Author: Tristan Lodenberg

Sharplink Gaming reported a net loss of $734.6 million for 2025 as the crypto market downturn in the second half of the year sharply reduced the value of its digital asset holdings. The company attributed the majority of the loss to a $616.2 million paper loss on its treasury of Ethereum. Sharplink disclosed that it currently holds 868,699 ETH, accumulated as part of its strategy to operate as an Ethereum treasury company. The firm also recorded an additional $140.2 million impairment charge tied to the conversion of its staked Ether. Ethereum Price Drop Impacted Treasury Value Ethereum experienced strong growth…

NFT lending platform Gondi is working to compensate users after a smart contract exploit resulted in the theft of digital collectibles valued at roughly $230,000. The security breach was linked to a recently deployed update to the platform’s Sell & Repay contract, which is designed to allow borrowers to sell escrowed NFTs and automatically repay loans in a single bundled transaction. According to the platform, a new contract version released on February 20 introduced faulty logic in the “Purchase Bundler” function. The flaw reportedly failed to properly verify whether the caller interacting with the contract was the legitimate owner or…

Oil markets fell sharply while cryptocurrencies recorded modest gains after mixed statements from US President Donald Trump regarding the ongoing conflict involving Iran. In a phone interview with CBS News, Trump suggested that the military conflict was nearing its conclusion, saying the war appeared “very complete” and that Iranian military capabilities had been significantly weakened. The US military has reportedly struck more than 3,000 targets in Iran during the first week of operations. Following those remarks, oil prices dropped sharply. Crude fell from a four-year high near $118 to around $85 within hours, reflecting market expectations that the conflict might…

A renewed debate over crypto taxation has emerged in the United States Senate as lawmakers review a broader digital asset market structure bill. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis has revived her proposal to create a de minimis tax exemption that would allow small cryptocurrency transactions to avoid capital gains taxes. Under the proposal, crypto payments valued at less than $300 would not trigger taxable events. The plan also sets an annual cap of $5,000 for such exempt transactions. The initiative is designed to make digital assets easier to use for everyday payments, particularly for assets like Bitcoin, which currently face capital…

Nasdaq has announced a collaboration with Boerse Stuttgart Group to connect its European trading venues with the tokenized settlement platform Seturion. The initiative focuses on enabling the settlement of tokenized securities using distributed ledger technology across European capital markets. The partnership will initially concentrate on structured products. Under the arrangement, securities traded on Nasdaq’s European platforms will be able to settle through Seturion’s infrastructure, which is designed to support faster and more efficient transaction processing. Seturion Platform Supports Tokenized Asset Settlement Seturion is built to support multiple asset classes across both public and private distributed ledger networks. The platform allows…

A political action committee backed by major crypto industry players has increased its spending in key Illinois races ahead of the 2026 United States midterm elections. The committee, Fairshake, reported several new expenditures aimed at influencing congressional and Senate contests in the state. Recent filings with the Federal Election Commission showed a $16,000 media purchase opposing Illinois state representative La Shawn Ford in his campaign for a seat in the US Congress. This adds to roughly $1.8 million already spent in the race during 2026. Illinois voters are scheduled to hold primary elections on March 17. Millions Directed Toward Senate…

Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) has raised $25 million in seed funding as it moves to expand development within the Zcash ecosystem. The round attracted several well-known investors in the digital asset sector, including Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Cypherpunk Technologies, Chapter One and Maelstrom. Individual participants in the round include technology and crypto investors such as Balaji Srinivasan, David Friedberg, Haseeb Qureshi and Mert, along with other early-stage backers. Zodl Wallet and Zcash Infrastructure Development The startup oversees development of the Zodl wallet, a privacy-focused application built on the codebase of the earlier Zashi wallet. The technology…

A major shift in financial payments has emerged as stablecoins were used to settle insurance premiums with global insurance broker Aon. In the pilot initiative, Coinbase and Paxos completed premium payments using digital dollar tokens, marking what appears to be one of the first instances of a large insurance intermediary accepting stablecoins for such transactions. Coinbase settled its payment using USDC on the Ethereum network, while Paxos used PayPal USD (PYUSD) on the Solana blockchain. The transactions were conducted as part of the companies’ existing insurance programs with Aon. Stablecoin Payments Signal Changes in Insurance Finance The initiative serves as…

Trading activity on bitFlyer surged sharply as Asian financial markets faced heavy selling pressure. The platform recorded a 200% increase in 24-hour trading volume, surpassing activity growth on global exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase. The spike occurred during a broad regional market decline triggered by rising oil prices. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped roughly 6.5%, while South Korea’s Kospi fell about 8% and Taiwan’s Taiex declined nearly 4.9%. Bitcoin Gains Against the Japanese Yen Amid the market turbulence, Bitcoin rose more strongly against the Japanese yen than against other major currencies. During Asian trading hours, Bitcoin increased about 2.05% versus…

Bitcoin recovered strongly during Monday’s U.S. trading session, climbing back toward the $69,000 level after briefly falling to just above $65,000 overnight. The cryptocurrency gained roughly 2.5% over the past 24 hours, reflecting renewed buying interest as market volatility eased. Ether also moved higher, reclaiming the $2,000 level with a gain of about 4% during the same period. The broader digital asset market followed the upward trend as investors responded to improving conditions in global financial markets. Oil Price Decline Eases Pressure on Risk Assets The rebound in crypto markets coincided with a sharp reversal in crude oil prices. West…