Author: Tristan Lodenberg

The US Department of Labor has proposed a rule change aimed at allowing Americans to invest in digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, within 401(k) retirement plans. The move follows an executive order by former President Donald Trump in August directing federal agencies to expand investment options in retirement accounts. Details of the Proposed Rule Titled “Fiduciary Duties In Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives,” the proposal appeared in the Federal Register on Monday. The draft guidance defines digital assets as “a new form of investing that includes a wide variety of assets that can be stored and transmitted digitally, including cryptocurrencies such as…

Binance is beta-testing a prediction market feature within its wallet app, partnering with third-party protocol Predict.Fun on BNB Smart Chain. Users will need to create a dedicated prediction account, separate from their spot trading account, to trade on event contracts. The rollout date and jurisdiction availability have not been announced. How Binance Prediction Markets Operate The feature allows users to trade on real-world events, including elections, sports, and cultural outcomes. Each possible outcome yes or no is represented by a share priced between $0.01 and $0.99, reflecting collective market belief. A Binance spokesperson confirmed, “We are beta testing in-app access…

The United States Department of Defense has demanded the retraction of a newspaper report claiming that a broker for Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted to arrange a multimillion dollar investment in weapons companies prior to the Iran war. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the report “entirely false and fabricated” and demanded an “immediate” retraction on Monday. Alleged Investment Details The Financial Times reported that a wealth manager for Hegseth contacted BlackRock about investing in a defence-related exchange-traded fund, which included companies such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. According to the report, the investment did not proceed because the fund…

A new study by Google Quantum AI suggests that Bitcoin’s encryption could be cracked in as little as nine minutes using a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. The research estimates that a 500,000-qubit machine could break Bitcoin’s ECDSA encryption, faster than the blockchain’s average block time of ten minutes, giving attackers a potential 41% success rate for hijacking transactions before confirmation. Risk Concentrated in Legacy Wallets The study highlights that approximately 2.3 million BTC in legacy addresses are particularly vulnerable due to exposed public keys. These are mostly older addresses or wallets that have already conducted transactions. The report emphasizes the…

Chainlink Labs and Anchorage Digital announced they are founding contributors to the Blockchain Leadership Fund, a hybrid political action committee created to support candidates advancing digital asset and blockchain policy in the United States. The PAC allows both direct contributions to candidates and independent expenditures such as media campaigns. Although neither company disclosed specific funding amounts, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records showed no listed contributions between the PAC’s creation in September and Dec. 31. An Anchorage spokesperson confirmed the company intends to make a “meaningful contribution,” which will be reported to the FEC. Crypto Policy Push Builds Ahead of November…

Bitcoin recovered from Monday’s dip below $65,200 and trades near $67,500, while major altcoins have fallen 3–8% for the week. Solana dropped 7% and XRP declined 6%, marking broad losses across risk assets as March closes. President Trump told aides he is willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. Trump and his team assessed that reopening the strait would extend the conflict beyond the four-to-six week timeline he publicly outlined. Brent crude erased early gains to settle near $106 per barrel after Iran struck a Kuwaiti oil carrier. The…

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil surged above $105 on Monday, reaching its highest level in nearly four years and raising concerns about potential Bitcoin price corrections. Historical data shows that when oil crosses the $105 threshold, Bitcoin has previously recorded sell-offs ranging from 14% to 27% within weeks. On June 12, 2014, WTI climbed above $105 after Islamic State forces advanced into Mosul and Tikrit, followed by a 21% Bitcoin decline within 10 weeks, dropping from $600 to $468. A similar pattern occurred on March 1, 2022, when oil surged during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, leading to a 14% correction…

US authorities have unsealed an indictment against Maryland resident Jonathan Spalletta, accused of carrying out two separate hacks against Uranium Finance, a decentralized finance platform that lost more than $54 million in April 2021. The charges were announced by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, with US Attorney Jay Clayton stating that exploiting crypto platforms is treated the same as traditional theft. Spalletta faces one count of computer fraud, carrying a possible sentence of up to 10 years, and one count of money laundering, carrying up to 20 years. He surrendered to authorities and was…

President Donald Trump has told advisers he wants to avoid a prolonged war with Iran and aims to end the conflict within the four-to-six-week timeline he previously outlined. Nearly one month into the war, he privately indicated the conflict may be entering its final stages. Officials are planning a mid-May summit in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, expecting the war to conclude before the meeting begins. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt also suggested that Arab nations such as Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia could be asked to share the financial burden of the military operation. Strait of Hormuz…

More than 40 Democrats from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have urged federal regulators to warn government employees about the illegality of insider trading on prediction markets. The request was led by Senator Elizabeth Warren of the Senate Banking Committee and Senator Cory Booker of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The lawmakers sent a letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Mike Selig and officials at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, asking them to circulate executive-wide guidance reminding federal employees that trading with non-public information is prohibited. The letter, dated March 29, stressed that bets placed on…