Coindesk

Crypto's chief political action committee has put money on its picks for the Florida congressional seats vacated by one of President-elect Donald Trump's closest allies, Matt Gaetz, and the politician Trump tapped as a national security advisor, Michael Waltz.With an extremely tight majority in the House of Representatives, the replacement of the two Florida Republicans is paramount to the party's political agenda in Congress. Crypto super PAC Fairshake — through its affiliate PAC, Defend American Jobs — has begun spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on pro-crypto names in the special elections set to fill the seats.Gaetz was briefly President-elect Donald Trump's pick for U.S. attorney general — the nation's highest law enforcement official — but he resigned from consideration...

As federal agencies prepare for new executive leadership, an obscure ethics rule threatens to hamstring the incoming Trump administration's ability to develop sound digital asset policy. Legal Advisory 22-04, issued by the Office of Government Ethics in 2022, has flown largely under the radar as part of the Biden administration's restrictive approach to crypto. Yet its impact could be profound: it effectively bars anyone holding cryptocurrencies, tokens, or stablecoins from federal service.For an incoming administration that promised to restore American competitiveness in financial innovation, this presents an immediate challenge. Key agencies like Treasury, SEC, CFTC, and the Federal Reserve will need officials who understand both traditional finance and digital assets. But the current ethics guidance forces potential appointees and civil servants...

Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Soichoro “Michael” Moro, the former CEO of its now-defunct Genesis subsidiary, have agreed to pay a combined $38.5 million in civil penalties to settle securities fraud charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).The crypto venture capital firm will bear the brunt of the financial penalty, paying $30 million in fines, while Moro will personally be liable for a $500,000 penalty. In addition to the fines, both DCG and Moro agreed to a cease-and-desist order. Neither DCG nor Moro admitted to any wrongdoing. Moro is currently the chief strategy officer at INX.The charges stem from DCG and Genesis’ response to the collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) – Genesis’ second-largest borrower – in...

Bitcoin (BTC) hit its strongest price in U.S. dollar terms in 2025 on Friday and notched a new record against the British pound as excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly U.S. government mounts ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration next week.BTC topped $105,000 during the U.S. session, surging 5.2% over the past 24 hours and leading the broad-market crypto benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index higher. Of the CoinDesk 20 constituents, only NEAR, and Litecoin's LTC kept pace with bitcoin's gains, while solana (SOL) and Ethereum's ether (ETH) lagged with 3% advances. XRP posted a 4% decline, retreating from its record highs after a massive market-leading rally earlier this week.Crypto-related stocks are also moving higher. MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate BTC holder,...

Ethereum's developers have finally delivered a timeline for the chain's next big upgrade, Pectra, which promises to introduce an array of speed and efficiency improvements to the second-largest blockchain. At a developer meeting held virtually on Thursday, Ethereum's core team set the upgrade's target release date for March 2025.Pectra combines together eight major upgrades, or "Ethereum improvement proposals" (EIPs), into one package.Among the most anticipated upgrades is EIP-7702, aimed at improving the user-experience of wallets. The upgrade, which was reportedly sketched out by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in a mere 22 minutes, enables user wallets to be programmed like smart contracts. It's part of a broader strategy to bring account abstraction to Ethereum — a series of features that make...