Cryptocurrency coverage and news on major investments, tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as blockchain and web3 startups that aim to build a more decentralized, community-owned future.
Crypto
FTX crypto fraud victims to get their money back — plus interest
Paul Sawers
2:53 am PDT • May 8, 2024
Bankruptcy lawyers representing customers impacted by thedramatic crash of cryptocurrency exchange FTX 17 months agosay that the vast majority of victims will receive their money back — plus interest. The…
AI
Crypto? AI? Internet co-creator Robert Kahn already did it … decades ago
Devin Coldewey
11:51 am PDT • May 7, 2024
Robert Kahn has been a consistent presence on the Internet since its creation — obviously, since he was its co-creator. But like many tech pioneers his resumé is longer than…
Crypto
Global crypto firms turn to Hong Kong for refuge — and opportunity
Rita Liao
1:35 pm PDT • May 6, 2024
With U.S. regulators continuing to ramp up their scrutiny of crypto, startups and founders in the space are looking overseas to find friendlier climates to support their growth. One such…
Crypto
Alliance DAO is attracting fewer US founders amid crypto crackdown
Rita Liao
12:57 pm PDT • May 2, 2024
The graduates of Alliance DAO are often useful indicators of investor appetite and user adaption trends within the crypto space. The latest batch of the stage-agnostic crypto accelerator, unveiled today,…
Crypto
TechCrunch Minute: Where CZ’s sentencing leaves the state of crypto
Alex Wilhelm
9:05 am PDT • May 2, 2024
Four months behind bars and a massive fine, that’s what CZ is getting from the government for his crypto exchange’s misdeeds. Regardless of how you view the verdict — too…
Featured Article
Haun Ventures is riding the bitcoin high
Haun Ventures has made 48 investments, including some of its token positions, across its early-stage $500 million and $1 billion later-stage acceleration funds.
Marina Temkin
4:24 pm PDT • May 1, 2024
Crypto
Binance CEO ‘CZ’ sentenced to four months in prison
Mary Ann Azevedo
1:36 pm PDT • April 30, 2024
Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ,” the founder and CEO of crypto exchange Binance, has been sentenced to four months in prison. Six days ago, the US Department of Justice…
Fintech
After 6-year hiatus, Stripe to start taking crypto payments, starting with USDC stablecoin
Ingrid Lunden
9:55 am PDT • April 25, 2024
The company announced that it would start to let customers accept cryptocurrency payments, starting with USDC stablecoins, initially only on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon
Startups
Carv raises $10M Series A to help gamers monetize their data
Kate Park
6:00 am PDT • April 25, 2024
Carv, a data layer platform that lets web3 gaming and AI companies, as well as gamers, control and monetize their data, has raised a $10 million Series A round led…
Apps
Block lets Square merchants convert a part of their daily sales to bitcoin
Ivan Mehta
7:00 am PDT • April 24, 2024
Block, the company behind Square, Cash App and other services, announced a new program today allowing merchants using Square’s solutions to convert a percentage of their daily sales to bitcoin.…
Security
Security engineer jailed for 3 years for $12M crypto hacks
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
9:39 am PDT • April 12, 2024
Shakeeb Ahmed, a cybersecurity engineer convicted of stealing around $12 million in crypto, was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison. In a press release, the U.S. Attorney for…
Startups
Kiki World, a beauty brand that uses web3 for customer co-creation and ownership, raises $7M from a16z
Marina Temkin
5:00 am PDT • April 9, 2024
If you think that choosing a nail polish color or which ingredients go into your face cream can’t have anything to do with blockchain, think again. Kiki World, a beauty…
Featured Article
Nine crypto VCs on why Q1 investments were so hot and how it compares to previous bull market
If the 2023 crypto venture landscape was an ice-cold pot of water, the first quarter of 2024 is the part where the bubbles start to form right before water boils, Tom Schmidt, a partner at Dragonfly Capital, said to TechCrunch. And he’s not wrong: $2.52 billion in total capital has been raised across the crypto…
Jacquelyn Melinek
11:28 am PDT • March 29, 2024
Crypto
TechCrunch Minute: Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing marks an end to the FTX saga
Alex Wilhelm
9:00 am PDT • March 29, 2024
After a lengthy trial and conviction, we finally learned how long former crypto baron Sam Bankman-Fried will be behind bars: up to 25 years. It’s a lengthy sentence, but one…
Crypto
SBF’s prison sentence marks the end of the crypto grift era — so what’s next?
Matt Rosoff
5:13 pm PDT • March 28, 2024
Nearly everything else that’s being built on or enabled by blockchains replaces something that’s already being done fairly well.
Crypto
Sam Bankman-Fried gets 25 years in prison for fraud and money laundering at FTX, ordered to pay $11B in forfeiture
Jacquelyn Melinek
12:42 pm PDT • March 28, 2024
Before sentencing, Bankman-Fried acknowledged in court that he made a “series of bad decisions,” but argued they were not “selfish” ones.
Crypto
0G Labs launches with whopping $35M pre-seed to build a modular AI blockchain
Jacquelyn Melinek
6:00 am PDT • March 26, 2024
As the crypto space heats back up, so has funding for new startups. 0G Labs, a web3 infrastructure firm,” has raised $35 million in a pre-seed round, the team exclusively…
Crypto
Web3 investment firm Borderless Capital acquires CTF Capital to bring AI and quant expertise
Kate Park
5:49 am PDT • March 26, 2024
Borderless Capital, an investment firm that specializes in web3, announced Tuesday that it is acquiring CTF Capital, a quantitative trading and asset management firm headquartered in Miami, with technology and…
Privacy
Worldcoin hit with another ban order in Europe citing risks to kids
Natasha Lomas
5:36 am PDT • March 26, 2024
Controversial crypto biometrics venture Worldcoin has been almost entirely booted out of Europe after being hit with another temporary ban — this time in Portugal. The order from the country’s…
Crypto
Rails launches with $6.2M round for its decentralized FTX alternative
Jacquelyn Melinek
9:00 am PDT • March 21, 2024
Rails, a decentralized crypto exchange, has raised $6.2 million in attempts to fill the void FTX left behind after crashing in 2022, the startup’s co-founder and CEO Satraj Bambra exclusively…
Crypto
Crypto exchange OKX ceases services in India; KuCoin becomes FIU compliant
Manish Singh
3:52 am PDT • March 21, 2024
Updated at 12.16am IST, March 23: KuCoin said it has become the first global crypto exchange to comply with India’s FIU. KuCoin said it will support local banks in India…
Crypto
TechCrunch Minute: Solana is ushering in a new round of memecoin mania
Alex Wilhelm
Yashad Kulkarni
9:00 am PDT • March 20, 2024
Blockchain is back and Bitcoin is hot, the Ethereum blockchain is seeing price gains, and lots of folks are stoked about ETFs. But lately, one less-mainstream blockchain is perhaps making…
Featured Article
How crypto exchange Backpack climbed its way to success after its major investor FTX died
Backpack’s founders, who are building a crypto exchange and wallet, have experienced strong growth since launching in 2022. But the road wasn’t easy. FTX co-led Backpack’s $20 million strategic investment round in September 2022. Less than two months later, in November 2022, FTX collapsed. “We lost 80% of the operating capital on FTX. We spent…
Jacquelyn Melinek
9:17 am PDT • March 19, 2024
Crypto
Former web3 gaming founders raise $2.5M for their NFT marketplace to retain users even when there ‘isn’t money to be made’
Jacquelyn Melinek
6:00 am PDT • March 14, 2024
Even though NFT sales volume is still down 88% from 2022 all-time highs (and down 38% year-to-date), Pallet Exchange is building a new type of NFT marketplace focused on user…
Featured Article
Solana’s price rises to $160, highest level since January 2022 as memecoin mania rises
The token behind Solana, a layer-1 blockchain that’s competitive with the Ethereum blockchain, has been through the wringer after it plummeted from a high of about $260 in late 2021 to a low around $8 in early 2023. But like every good movie with a character redemption arc, Solana has one too. The cryptocurrency passed…
Jacquelyn Melinek
1:23 pm PDT • March 13, 2024
Featured Article
Blockchain startup Sei Labs creates an interesting solution to make Ethereum faster
Sei Labs, a startup co-founded by a former Robinhood engineer and a former VC from Coatue, has launched a new open sourced project that offers a novel and exciting approach to make Ethereum faster and less expensive for developers. On Wednesday, Sei launched The Parallel Stack, a public good project — meaning free for any…
Jacquelyn Melinek
6:00 am PDT • March 13, 2024
Crypto
Nigeria demands Binance disclose top users, executives remain detained
Tage Kene-Okafor
12:39 pm PDT • March 12, 2024
Nigeria is actively seeking information from Binance regarding its top 100 users in the country and all transaction history spanning the past six months, according to a Financial Times report.…
Privacy
Worldcoin fails to get injunction against Spain’s privacy suspension
Natasha Lomas
9:30 am PDT • March 11, 2024
Controversial eyeball scanning startup Worldcoin has failed to get an injunction against a temporary suspension ordered Wednesday by Spain’s data protection authority, the AEPD. The authority used emergency powers contained…
Crypto
Bitcoin hits new all-time high of $72,700 but one index warns we’re in ‘extreme greed’ territory
Jacquelyn Melinek
9:28 am PDT • March 11, 2024
The crypto scene continues to remain so hot that bitcoin is hitting one new high after another. It surpassed $72,700 on Monday. This was initially driven by the approval of…
Privacy
Worldcoin says it’s paused services in Spain, after filing legal challenge to temporary ban
Natasha Lomas
3:50 am PST • March 8, 2024
A German subsidiary involved in Sam Altman’s controversial crypto blockchain digital identity business, Worldcoin, was reported Friday to have filed a legal challenge against a suspension order from Spain’s data…