DL News

Howard W. Lutnick, Donald Trump's pick as Commerce secretary, is expected to be grilled by US senators at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday about Tether.io, the stablecoin issuer. Lutnick's company, Cantor Fitzgerald, helped Tether buy US Treasury bonds and he's a big booster. But Tether's USDT has become widely used by all sorts of bad actors. Liam J. Kelly has the story for DL News: https://lnkd.in/e7H2JWJF

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says one million new tokens a week make traditional vetting impossible. His proposed solution? Blocklists, DEX integration, and customer-driven reviews. https://lnkd.in/g5nqxBJx

Breaking Bad star Dean Norris became the target of another Twitter hack. The bad actors promoted and pumped $DEAN to a market cap of over $7 million. Norris later confirmed it was all a hoax, causing the price to drop by 90%. https://lnkd.in/g5nqxBJx

The crypto ETF waiting room is filling up as issuers file for Litecoin, XRP, and Dogecoin offerings. Will Trump’s SEC pick clear the path for a wave of easy approvals? https://lnkd.in/gBgj7Z_V

The Senate Banking Committee, led by Tim Scott, will hold a hearing on February 5 to tackle claims of bias against crypto firms and political figures under policies of previous administrations. https://lnkd.in/g7k8HfFt

What exactly happened to TikTok? It’s a $120 million question, and it’s cast another harsh light on Polymarket and its crypto-based approach to settling bettors’ disputes. Aleksandar Gilbert reports. https://lnkd.in/evk9uP8m

A severed finger, a Bitcoin ransom, and a national police operation. Crypto and crime aren’t strangers, but this week saw an especially dramatic episode play out in France. On Thursday, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that French authorities had rescued David Balland, the co-founder of crypto hardware developer Ledger, and his wife after kidnappers seized them on Tuesday. Here’s everything we know about the kidnapping and rescue, according to a French prosecutor, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, and French media reports. Liam J. Kelly and Benjamin Weiss report. https://lnkd.in/eRVK4C28

Stablecoins, a national crypto stockpile, and a ban on CBDCs. Trump's latest executive order had it all. It just didn't send prices soaring. One reason is that it's still unclear which cryptocurrencies would be included in that national stockpile exactly. One line in the order provides some clues, however. Aleksandar Gilbert reports 👇

The legal saga between decentralised exchange Curve’s founder Mikhail Egorov and three crypto venture capital heavyweights has taken another twist. A California appeals court upheld the dismissal of the VCs’ lawsuit on the grounds that the state is not the right place for the case.

The legal saga between decentralised exchange Curve Finance's founder Michael Egorov and three crypto venture capital heavyweights has taken another twist. My story for DL News: https://lnkd.in/gZh8F6DP