Crypto
Cryptocurrency coverage and news on major investments, tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as blockchain and web3 startups that aim to build a more decentralized, community-owned future.
Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ,” the founder and CEO of crypto exchange Binance, has been sentenced to four months in prison. Six days ago, the US Department of Justice…
The company announced that it would start to let customers accept cryptocurrency payments, starting with USDC stablecoins, initially only on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon
Carv, a data layer platform that lets web3 gaming and AI companies, as well as gamers, control and monetize their data, has raised a $10 million Series A round led…
Block, the company behind Square, Cash App and other services, announced a new program today allowing merchants using Square’s solutions to convert a percentage of their daily sales to bitcoin.…
Shakeeb Ahmed, a cybersecurity engineer convicted of stealing around $12 million in crypto, was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison. In a press release, the U.S. Attorney for…
Kiki World, a beauty brand that uses web3 for customer co-creation and ownership, raises $7M from a16z
If you think that choosing a nail polish color or which ingredients go into your face cream can’t have anything to do with blockchain, think again. Kiki World, a beauty…
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Nine crypto VCs on why Q1 investments were so hot and how it compares to previous bull market
If the 2023 crypto venture landscape was an ice-cold pot of water, the first quarter of 2024 is the part where the bubbles start to form right before water boils, Tom Schmidt, a partner at Dragonfly Capital, said to TechCrunch. And he’s not wrong: $2.52 billion in total capital has…
As AI proliferates and things on the internet are easier to manipulate, there’s a need more than ever to make sure data and brands are…
After a lengthy trial and conviction, we finally learned how long former crypto baron Sam Bankman-Fried will be behind bars: up to 25 years. It’s a lengthy sentence, but one…
Nearly everything else that’s being built on or enabled by blockchains replaces something that’s already being done fairly well.
Sam Bankman-Fried gets 25 years in prison for fraud and money laundering at FTX, ordered to pay $11B in forfeiture
Before sentencing, Bankman-Fried acknowledged in court that he made a “series of bad decisions,” but argued they were not “selfish” ones.
Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction. This is the last edition of this newsletter. I want to personally thank each of you…
As the crypto space heats back up, so has funding for new startups. 0G Labs, a web3 infrastructure firm,” has raised $35 million in a pre-seed round, the team exclusively…
Borderless Capital, an investment firm that specializes in web3, announced Tuesday that it is acquiring CTF Capital, a quantitative trading and asset management firm headquartered in Miami, with technology and…
Controversial crypto biometrics venture Worldcoin has been almost entirely booted out of Europe after being hit with another temporary ban — this time in Portugal. The order from the country’s…
A new web3 network is being built right now that wants to end Big Tech’s control of your data
Many of the people building web3 feel like the traditional web ecosystem has taken advantage of users and their data. While it benefits a number…
Solana memecoin hype continues, Backpack’s beta phase was a success and Starbucks axes its NFT program
Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto. This week, Starbucks killed its Odyssey NFT program, Solana continued to see memecoin momentum and India faces more challenges with the…
Rails, a decentralized crypto exchange, has raised $6.2 million in attempts to fill the void FTX left behind after crashing in 2022, the startup’s co-founder and CEO Satraj Bambra exclusively…
Updated at 12.16am IST, March 23: KuCoin said it has become the first global crypto exchange to comply with India’s FIU. KuCoin said it will support local banks in India…
Blockchain is back and Bitcoin is hot, the Ethereum blockchain is seeing price gains, and lots of folks are stoked about ETFs. But lately, one less-mainstream blockchain is perhaps making…
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How crypto exchange Backpack climbed its way to success after its major investor FTX died
Backpack’s founders, who are building a crypto exchange and wallet, have experienced strong growth since launching in 2022. But the road wasn’t easy. FTX co-led Backpack’s $20 million strategic investment round in September 2022. Less than two months later, in November 2022, FTX collapsed. “We lost 80% of the operating…
Starbucks launched Starbucks Odyssey in 2022 as its initial foray into the web3 world.
Two months ago, media giant Fox Corp. partnered with Polygon Labs, the team behind the Ethereum-focused layer-2 blockchain, to tackle deepfake distrust. Fox and Polygon…
Bitcoin hits new high, Solana price jumps as memecoins mania rises and Worldcoin faces heat in Spain
Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction — it was an eventful week in the crypto world.
Former web3 gaming founders raise $2.5M for their NFT marketplace to retain users even when there ‘isn’t money to be made’
Even though NFT sales volume is still down 88% from 2022 all-time highs (and down 38% year-to-date), Pallet Exchange is building a new type of NFT marketplace focused on user…
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Solana’s price rises to $160, highest level since January 2022 as memecoin mania rises
The token behind Solana, a layer-1 blockchain that’s competitive with the Ethereum blockchain, has been through the wringer after it plummeted from a high of about $260 in late 2021 to a low around $8 in early 2023. But like every good movie with a character redemption arc, Solana has…
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Blockchain startup Sei Labs creates an interesting solution to make Ethereum faster
Sei Labs, a startup co-founded by a former Robinhood engineer and a former VC from Coatue, has launched a new open sourced project that offers a novel and exciting approach to make Ethereum faster and less expensive for developers. On Wednesday, Sei launched The Parallel Stack, a public good project…
Nigeria is actively seeking information from Binance regarding its top 100 users in the country and all transaction history spanning the past six months, according to a Financial Times report.…
Controversial eyeball scanning startup Worldcoin has failed to get an injunction against a temporary suspension ordered Wednesday by Spain’s data protection authority, the AEPD. The authority used emergency powers contained…
Bitcoin hits new all-time high of $72,700 but one index warns we’re in ‘extreme greed’ territory
The crypto scene continues to remain so hot that bitcoin is hitting one new high after another. It surpassed $72,700 on Monday. This was initially driven by the approval of…
