Author: Oliver Torsney

China’s central bank has signalled fresh political backing for multilateral central bank digital currency bridge projects, tying cross-border digital payments to a broader push to support trade and financial integration along the Western Land-Sea New Corridor. Speaking at a press conference on December 25, Wang Xin, head of the research bureau at the People’s Bank of China, said new policy guidance encourages provinces and municipalities along the corridor to participate in multilateral CBDC bridge initiatives. The remarks accompanied the release of official opinions on financial support for accelerating construction of the trade and logistics corridor. The Western Land-Sea New Corridor…

Central bank independence reforms do lead to stronger monetary discipline and greater policy credibility, but only gradually and under the right institutional conditions, according to a new European Central Bank working paper analysing more than five decades of global data. The paper, Do central bank reforms lead to more monetary discipline?, examines reforms to central bank statutes in 155 countries between 1972 and 2023. It finds that legal changes strengthening independence are associated with slower excess money growth and improved credibility, measured by how closely inflation outcomes align with announced policy goals. However, the effects typically take around a decade…

Coinbase has agreed to acquire The Clearing Company, a startup focused on building infrastructure for regulated prediction markets, as part of its broader expansion beyond spot cryptocurrency trading. The acquisition, announced by Coinbase in a blog post, is expected to close in early 2026, subject to customary conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed. Coinbase said the deal will bring specialised engineering and market structure expertise into the company as it develops on-chain markets tied to real-world events. Prediction markets allow users to trade contracts based on the outcome of events such as elections, economic data releases, or other measurable outcomes.…

Tether has released QVAC Genesis II, a major expansion of its open synthetic educational dataset designed for training artificial intelligence models. The update increases the total size of the dataset to 148 billion tokens, positioning it as one of the largest publicly available synthetic datasets focused on structured learning. The dataset is developed by Tether’s AI research arm QVAC, which focuses on producing high-quality, non-scraped data for model training. According to the company, the new release adds 107 billion tokens to the original Genesis I dataset. QVAC Genesis II expands coverage from nine to 19 educational domains. Newly added areas…

JPMorgan Chase is exploring the launch of cryptocurrency trading services for its institutional clients, according to a report by Reuters, citing Bloomberg News. The move would represent a further expansion of the largest US bank’s involvement in digital assets, as demand from professional investors continues to grow. Reuters reported that the discussions are at an early stage and no final decision has been taken. According to the report, JPMorgan is considering allowing institutional clients to trade crypto assets directly, rather than limiting exposure to derivatives or exchange-traded products. The bank declined to comment to Bloomberg News on the plans. JPMorgan…

A crypto trader has lost nearly $50 million after falling victim to an address poisoning scam, highlighting ongoing security risks in self-custody and onchain transactions. The incident was flagged by blockchain security firm Web3 Antivirus and quickly circulated across the crypto community. According to the researchers, the victim initially sent a small test transaction of around $50 in USDT to confirm a destination address. Shortly afterwards, the trader sent the remaining balance, roughly $49,999,950 USDT, but unknowingly copied a poisoned address that closely resembled the legitimate one. How the scam worked Address poisoning exploits the way users copy wallet addresses…

Bitcoin does not face an immediate threat from quantum computing, but upgrading the network to quantum-resistant cryptography could take five to ten years, according to leading developers. The discussion has resurfaced following comments from Bitcoin developer and security expert Jameson Lopp, who urged caution without alarm. In a recent post on X, Lopp said quantum computers are not close to breaking Bitcoin’s cryptographic protections and that the ecosystem has time to respond. “No, quantum computers won’t break Bitcoin in the near future,” he wrote, adding that developers will continue to monitor advances in the technology. The comments echo a broader…

A U.S. federal court has sentenced a senior promoter of the collapsed IcomTech cryptocurrency scheme to nearly six years in prison, reinforcing authorities’ hard line against crypto-related fraud. Magdaleno Mendoza was sentenced to 71 months in prison by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for his role in the large-scale IcomTech Ponzi scheme and for illegally reentering the United States after deportation. Mendoza pleaded guilty in July 2025 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and illegal reentry. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, IcomTech launched in mid-2018 as a purported cryptocurrency mining and trading company.…

The European Union should actively embrace decentralised finance while putting strong safeguards in place to manage its risks, according to a new analysis by the Bruegel think tank. Rather than treating DeFi as a fringe or purely speculative phenomenon, the paper argues that Europe should integrate it into its financial system in a controlled and transparent way. Bruegel’s core message is that DeFi represents a genuine technological innovation, not just a regulatory headache. Blockchain-based financial infrastructure can reduce costs, increase competition, and enable new forms of financial services if it operates within a clear public policy framework. DeFi as infrastructure,…

The U.S. labor market is showing clear signs of cooling, with official Federal Reserve and government data pointing to slower hiring, rising unemployment, and easing wage pressures. The shift marks a departure from the tight labor conditions that dominated the post-pandemic recovery and is now shaping expectations for U.S. monetary policy in 2026. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ FRED database, nonfarm payroll growth has slowed markedly in recent months, with job gains increasingly concentrated in healthcare, education, and government. Employment growth in technology, manufacturing, and business services has weakened, reflecting reduced corporate investment and cost-cutting pressures.…