Coindesk

Ether's ETH rally, though impressive, leaves much to be desired. That's because the unwinding of shorts is said to be fueling the rally, not fresh longs or bullish leveraged bets on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)."The rally is primarily the result of short covering – traders unwinding bearish positions – rather than a surge of bullish conviction," Sui Chung, CEO of crypto index provider CF Benchmarks, told CoinDesk. CME's derivatives, preferred by institutions, track the CF Benchmarks' Bitcoin Reference Rate – New York (BRRNY) variant.When bears cover their shorts, it means they are buying back futures contracts initially sold. This action of short covering temporarily boosts demand in the market, putting upward pressure on prices.Chung pointed to the still-low CME futures...

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)The global crypto corporate-adoption narrative is thriving even as bitcoin and the wider crypto market take a bull breather, potentially establishing a base for a new high.Méliuz, a publicly listed Brazilian fintech firm, announced Thursday the purchase of 274.52 BTC. It now holds 320.2 BTC worth over $33.3 million. On Wednesday, Bahrain-listed A1 Abraaj Restaurants Group disclosed an initial purchase of 5 BTC with plans to scale holdings significantly.Eric Trump, the second-eldest son of President Donald Trump, captured the feeling on day 2 of CoinDesk's Consensus Toronto event: "I'm traveling. I'm on a plane. Everybody in the world is trying to hoard bitcoin right now. Everybody. I hear it from sovereign wealth...

Bitcoin BTC bulls face a $120 million resistance challenge as they look to extend the classic "stair-step" uptrend, or periodic controlled move higher, order book data show.Since April 9, bitcoin has climbed about 38%, advancing from around $75,000 to $104,000 as trade tensions eased and major market participants deployed capital.This rally can be described as a classic stair-step pattern: Initial bullish impulses are followed by periods of consolidation, which set the stage for the next upward move.For example, the initial increase from $75,000 encountered range-bound trading between $83,000 and $85,000. The subsequent step higher faced consolidation between $92,000 and $96,000.Similarly, since May 10, prices have oscillated mainly between $101,000 and $105,000, marking consolidation following the step into six figure territory.From...

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged 12 individuals for stealing over $263 million in crypto. The individuals are linked to an earlier investigation where scammers were able to siphon off over $243 million from a Genesis creditor. According to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, last year one of the creditor of defunct trading firm Genesis was spoofed by a group of scammers, who were able to steal $243 million worth of digital assets and then redirect it through crypto mixers.Several of the individuals charged, which includes U.S. nationals and foreign, were arrested in California this week, the DOJ said in a press release on Thursday. The remaining two individuals live abroad. The charges on the individuals range from racketeering, wire fraud...

XRP fell over 4% in the past 24 hours, leading losses among major cryptocurrencies as the broader market stalls after last week’s sharp rally. Bitcoin continues to hover above $104,000, with traders predicting a steady rise past $105,000, a level now acting as both psychological and technical resistance.The crypto market's total capitalization declined 2% to $3.3 trillion, according to CoinGecko, with majors such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) also pausing near their 200-day moving averages — a region that may either signal consolidation or the start of a short-term pullback.“Bitcoin has been smoothly forming a top for the past seven days,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro. “This kind of setup typically signals a correction is due,...