Sarah Thompson
Sarah Thompson is a cryptocurrency journalist specializing in global regulation, institutional finance, and the policies shaping the future of digital assets. Her reporting focuses on the intersection of blockchain technology, financial markets, and government oversight, covering everything from Bitcoin ETFs and stablecoin legislation to central bank digital currencies, securities regulation, and international crypto policy.
She closely follows how regulators, financial institutions, and technology companies influence the evolution of digital finance across North America, Europe, and Asia. Sarah's work helps readers understand how legislative decisions, regulatory frameworks, and macroeconomic policy affect innovation, investment, and the long-term adoption of cryptocurrencies. Her audience includes investors, executives, policymakers, and professionals seeking clear analysis of the legal and financial landscape surrounding digital assets.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin-to-Ethereum Rotation Is a Tactical Signal, Not a Regime Change
For most of the institutional crypto era, capital has followed a predictable route: enter through Bitcoin, establish a core position and consider everything else later. This week, that sequence briefly changed. BlackRock’s Bitcoin product recorded redemptions while its Ethereum vehicles attracted fr
SBI Turns a Corporate Rebrand Into a Major Canton Network Bet
A company name change rarely says much about the future of finance. SBI Holdings’ decision to transform SBI Security Solutions into SBI Digital Practice is different. Behind the new identity is a more consequential move: the creation of a dedicated operating company focused on bringing regulated fin
Solana and Tron Are Locked in a Battle for DeFi’s No. 2 Spot
For years, the decentralized finance landscape has been dominated by Ethereum. Despite increasing competition from alternative Layer 1 blockchains, Ethereum continues to hold a commanding lead in total value locked (TVL), making it the undisputed center of the DeFi economy. The real competition is n
BitMart Follows BitMEX to the Exit as the CEX Shakeout Accelerates
Two centralized cryptocurrency exchanges have announced their departures within days of each other, turning what might have looked like an isolated corporate decision into a warning for the wider trading industry. BitMart is winding down after nine years of operation, following BitMEX’s decision to
Coinbase Opens the Door to an AI Economy as Autonomous Agents Gain the Ability to Pay Businesses
Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving from a tool that answers questions into software capable of performing meaningful work on behalf of people. The next logical step is giving those AI systems the ability to participate in the economy. Coinbase believes that moment has arrived. The cryptocur
AI Is Becoming Every Hacker’s Force Multiplier: What DeFi and Crypto Must Prepare for Next
For years, the cryptocurrency industry has been locked in an arms race with increasingly sophisticated hackers. Smart contract exploits evolved from simple coding mistakes into carefully orchestrated, multi-stage attacks involving cross-chain bridges, flash loans and social engineering. Now, a new p
Wanchain’s 515 Million NIGHT Exploit: The Signature Was Valid—The Message Was Not
The most dangerous weakness in a cross-chain bridge is not always a stolen private key, a compromised validator or a broken cryptographic algorithm. Sometimes it is something more mundane: two pieces of software disagreeing about what a signed message actually says. That appears to be the central fa
The Hacker Who Came Through HR: MetaMask’s North Korean Developer Scare
The most dangerous person inside a cryptocurrency company may not arrive through a phishing email, a zero-day exploit or a compromised server. They may arrive through a calendar invitation, pass a technical interview and receive access credentials from human resources. That is the unsettling lesson
Coinbase’s Existential Bet: Why Brian Armstrong Chose to Fight Washington
Brian Armstrong did not enter the cryptocurrency industry expecting to become a political operator. He was an engineer building financial infrastructure, not a lobbyist studying congressional committees or an executive preparing to challenge a federal regulator. His original assumption was straightf
Polygon Paused a Third of Its Team—and Exposed How AI Is Rewriting the Speed of Crypto Development
For three days, roughly a third of Polygon’s team stopped doing the work already on its roadmap. Instead, employees were told to build something useful with artificial intelligence, with $15,000 placed on the table as an incentive. By the end of the sprint, Polygon CEO Sandeep Nailwal said the teams
ECB Taps Stripe, Revolut and 34 Payment Firms for Landmark Digital Euro Trial
Europe’s digital currency project is moving out of policy papers and into the payment terminal. The European Central Bank has selected 36 payment service providers, including Stripe, Revolut, Adyen, Deutsche Bank and UniCredit, to participate in a year-long digital euro pilot beginning in the second
Avalanche’s Stablecoin Boom Explained: Why Billions Are Suddenly Flowing Into AVAX
Avalanche has quietly become one of the hottest destinations for stablecoin capital in crypto. While much of the market has been focused on Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs and the growing race between Layer-1 blockchains, a surprising trend has emerged beneath the surface: Avalanche’s stablecoin ecosys
Japan’s Financial Rails Move On-Chain as SBI and Solana Forge a New Market Alliance
Japan’s blockchain strategy is entering a more ambitious phase. SBI Holdings, one of the country’s most influential financial groups, has formed a strategic alliance with the Solana Foundation to develop an on-chain financial market originating in Japan. Rather than launching another isolated crypto
Hyundai Puts Avalanche to the Test as Stablecoins Move Closer to Corporate Finance
For years, blockchain advocates have argued that stablecoins would eventually become part of everyday corporate finance rather than remain confined to cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance. That vision has now taken another meaningful step forward. Hyundai Card has successfully complete
Hoskinson Says Ethereum Is Borrowing Cardano’s Biggest Innovation Without Giving Credit
The long-running rivalry between Cardano and Ethereum has flared up once again, this time over one of blockchain’s most fundamental design choices. Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and one of Ethereum’s original co-founders, has accused the Ethereum ecosystem of attempting to adopt
Bitcoin’s Spam War Reignites as Dashjr Backs BIP-110
Bitcoin’s oldest philosophical fight is back, and this time it is not about block size. It is about what Bitcoin is allowed to be. A payment network? A settlement layer? A monetary base? Or a permanent storage system for tokens, images, inscriptions, metadata, and experiments that happen to fit insi
Ethereum’s UTXO Debate Exposes the Limits of the EVM Era
Ethereum is once again confronting a design choice it made more than a decade ago. The network that became the default settlement layer for smart contracts was built around accounts, balances, contract storage, and the Ethereum Virtual Machine. That model gave Ethereum its expressiveness and helped
Circle CEO Fires Back as Coinbase and 140+ Companies Rally Behind OUSD Rival
The stablecoin race is entering a new and increasingly aggressive phase. What was once a battle over market share is rapidly becoming a contest between competing business models, ecosystem incentives, and visions for the future of digital dollars. At the center of the latest dispute is Circle CEO Je
Kash Patel’s Late MSTR Disclosure Puts Crypto-Linked Stock Trading Back Under Washington’s Microscope
FBI Director Kash Patel is facing fresh scrutiny after reporting a six-figure purchase of Strategy stock months after the legal disclosure deadline had passed, reviving one of Washington’s most persistent ethics debates: should senior government officials be allowed to trade individual stocks at all
Open USD Arrives With a 140-Company Coalition and a Direct Challenge to the Stablecoin Giants
The stablecoin market has spent years consolidating around two names: Tether and Circle. USDT became the liquidity engine of crypto trading, while USDC became the cleaner, more regulated dollar token for institutions, fintechs, and U.S.-aligned exchanges. Now a new challenger has entered the field w
MiCA’s Day of Reckoning: Why Europe’s Crypto Industry Is About to Change Forever
Tomorrow, Europe’s crypto industry crosses a line it cannot uncross. After years of operating under fragmented national regimes, thousands of crypto companies face a new reality under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, better known as MiCA. The old registration era is ending.
Polygon’s $80 Billion Stablecoin Milestone Signals a Bigger Shift: AI Could Soon Outpace Humans Onchain
Polygon’s latest network figures point to a major shift in how blockchain infrastructure may be used over the next few years. In May, the network processed around $80 billion in stablecoin volume and, according to Polygon, led all blockchains in total transaction count, surpassing both Solana and BN
Congress Just Handed Crypto a Digital-Dollar Victory
The fight over a U.S. central bank digital currency has been one of the most important ideological battles in crypto policy. Now, after years of warnings from Bitcoin advocates, stablecoin issuers, privacy groups and pro-market lawmakers, Congress has moved to block the Federal Reserve from launchin
Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin Machine Faces Its Hardest Test as MSTR and STRC Crack Under Pressure
For years, Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin strategy looked almost untouchable. Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, had become the public-market symbol of corporate Bitcoin conviction: borrow, issue equity, buy BTC, repeat. The model worked spectacularly while Bitcoin rose and investors were willing to pay a
Circle and INFINIOS Put USDC on a Faster Track in the Middle East
The stablecoin race is no longer just about crypto exchanges, DeFi liquidity, or traders moving between risk assets. It is increasingly about payment infrastructure. Circle’s new strategic agreement with Bahrain-based INFINIOS points directly to that shift. By plugging USDC, EURC, and API-enabled on
Cardano’s $0.139 Shock: ADA Slides to Its Weakest Level Since 2020 as SecondFi Exploit Deepens the Crisis
Cardano has entered one of the darkest stretches in its market history. ADA briefly fell to about $0.139, its weakest level since the 2020 cycle, extending a brutal decline that has erased more than 95% of the token’s value from its 2021 peak. The selloff was already painful before the latest securi
Europe Draws a Line in the Sand: Unlicensed Crypto Firms Told to Leave as MiCA Era Officially Begins
The European Union’s landmark crypto regulatory framework is entering a decisive new phase, and regulators are making it clear that there will be little room for delay. With the final MiCA transition period ending on July 1, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has instructed c
SecondFi Hack Exposes Cardano Wallet Risks as Team Secures 129 Million ADA
A major security incident involving SecondFi has sent shockwaves through the Cardano ecosystem, with approximately 16 million ADA reportedly stolen while emergency measures helped secure an additional 129 million ADA before attackers could drain affected wallets. The incident has drawn particular at
CZ’s Hyperliquid Admission Exposes the New Fault Line in Crypto Exchanges
When Changpeng Zhao says Binance cannot compete with a rising exchange, the market listens. Not because Binance suddenly looks weak, but because CZ rarely frames competition in such blunt terms. His recent comments on the Galaxy Brains podcast about Hyperliquid were notable for exactly that reason.
Europe’s Crypto Countdown: MiCA Turns Compliance Into a Survival Test
In two weeks, Europe’s crypto market stops being a patchwork and becomes a filter. On July 1, 2026, the final transitional window under MiCA closes for many crypto platforms that were allowed to keep operating under old national regimes. For users, the change may arrive as a bland email asking them
Europe’s USDT Cutoff: MiCA Turns Stablecoins Into Licensed Infrastructure
The European Union is not merely pushing Tether’s USDT off exchange menus. It is redrawing the stablecoin market around a simple but brutal principle: if a dollar token wants access to regulated European liquidity, it must live inside Europe’s licensing perimeter. For years, USDT was the default set
Did Michael Saylor Really Call Sui “the Next Solana”? The Viral Claim Shows How Hungry Crypto Is for Its Next L1 Narrative
Crypto loves a sentence that sounds too explosive to ignore. This week’s version is simple, emotional and tailor-made for X: Michael Saylor, the world’s most visible Bitcoin treasury evangelist, supposedly sees Sui as “the next Solana.” For SUI holders, that is the kind of quote that can light up a
Japan’s Crypto Reset: Why the World’s Fourth-Largest Economy Is Treating Bitcoin More Like Stocks
Japan has rarely been a reckless player in crypto. It was one of the first major economies to regulate exchanges after the Mt. Gox collapse, one of the earliest to create a legal framework for stablecoins, and one of the most cautious jurisdictions when speculative fever hit the market. That history
Ethereum Is Not Losing Tokenization — But Its Monopoly Is Over
For years, Ethereum was the default answer to almost every serious question in crypto infrastructure. Stablecoins, DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, on-chain treasuries and early real-world asset experiments all clustered around the same gravitational center. But tokenization is now entering a different phase. The
Arthur Hayes Warns the AI Bubble Could Hit Bitcoin Before It Saves It
Arthur Hayes has never been a quiet macro tourist in crypto. The BitMEX co-founder has built his public reputation around bold, theatrical and often uncomfortable market calls. His latest warning is one of his sharper reversals: the artificial intelligence boom, he argues, may now be so overheated t
Cardano’s Treasury Test: Why the IOG Research Vote Has Become a Governance Flashpoint
Cardano’s governance experiment was supposed to prove that a blockchain treasury could be directed by its community rather than by insiders. Yet the latest controversy around Input Output Research’s funding proposal has exposed a deeper anxiety inside the ecosystem: when founding entities still hold
Ethereum’s Value Crisis: Why the ETH Debate Is Really About Whether the Network Can Capture Its Own Success
Ethereum has survived bear markets, scaling wars, regulatory attacks, exchange collapses, rival chains, and years of criticism from Bitcoin maximalists. But the latest argument shaking its own community cuts deeper than the usual outside attack. The question is no longer whether Ethereum works as a
Avalanche’s World Cup Moment: How FIFA Ticket Demand Turned Blockchain Into Invisible Infrastructure
The clearest sign of crypto adoption may not look like crypto at all. It may look like a football fan trying to secure a seat at the World Cup. Over several days, Avalanche reportedly saw transaction volume jump as much as 24 times above normal levels, while active addresses grew roughly 10 times, a
TapTools Is Winding Down, and Cardano Is Facing the Hard Truth About Crypto Infrastructure
The closure of TapTools is not just another sad announcement from a crypto startup that ran out of runway. For Cardano, it lands deeper than that. TapTools was one of the ecosystem’s most recognizable analytics platforms: a place where users tracked tokens, projects, portfolios, market data, NFTs, o
Cardano Steps Onto the Olympic Stage With Brazil’s Blockchain Innovation Push
The Olympic Games have always been a showcase for human performance, national ambition, and technological progress. From timing systems accurate to thousandths of a second to biometric training tools and AI-assisted broadcasting, sport has never stood still. Now, Brazil’s Olympic movement is prepari
Strategy Sells Bitcoin for the First Time in Years, and the Symbolism Is Bigger Than the Size
Michael Saylor’s Strategy has finally done the thing Bitcoin maximalists were told it would not do: it sold Bitcoin. The sale itself was tiny by the company’s standards, just 32 BTC for roughly $2.5 million. But in crypto, symbolism often moves faster than balance sheets. For a company that built it
Linea’s TVL Slide Raises Hard Questions for Consensys’ Layer 2 Ambitions
Linea was supposed to be one of Ethereum’s most institutionally credible Layer 2 bets: a zkEVM network backed by Consensys, tied to the MetaMask ecosystem, and marketed around Ethereum alignment rather than speculative detours. But the latest DeFi data tells a much colder story. Linea’s total value
Cardano Governance Vote Kills Summit 2026 as DReps Reject Revised Singapore Proposal
Cardano’s on-chain governance has delivered one of its most symbolic decisions yet: the Cardano Summit 2026 will not take place this year. The Cardano Foundation confirmed that its revised Treasury funding proposal failed to secure enough support from Delegated Representatives, ending plans for a fl
World’s $65 Million WLD Sale Exposes the Tension at the Heart of Sam Altman’s Identity Network
World has always sold a bigger story than crypto. The project formerly known as Worldcoin wants to build proof of personhood for the AI age, a system that lets people prove they are real humans without handing over their full identity every time they log in, transact, vote, play, date or interact on
Canton Network: The Institutional Blockchain Wall Street Actually Wants to Use
For most of the crypto industry, institutional adoption has been a promise permanently waiting for proof. Canton Network is one of the rare projects where the story runs in the opposite direction. It is not famous because retail traders swarm its apps, chase yield farms, or mint speculative NFTs. It
$8.3 Million in Bitcoin Was Just Burned. The Bigger Mystery Is Why
A Bitcoin holder just did something most investors would consider unthinkable: they sent 107 BTC, worth roughly $8.3 million, to an address designed never to give it back. The coins had reportedly sat untouched for more than 11 years. Then, in five separate transactions, they moved into one of Bitco
Arthur Hayes’ Privacy Trade: Why NEAR and Zcash Sit at the Center of His AI-Era Crypto Thesis
Arthur Hayes has never been subtle about macro trades. When the former BitMEX chief and Maelstrom CIO sees a narrative forming, he tends to say the quiet part out loud. This time, the trade is privacy. Not privacy as a cypherpunk slogan, not privacy as a niche feature buried in wallet settings, but
BlackRock’s $1 Billion Bitcoin Exit Is a Warning Shot for the ETF Market
The latest Bitcoin market anxiety has a familiar name at the center of it: BlackRock. According to reports citing Arkham data, BlackRock-linked wallets moved roughly $1.01 billion worth of Bitcoin over the past week, with the sales reportedly spread across daily transactions rather than executed as
Pompliano’s Crypto Purge: Why Bitcoin, Stablecoins and Tokenization May Be the Only Survivors
Anthony Pompliano has never been shy about drawing hard lines in crypto, but his latest argument cuts deeper than the usual Bitcoin maximalist sermon. His message is not simply that Bitcoin will win. It is that most of the crypto industry has already lost. In his view, the future belongs to a narrow
Cardano’s Governance Test: When Decentralization Meets the Shadow of Charles Hoskinson
Cardano has finally entered the era it spent years promising: on-chain governance, delegated representatives, treasury votes, constitutional rules, and a community that can, in theory, decide the network’s future without waiting for a founding company to approve the next move. But the first real str