Payments behemoth Visa has invested in BVNK, a London-based startup focused on stablecoin payment infrastructure, signaling continued interest in digital asset innovation.According to a May 7 BVNK announcement, the startup “secured a strategic investment from Visa through their Visa Ventures arm.” Furthermore, while the company does not explain fully what it entails, it refers to the investment as “more than capital” and describes it as a partnership. The company’s CEO, Jesse Hemson-Struthers, wrote:“I’m particularly excited about what it means to partner with Visa—the original payments innovator. Their deep expertise in building global payment networks, combined with our stablecoin infrastructure, creates powerful possibilities for redefining how businesses operate in today’s digital economy.“BVNK-VISA partnership image. Source: BVNKRubail Birwadker, head of products and partnerships at Visa, explained that “stablecoins are fast becoming a part of global payment flows.” He said that Visa invests in new technologies and builders, such as BVNK, who are involved in “what’s next in commerce to better serve our clients and partners.”Related: Stablecoin fever: 5 major stablecoins are growing crypto adoptionBVNK is on a rollVisa’s investment in BVNK follows the stablecoin infrastructure company closing a $50 million Series B funding round led by Haun Ventures at the end of 2024, with plans to expand into the United States. The round saw the participation of industry heavyweights including Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, DRW VC, and existing investors Avenir and Tiger Global.The company is based in London and was estimated to be worth about $750 million at the time. BVNK planned to leverage its US offices to develop a local banking infrastructure and work on operational licenses to serve local companies.Related: Pro-crypto Democrats pull support for stablecoin bill in last minuteVISA banks on cryptoVisa has been increasingly scaling up its involvement in the crypto space. In late October 2024, the firm allowed Visa users with eligible debit cards will soon be able to instantly deposit and withdraw funds from their accounts with crypto exchange Coinbase. Visa said at the time that “Coinbase already has millions of users with a debit card connected to their account,” and now they will get “real-time delivery of account funds for those using an eligible Visa debit card.”During the same month, Visa unveiled its Visa Tokenized Asset Platform. This new system aims to simplify the issuance and management of tokenized assets, including tokenized deposits, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies.Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight
Published Date: 2025-05-07 13:16:36In an industry filled with complexity, jargon and mistrust, women in Web3 say that the way to attract more women into the crypto space starts with clarity, education and community. At the Blockchain Baddies side event during Token2049 in Dubai, women shared personal experiences of entering the Web3 world and why they believe more female participation is essential for the future of crypto.In interviews with Cointelegraph, community members said the path forward begins with simplifying technical concepts and fostering environments where women can learn and grow. Women in Web3 share experiences in the crypto space. Source: CointelegraphFrom providing clarity to building skills From simplifying technical language to creating safe spaces for learning, women in Web3 said that demystifying crypto and making tools more intuitive can unlock more opportunities for women to enter the Web3 industry. Caroline York, the marketing director of Web3 firm Serotonin, said that making the space more welcoming to women starts with clarity. “In order to attract more women, we’ve got to make the information much more digestible and a lot clearer,” she said.York told Cointelegraph that women also tend to feel safer in high-trust and intimate environments, with friends and peers as their information source. “Women learn from other women,” York added, pointing to community-driven educational initiatives like SheFi. York said these programs play a role in expanding female participation. Saima Tariq Khan, an engineer, educator and crypto community member, echoed York’s sentiments. Khan told Cointelegraph that demystifying crypto’s intimidating vocabulary is the way to go. “What is DeFi? What do I mean by cryptocurrency? What is blockchain? First, we need to build that first level of understanding,” she said. Khan also said that while many women graduate from computer science courses, they are underrepresented in the workforce. The community member said that Web3’s remote-friendly nature offers an opportunity to engage with an untapped talent pool. Blockchain Baddies side event during Token2049 in Dubai. Source: CointelegraphRelated: Crypto spending will grow, but fiat isn’t going anywhere: Mercuryo CEOFinancial literacy should be the starting pointPaloma Soria Brown, an author and a SheFi scholar, also said education is the key. However, Brown said financial literacy should be the starting point. “People don’t necessarily know what Web3 means,” Brown told Cointelegraph. “When you know about crypto but you’re not an investor, you might only see the scams and rug pulls.”Brown said that increasing financial education and building trust are essential to attracting women and more people into the space. She said if more people understood Web3’s concepts of ownership, freedom and community, they would be drawn to its potential. Meanwhile, Abigail Xavier, marketing manager at Web3 financial platform Fasset, told Cointelegraph that companies have a role to play in making crypto more accessible to women. Xavier said their team actively seeks input from women-focused communities to improve their products. “We’re partnering with a lot of women-inclusive communities to understand their experience and incorporate that feedback into our UI and UX,” Xavier said. “We want to make our platform and tools more intuitive for our female audience.”Magazine: 12 minutes of nail-biting tension when Ethereum’s Pectra fork goes live
Published Date: 2025-05-07 12:53:31USD1, the US dollar stablecoin launched by the President Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI), has become the seventh-largest stablecoin worldwide in just two months since its launch.WLFI’s snapshot vote for a USD1 airdrop proposal is underway, and USD1’s market capitalization has continued to climb.Launched in early March with a $3.5 million supply, USD1 has expanded into a market cap of $2.2 billion at the time of writing, leaving rival stablecoins First Digital USD (FDUSD), PayPal USD (PYUSD) and Tether Gold (XAUT) behind, according to data from CoinGecko.Top 10 stablecoins by market capitalization. Source: CoinGeckoAlthough rising fast, the USD1 market cap is still far from the market value of major stablecoins like Tether’s USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC), whose market caps are worth $149 billion and $61 billion, respectively.BNB Chain drives USD1 issuance Trump-backed USD1 is almost exclusively issued on Binance-backed BNB Chain. According to data from BscScan, as much as $2.1 billion of all USD1 supply is issued on BNB Chain, accounting for more than 99% of its total circulating supply, while an Ethereum-based version accounts for just $14.5 million, according to Etherscan.BNB Chain-based (BEP-20) USD1 versus Ethereum-based (ERC-20) USD1. Source: BscScan, EtherscanUSD1’s latest market spike was sharp, jumping 1,540% from $128 million to $2.1 billion within two days in late April, according to CoinGecko.USD1 (USD1) market cap chart since April 2025. Source: CoinGeckoThe spike came days before Eric Trump announced that Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX would use the USD1 to invest $2 billion in Binance.Justin Sun-backed HTX among the first CEXs to list USD1As USD1’s market cap spiked, some centralized exchanges (CEXs) rushed to list the Trump-backed stablecoin.HTX, a crypto exchange closely associated with Tron founder Justin Sun and formerly known as Huobi, announced the listing of USD1 with permanent zero-fee withdrawals on the BEP-20 network on May 6.Source: HTXAccording to websites like CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap, HTX was one of the first CEXs to list USD1, as the token is primarily available on decentralized exchanges, including PancakeSwap and Uniswap.Most WLFI inflows come from outside the USWhile the WLFI community has been voting on the USD1 airdrop, some reports suggested that WLFI investment is mainly coming from outside the United States.According to a poll by V1PS founder Notaz.Sol, as much as 90% of WLFI investors are likely coming from non-US jurisdictions, including Europe, Asia and Latin America.Source: Tran HungA May 7 Bloomberg report also indicated that over half of the top holders of Trump-branded memecoins reside abroad.The USD1 stablecoin’s growth lines up with Trump’s pro-stablecoin agenda announced in his executive order on “Strengthening American leadership in digital financial technology” in January.While WLFI has been closely associated with Binance, both Trump and Binance have repeatedly denied and criticized reports suggesting any links or deals between the parties.Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight
Published Date: 2025-05-07 12:45:22Cryptocurrency miner Diversified Energy quietly vacated a natural gas-powered crypto mining site in Elk County, Pennsylvania, reportedly leaving behind unplugged wells and regulatory violations.The site, known as Longhorn Pad A, was revived in 2022 after sitting dormant for nearly a decade when Diversified began using it to fuel on-site generators powering cryptocurrency mining computers, according to a report by the Erie Times-News.Per the report, the operation was launched without obtaining an air quality permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).Though the company was later granted the permit in December 2023, a March 2025 inspection revealed that Diversified had already removed the mining infrastructure.Empty metallic sheds and missing production equipment led the DEP to issue a formal violation notice for well abandonment. Diversified reportedly denied that the site was abandoned, saying that it may resume gas production.However, the DEP and environmental advocates say the company has failed to meet its obligations. Under a 2021 agreement, Diversified had committed to plugging Longhorn A and 13 other wells at the end of their operational life, an obligation it has reportedly not fulfilled.An image of the site. Source: The Erie Times-NewsCointelegraph has reached out to Diversified for comment.Related: Bitcoin miners should pay costs in depreciating currency — Ledn execDiversified under scrutiny over business modelEnvironmentalists have long raised concerns about Diversified’s business model, which involves acquiring aging, low-producing wells and extracting remaining value without sufficient plans for decommissioning.Plugging a single well can cost over $100,000, and Pennsylvania already has over 350,000 orphaned and abandoned wells, making the stakes particularly high.A 2022 report labeled the company’s approach a “business model built to fail Appalachia,” warning that taxpayers could be left footing the bill for thousands of unplugged wells.Diversified recently agreed to plug 3,000 wells by 2034 in a separate legal settlement but continues to face regulatory scrutiny, including a probe by the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce.Horton Township officials, where the Longhorn site is located, say they’ve received no updates from the company.Local supervisor PJ Piccirillo told the Erie Times-News that generators and tanks were removed without notice. “All we know is that the property seems to have been abandoned,” he said.Related: Bitcoin mining — Institutions boost investments amid favorable US climateUS cities confront crypto miningOn April 25, the planning commission of Vilonia, Arkansas, unanimously rejected a proposal to establish a cryptocurrency mining facility within the city limits, following opposition from residents.In January, Arkansas lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban crypto mining operations within 30 miles of any US military facility in the state.The opposition to crypto miners in Arkansas follows a broader trend across US municipalities where crypto-mining initiatives have faced increasing scrutiny.In October 2024, a group of residents in Granbury, Texas, filed a lawsuit against Marathon Digital, alleging that its mining facility generated too much noise.Magazine: 12 minutes of nail-biting tension when Ethereum’s Pectra fork goes live
Published Date: 2025-05-07 11:52:41Bitcoin holders are becoming more comfortable borrowing against their crypto as market confidence grows, according to Seamus Rocca, CEO of the Gibraltar-based private bank, Xapo Bank. In an interview at the Token2049 event in Dubai, Rocca told Cointelegraph that with Bitcoin (BTC) hovering around $95,000 and institutional adoption starting to catch on, the mood among investors has shifted from short-term speculation to a more long-term outlook. “I’m not sure that confidence would have been there three or four years ago,” Rocca told Cointelegraph. “But today, people are more comfortable to borrow against Bitcoin because we’re nowhere near the levels that would trigger liquidation.”On March 18, Xapo Bank launched a lending product that allows users to borrow US dollars using their Bitcoin as collateral. With the product, qualified clients can access up to $1 million in loans while keeping their BTC.Xapo Bank CEO Seamus Rocca at the Token2049 media lounge. Source: CointelegraphBitcoin-backed loans are an “obvious” next stepRocca told Cointelegraph that growing confidence in crypto’s long-term trajectory had fueled demand for the product. This has been driven by developments leading to broader institutional adoption. “Expectations are for institutional space coming in, the ETFs, and the mood music on Bitcoin is much more about wider adoption and long-term thinking than very short-term speculation,” Rocca said. He said this shift is the key to unlocking demand for borrowing against BTC, as investors feel more secure and feel that sharp price drops are less likely to happen. The Xapo Bank CEO said that its Bitcoin-backed loans offer loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of 20%, 30% and 40%, giving borrowers flexibility while managing risk. “If you get a 20% LTV loan and you have 100 Bitcoin, as a lot of early adopters do, that’s still a couple of million dollars you can borrow without having to sell them,” Rocca said. With conservative LTV levels like 20%, Bitcoin must fall below $40,000 for borrowers to get liquidated. “We’re nowhere near $40,000,” Rocca told Cointelegraph, pointing to the current price stability as a reason for growing borrower confidence.Related: Blockchains ready for institutions, lawyers hesitate: DoubleZero CEOBorrowing helps investors avoid selling in emergenciesRocca said Bitcoin-backed loans provide a solution for holders who want to stay exposed to BTC when facing life’s unexpected expenses. “If you follow the ethos of investing, the smart thing to do would be not to sell it in three days if it goes to $100,000,” Rocca said.“But life gets in the way,” Rocca added. He told Cointelegraph that unexpected costs, like medical bills or replacing a car, often force investors to liquidate assets at unfavorable times. Rocca said that instead of selling Bitcoin for a $10,000 expense, investors could borrow against their holdings while simply paying interest on the loan.“You continue to have the upside potential of the price appreciation of the Bitcoin because you haven’t sold it,” he said. “But you get liquidity to pay for things that you need in everyday life.”With institutional adoption deepening and the Bitcoin market maturing, the Xapo Bank executive is betting that more long-term holders will be ready to tap into crypto liquidity without selling their BTC. This marks a shift from the “hodl” culture to an age where Bitcoin owners can do more with the asset. Magazine: 12 minutes of nail-biting tension when Ethereum’s Pectra fork goes live
Published Date: 2025-05-07 10:03:16Several crypto-focused organizations — including Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies — are eyeing a US return, primarily driven by uncertain geopolitical tensions. Still, BTC miner Hive Digital Technologies is doubling down on the untapped potential of the Latin American (LATAM) market.In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Hive Digital Technologies’ president and CEO, Aydin Kilic, said that Paraguay presents a compelling long-term opportunity equipped with “geopolitical stability, low-cost hydro energy, and a government open to foreign investment”.Picking up from where Bitfarms left offHive acquired Bitfarms’ 200 megawatt (MW) Yguazú facility for $56 million in January. Phase one infrastructure of a 100 MW data center at the site was completed in April, supporting five exahashes per second (EH/s) of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining.Hive plans to expand to 300 MW of mining facilities in Paraguay in 2025. It aims to increase its hashrate to 25 EH/s by September.Related: Bitfarms sells Paraguay site to Hive for $85M, refocuses on USThe CEO said Hive has spent over a year cultivating strong, cooperative relationships with local stakeholders in Paraguay. “We are investing in local hiring, training programs and strong vendor partnerships. Our goal is to create a local ecosystem of support that keeps costs stable while boosting uptime and efficiency,” he added.While there was a proposed ban on crypto mining in Paraguay due to the pressure it poses on the country’s electricity supply and potential rising electricity prices, Aydin said that their team is actively involved with policymakers to support clarity and cooperation in mining legislation.Hive embraces global diversification to hedge against geopolitical risksHive has data centers in Canada, Sweden and Paraguay. Contrasting with its ongoing LATAM expansion, the miner is relocating its headquarters to San Antonio, Texas. “Our growing presence in North and South America creates a balanced footprint resilient to geopolitical or trade policy shocks,” Kilic said.The US tariff on China raised concerns about the rising cost of mining equipment, like ASICs. Kilic told Cointelegraph that they have diversified sourcing channels for ASICs and electrical components to avoid single-region dependencies. Related: Bitcoin miners should pay costs in depreciating currency — Ledn execTo ensure scaling from six to 25 EH/s, the CEO said the company has locked in key ASIC orders, secured power access through long-term power purchase agreements, and expanded engineering capacity across three continents to deal with market and technological uncertainties.Profitability in Bitcoin mining is ultimately a physics equationKilic sees Bitcoin mining profit as a physics equation. He told Cointelegraph that capital and operational expenses depend on hashrate-sensitive analysis to seek the most accretive way to fund their business through BTC treasury and ATM sales.While the solo mining community may have more difficulty making profits, the CEO suggested the focus should be on the variables it can control: “Whether you run one rig or ten thousand, it comes down to controlling inputs like opex, power costs, and machine uptime to drive predictable outputs — maximizing energy efficiency, minimizing downtime and being disciplined with treasury management.”Magazine: Korea to lift corporate crypto ban, beware crypto mining HDs: Asia Express
Published Date: 2025-05-07 09:54:25Digital asset manager Bitwise has filed to list a spot Near exchange-traded fund with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, adding to a growing list of altcoins currently vying to win regulatory approval.The Bitwise Near (NEAR) ETF will track the price movements of the NEAR token, minus expenses, through a traditional brokerage, Bitwise’s May 6 registration statement shows.Bitwise named Coinbase Custody as the proposed custodian of the Bitwise NEAR ETF. The management fee, ticker and stock exchange it seeks to list on weren’t named yet. Source: CointelegraphBitwise must also file a 19b-4 filing with the SEC to kickstart the regulator's approval process for the fund. The crypto native asset manager indicated it would make such a filing when it registered a trust linked to the NEAR ETF in Delaware on April 28.NEAR joins a pile of spot crypto ETFs on the SEC’s deskThe SEC now has at least a dozen spot crypto ETFs to review in 2025, including applications for Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Hedera (HBAR), Polkadot (DOT), Chainlink (LINK), Avalanche (AVAX), Aptos (APT) and Sui (SUI).Bitwise already has applications out for a spot DOGE, SOL, and XRP ETFs, and also has an approved spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETF, which are listed on the NYSE Arca and have attracted a combined $2.35 billion in net inflows since launching last year.NEAR — the token powering the layer-1 Near blockchain — is the 44th largest cryptocurrency by market cap at $2.73 billion, CoinGecko data shows.The Near blockchain was once touted as an Ethereum killer and is considered by its proponents as a solution to the “blockchain trilemma” — the challenge of achieving all three critical aspects of blockchain performance: security, scalability and decentralization.Related: Ethereum’s era of crypto dominance is over — LONGITUDE panelThrough Nightshade sharding, Near can process up to 100,000 transactions per second and is secured by 265 active validators, Nearblocks.io data shows.Source: Justin BonsThe Near ecosystem shifted from decentralized finance to AI infrastructure in 2024, unveiling plans to build the world’s largest open-source large language model.Magazine: 12 minutes of nail-biting tension when Ethereum’s Pectra fork goes live
Published Date: 2025-05-06 22:23:44The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is seeking permission from the court to drop an appeal against prediction market Kalshi. The move could allow the platform to offer political event contracts to users without contest.In a May 5 filing in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, lawyers for the CFTC filed an unopposed motion for voluntary dismissal, suggesting an agreement with Kalshi. The motion, subject to approval by the court, could end the CFTC’s appeal against a federal court ruling that the financial regulator could not bar Kalshi from listing political event contracts, i.e., bets on elections.Motion to dismiss appeal filed by the CFTC on May 5. Source: CourtlistenerKalshi stipulated in a joint filing that the company would “bear its own costs, court fees and attorney fees incurred” if the court granted the CFTC’s motion to dismiss. The platform said that “election markets are here to stay” in a May 6 X post following the filing.The betting platform initially filed a lawsuit against the CFTC in 2023 in response to the regulator ordering Kalshi to stop offering political event contracts. The company won in the lower court, prompting the appeal by the CFTC in September 2024. Motion to drop the appeal after the change in administration?The case was handled mainly before the US election and the appointment of acting CFTC chair Caroline Pham under President Donald Trump. CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger, nominated by former President Joe Biden, reportedly echoed Kalshi’s sentiment in February, claiming that election prediction markets were “here to stay.”Related: Kalshi accepts Bitcoin deposits in bid to woo crypto-native usersLaunched in 2021, Kalshi became popular among many crypto users in part due to bets related to the 2024 US election. Though the CFTC argued in its appeal that betting on the elections could result in “spectacular manipulation” of markets and harm to the public interest, the regulator under Pham and Trump appeared to have reversed its position with the motion to dismiss. Magazine: Pokémon on Sui rumors, Polymarket bets on Filipino Pope: Asia Express
Published Date: 2025-05-06 20:55:00Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap USDt (USDT), has announced a partnership with Chainalysis that will integrate the company’s compliance and monitoring tools onto Tether’s tokenization platform. The move comes amid expanding oversight across the crypto industry.Launched in November 2024, the Hadron by Tether platform is designed for institutions, corporations and governments, entities that may be interested in tokenizing real-world assets ranging from financial instruments and real estate to debt and commodities.The months following the launch have seen increased adoption of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. According to RWA.xyz, the total RWA market amounts to $22.1 billion, up 10.5% in the past 30 days. There are a total of 100,115 holders of RWA tokens, up 5.6% in the same time frame.“By integrating Chainalysis directly into the platform, we’re offering institutional-grade transparency, compliance, and risk mitigation without compromising on decentralization or control,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement.According to the announcement, Hadron by Tether users will now have risk detection, real-time transaction monitoring, and Know-Your-Transaction (KYT) support. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tether raked in $13 billion in profits in 2024, and posted $1 billion in operating profit for Q1 2025.Related: What is Hadron? Exploring Tether’s asset tokenization platformChainalysis acquisitions and predictionsChainalysis, a blockchain data platform, is known for its security tools and real-time monitoring. Among its partners include exchanges Crypto.com and Bitfinex, payment processor MoonPay, and bank BBVA.Chainalysis has recently beefed up its technology stack, acquiring Web3 security firm Hexagate in December 2024 and Alterya, an AI fraud detection startup, in January this year. The company, founded in 2014, predicted that 2025 would be the biggest year ever for crypto scams due to the rise of artificial intelligence.Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis
Published Date: 2025-05-06 20:24:34A group of crypto traders reportedly purchased millions of dollars worth of Melania Trump’s memecoins minutes before she announced the launch on social media.According to a May 6 Financial Times report, the crypto traders earned roughly $100 million from buying $2.6 million worth of MELANIA tokens before the public launch on Jan. 19. Shortly after Trump announced the memecoin launch on social media, the price surged from roughly $2.00 to $12.95 — a 550% increase. The traders reportedly sold their holdings within 12 hours.“In total, the 24 accounts bought up 16.7mn of the 200mn total $MELANIA tokens scheduled for sale during the launch period,” the Financial Times reported. “[...] the run of sales that started pre-launch continued. About $900,000 worth of tokens bought by an additional 22 accounts in the 42 seconds after the launch.”Price of MELANIA token from Jan. 19 to Jan. 28. Source: CoinMarketCapThe memecoin started trading roughly two days after then-president-elect Donald Trump announced the launch of his own TRUMP coin. Both tokens have come under scrutiny from lawmakers, alleging conflicts of interest and corruption due to the potential for bribery and foreign influence.Memecoin dinner prompts call for impeachmentMuch of the scrutiny and criticism from US lawmakers over the memecoins seems to be directed at the president rather than the first lady. After Trump announced some of the top TRUMP tokenholders would be offeried the chance to get access to him at a private dinner and tour, one senator called for his impeachment.Related: Dem lawmakers object to hearing, citing ‘Trump’s crypto corruption’Both the prices of the MELANIA and TRUMP tokens have dropped significantly since shortly after their launch in January, with the First Lady’s memecoin falling to $0.31 at the time of publication. The TRUMP token price briefly surged after the memecoin dinner announcement in April, but had dropped to $10.90 as of May 6. Two companies connected to the president control roughly 80% of the TRUMP supply, though many of the tokens were locked and will be released over the next three years. Critics have suggested that the project's insiders could still rug-pull investors.Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
Published Date: 2025-05-06 19:53:48