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Decrypt Staff

Decrypt Staff

Decrypt Staff is a byline used by staff writers for short pieces written from breaking news events.

Stories by Decrypt Staff

  • Ethereum is the second biggest crypto asset by market cap. Source: Decrypt/Shutterstock

    Once a $2.3 Billion Network, Ethereum Layer-2 Blast Is Shutting Down

    Blast, the Ethereum layer-2 network that once drew billions of dollars with promises of built-in yield and airdrops, is calling it quits. The team said Friday on X that maintaining the network now costs more than it earns, and that it sees no credible path to making the chain economically sustainable. "As a result, we've made the difficult decision to wind Blast down," the team wrote. Myriad: Where does Ethereum go next? Click to make your prediction. Users are being asked to move their assets b...

    NewsBusiness
    2 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • SEC Chair Paul Atkins. Image: SEC/Decrypt

    SEC Proposes Rules to Clear Up How Advisers and Funds Can Hold Crypto

    The Securities and Exchange Commission is moving to settle one of the thorniest questions in institutional crypto: how professional money managers are supposed to hold the assets. The agency on Wednesday proposed a tailored framework governing how registered investment advisers and regulated funds can custody crypto, aiming to replace years of regulatory ambiguity with a clear compliance path. Myriad: Who wins the midterm elections? Click to make your prediction. Advisers are required to keep cl...

    NewsLaw and Order
    2 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • Judge with gavel. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    Illinois Delays Controversial Crypto Tax Amid Industry Lawsuit

    Illinois crypto users just got a six-month reprieve, if a judge signs off. State officials have agreed to push back the start of Illinois' Digital Asset Tax from Jan. 1 to July 1, 2027, according to a joint motion filed Thursday in Sangamon County Circuit Court. The filing asks the court to preliminarily enjoin the tax, or temporarily block it, and stay its effective date until July. Myriad: Who wins the midterm elections? Click to make your prediction. The motion stems from a lawsuit brought by...

    NewsLaw and Order
    3 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • US Capitol building in DC. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    Coinbase-Backed Crypto Group Reveals Midterm Endorsements After Clarity Act Collapse

    Stand With Crypto, the advocacy group Coinbase launched in 2023, unveiled a bipartisan slate of Senate and House endorsements Wednesday, sharpening its electoral push roughly a month before November's midterms and two weeks after the Clarity Act collapsed in the Senate. The group's first Senate endorsements span three races. In Ohio, it is backing Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who faces former Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown, a longtime crypto skeptic. Myriad: Who wins the midterm ele...

    NewsLaw and Order
    3 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • The Information Exchange. Image: Decrypt

    Introducing The Information Exchange on Solana, Powered by Decrypt and MYR

    Information has always moved markets. People consume information to understand the world, form a view of what will happen next and decide how to act. But the systems through which people become informed have historically remained separate from the systems through which they participate. We believe that division is ending. Today, we are announcing The Information Exchange: an information and financial network bringing together news, data, market prices, probabilities and direct participation arou...

    NewsOur Company
    7 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • President Donald Trump. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    Trump Unveils 'Morally Binding' AI Accord Signed by OpenAI, Google and Nvidia

    President Donald Trump released a one-page artificial intelligence accord Tuesday, signed by the leaders of the biggest AI companies, that asks them to voluntarily police their own systems as fears mount over the technology's risks. Trump posted the document to his Truth Social platform after gathering executives at the White House, describing it as "morally binding." Myriad: How low will Nvidia go? Click to make your prediction. It was signed by Trump and the heads of Google, Anthropic, Meta, O...

  • Image created by Decrypt using AI

    AI Agents Keep Escaping Their Creators' Control—Here's What We Know

    The alarming AI story of 2026 isn't a chatbot saying something offensive. It's autonomous AI agents—software that can plan, use tools and act on its own—slipping beyond the boundaries their creators set. This week produced the most striking example yet, and it fits a pattern that's been building for months. Myriad: How low will Nvidia go? Click to make your prediction. On Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that an OpenAI agent had breached an Australian government web...

  • What does the future hold for Bitcoin? Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    Bitcoin's Quantum Problem: Three Ways Researchers Are Trying to Fix It

    Every few months, a fresh headline warns that quantum computers could one day crack Bitcoin. This week brought three at once—a cost breakthrough, a new privacy design, and a custody playbook—which makes it a good moment to separate the real threat from the noise. First, the problem—and it’s a very real one. Bitcoin secures wallets using elliptic-curve cryptography, the math that links a private key to a public one. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor's algorithm could, in theor...

    NewsTechnology
    3 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • SEC Logo. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    SEC Staff Says Token Buybacks Don't Make Crypto a Security—If the Network Works

    Crypto projects looking to buy back their own tokens just got a green light from the SEC's staff, with one big condition. In new FAQs published Friday, the agency's Division of Corporation Finance said that once a crypto system is functional, announcing a token buyback program doesn't amount to a promise of "essential managerial efforts." That's a key ingredient of the Howey test, the Supreme Court standard for deciding whether something is an investment contract, and therefore a security. Myria...

    NewsLaw and Order
    3 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • Bitcoin. Source: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    Bitcoin ETFs Notch Seven-Day Winning Streak as 2026 Flows Turn Green

    Less than two weeks ago, Bitcoin ETF investors were heading for the exits. Now they're piling back in. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $134.5 million on Friday, extending their inflow streak to seven straight trading days, according to Decrypt's Bitcoin ETF tracker. The run, which began Sept. 17, has pulled in about $2.98 billion. Myriad: How high will Bitcoin go? Click to make your prediction. That's a sharp reversal from mid-September. The funds shed $450.4 million on Sept. 15, their worst day...

    NewsCoins
    2 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • U.S. Capitol building. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    How Crypto Stopped Waiting for Congress and Learned to Love the Regulators

    For nearly two years, the crypto industry's Washington strategy rested on a single word: clarity. Pass a market-structure law, the thinking went, and the rest would follow. That strategy hit a wall—and now the industry's focus has shifted from Congress to federal regulators. Myriad: Will Congress pass the Clarity Act? Click to make your prediction. Last week, the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act, the sweeping market-structure bill more than a year in the making, in a 49-50 procedural vot...

    NewsLaw and Order
    3 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • Bitcoin remains the largest crypto asset in the market. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    AI Agents Are Racing to Make Quantum-Safe Bitcoin Cheap—And Winning

    The price of building a quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction has plunged nearly 80% in a single week, after developers and AI models competed to optimize the code behind it. According to StarkWare, which ran the competition alongside Yukon Research and Eigen Labs, the estimated cost of constructing such a transaction fell from about $320 to roughly $67 in GPU compute. Myriad: How high will Bitcoin go? Click to make your prediction. The figure comes from the dashboard of the Quantum-Safe Bitcoin...

    NewsTechnology
    3 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • NFTs. Image: Decrypt/Shutterstock

    Magic Eden Warns Old Ethereum NFT Listings Are Exposed to Payment Processor Exploit

    Magic Eden may have left Ethereum behind, but some of its old users' NFTs were still exposed. The marketplace warned Friday that NFTs listed on its EVM marketplace between roughly February and October 2024 could be affected by an exploit in Payment Processor V2, an NFT trading protocol built and maintained by Limit Break. Myriad: Where does Ethereum go next? Click to make your prediction. EVM refers to Ethereum and the blockchains compatible with it. Magic Eden adopted the contract to settle tra...

    NewsNFTs
    3 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, home to the Fed's Reserve Board. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    Federal Reserve Unveils Stablecoin Rules on Reserves and Capital

    The Federal Reserve is moving to set the ground rules for stablecoin issuers it oversees, proposing Thursday that they fully back their tokens with safe, liquid assets and hold capital against the risks of their operations. The central bank opened two proposals for public comment as it builds out the regulatory framework required under the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law President Donald Trump signed in July 2025. Myriad: Will the Fed raise rates again? Click to make your prediction. The first wo...

    NewsLaw and Order
    2 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • Polymarket. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    New York Wants to Ban Polymarket, Lawsuit Calls It 'Illegal Gambling Operation'

    New York has taken legal aim at Polymarket, with Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul announcing a lawsuit Wednesday that accuses the prediction market of running an unlicensed gambling business in the state. The suit, filed against QCX LLC doing business as Polymarket US, alleges the platform's markets meet New York's legal definition of gambling because users bet money on uncertain outcomes outside their control. Myriad: When will Polymarket TGE? Click to make your predicti...

    NewsLaw and Order
    3 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • Image: NEXTPredict

    Decrypt Media and FOMO Hour’s Thought Leader Farokh Sarmad to Take Main Stage at NEXTPredict NY Conference

    NEXTPredict.io, a leading media and conference organization and host of NEXTPredict NYC, The World’s Prediction Markets Summit, today announced a multi-brand partnership with DASTAN, parent company of Decrypt Media, Rug Radio and Myriad Markets for its Oct. 22–23 summit at Convene Hudson Yards in New York City. As part of the partnership, DASTAN’s Decrypt will serve as NEXTPredict NYC’s exclusive Premier Media Partner, supporting the summit through live coverage, onsite programming and promotion...

  • French police. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    Elliptic Wants Every Cop to Read a Crypto Wallet in Seconds—With AI

    Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has rolled out an artificial intelligence product designed to let ordinary police officers make sense of cryptocurrency they encounter in the field, without needing any blockchain expertise. The tool, called Pulse and announced Wednesday, lets an officer input anything resembling a wallet address or transaction hash, then returns a plain-language financial summary within seconds. Myriad: Who will control Congress after the midterms? Click to make your predictio...

    NewsBusiness
    2 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • OpenAI. Image: Shutterstock/Decrypt

    An AI Agent Just Hacked a Government Website for the First Time, Australia PM Says

    An artificial intelligence agent built by OpenAI broke into an Australian government website in June, gaining unauthorized access to both public and non-public files, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed Wednesday, in what appears to be the first known case of an AI agent hacking a government site. Speaking to reporters in New York, Albanese said the agent infiltrated the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal, a public-facing site administered by Services Australia that holds non-sens...

  • Borrow Against Your Bitcoin at a Fixed Rate: Coinbase Expands Morpho Loans

    Coinbase is giving borrowers a new way to tap cash without selling their Bitcoin, rolling out fixed-rate loans powered by decentralized lending protocol Morpho. The product, announced Tuesday, lets Coinbase users borrow the USDC stablecoin against their Bitcoin with the interest rate and repayment date locked in from the start. Myriad: How high will Bitcoin go? Click to make your prediction. That marks a departure from the variable-rate model that has dominated on-chain lending, where borrowing...

    NewsBusiness
    2 min read
    Decrypt Staff
  • Arthur Hayes. Source: André Beganski/Decrypt

    Crypto Exchange That Invented 100x Leverage Is No More: Here’s What BitMEX Users Need to Know

    The exchange that gave crypto the perpetual swap has officially closed its doors. BitMEX ended all exchange operations at 04:00 UTC Wednesday, the company said on X, capping a two-month wind-down. Trading, deposits and new positions are gone, though users can still log in and withdraw. Myriad: How high will Bitcoin go? Click to make your prediction. "Your funds remain completely safe," BitMEX wrote, urging customers to withdraw remaining balances as soon as possible. Deposits are no longer credi...

    NewsBusiness
    2 min read
    Decrypt Staff
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