Crypto Wallet Upgrade, Seed-Phrase-Free Smart Accounts Emerge

Crypto’s longstanding user-experience hurdle, the dreaded seed phrase, is facing a serious challenge. As wallet providers experiment with programmable smart accounts and simplified recovery, the debate about self-custody is shifting from technical responsibility to everyday usability. In this week’s episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, host Nathaniel Whittemore, Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson, and Ready (formerly Argent) … Read more

US GENIUS Act Splits Global Stablecoin Liquidity From EU MiCA

The United States’ new approach to stablecoin regulation is reshaping global liquidity flows and driving a sharp structural split with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime, effectively creating separate US and EU stablecoin liquidity pools, according to a new report from blockchain security auditor CertiK. The report finds that the US digital asset … Read more

CFTC Greenlights Spot Crypto Trading on US Exchanges

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has given approval for spot cryptocurrency products to trade on federally regulated futures exchanges. In a Thursday notice, Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham said the move was in response to policy directives from US President Donald Trump. She added that the approval followed recommendations by the President’s Working Group … Read more

Argentina’s YPF Weighs Crypto Payments at Gas Stations

Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), Argentina’s state-controlled energy company, is reportedly considering allowing drivers to pay for gasoline and diesel with cryptocurrency, as digital assets continue to gain traction in everyday transactions across the country. The plan could rely on a third-party processor rather than direct wallet payments, including local and international platforms such as Lemon, … Read more

Pepe Memecoin Website Suffers Front-End Exploit: Web3 Cybersecurity Firm

The official website for the Pepe (PEPE) memecoin has been compromised by attackers, who are redirecting users to a malicious link. “Blockaid’s system has identified a front-end attack on Pepe. The site contains a code of inferno drainer,” the cybersecurity company said on Thursday. Inferno Drainer is a suite of scam tools that is employed … Read more

Bitcoin “Bear Thesis” Stays In Play With Fresh $93,500 Rejection

Bitcoin (BTC) slipped from the 2025 yearly open into Thursday’s Wall Street trading session as markets reacted to US jobs data. Key points: Strong US labor-market data fails to dent hopes of a December Fed rate cut. Crypto continues to diverge from stocks amid predictions of a strong finish to 2025 for the latter. Bitcoin … Read more

Exclusive data from EigenPhi reveals that sandwich attacks on Ethereum have waned

Maximal extractable value (MEV) refers to the economic value diverted from users by block builders through the manipulation of transaction ordering. The most harmful type of MEV are sandwich attacks, where an attacker simultaneously frontruns and backruns a victim’s swaps. This gives the victim a suboptimal execution price while the attacker pockets a spread. Most … Read more

EU Proposes To Centralize Crypto, Financial Markets Under ESMA

The European Commission has proposed expanding the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) over crypto and broader financial markets in a bid to narrow the competitive gap with the United States. Published Thursday, the package would transfer “direct supervisory competences” for key pieces of market infrastructure, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), trading … Read more

Bitcoin Sell Signs Flash as Bears Target BTC Prices Below $70K

Bitcoin (BTC) is flashing early signs of a deeper correction, as the latest recovery pauses at $93,000. New analysis shows Bitcoin’s “market structure” increasingly resembles the first quarter of 2022, which marked the beginning of the bear market. Key takeaways: Bitcoin’s onchain structure mirrors early 2022, risking a deep bear market if key levels are … Read more

Portal to Bitcoin Raises $25M for Native Bitcoin Swaps

Bitcoin-native interoperability protocol Portal to Bitcoin has raised $25 million in funding amid the launch of what it describes as an atomic over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk. According to a Thursday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the company raised $25 million in a round led by digital asset lender JTSA Global. The fundraise follows previous investments by … Read more