Ethos turns credibility into an on-chain market. By blending XP-based participation, capital-backed vouching, and invite-bonded trust graphs, it attempts to price reputation itself. One year in, the experiment reveals both the promise—and the fragility—of financializing trust in crypto
Alex Harutunian
Vitalik Buterin’s recent posts reflect a shift from idealistic decentralization toward pragmatic system design. Rather than rejecting Ethereum’s core principles, he questions where complexity, governance, and the current development path fail under real-world constraints.
Alex Harutunian
Hyperliquid is evolving from a perp DEX into a vertically integrated financial stack. By launching its own L1, native stablecoin, and spot markets, it prioritizes market fit over ideology. Started on Arbitrum, its roadmap reveals a larger ambition: to become the global base layer for all trading.
Alex Harutunian
Triggered by a routine macro shock, crypto once again unraveled faster than any other market. Not because of sentiment alone, but because CEX risk engines, DEX liquidation incentives, and always-on leverage turn small moves into cascading stress.
Alex Harutunian
DeFi is moving from standalone apps into the backend of exchanges, with Coinbase and Crypto.com leading by embedding Morpho’s lending vaults. This “embedded DeFi” model raises a key question: are exchanges becoming banks, or just UIs? The answer will define DeFi’s role in future banking.
Alex Harutunian
Ethos turns credibility into an on-chain market. By blending XP-based participation, capital-backed vouching, and invite-bonded trust graphs, it attempts to price reputation itself. One year in, the experiment reveals both the promise—and the fragility—of financializing trust in crypto
Alex Harutunian
After years of legal uncertainty, U.S. regulators have opened the door for on-chain shareholder records. From Galaxy and Securitize to DTC’s pilot, equity is moving into the blockchain mesh—reshaping settlement, trading, and the future architecture of capital markets.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Nakamoto Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA) (“Nakamoto” or the “Company”) today announced that it has entered into merger agreements to acquire BTC Inc, the leading provider of Bitcoin-related media and events, and UTXO Management GP, LLC (“UTXO”), an investment firm focused on private and public Bitcoin companies (collectively, the “Transaction”
The digital euro is increasingly framed as a tool of EU sovereignty. China’s interest-bearing e-CNY shows no banking disruption so far. Tokenization goes mainstream as the ECB validates DLT collateral and the U.S. SEC distinguishes issuer-backed from wrapper tokens.
Bermuda is integrating USDC stablecoin into its economy. In a dollar-pegged island state, stablecoins aren’t replacing money—they’re upgrading the rails. If it works, dozens of “Other Bermudas” could emerge as the next growth engine for stablecoins.
• Ethereum Foundation begins staking its ETH treasury. • Circle reports Q4 revenue and reserve income of $770M (+77% YoY). • Tether invests in online marketplace Whop.
01.01.2026 EU crypto tax transparency directive DAC8 takes effect, requiring crypto-asset service providers to report user data to national tax authorities. 01.01.2026 MiCA comes into force in Spain. 31.12.2025 Ethereum smart contract deployments hit a record high in Q4. 2026 OUTLOOK Haseeb Qureshi (Dragonfly
Balancer Protocol was exploited through a tiny rounding bug in its code. As losses neared $100 million, projects froze pools, rolled back blockchains, and clawed back funds—revealing the centralized and still untamed side of decentralized finance
01.12.2025 Telegram’s Pavel Durov announces Cocoon, a decentralized confidential AI compute network. 01.12.2025 SushiSwap CEO steps down as Synthesis invests $3.3M in the struggling DEX. 01.12.2025 Grayscale to launch the first Chainlink ETF in the US. 01.12.2025 Germany and Switzerland
29.10.25 Ondo Finance launches Ondo Global Markets on BNB Chain. 29.10.25 Ethereum Foundation launches portal to guide institutional adoption. 29.10.25 Securitize goes public via SPAC merger with Cantor Fitzgerald’s CF Acquisition Corp VIII. 28.10.25 Trump Media & Technology Group to launch
Circle's CSO wrote to U.S. Senators on the Banking Committee in response to claims from the Campaign for Accountability.
Sasha Markevich
The partnership between the Candy Digital marketplace and Major League Baseball in the U.S. is increasing both fan engagement and NFT use cases.
Eva Senzaj Pauram
Tesla finally managed to deliver its first Cybertruck pick-ups to customers this week, and at the required glitzy 'launch' event, Elon Musk got his design chief to repeat the infamous stress test on the vehicle's window. This time the window didn't break when a
Jack Martin
For all the key details of blockchain projects in the banking world, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) updates, the Observers 'Banking and CBDC Roundup' has you covered. The week began with international banking giant Standard Chartered indicating that its Chinese arm would be
Jack Martin
The island nation moved to a pilot phase on its CBDC project together with FinTech firm Soramitsu. Bokolo Cash, the new digital currency, is intended to drive technological advancement and economic growth.
Alex Harutunian
At the European Parliament this week, experts discussed the future of the eurozone's CBDC. Despite differing opinions, all those who spoke agreed that the digital euro was fairly unappealing in its current form.
Eva Senzaj Pauram
Polygon’s partnership with DraftKings, involving payment in MATIC tokens for validator status, has raised concerns over network governance fairness. The arrangement challenges the network’s principles of decentralized governance and equal participation.
Alexander Mardar
The use of surplus renewable energy for Bitcoin mining before grid integration could help mitigate climate change and fund the development of renewable energy projects.
Sasha Markevich
After years of legal uncertainty, U.S. regulators have opened the door for on-chain shareholder records. From Galaxy and Securitize to DTC’s pilot, equity is moving into the blockchain mesh—reshaping settlement, trading, and the future architecture of capital markets.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Nakamoto Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA) (“Nakamoto” or the “Company”) today announced that it has entered into merger agreements to acquire BTC Inc, the leading provider of Bitcoin-related media and events, and UTXO Management GP, LLC (“UTXO”), an investment firm focused on private and public Bitcoin companies (collectively, the “Transaction”
The digital euro is increasingly framed as a tool of EU sovereignty. China’s interest-bearing e-CNY shows no banking disruption so far. Tokenization goes mainstream as the ECB validates DLT collateral and the U.S. SEC distinguishes issuer-backed from wrapper tokens.
Bermuda is integrating USDC stablecoin into its economy. In a dollar-pegged island state, stablecoins aren’t replacing money—they’re upgrading the rails. If it works, dozens of “Other Bermudas” could emerge as the next growth engine for stablecoins.
• Ethereum Foundation begins staking its ETH treasury. • Circle reports Q4 revenue and reserve income of $770M (+77% YoY). • Tether invests in online marketplace Whop.
01.01.2026 EU crypto tax transparency directive DAC8 takes effect, requiring crypto-asset service providers to report user data to national tax authorities. 01.01.2026 MiCA comes into force in Spain. 31.12.2025 Ethereum smart contract deployments hit a record high in Q4. 2026 OUTLOOK Haseeb Qureshi (Dragonfly
Balancer Protocol was exploited through a tiny rounding bug in its code. As losses neared $100 million, projects froze pools, rolled back blockchains, and clawed back funds—revealing the centralized and still untamed side of decentralized finance
01.12.2025 Telegram’s Pavel Durov announces Cocoon, a decentralized confidential AI compute network. 01.12.2025 SushiSwap CEO steps down as Synthesis invests $3.3M in the struggling DEX. 01.12.2025 Grayscale to launch the first Chainlink ETF in the US. 01.12.2025 Germany and Switzerland