Crypto News

- Mortgage Lender Newrez Embraces Crypto Assets in Loan Decisions Newrez is set to begin counting certain cryptocurrency holdings as qualifying assets in its mortgage underwriting process, a policy shift that could expand access to home loans for borrowers with digital assets. Key Takeaways: The change is expected to take effect in February and will apply across the lender’s non-agency products, including home purchases, refinancings, and investment properties. Newrez to Count Bitcoin, Ether, and Stablecoins as Mortgage Assets Under the new approach, Newrez will allow eligible crypto holdings to be considered alongside traditional assets such as stocks and bonds, removing a long-standing requirement for borrowers to liquidate...

- Key Points The best cryptos to own in 2026 are ones that will benefit from major real-world blockchain adoption. The growth of stablecoins and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization means a large number of financial transactions could start to move on-chain in the coming years. Smart-contract -- or programmable -- cryptos like Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) could grow exponentially if tokenization takes off. It is one of the top 10 cryptos by market cap that stands out for its processing capabilities. Solana's strong potential for 2026 Solana's biggest advantages are speed and low cost. It's averaged around 1,000 transactions per second (TPS) over the past three months, according to Chainspect data. Last year, developers pushed it to 100,000...

- DOJ Did Not Sell Forfeited Samourai Bitcoin, White House Crypto Advisor Says A White House crypto advisor stated that the US government has not sold any Bitcoin forfeited in the Samourai Wallet case, countering market rumors spurred by recent on-chain activity. Key Takeaways: Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, confirmed receiving direct information from the US Department of Justice that the assets were neither liquidated nor planned to be sold. “We have received confirmation from DOJ that the digital assets forfeited by Samourai Wallet have not been liquidated and will not be liquidated,” Witt wrote on X, noting that the Bitcoin would stay as part of the...

- Arthur Hayes piles on as crypto startups raise $588m Venture capitalists are kicking off 2026 with a bang. They doled out $588 million to crypto startups in the first two weeks of January, according to DefiLlama data. Top investors this month include Arthur Hayes’ Maelstrom Fund, Revolut’s Vlad Yatsenko, Citadel Securities, and a slew of VCs, including Lightspeed, Paradigm, and YZi Labs. Their targets? Payments, trading, and centralised exchanges across a variety of venture investment rounds, underscoring robust investor appetite for institutional-grade tools. As crypto increasingly converges with traditional finance, privacy plays a central role, analysts say. Privacy is “a prerequisite for traditional institutions to migrate...

- Why Dogecoin Is Rocketing Higher to Start 2025 Key Points Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) gained 8% on Jan. 13, taking it to almost $0.15. You might be surprised to learn the uptick wasn't driven by a celebrity posting a picture of a cute dog on social media. Instead, the surge seems to be connected to a provision in the latest draft of the Senate's crypto bill, released on Monday night. The 278-page document builds on the Clarity Act passed by the House last year. It aims to divide digital assets into clear categories and set out which entities regulate each one. The main division is between "ancillary assets" and "digital commodities." Ancillary assets don't count as securities, but they would come under the remit of the SEC. They have...

- DOJ confirms U.S. government has not sold forfeited Bitcoin The Department of Justice has finally responded to the whereabouts of $6.37 million worth of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin was forfeited from Samourai Wallet co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, who had pleaded guilty to conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The update comes just days after the United States Marshals Service came under scrutiny over reports of selling the forfeited Bitcoin. Samourai Wallet founders plead guilty, forfeit Bitcoin In August 2025, the defendants pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Under their plea agreements, Rodriguez...

- Blueprint founder wants people to have room for mistakes in DeFi The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has long been a magnet for traders seeking sky-high yields and stomach-turning risks. Speaking to TheStreet Roundtable, Nic Roberts-Huntley, founder and CEO of Blueprint, said that the sector is evolving beyond its speculative roots. He highlighted his firm's approach to building a “sustainable business” that delivers attractive yet measured returns to users. This philosophy signals a shift within DeFi itself. While the early years of decentralized lending and yield farming were dominated by experimental “degens,” a growing number of platforms are now focusing on capital preservation, compliance, and consistent yield...

- How Bitcoin price will fare amid Trump’s ‘Erdoganisation of Fed’ Donald Trump’s feud with the Federal Reserve has an ugly precedent — Turkey. Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told the world that the Department of Justice had subpoenaed the central bank and threatened him with a criminal indictment. What for? To pressure Powell to drop interest rates, he said — something the agency did twice last year. Trump has repeatedly criticised the Fed for keeping rates high, arguing the decision has hurt housing affordability and economic growth. But that goading echoes a playbook repeated myriad times by Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to André Dragosch, European head of research at Bitwise. “We...

- The long-term theoretical threat of quantum computing has prompted one of the market’s most closely watched strategists to step away from Bitcoin (BTC). Quantum computing's looming threat over Bitcoin Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis warned in a report published on Nov. 19 that in the next 10 to 15 years, sufficiently powerful quantum computers capable of breaking Bitcoin’s elliptic curve cryptography could appear. The assessment follows rapid progress in quantum research, including recent demonstrations by Google showing quantum processors performing calculations thousands of times faster than classical supercomputers. While such machines remain far from threatening blockchain networks today, analysts say the pace of...

- A Third of French Crypto Firms Still Unlicensed Under MiCA as Deadline Nears French regulators announced this week that roughly 30% of crypto companies have not yet applied for a MiCA license. The news comes as a key regulatory deadline approaches, one that will decide whether these firms can legally continue operating. Though the European Union became the first jurisdiction to create a legal framework for crypto-assets, MiCA has faced pushback over its steep capital requirements and operational costs. France Faces Licensing Deadline Under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, crypto firms must obtain authorization from a national regulator to operate across the bloc. In France, companies have until...

- Blockchain.com’s Peter Smith Urges Congress: Pass CLARITY Act Before Window Closes on U.S. Crypto Edge Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith has characterized the pending CLARITY Act as the most consequential crypto legislation since he entered the industry more than 13 years ago, calling on Congress to pass the bill ahead of midterm elections to unlock investment and ensure U.S. dominance in digital asset markets. Speaking in a recent interview, Smith emphasized the urgency of establishing clear regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies after years of uncertainty that have pushed some companies overseas. The Executive Chairman and CEO of Blockchain.com, which serves over 97 million wallets and 39 million verified users across 100...

- Bitcoin Miner Canaan Has 180 Days to Escape Nasdaq Delisting — Will It Survive? Canaan is struggling against the time to retain its Nasdaq listing, highlighting the pressure on publicly traded crypto mining companies as poor equity performance and tough market regulations collide. This week, the Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer disclosed that Nasdaq sent it a formal notice as regards its shares being listed at less than the minimum bid price of $1 for 30 consecutive business days, thereby activating a 180-day compliance period ending July 13, 2026. As Canaan stated, the notice has no immediate effect on the listing or trading of its American depositary shares that will remain listed and traded on the Nasdaq Global Market...

- Canaan Inc. (NasdaqGM:CAN) has received a fresh warning from Nasdaq over its sub-$1 share price. The company has kept its listing for now and can avoid delisting, while its stock trades under the threshold in Friday’s session. Singapore-based crypto mining hardware maker Canaan Inc. said it received a written notice from Nasdaq on Jan. 14, 2026. The notice stated that its American depositary shares (ADSs) no longer meet the minimum bid requirement under Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). The company ADSs have closed below $1 for 30 straight business days, triggering the deficiency notification, according to their press release. Canaan Has a Second Chance to Avoid the Delisting Based on Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), Canaan now has 180...

- California and Manhattan crackdown tighten pressure on crypto lenders A planned U.S. return by crypto lender Nexo has run into fresh resistance in California, the country’s largest state economy and a critical market for consumer finance. The latest enforcement action revives questions about whether past compliance failures remain an obstacle to re-entering the U.S., even as crypto firms test a more permissive regulatory climate. For Nexo, the timing is especially awkward. The penalty concerns historical conduct, but it lands just as the firm has been signaling interest in rebuilding a U.S. footprint. California fines Nexo $500K over unlicensed crypto loans California’s financial regulator has fined Nexo $500,000 for issuing...

- Bitcoin Seized From Samourai Wallet Has Not Been Sold, White House Says The nearly $6.4 million worth of Bitcoin seized by federal law enforcement from the creators of privacy tool Samourai Wallet has not been liquidated and will be added to a national Bitcoin reserve, a White House official said Friday. The announcement follows concerns floated last month by the attorneys and family members of the now-incarcerated developers that rogue Department of Justice attorneys in New York were intent on liquidating the funds. Such a move would have run counter to the spirit of President Donald Trump’s federal Bitcoin reserve, which he established through executive order in March using seized Bitcoin holdings. A signed asset liquidation...

- DOJ Seeks to Recover $200K in Tinder Crypto Fraud The Justice Department is hoping to claw back funds raised through an alleged cryptocurrency investment fraud in which the schemer impersonated a financial advisor and lured his victim through a dating app. The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office filed the civil forfeiture action this week to recover 200,000.039646 USDT (Tether), valued at about $200,000. According to the DOJ and court documents, the fraud was a “pig butchering” scheme, defined as scammers building trust with victims through online communications before luring them to invest in a nefarious cryptocurrency scheme. Often, victims will make multiple investments before realizing they’re being scammed. According to an...

- Strategy Inc. (MSTR) Continues to Add Bitcoin Amid MSCI Clarity Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) is one of the 15 software stocks with the highest upside potential. During the previous week, Strategy Inc. reported adding $1.25 billion worth of Bitcoin to its holdings. The company now holds a total of 687,410 Bitcoins. These investments in cryptocurrency often draw scrutiny, with Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) previously contemplating whether a company with more than 50% of its assets in cryptocurrencies should be excluded from the index. However, in a positive development, on January 7, MSCI announced it would not remove digital-asset treasury companies from its indexes. Following the announcement, the company’s shares rose...

- Grant Cardone Bets on Bitcoin Real Estate as Trump Plots Housing Shakeup — What To Expect Grant Cardone is expanding his push into a strategy that links Bitcoin with income-generating real estate, positioning the approach as the U.S. housing market faces growing political and regulatory uncertainty amid President Donald Trump’s renewed emphasis on affordability. The real estate investor and entrepreneur laid out the strategy in a recent Fox Business interview, describing plans to combine large apartment complexes with Bitcoin holdings, tokenize ownership, and ultimately take the structure public as a single tradable vehicle. How Cardone Is Turning Apartment Cash Flow Into Bitcoin Exposure Cardone said the strategy combines two...

- Despite the Dip, Bitcoin Just Flashed Its Most Reliable Bullish Signal: Analysis For traders who study charts, there’s one “golden” pattern they love to see—and Bitcoin just flashed it, suggesting a recovery could be on the way. The rest of the crypto market, though, didn't get the memo. Over 95% of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap have posted losses in the past 24 hours, and the total crypto market has slipped to $3.23 trillion. Even Bitcoin today is down roughly 1.3%, despite the bullish “golden cross” formation being painted on the charts. Traditional markets, meanwhile, offered some cover. The S&P 500 closed higher Thursday after two losing sessions, lifted by strong earnings from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley...

- Bitcoin mining hardware maker Canaan has until July to raise its share price and escape delisting, Nasdaq told the firm earlier this week. The company now has until July to raise its share price above $1 for at least 10 consecutive days to escape being delisted, it said in a press release Friday. If the company fails to achieve compliance, Nasdaq can grant the firm more time to come back into compliance. Other firms faced with a similar issue have used a reverse stock split to boost their share price. It involves reducing the number of outstanding shares and increasing the price per share proportionally. The Singapore-based hardware maker, which trades under the CAN ticker, was changing hands for $0.79 at the time of writing. The...