Crypto payments firm MoonPay is reportedly considering acquiring crypto e-commerce platform Helio Pay for around $150 million.

MoonPay “is in talks” with Helio Pay for the estimated $150 million deal in what would be the company’s largest acquisition to date, FOX reporter Eleanor Terrett said in a Dec. 23 X post.

MoonPay markets itself as the “PayPal for crypto,” offering up a suite of crypto payments infrastructure.

Source: Eleanor Terrett 

Helio’s self-service platform is similar to Coinba

Aave is mulling integrating a new Chainlink oracle designed to redirect profits from transaction frontrunning to the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol’s users, according to a proposal in Aave’s governance forum. 

On Dec. 23, decentralized oracle provider Chainlink released Smart Value Recapture (SVR), an oracle service specializing in capturing profits from Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) to benefit DeFi protocols. 

The same day, Aave proposed integrating SVR “to recapture MEV from Aave li

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reiterated its position that rewards from staking activities do not constitute new property, opposing a legal challenge that sought to defer taxes until rewards are sold or exchanged.

According to a Dec. 23 Bloomberg report, the agency denied arguments from a second lawsuit brought by Joshua Jarrett and his wife, Jessica Jarrett. The agency claimed that rewards constituted taxable income upon receipt. The IRS’s response states:

“Revenue Ruling 2023-14 req

Crypto.com has launched an institutional cryptocurrency custody service in the United States as part of a broader plan to expand its US presence, the crypto exchange said on Dec. 23. 

Dubbed Crypto.com Custody Trust Company, the chartered trust is eligible to custody assets for US institutions and high-net-worth individuals, Crypto.com said. 

Digital assets held by Crypto.com’s US and Canadian customers will migrate to Crypto.com Custody Trust Company “over the coming weeks,” the exchange said

Malaysia’s securities regulator has added Atomic Wallet, a Web3 wallet service, to a list of financial firms prohibited from operating in the country, according to the Malaysian Securities Commission’s website. 

Atomic Wallet was flagged for “[o]perating a digital asset exchange (DAX) without registration,” according to the website. 

The regulator did not specify further, but Atomic Wallet fell victim to a more than $100 million hack in 2023 and since has been the subject of lawsuits.

It join

The recent market correction in December has had a significant impact on digital asset investment products, with total assets under management for exchange-traded products (ETPs) plunging by $17.7 billion. 

According to a Dec. 23 analysis from CoinShares, digital assets funds saw over $1 billion in outflows between Dec. 19 and 20, likely in response to a slower pace of monetary easing in the coming year. 

On Dec. 18, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the United States Federal Reserve

On Dec. 18, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) filed legal action against Binance Australia Derivatives for alleged consumer protection failures.

In the news release, ASIC claimed that the crypto derivatives trading platform had misclassified over 500 retail clients as wholesale investors between July 2022 and April 2023.

By classifying the retail clients as wholesale investors, the Australian regulator claims that Binance Australia Derivatives stripped the retail clie

Bitcoin (BTC) is struggling to rebound after falling roughly 9% last week. This suggests that the bulls are playing it safe and are not hurrying to buy the dips. One exception is MicroStrategy, which added 5,262 Bitcoin between Dec. 16 and Dec. 22 at an average price of about $106,662.

Although Bitcoin has given up ground from its all-time high of $108,353, a minor positive is that the bears have not been able to pull the price below the solid support at $90,000. This suggests that the bulls ar

Retail investors are famously always late to the party, flocking to Bitcoin (BTC) only when it smashes through glamorous milestones like $100,000. 

This Christmas, the dinner table will offer more than turkey and pudding. Expect curious relatives to test your crypto savvy and ask how to join the bull market. Are you ready for the spotlight?

This festive season, your “orange pill” credentials are on trial. Will you dazzle with eloquent arguments on decentralization and monetary sovereignty or c

Nasdaq-listed firm La Rosa Holdings (LRHC) will integrate Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency payment options for its network of more than 3,000 real estate agents in the United States. 

According to a Dec. 23 announcement, the company will allow agents to receive commissions in digital assets. The company provides a platform, La Rosa Realty, that helps agents manage their work, from buying and selling properties to communicating with clients. 

The company reported a 155% year-over-year increase

Bitcoin (BTC) broke below $94,000 at the Dec. 23 Wall Street open as bulls received little relief from TradFi’s return.

BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

BTC price dip: “Back up the truck” at $85,000?

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked 1.2% daily losses for BTC/USD at the time of writing.

After the weekend saw a spike to $99,500 extinguished by sellers, Bitcoin failed to recover lost ground, taking its drawdown from last week’s all-time highs to

Bitcoin and its price are centerstage in the mainstream media again, and with prices trading near $100,000, the attention paid to the world’s first cryptocurrency is likely to intensify. 

Beyond investors’ day-to-day obsession with Bitcoin (BTC) price and the potential for President-elect Donald Trump to push for a strategic BTC reserve, a more serious concern should be evaluating whether or not one’s operational security is up to par. 

 On Episode 48 of the Decentralize with Cointelegraph pod

Corporate Bitcoin investor MicroStrategy continued aggressive Bitcoin (BTC) buying last week in line with the founder’s pledge to keep accumulating the asset at peak prices.

MicroStrategy acquired 5,262 BTC in the period between Dec.16-Dec. 22, pouring roughly $561 million into the asset, the firm officially announced on Dec. 23.

In its latest Bitcoin purchase, MicroStrategy bought the cryptocurrency at an average price of roughly $106,662, the highest cost the firm has ever paid per BTC.

Sou

Mobile phone distributor Nokia filed a patent for a “device, method and computer program” which could encrypt digital assets. 

On Dec. 23, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) showed that Nokia Technologies applied for a digital asset encryption patent.

According to English translations of the patent application, the patent is for a device and a program with a component that encrypts digital assets.

Translation of filing CN 119155674 A by Nokia Technologies. Source

What is an ETF?

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is an investment vehicle that represents a specific asset class or index.

Getting into stock trading, or any type of investment, can feel overwhelming. Picking the right investment takes a lot of time and research — and even then, things can go wrong. The process isn’t unlike gambling — betting money on outcomes you have little influence over.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) simplify this process by offering pre-assembled bundles of investments curat

Two 23-year-olds from California who allegedly defrauded investors of over $22 million in crypto assets through a non-fungible token (NFT) rug pull were arrested in Los Angeles and now face fraud charges. 

In a press release, the Office of Public Affairs of the United States Department of Justice said Gabriel Hay and Gavin Mayo were charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud and one count of stalking. 

The duo allegedly sponsored and promoted NFT a

The rising demand for a natively-issued dollar-pegged 1:1 dollar-backed asset in decentralized finance (DeFi) led to the creation of USDX, the first native stablecoin launched on Flare Network by HT Digital Assets.

Amid Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)-induced compliance stress on Tether (USDT), Alessio Quaglini, co-founder and CEO of Hex Trust, explains how USDX aims to be a cornerstone stablecoin for DeFi applications in an interview with Cointelegraph.

USDX is fully backed by cash

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) remained an integral component in the Web3 space throughout 2024 despite some big setbacks for the asset class. Industry commentators and professionals maintain that the utility of NFTs remains intact, fueling optimism for a revival.

While media outlets have occasionally declared NFTs dead, holders continue to trade, and data tracker CryptoSlam shows that NFTs have recorded roughly $8.5 billion in sales this year. 

The sales volume may be lower than in previous years

Botswana’s central bank said the country’s local crypto markets remain undeveloped, resulting in “minimal” risks to financial stability. However, the bank said that regulations should be put into place to prevent potential digital asset risks in the future. 

In its Financial Stability Report, the central bank said that the increasing interconnectedness of the crypto market with the rest of the financial system presents potential systemic risks. 

In a financial context, a systemic risk refers t

Bitcoin (BTC) starts Christmas week at a bearish crossroads as BTC price support thins and forecasters see a chance of a major dip.

A “bearish engulfing” on weekly timeframes makes traders nervous over the short-term outlook for BTC/USD.

Targets for a possible deeper correction include a return to near old all-time highs of $74,000.

US jobs data lead a quiet macro week, but markets are still reeling from last week’s hawkish Fed meeting.

Those looking to gain long-term BTC exposure get their