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Kevin Hassett, a top contender for President Donald Trump’s Fed chair pick, stated that Trump’s voice would carry no weight in the central bank’s interest rate decisions under his chairmanship.”[He] has very strong and well-founded views about what we ought to do,” Hassett, Trump’s top economic adviser at the White House, said Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation.”But in the end, the job of the Fed is to be independent and to work with the group of people that are on the Board of Governors, the FOMC, to drive a group consensus on where interest rates should be,” he added.Hassett’s remarks…

After three years of development, Firedancer went live on Solana mainnet in December 2024, having already produced 50,000 blocks across 100 days of testing on a handful of validators.The milestone, announced Dec. 12 by Solana’s official account, marks more than a performance upgrade. It represents the network’s first real attempt to eliminate the architectural bottleneck that has underpinned its most damaging outages: near-total reliance on a single validator client.Solana has spent years marketing sub-second finality and four-figure transaction-per-second throughput, but speed means little when 70% to 90% of the network’s consensus power runs the same software.A critical bug in that…

Retail traders can now fund their IBKR accounts with stablecoin transfers.Interactive Brokers (IBKR), one of the world’s largest brokerage services, now allows users to deposit stablecoins in their brokerage accounts.According to a Bloomberg report, the feature will have a staggered rollout beginning in the United States, allowing eligible accounts to fund their brokerage accounts with stablecoins.The move presents a much-needed alternative for those who made their wealth in crypto, as before, users were required to offramp via a centralized exchange, transfer funds to their bank account, and then transfer money from a bank account to a licensed brokerage, while paying…

Memecoins are not dead because the market is down and the narrative has faded, according to president of payment infrastructure company MoonPay, Keith A. Grossman, who said that memecoins will be back but in a different form.The real innovation of memecoins is that attention can be tokenized easily and at low costs through blockchain technology, democratizing access to the attention economy, Grossman said. He continued:“Before crypto, attention could only be monetized by platforms, brands and a small group of influencers. Everyone else generated value and gave it away for free. Likes, trends, inside jokes and communities created massive economic value.”…

Barclays expects a more tepid year for crypto in 2026, with trading volumes trending down and investor enthusiasm waning. In a wide-ranging year-end report published Friday, the bank flagged a difficult backdrop for digital asset exchanges like Coinbase (COIN), citing unclear catalysts for renewed activity and a slow start to token adoption efforts.Retail-facing exchanges, which benefited from surging trading interest during the crypto bull runs of prior years, are now facing a more subdued environment. Barclays analysts noted that trading volume in spot markets — key revenue drivers for companies like Coinbase and Robinhood (HOOD) — has cooled sharply. Without…

Walk into a gas station, grocery store, or convenience store today, and you might see a small orange kiosk glowing in the corner. What started as a curiosity has quietly become one of the most familiar in-person touchpoints in the digital economy: the crypto ATM.With close to 40,000 crypto ATMs operating worldwide, this technology has become a staple for the crypto-curious and enthusiasts alike, helping spark mainstream interest in a digital asset once considered esoteric and unapproachable. As a physical bridge between traditional fiat currency and the digital asset world, these kiosks have made crypto more accessible, tangible, and user-friendly…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure Bitcoin has been the undisputed dominant force in the financial world. In a swift change of financial gravity, the spotlight has shifted from the decentralized digital asset to the US government treasury. As liquidity becomes the defining force behind every major market move, the Treasury General Account (TGA) has emerged as the true engine capable of driving risk assets. Why Bitcoin’s Cycles Matter Less When Federal Cash Levels Shift The most important chart for 2026 isn’t Bitcoin, it’s the US Treasury’s checking account. Crypto analyst Kyle Chassé…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure Ethereum was one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in the market over the past week, with its price jumping mid-week to as high as $3,400. Interestingly, the “king of altcoins” is now barely hanging on to the psychological $3,000 price level. On Friday, December 12, the crypto market felt a wave of bearish pressure, with most large-cap assets witnessing significant price corrections on the day. According to the latest on-chain data, the Ethereum market appears to be experiencing heavy selling pressure. Ethereum Taker Volume Sees Notable Spike In…

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a crypto wallet and custody guide investor bulletin on Friday, outlining best practices and common risks of different forms of crypto storage for the investing public.The SEC’s bulletin lists the benefits and risks of different methods of crypto custody, including self-custody versus allowing a third-party to hold digital assets on behalf of the investor.If investors choose third-party custody, they should understand the custodian’s policies, including whether it “rehypothecates” the assets held in custody by lending them out or if the service provider is commingling client assets in a single pool instead…

Long-term Bitcoin (BTC) whales selling covered calls, a strategy of selling call options that give the buyer the right but not an obligation to purchase an asset in the future at a predetermined price in exchange for the seller collecting a premium, is suppressing spot BTC prices, according to market analyst Jeff Park.Large, long-term BTC holders, also known as “whales” or “OGs,” introduce a disproportionate amount of sell-side pressure through this covered call strategy, partly because market makers are on the other side, buying the covered calls, Park said.This means that the market makers must hedge their exposure to buy…