mason University economics professor who created the notion of futarchy a quarter century ago – as a paid advisor. His addition gives an intellectual and likely optical edge to the year-old project that commands a throng of Solana crypto-governance wonks.Futarchy rests on the premise that markets are better at determining optimal outcomes than politicians or even their voters – the popular power centers of modern politics. Futarchaic systems of governance look more like a prediction market than a ballot box.How it works, at least in metaDAO's version, is perhaps best understood...

Crypto isn't all that different from politics. According to Rushi Manche, the founder of blockchain company Movement, "Crypto is an attention game."It's fitting, then, that Donald Trump — the master of all things attention — is so at home selling memecoins. But it's not just Trump's inner circle that's managed to capitalize on his crypto ventures, which include the $TRUMP coin and World Liberty Financial.Once a vocal crypto skeptic, the president has become the industry's largest "key opinion leader" — or KOL, in blockchain industry parlance: a trader whose portfolio is closely watched by other investors deciding what to buy and sell.Trump's foray into crypto has created a new go-to-market playbook for ambitious token peddlers like Manche — blockchain founders...

Crypto scammers may have pocketed as much as a record $12.4 billion last year fueled, in part, by growth of so-called pig-butchering schemes, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said.Fraudsters' revenue from such schemes, in which they build up victims' trust before convincing them to make fraudulent crypto investments and named after the practice of fattening swine before slaughter, rose 40% to at least $9.9 billion.While law enforcement agencies worldwide have targeted such operations, scammers have refined their tactics, Chainalysis said. The scammers leverage artificial intelligence and are expanding their networks across multiple countries, becoming more professionalized, the report said. Overall scam activity has increased 24% a year on average since 2020.Chainalysis highlighted platforms like Huione Guarantee, a peer-to-peer marketplace that, it...

Which market offers the most favorable environment for virtual assets? This distinction remains highly contested, with various financial centers competing to become leading hubs for digital assets, aiming to attract innovation, investment and jobs. In Asia, two of the most prominent players in this space are Hong Kong and Singapore.Hong Kong’s regulatory environment will be the lynchpin to its success. The right regime will not only provide guidelines to stakeholders but attract them in the first place. And though entrepreneurs and corporations are often the focus of such policy-making, regulators need to give as much attention to retail and institutional investors. After all, investors provide the financial backing that businesses need to succeed in what is typically a capital-intensive market.Why...

Plasma, a crypto startup building a Bitcoin-based blockchain designed specifically for stablecoins, raised $20 million to further its development, the company said on Thursday.The fundraising round was led by Framework Ventures and will support Plasma’s testnet and mainnet launches, as well as its expansion into remittances, payments and DeFi applications, the team said. The investment followed a $4 million round with early backers including Bitfinex, stablecoin issuer Tether's CEO Paolo Ardoino, venture capitalist Peter Thiel and prominent crypto traders Cobie and Zaheer Ebtikar, also known as Split Capital.Stablecoins have become a dominant force in crypto surpassing $220 billion in supply, and are increasingly used for everyday payments and savings. While Bitcoin is the longest-running blockchain, most of the stablecoin activity...