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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the Trump administration aims to reduce borrowing costs in the economy by lowering the yield on the 10-year Treasury note."He and I are focused on the 10-year Treasury," Bessent told Fox Business when asked about plans to lower interest rates. "He is not calling for the Fed to lower interest rates," Bessent added.The 10-year yield, the so-called risk-free rate, influences most long-term loans in the economy, including mortgages and business loans. Thus, a declining 10-year yield encourages borrowing and investment, increasing risk-taking in the economy and financial markets.Thus, softening of the 10-year yield is typically seen as bullish for risk assets, including bitcoin (BTC). Trump plans to lower the yield by controlling...

Bitcoin (BTC) has become a store of value and an instability hedge for the world's wealthiest investors, Michael Sonnenfeld, the founder of Tiger21, said during an interview on CNBC.The members of Tiger21, a network of high-net-worth investors and executives, collectively have a net worth of $200 billion. The members have allocated around 1%-3% of their wealth into crypto, Sonnenfeld said, which amounts to around $6 billion."The areas of digital currencies remain really exciting. We have some members who are all in: it's become a gold substitute," Sonnenfeld said on CNBC. "Gold is for traditionalists, bitcoin a bit new age, but they often play the same role. They are perceived as storehouses of value."BTC is up over 125% during the last...

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $98,000 during Thursday's Asian trading hours after Eric Trump, son of U.S. President Donald Trump, encouraged BTC investment on X. " feels like a great time to enter BTC," Eric Trump posted on X at 1:41 UTC, following which, BTC prices rose from $96,900 to $97,830. The micro CME futures topped the $98,000 mark, according to data source TradingView. Early this week, Trump's AI and crypto czar David Sacks said the Trump administration is evaluating the feasibility of a strategic bitcoin reserve, disappointing crypto investors anticipating a swift action on the issue.Source link

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's legal campaign against prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi can't just be shut down, according to Caroline Pham, the acting agency chairman put in place by President Donald Trump.Pham said the agency will gather experts for a roundtable meeting, probably next month, that can build a case for how the commission ought to approach regulation and oversight of firms that offer betting on event contracts. She noted that despite her continued objections in recent years to former Chairman Rostin Behnam's enforcement stance against prediction markets — including wagers made on sporting events and U.S. political outcomes — the agency moved too far on its path to easily reverse it."Unfortunately, the undue delay...

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I'm Ben Schiller, CoinDesk’s Opinion and Features editor.In this issue:Ethereum’s Wall Street cheerleaderAvalanche cuts fees by 75%Arbitrum integrates BitcoinUBS tests ZKSync for goldThis article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.Network newsETHEREUM’S WALL STREET GUY: Ethereum is facing an identity crisis. Its native token, ether (ETH), is underperforming against competitors, and longtime builders are beginning to question whether the chain's technology is falling behind – and if its community is losing focus. The Ethereum Foundation, the nonprofit that stewards Ethereum's development,...