Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could see a significant liquidity boost, after the latest approval of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On Oct. 18, the US SEC approved applications from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) to list the long-anticipated options for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds…

Just over $50 billion worth of Ether is currently locked in accumulation wallets — nearly 65% more than the beginning of 2024, according to a crypto analyst. “By October 18, 2024, the total amount of Ethereum in accumulation addresses surpassed 19 million,” CryptoQuant contributor Burakkesmeci wrote in an Oct. 20 analyst note. 11.5M ETH increase in…

The $45 billion liquid staking sector is raising concerns among investors over the long-term price stability of cryptocurrencies tied to these protocols. Liquid staking creates more capital efficiency for investors by offering an equivalent of the initial staked token that can be deployed in other decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. However, liquid staking tokens (LSTs) could temporarily lose their…

Asset manager BlackRock is reportedly pushing its money-market digital token to be used as collateral in cryptocurrency derivatives trading. According to an Oct. 18 Bloomberg report, the company is in talks to integrate its BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) token with the trading systems of major crypto exchanges such as Binance, OKX and Debirit. Brokerage…

Singapore’s DBS Bank has introduced a new suite of blockchain-powered services for its institutional clients. In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, DBS introduced the “DBS Token Services,” which facilitate real-time payment settlements using the bank’s permissioned blockchain. Permissioned blockchains are networks with an access layer that allows participants to only interact with a pre-approved level of…

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has granted in-principle approval to AED Stablecoin under its Payment Token Service Regulation framework, the company said in a press release. AED Stablecoin’s preliminary license approval makes it a frontrunner in the race to become the first issuer of a regulated dirham-pegged stablecoin in the UAE. The development…

The Sam Altman-founded “proof-of-humanity” project Worldcoin — which rebranded to World — has launched an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain it dubbed World Chain. In an Oct. 17 statement, World said the 15 million users who have verified their identity by scanning their iris for a “World ID” could now use the network. The firm launched World…

Two Ethereum block builders produced the majority of blocks during the first two weeks of October, raising concerns about centralization on the world’s second-largest blockchain network. Ethereum block builders Beaverbuild and Titan Builder were responsible for 88.7% of all blocks produced over the past two weeks on the mainnet, according to Toni Wahrstätter, a researcher…

Ethereum developers are set to implement an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) to optimize blob-carrying transactions in a bid to improve network scalability in the upcoming Pectra fork. EIP-7742 will create a mechanism for the Ethereum consensus layer to “dynamically” set the blob gas target and max values, Galaxy Digital’s vice president of research, Christine Kim, posted to…

A new report from Aspen Digital estimates that 76% of private wealth in Asia has already dabbled in digital assets, with an additional 18% planning future investments. Interest in digital assets within Asia’s private wealth sector has grown since the Hong Kong-based wealth management platform conducted its survey in 2022. At the time, only 58%…