USA Crypto

Lee describes his transition as a natural, perhaps inevitable, progression. At Banking Circle, a regulated financial infrastructure provider servicing payments, FX, and treasury needs for institutions across Europe, Lee worked closely with asset managers, brokerages, and fintech firms who were experimenting with digital assets faster than expected.

“What I noticed was that institutional interest wasn’t theoretical: it was operational,” he said. Private wealth clients were asking about crypto allocation; hedge funds were engaging in high-frequency digital asset trading; pension funds and family offices wanted tokenized exposure.

• Bitcoin remains around $90,000 as thin year-end liquidity leads to volatility and range-bound trading.
• Traders expect a shallow easing path from the Fed, with more focus on guidance than the anticipated rate cut.
• Global market movements are influenced by diverging central bank policies and macroeconomic signals.

The Middle East has a chance to become "the Switzerland of the 21st century" by embracing bitcoin-backed banking, credit, and digital money, said Strategy (MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor.

In a wide-ranging presentation at Bitcoin MENA, Saylor urged the region to seize what he described as a $200 trillion opportunity by enabling banks to custody bitcoin, offer BTC-backed credit, and eventually launch yield-generating digital money products.

North Korean-backed hackers stole at least $659 million through multiple cryptocurrency heists in 2024, while also deploying IT workers to infiltrate blockchain companies as insider threats, according to Japan, South Korea, and the United States in a rare joint statement on Tuesday.

The announcement provided the first official confirmation that North Korea was behind July’s $235 million hack of WazirX, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The July 2024 breach forced WazirX to suspend trading and later restructure the firm.