Between fever-pitch anticipation over the impending approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s $42-million-plus settlement with Tether and Bitfinex, and Vladimir Putin brooding over cryptocurrency’s capacity to transfer value, this past week has been saturated with major policy news. While all the above are instances of state figures’ and institutions’ top-down actions and statements on digital assets, an arguably even more interesting tide has emerged on the side of the crypto industry itself. Two major players of the digital space, Coinbase and a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), came forward with proposed visions for regulating internet-native economic activity Below …

Crypto lenders are the institutions situated between consumers and the untamed, blockchain-based, and often unregulated space of cryptocurrencies. As such, they are in a peculiar position when it comes to responsibility towards their customers and the assets for which they provide services. Consequently, when choosing which currencies to support, lenders lead a delicate dance of responsibility, a balancing act between catering to popular demand and adding cryptocurrencies that are sustainable, worthwhile and safe. Demand vs. approval: The question of endorsement It’s unsurprising that in a nascent industry full of new investors, a lender’s asset integration is often taken for endorsement. …

On Thursday, cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase published its Digital Asset Policy Proposal, a document offering both a justification and conceptual framework for the comprehensive regulation of digital assets in the United States. Coinbase presented the proposal as a product of dozens of meetings with industry participants, policymakers, crypto innovators and academics that the company’s representatives had held in the last several weeks. The firm’s intention is for the proposal to “animate an open and constructive discussion regarding the role of digital assets in our shared economic future” and offer good-faith suggestions on what a sensible approach to crypto regulation might …

There have already been more than 1 million sign-ups for Coinbase’s nonfungible token (NFT) platform since the waitlist went live on Tuesd. Coinbase opened up the waitlist via a blog post announcing its upcoming NFT platform, which is slated to launch later this year. The platform, dubbed “Coinbase NFT,” will initially support the Ethereum-based ERC-721 and ERC-1155 token standards, with plans to expand support to other blockchains in the future. At the time of writing, there are almost 1.1 million people waiting for early access to the NFT platform. Sanchan Saxena, vice president of product at Coinbase, tweeted that the …

Six months following its application with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), BetaShares is now close to launching a new crypto-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to a Wednesday announcement, the official name of the Aussie ETF manager’s new product is BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF. After relevant regulatory approvals, it would trade under the ticker symbol CRYP on the ASX. As with the similar Bitcoin (BTC) or crypto-focused ETFs, BetaShares’ fund aims to provide a level of crypto exposure to institutional investors looking to invest in cryptocurrencies indirectly. The new fund will track the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators Index, which launched in …

Major crypto exchange Coinbase has announced that it will be opening a waitlist for a nonfungible marketplace it will launch later this year. In a Tuesday blog post, Coinbase vice president of product and ecosystem Sanchan Saxena said the nonfungible token, or NFT, marketplace would allow its users to mint, purchase, discover and showcase Ethereum-based tokens. According to Saxena, the offering will allow creators to maintain control of their artwork “through decentralized contracts and metadata transparency,” with all NFTs on-chain. The Coinbase announcement comes following crypto exchange FTX and its United States-based subsidiary introducing a marketplace wherein users are able …

Meme coins were some of the earliest breakout stars at the start of this year's bull run and big-name influencers like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban helped to stoke a surge in the price of Dogecoin (DOGE). The success of DOGE eventually spawned th massive litter of dog-themed offshoots that now populate the meme coin pack. This week the pack is once again on the run after Shiba Inu (SHIB) saw a triple-digit breakout and DOGE looks ready to move higher. Bitcoin's (BTC) sudden move above the $55,000 level appears to have kickstarted the move, and even as the price …

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has reportedly suffered another security breach after attackers were able to bypass the company’s multi-factor authentication, or MFA, feature in a coordinated campaign earlier this year. The attackers stole cryptocurrency from 6,000 accounts, though the monetary value of the theft wasn’t disclosed, according to a report from Bleeping Computer. Earlier this week, Coinbase reportedly notified affected customers that the theft occurred between March and May. To gain access to the accounts, the attackers must have known the affected users’ email address, password and phone number. It’s not clear how the attackers obtained this information, though phishing scams …

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance (DeFi) newsletter. DYdX surpassed Coinbase in daily trading volume for the first time this week. Read on to discover why this was a seminal moment for the project’s founder. What you’re about to read is the concise version of this newsletter. For the full breakdown of DeFi’s developments over the last week — released with more anticipation than a layer-two airdrop — register below. dYdX surpasses Coinbase in trading volume for first time Decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX has risen to prominence through 2021 as an alternative to the hegemony and governmental …

Coinbase will soon allow United States businesses to deposit employees’ paychecks directly into accounts at the cryptocurrency exchange. In a Monday blog post, Coinbase senior director of product Prakash Hariramani said the exchange would be offering direct deposits for workers who want to use their paychecks to purchase crypto with no transaction fees. Users can set up direct deposits through a supported payroll company on the Coinbase app, or through a company’s human resources department. Hariramani said users will have the option to deposit “as much or as little” of their paychecks as they want in the feature rolling out …

Decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX has seen a surge in trade activity as concerns surrounding a renewed Chinese crypto crackdown have circulated this year, with the decentralized exchange (DEX) now processing more volume than Coinbase’s spot markets for the first time. According to CoinGecko, dYdX has facilitated more than $4.3 billion worth of trades in the past 24-hours, beating out Coinbase’s $3.7 billion in volume by nearly 15%. DYdX founder and former Coinbase employee Antonio Juliano celebrated the milestone in a Monday tweet. 5 years ago I left @coinbase and eventually founded dYdX Today, for the first time, @dydxprotocol is doing …

On September 17, a group of officials led by U.S. attorney Tracy Wilkinson have filed a civil complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California claiming that they have identified four digital wallets holding more than 9.8 million Tether (USDT) that was involved in wire fraud, computer fraud and money laundering. According to court documents, the legitimate owner of the funds is a California resident who in April 2021 got swindled out of more than 200 Bitcoin (BTC) by someone impersonating a Coinbase employee. Customer support goes awry As described in the claim, the unidentified …