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In brief PayPal said Monday it has filed with Utah regulators and the FDIC to form an industrial bank. An approval would allow it to originate loans, hold deposits, and access payment networks directly. The move could support its expanding crypto and PYUSD stablecoin settlement operations. PayPal has applied to establish a Utah-chartered industrial bank as it seeks tighter control over lending, deposits, and payments infrastructure for small businesses in the U.S.If approved, it could help position the payments giant to more directly support its expanding crypto and stablecoin operations within a regulated banking framework.The application, filed with Utah regulators…

A fake Zoom “update” is all it takes for hackers to seize crypto funds, cloud credentials, and entire Telegram accounts. Cybersecurity firm, Security Alliance (SEAL), said it is tracking multiple daily attempts by North Korean-linked threat actors using so-called “fake Zoom” or “fake Teams” meetings to distribute malware and expand access to new victims. The non-profit reshared a detailed warning from security researcher Taylor Monahan outlining how the attacks unfold and the scale of losses involved. Fake Zoom Calls, Real Losses Monahan said the campaign begins with a message from a compromised Telegram account belonging to someone the victim already…

Regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission met with cryptocurrency industry leaders on Monday to discuss financial surveillance and user privacy, as part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to shape digital asset oversight.In opening remarks at the roundtable, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who also heads the agency’s crypto task force, joined Chair Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda in outlining how regulators could balance investor protection with privacy considerations as blockchain-based financial activity expands.Atkins said crypto had the potential to become “the most powerful financial surveillance architecture ever invented,” depending on how the US government handled regulation. He cited…

Ethereum emerged as the most connected asset, showing strong alignment with Cardano, Solana, and Dogecoin. Analytics platform DefiLlama has reported an elevated degree of price synchronization among leading cryptocurrencies. Over the past week, several major trading pairs showed correlation coefficients above 0.9, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) moving almost perfectly in sync at 0.99, suggesting a market in unison, with broad sentiment overriding individual asset stories. Correlation Spike Highlights Bitcoin’s Grip on the Market DefiLlama described the correlations between the largest tokens as being “unusually high” over the past week, a period marked by weak momentum across the market…

Pain for crypto bulls persisted on Monday as bitcoin BTC$89,629.86 remained sharply lower during U.S. afternoon trading amid growing investor uncertainty surrounding the macroeconomic outlook.Just after the close of U.S. stock trading, bitcoin was lower by 3% over the past 24 hours to $86,000. XRP$1.8981, ether ETH$2,965.53 and solana SOL$127.18 all fell more than 5%. Most crypto stocks showed deeper losses, with Circle (CRCL), Galaxy Digital (GLXY) and Strategy (MSTR) falling more than 8% and Coinbase (COIN) shedding 6.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, some stocks fared relatively better amid the carnage, including Bullish (BLSH), which saw a 2.5% loss, and eToro…

Nasdaq is looking to enable nearly round-the-clock trading, aiming to match the increasingly global nature of financial markets and investor behavior, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Under the proposal, Nasdaq would expand trading hours for stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs) from 16 hours to 23 hours per day, five days a week. The new schedule would include a day session from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, followed by a one-hour break, and then a night session running from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET the following day. The trading week would begin…

Bitcoin slid to the $85,000 level on December 15, extending its recent decline as global macro risks, leverage unwinding, and thin liquidity collided. The drop erased more than $100 billion from the total crypto market cap in just days, raising questions about whether the sell-off has finished.While no single catalyst caused the move, five overlapping forces pushed Bitcoin lower and could keep pressure on prices in the near term.Bank of Japan Rate Hike Fears Triggered Global De-RiskingThe biggest macro driver came from Japan. Markets moved ahead of a widely expected Bank of Japan rate hike later this week, which would…

Coinbase is reportedly preparing to launch its own prediction markets, powered by U.S.-based operator Kalshi, in a move that could expand the types of assets available on the exchange amid cooling investor interest in cryptocurrencies, according to reporting from Bloomberg and CNBC. The announcement is expected to come next week, coinciding with Coinbase’s “Coinbase System Update” showcase on Dec. 17. While the exchange declined to confirm specifics, it encouraged users to tune into the livestream for updates. Rumors of the new prediction markets have been circulating for nearly a month. In mid-November, tech researcher Jane Manchun Wong shared a screenshot…

A recent technical analysis shared on X by crypto analyst Merlijn The Trader presents Ethereum’s price action on the 2-day candlestick chart as a textbook example of Wyckoff accumulation. In his assessment, Ethereum has already moved through several key stages of the model and is now approaching a powerful expansion phase, provided the structure stays intact. Related Reading Wyckoff Accumulation Structure Taking Shape On Ethereum Chart Over the past several days, Ethereum has traded between roughly $3,050 and $3,400, repeatedly failing to secure a sustained move beyond either boundary. At the time of writing, Ethereum’s price action is trading around…

In response to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent investor bulletin on crypto custody, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe has positioned his firm as the only provider offering all the custody options described by the SEC.It comes only days after BitGo secured regulatory approval to operate as a bank, effectively expanding its institutional services.Sponsored BitGo Claims It Can Do What No Other Crypto Custodian CanIn a post on X (Twitter), Belshe emphasized that the BitGo exchange enables institutions to combine self-custody and third-party custody into a single hybrid strategy, creating custom risk profiles that no other provider can replicate. “BitGo…