Coindesk

“Good artists copy, great artists steal,” was a favorite saying of Apple's Steve Jobs to explain his company's blatant copying of technology from Xerox.Fast forward to the Web3 era, and BitMEX CEO Stephan Lutz, who was appointed to the role in late 2022, says he's fine with competitors copying the crypto exchange's invention of the perpetual swap, the financial instrument that underpins the crypto derivatives market. The more traders access the tool, the healthier the market, the logic goes.“It was copied by everyone, because that’s just open-source know-how," Lutz said in an interview with CoinDesk. The whole world works on it, which is like the best form of flattery we can wish for in the end.”Unlike futures — which are...

Early traders of NFT marketplace Magic Eden's new token ME had a lot to be thankful for – if they could access their airdrops, that is.In the first minutes of trading Tuesday, the token's fully diluted valuation hit $15 billion. But as more claimants managed to process their airdrops – and in some lucky cases, sell – that valuation began to crater. It eventually settled at an FDV around $5 billion.ME's rocky rollout stood in sharp contrast to other recent token launches. Hyperliquid's HYPE token immediately went parabolic after launching in late November. And Move's days-old MOVE token had a far more stable rollout – even shooting up at times.Some observers saw ME's down-only price action as comeuppance for a...

El Salvador and Argentina are partnering to help develop the crypto industry in Latin America.Juan Carlos Reyes, El Salvador’s top crypto regulator and president of the Comisión Nacional de Activos Digitales (CNAD), and Roberto Silva, the president of the Comisión Nacional de Valores of Argentina (CNV), on Tuesday signed an agreement for the two countries to collaborate on crypto regulation.“At CNAD we have two core objectives, when it comes to international collaboration,” Reyes told CoinDesk in an email. “To share our expertise with international partners, enabling them to harness the benefits of a well-regulated industry. … to broaden the international footprint of our regulated companies by forging strategic partnership agreements with nations worldwide.”“This landmark agreement with Argentina holds particular...

Tether's stablecoin USD₮ has been recognized as an accepted virtual asset in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the company announced on Tuesday.The approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority means that companies which are licensed can offer pre-approved USD₮ services in Abu Dhabi's Global Market. Though, the release did not say what those approved services might be. CoinDesk reached out to Tether for comment.Tether 's USD₮ exceeded a $138 billion market cap but the company wants to continue advancing its growth, the statement said.“By bringing USD₮ to the forefront of ADGM’s regulated virtual asset framework, we are not only validating the importance of stablecoins as critical tools for modern finance but also opening new doors for collaboration and growth...

Cryptocurrencies continued to this week's decline on Tuesday, with altcoins in near-freefall as bitcoin (BTC) slid further from the $100,000 level.Among the worst-hit cryptos were XRP, Polkadot (DOT), Litecoin (LTC), Aptos (APT) and Cardano (ADA), down 15%-18% over the past 24 hours, extending Monday declines. The CoinDesk 20 — an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding memecoins, stablecoins and exchange coins — tumbled almost 10% Most cryptos in the index plunged by double-digit percentage amount at the minimum, though Ethereum's ether (ETH) and Solana's SOL fell just 8% and 9%, respectively.Bitcoin, in comparison, held up relatively well compared to the rest of the market, dipping to $95,000 and down nearly 3% over the past 24 hours.Cryptocurrencies...