Jack Dorsey, co-founder and executive chair of Block Inc. XYZ, voiced optimism for the firm’s Bitcoin BTC/USD mining products suite, Proto, on Thursday, hoping to gain a broader share of the largely untapped sector.

What Happened: During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Dorsey said the company was “really excited” about the offering, which aims to decentralize the global supply of mining hardware.

“We do think the market is large and we do think we’re poised to take a significant percentage of it because there is one player, really in this space, and customers want other options,” Dorsey said, possibly pointing toward the dominance of China-based Bitmain,…

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The crypto-incentivized cell network provider Helium Mobile is bringing Helium network coverage to 2.3 million Mexicans via a partnership with Movistar, the country’s second largest carrier service.

Under the new plan, Movistar will pay for its subscribers to use Helium coverage where possible, and Helium hotspot operators will be rewarded with tokens. The expanded Mexico deployment hints at Helium Mobile’s broader development strategy: grow its network in new markets by partnering with existing telecommunications companies.

Helium Mobile sells hotspot devices that people can plug in to…

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With a new administration in the White House, 2025 is shaping up to be a big year for institutional interest in crypto. 

“It’s here to stay,” Roger Bayston, head of digital assets at Franklin Templeton, said of digital assets during a Blockworks Roundtable discussion on Thursday. 

Crypto, which has now surpassed the high-yield bond market, will only start to act as a more robust and mature capital market over time, Bayston added.  

His enthusiasm is something Liat Shetret, director of policy at Elliptic, has observed in other institutional players as well. 

“In the…

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There’s a new stablecoin on the block. 

Figure Markets is calling its new offering the first SEC-registered public security USD stablecoin native to a blockchain.

Called YLDS, it pays an interest rate of secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) minus 0.50%. Users can transfer the securities peer-to-peer via the Provenance blockchain using Figure Markets’ self-custody wallets.

It was roughly a year ago that I caught up with Figure CEO Mike Cagney at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit in London. He told me then — following a $60 million raise — that his company was working…

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January’s FOMC meeting minutes were released this week, providing plenty of fodder for monetary plumbing nerds to piece together what the Fed thinks about bank reserves and its ongoing campaign of quantitative tightening (QT).

As seen in the chart below, the QT campaign has been fraught with nuance and idiosyncratic offsetting. As QT occurred, the vast majority of it has been offset by the reverse repo facility (RRP) balance as seen by the white line below. 

Further, this has been hiccuped by the debt ceiling debacle of 2023 and the SVB banking crisis that led to the bank term…

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Transaction URL: https://blockchain.com/btc/tx/1ff96fc8b02212d589987ab6874e99c57b25fca782a96b4b49b324140014bdcf

Sky (formerly MakerDAO) governance is grappling with the implications of an emergency proposal executed today that alters MKR’s role within the ecosystem. Pitched as a necessary move to protect protocol security, these changes’ swift approval has instead ignited debates over transparency, process integrity and the risk implications for DAI/USDS.

The proposal eliminates the longstanding 5% exit fee on MKR withdrawals, significantly expands borrowing against MKR collateral and raises borrowing rates — while simultaneously lowering liquidation thresholds. Critics argue these measures increase the protocol’s risk of exposure, particularly given that MKR now has one of the…

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Transaction URL: https://etherscan.io/tx/0x4d92531a2744de1d22339fbe638d329395a9449ccc86425abc21b7fbb550473b

JPMorgan analysts have raised concerns over declining institutional demand for Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD futures, suggesting this trend could contribute to broader weakness in the cryptocurrency market.

What Happened: The analysts observed that futures contracts for both cryptocurrencies on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are approaching a condition known as backwardation, where futures prices drop below spot prices, according to The Block.

This pattern was previously seen during downturns in June and July last year.

The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has decreased by about 15 percent since hitting a peak of $3.7 trillion in December, now hovering…

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