Coindesk

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Caroline Pham, the Republican commissioner who just took over the agency as President Donald Trump returned to the White House, ushered out many of the agency's top officials under predecessor Rostin Behnam, the Democrat who'd been appointed by Joe Biden.The staff changes — with each departure replaced by interim officials appointed by Pham — will have implications on cryptocurrency oversight for the U.S. derivatives regulator that's poised to play a bigger role in the field.Notably, Harry Jung, who joined the CFTC in 2023 as a senior policy advisor to Pham, will lead the agency's engagement with the crypto industry. He's been tapped for an elevated role as the CFTC's new acting chief of staff.Pham...

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The release of Ross Ulbricht and the lifting of sanctions on Tornado Cash mark pivotal moments for the crypto community. It’s more than symbolic. It’s an opportunity to clearly rebrand the U.S. as a safe place to build the internet of money.Ross’ freedom comes after over a decade of imprisonment — a journey defined by relentless advocacy, legal battles, and unwavering support from the crypto community. His release matters deeply to me because over a decade ago I launched Silk Road 2.0, his site’s successor.His double life sentence without parole wasn’t just about the Silk Road, though. It symbolized the U.S. government’s resistance to the blockchain industry and to the idea of a financial system controlled by individuals instead of...

Among the most vocal critics of TRUMP, the controversial and wildly popular memecoin launched by Donald Trump on the eve of his 2025 inauguration, are the very crypto enthusiasts he may have hoped to court.The TRUMP coin, launched on Jan. 17, saw a dramatic price surge, climbing from $7 to an all-time high of $75 within 24 hours before settling at $38. Two days after TRUMP’s debut, MELANIA, a coin endorsed by First Lady Melania Trump, entered the market. Unlike its predecessor, MELANIA has struggled, starting around $7 and plummeting below $4 after a briefly peaking at $14.While both tokens' volatile trajectories appear to have minted some overnight millionaires, they have also drawn sharp criticism from industry insiders.The potential for...

Sentiment towards Ethereum's ether (ETH) has sunk to depressed levels in recent times, but the latest maneuver of President Donald Trump-related crypto platform could spur hope for a reversal.World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform linked to the Trump family, this week deposited a total of 10,000 ether (ETH) worth $33 million to liquid staking platform Lido Finance (LDO) to stake and earn rewards, blockchain data by Arkham Intelligence showed. Lido is the largest ether staking platform with $31 billion of assets posted on the platform.The transactions came after World Liberty Finance acquired more than $110 million worth of crypto assets including ETH, wrapped bitcoin (wBTC), Tron's TRX, AAVE, LINK and Ethena's ENA, as CoinDesk reported.The maneuver raises...