Surprise! Wyoming is the top-ranked U.S. hub. Many of CoinDesk’s Crypto Hubs 2023 criteria were measured on a national basis, so all of the U.S. hubs were hampered by a middling crypto regulatory score, a measure in the drivers category and the most heavily weighted criteria – 35% – of the total. This negative was partially offset by the highest crypto adoption score (another drivers criteria) in our sample, however. Given that the regulatory and adoption scores were based on countries,...

The year is young but so far in 2023 hackers have stolen $119 million in crypto in 19 breaches, Crystal Blockchain says in a new report, which includes data ranging from the Mt. Gox crypto exchange hack in 2011 to Feb. 18, 2023. The biggest DeFi hack so far this year was February's of Bonq DAO, a decentralized borrowing protocol. Hackers compromised the protocols’ smart contract and manipulated the price of allianceBlock tokens, draining about $88 million of crypto out of the protocol. The...

Known cryptocurrency payments to ransomware hackers “totaled a mere $16 million, compared to nearly $74 million USD in 2021,” blockchain intelligence firm Crystal Blockchain says. This may be surprising given the fact that the number of ransomware attacks has increased since 2021, according to cybersecurity researchers. This year, the notorious Conti ransomware gang, known for terrorizing U.S. hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, ceased operations, but new groups are constantly...

The largest 50-day “Robinhood” rally in stock market history and even stocks of bankrupt companies are up more than 100%. What is going on? For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, iHeartRadio or RSS. Today on the Brief: Saudi Arabia injects $13 billion in bank liquidity via blockchain. China’s state TV CCTV says Binance is still allowing...

KYIV, Ukraine — Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have been a hot topic in blockchain circles recently, but central banks are lukewarm about blockchains. Representatives of a number of the world’s central banks discussed their CBDC projects last week in Kyiv, Ukraine. The one-day conference was arranged by the National Bank of Ukraine, or NBU, which itself is a CBDC pioneer, having run its own digital currency pilot in 2018. The central bank wanted to test its ideas and conclusions with...