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The Ethereum Foundation is sponsoring crypto security nonprofit Security Alliance (SEAL) to “track and neutralize” crypto drainers and other social engineering attackers targeting Ethereum users.SEAL said on Monday that it launched the “Trillion Dollar Security” initiative with EF to support these efforts after reaching out to EF late last year about funding security engineers to more closely track drainer development and protect against wide-scale attacks.The EF is now sponsoring a security engineer whose “sole mission” is to work with SEAL’s intelligence team to combat drainers targeting Ethereum users, said SEAL. Source: Security AllianceSEAL’s broader mission is to protect crypto market…

CoinDesk is hosting its second annual Consensus Hong Kong conference, and as always, we’ll have a number of policy-focused sessions. Are you in town? Find me on stage or around the show floor and say hi!You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future editions.The narrativeCoinDesk’s annual Consensus Hong Kong conference will kick off this Wednesday with a speech from Hong Kong Chief Executive John KC Lee.Why it mattersHong Kong is playing an interesting role in the intersection of financial services between the global East and…

The Seoul court handed crypto asset manager prison sentence in the first case under the new Virtual Asset User Protection Act. A South Korean court has sentenced Jong-hwan Lee, CEO of a local crypto asset management firm, to three years in prison for manipulating cryptocurrency prices to secure illicit profits. The Seoul Southern District Court ruled on Wednesday that Lee violated the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, earning approximately 7.1 billion Korean won (which is worth around $4.88 million) through price manipulation. Court Findings In addition to the prison term, the court imposed a fine of 500 million won, nearly…

The Bitcoin Sharpe ratio, which measures risk/reward potential, is in negative territory that is often associated with the end of bear markets, according to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost.“The Sharpe ratio has just entered a particularly interesting zone, one that has historically aligned with the final phases of bear markets,” said the analyst on X on Saturday.They added, however, that it is not a signal that the bear market is over, “but rather that we are approaching a point where the risk-to-reward profile is becoming extreme.”The Sharpe ratio has fallen to -10, its lowest level since March 2023, according to CryptoQuant.The ratio…

In brief The FDIC agreed to pay Coinbase $188,440 in legal fees and overhaul FOIA policies following a court ruling that found the agency violated federal disclosure law. The settlement concludes a multi-year legal battle that exposed dozens of “pause letters” the FDIC sent to banks ordering them to halt crypto-related activities. Under new leadership, the FDIC pledged that it would not categorically withhold all bank supervisory documents. The FDIC has agreed to pay $188,440 in legal fees and drop its fight to withhold crypto-related “pause letters,” settling a FOIA lawsuit tied to alleged Operation Choke Point 2.0 debanking tactics…

US-headquartered companies captured 55% of Q4 crypto VC capital. Crypto and blockchain venture capital witnessed a sharp rebound in Q4 2025, driven predominantly by large late-stage deals. Galaxy Digital’s report, authored by Alex Thorn, Head of Firmwide Research, found that venture capitalists deployed $8.5 billion across 425 deals in the quarter – an 84% increase in capital invested and a 2.6% rise in deal count compared to Q3 2025. This represents the strongest quarterly investment in the sector since Q2 2022, although deal counts remain well below 2021-2022 levels. Crypto VC Surge in Q4 Thorn reported that later-stage companies captured…

Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged to a record on Monday, breaching the 57,000 level with a 3.4% gain following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s decisive “supermajority” victory in the Sunday general election, according to Nikkei Asia. This political mandate signaled a green light for Takaichi’s aggressive expansionary fiscal agenda, which includes a massive $135 billion stimulus package aimed at revitalizing the economy through infrastructure spending and tax cuts. The “Takaichi Trade” sparked a global ripple effect, driving gold prices past the $5,000 per ounce milestone and pushing bitcoin to a brief peak of $72,000, before settling back above $70,000 during Asia morning…

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and crypto analyst c-node have reignited the debate over the true purpose of Decentralized Finance (DeFi).Together, the two industry experts challenge the booming industry to rethink its priorities.Sponsored Experts Clash Over What Counts as “Real” DeFiThe underlying issue, according to the experts, is that much of today’s DeFi hype is superficial, serving speculative interests rather than advancing genuinely DeFi infrastructure. “There is no reason to use DeFi unless you have longs on cryptocurrencies and want access to financial services while preserving self-custody,” c-node wrote. They dismissed common yield-generating strategies—like depositing USDC into lending protocols—as “cargo cults,”…

The crypto industry is likely to see more projects snapped up by larger companies, which may lead to a much less fragmented sector in the months ahead, says Bullish CEO Tom Farley.“I was in the exchange sector during continual massive consolidation…the same thing is going to happen starting right now in crypto,” Farley said during an interview on CNBC on Friday.Farley, who served as president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) until 2018, said the recent drop in the crypto market will be a key catalyst, with Bitcoin (BTC) down nearly 45% from its October all-time high of $126,100…

Traders suggest unusual activity in IBIT may point to Hong Kong–based hedge funds, though no hard evidence has emerged.Unusual trading in BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has led traders to speculate that this week’s sharp Bitcoin drop may have been triggered by one or more Hong Kong–based hedge funds, rather than selling pressure from crypto traders.The theory was laid out in a post on X by Parker White, the COO and CIO of DeFi Development Corp, and centers around record trading and options activity in IBIT.Bitcoin (BTC) fell sharply over the past week, dropping 16%, and trading as…