Coindesk

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME) has revealed that in the first month of the year, its crypto contracts saw an average daily volume (ADV) of 198,000 with a notional value of $13.6 billion.The CME detailed in a press release on Tuesday that year-over-year, its cryptocurrency ADV rose 180% as its micro bitcoin (BTC) futures registered a 255% rise, while its micro ether (ETH) futures contracts jumped 223%.While the exchange’s bitcoin and ether futures contracts have a notional value of 5 BTC and 50 ETH, respectively, their micro contracts represent just 0.1 of each cryptocurrency, allowing for more precise trading and risk management given their smaller size.On top of its full-sized and micro contracts for the top two cryptocurrencies by...

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is looking to increase its headcount, with more than half the added roles dedicated to regulating crypto, according to a two-year budget plan presented to the Legislative Council, the region's legislative body known as Legco.Despite freezing its headcount in three of the five financial years since 2020, it is looking to add another 15 people, eight of whom will be dedicated to crypto as the regulator furthers its commitment to regulate the industry."Eight of the proposed new headcount is for enhancing the staffing support for virtual asset regulatory regimes, market surveillance and enforcement investigations," the budget presented on Monday said.The growth comes as Hong Kong's administration faces a budget deficit that is forecast...

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)If you follow financial markets, you've probably come across the terms "risk-on" and "risk-off." Now we seem to be entering a new era of "tariffs on/tariffs off."In a risk-on environment, growth-sensitive assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies tend to rise due to expectations of economic expansion or accommodative monetary policy. Conversely, risk-off situations reflects a lack of investor confidence, leading to sell-offs and a preference for safer assets.But this week, President Trump's tariffs announcement have single-handedly guided markets. Early Monday, bitcoin (BTC) plummeted to nearly $91,000 as Canada and Mexico retaliated against Trump's tariffs. That was "tariffs on" trading.Later, it rebounded above $100,000 after Trump paused the Mexico tariffs for the 30 days...

Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate has reached another all-time high, with seven-day moving average jumping to 833 exahashes per second (EH/s), according to Glassnode data. This represents a 9% increase from 767 EH/s in the past few days.According to Miner Mag, pre-orders for mining hardware have begun to decline following the pre-halving surge. Many mining firms had stocked up on equipment in anticipation of this event, ensuring their operations remained competitive; however, analysts now expect a slowdown in hashrate growth.Hashrate measures the computational power used to secure the bitcoin network through mining, and a higher hashrate signifies greater network security.According to The Miner Mag, the network has seen a significant rise in hashrate over the past 18 months, driven largely by institutional...

The outlook for alternative cryptocurrencies appears grim relative to bitcoin as a renewed trade war potentially breaking out between the U.S. and its major trading partners may threaten to destabilize the global economy. Still, some coins are flashing bullish hints. For instance, the XRP/BTC ratio is teasing a move above the upper Bollinger band on the monthly chart for the first time since 2017, hinting at a significant XRP bull run ahead.Bollinger bands are volatility bands placed plus two and minus two standard deviations above the 20-period (day/week/month) simple moving average of an asset's price.The break above the upper band represents a bullish imbalance in the market, and prices typically maintain the lead for several days in a pattern called...