Cointelegraph

Conversations about Bitcoin’s price drop should include the impact of crypto treasury companies, which have contributed to the decline, argues Omid Malekan, a blockchain author and adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.

“Any analysis of why crypto prices continue to fall needs to include DATs [digital asset treasuries],” Malekan said in an X post on Tuesday. “In aggregate they turned out to be a mass extraction and exit event — a reason for prices to go down.”

He added that there are a few companies that have tried to “create…

The co-creator of the Ethereum-scaling solution ZKsync has proposed a major overhaul of its governance token, arguing it should prioritize “economic utility.”

In a post on Tuesday to the ZKsync forum, Alex Gluchowski argued that while its ZKsync (ZK) governance token was effective in the project’s early stages as the “architecture and adoption path were still forming,” the network has since rapidly evolved. 

He said it now hosts an ecosystem of interconnected zero-knowledge chains, and it is important that ZKsync’s token captures network…

The White House carefully considered Binance founder Changpeng Zhao’s pardon and went through the standard processes before sending it to President Donald Trump for his approval, says White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Trump defended the pardon in an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, saying he had “no idea” who Zhao is and dismissing criticism of his pardon as politically motivated. 

Leavitt said in a briefing on Tuesday that Trump’s comments on Zhao in the interview were meant to convey that “he does not know him…

Today in crypto, Binance’s CEO denied claims that the exchange influenced the choice of a Trump-linked stablecoin in a multibillion-dollar deal. The fallout from the Balancer exploit deepened as on-chain data suggested a months-long attack, and Bitcoin’s drop weighed on market sentiment.

Binance CEO denies allegations company pushed Trumps’ stablecoin: Report

Richard Teng, CEO of the global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has reportedly denied allegations that the company played a role in selecting a stablecoin issued by a Trump family-backed…

Key takeaways

• Mastercard is in talks to buy Zero Hash, following earlier interest in BVNK, in a push toward 24/7 stablecoin settlement.

• The deals could give Mastercard a turnkey onchain payments stack, accelerating its move from pilot to production.

• Stablecoin-based settlement would let banks and merchants transact continuously, bypassing batch cutoffs and weekend delays.

• Yet operational, compliance and liquidity challenges mean a hybrid phase will likely persist before full 24/7 adoption.

Mastercard is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire crypto…