Crypto spending will grow, but fiat isn’t going anywhere: Mercuryo CEO

Petr Kozyakov, CEO of crypto payments platform Mercuryo, told Cointelegraph that the future of finance may not be a winner-takes-all scenario but a blend of digital assets and fiat, each used where it makes the most sense.  In a Cointelegraph interview, Kozyakov said that while crypto payments are seeing an increase in adoption and demand, …

IRS appoints Trish Turner to head crypto division amid resignations

Veteran US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Trish Turner was appointed to lead the agency’s digital assets division following the departure of two key crypto-focused executives. Turner, who has spent over 20 years at the IRS and most recently served as a senior adviser within the Digital Assets Office, will now head the unit, according …

OKX exec warns against hype amid real-world asset tokenization boom

Crypto exchange OKX’s CEO for its Middle East and North Africa (MENA) arm urged the industry to focus on delivering real-world utility as interest in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization accelerates.  In a Cointelegraph interview at the Token20249 event in Dubai, OKX MENA CEO Rifad Mahasneh warned that while tokenization is promising, projects must “clearly demonstrate” …

Bitcoin vs. digital fiat is freedom vs. serfdom

Opinion by: Simon Cain, contributor at Bitcoin Policy UK Most jurisdictions globally are researching, developing or implementing retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). If you see these as harmless move-with-the-times digital updates of old-fashioned paper money, look again. CBDCs potentially mean financial serfdom via a monetary panopticon where the authorities closely control every transaction.  If …

US Senate crypto bills stall amid Trump ties and ethics concerns

Efforts to pass crypto legislation in the US Senate face mounting resistance amid growing ethical concerns around US President Donald Trump’s ties to crypto. In a May 5 letter to the Office of Government Ethics, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley said that Trump and his family stand to personally profit from an investment involving …

Bitcoin Core to unilaterally remove controversial OP-Return limit

Bitcoin Core developers have decided to remove a limit on transaction data in the next network upgrade, enabling more data to be included in a more efficient way.  “Bitcoin Core’s next release will, by default, relay and mine transactions whose OP_RETURN outputs exceed 80 bytes and allow any number of these outputs,” read the announcement …

Celsius’ Mashinsky lashes out at ‘death-in-prison sentence’

Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius, has blasted the government’s 20-year “venom-laced” sentence request, declaring it a “death-in-prison sentence.” The US Department of Justice requested Mashinsky receive at least 20 years behind bars in the May 8 sentencing for his role in misleading Celsius users and profiting from …

eToro aims for $4B valuation, $500M raise for US IPO

The Israel-based eToro Group says it’s looking for a valuation of up to $4 billion with its initial public offering in the US, as the stock and crypto trading platform forges ahead with listing on the Nasdaq. The company and existing stockholders are aiming to raise $500 million through offering a total of 10 million …

Suspect in $190M Nomad hack to be extradited to the US: Report

A Russian-Israeli citizen allegedly involved in the $190 million Nomad bridge hack will soon be extradited to the US after he was reportedly arrested at an Israeli airport while boarding a flight to Russia.  Alexander Gurevich will be investigated for his alleged involvement in several “computer crimes,” including laundering millions of dollars and transferring stolen …

Florida takes strategic Bitcoin reserve bills off the table

Two Florida crypto bills have been removed from the legislative process in the latest blow to American state-level strategic Bitcoin reserve ambitions.  Florida’s House Bill 487 and Senate Bill 550 have been “indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration” on May 3, according to the Florida Senate.  Florida’s legislative session adjourned on May 2 without the …