What has happened this week in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? The most relevant local and international events, as well as interesting background reports, are summarized concisely in this weekly review.
Selected articles of the week:
The Bitcoin mining industry is undergoing a radical strategic shift toward AI data centers, driven by a 35 percent collapse in hash price from 55 to 35 USD per petahash since September. Canadian miner Bitfarms announced a complete exit from Bitcoin mining by 2027 and secured GPU supply contracts worth 128 million USD. AI infrastructure generates up to 25 times higher revenue per kilowatt-hour than Bitcoin mining: Blockchain company HIVE estimates that 10 megawatts of Nvidia H100 GPUs produce the same returns as 100 megawatts of mining capacity. Core Scientific signed contracts with cloud provider CoreWeave totaling over 6.7 billion USD, while Riot Platforms reserved two-thirds of its 112 megawatt new capacity in Texas for AI applications. The transformation occurs out of strategic necessity, as profitable mining at current network difficulty levels requires Bitcoin prices above 90,000 USD.
The Bitcoin mining industry is facing a fundamental transformation, as many of the leading companies are pivoting toward AI infrastructure.
Coinbase launches stock trading and prediction markets
US crypto exchange Coinbase is expanding its offering to include commission-free stock trading and regulated prediction markets in partnership with Kalshi. CEO Brian Armstrong presented the vision of an “Everything Exchange” where users can trade all asset classes. The prediction markets function as CFTC-regulated derivatives with binary options between 0.01 and 0.99 USD, where correct predictions pay out one dollar and price formation reflects collective probability assessments. Analysts forecast growth of the total market to one trillion USD annual volume by decade’s end. Competitor Robinhood already generates over 100 million USD in annualized revenue from prediction markets with more than one million active users. The expansion positions Coinbase in direct competition with established fintech providers and signals the increasing convergence between crypto exchanges and traditional financial service providers.
The US crypto exchange Coinbase is integrating prediction markets through a partnership with Kalshi and enabling commission-free stock trading.
Trading firm Jump Trading faces 4 billion USD damages claim
The bankruptcy administrator of Terraform Labs is demanding 4 billion USD in damages from Jump Trading for alleged market manipulation and insider trading related to the Terra collapse. The lawsuit accuses the trading firm of concealing a secret agreement with Do Kwon involving heavily discounted LUNA tokens: Jump received approximately 61.4 million tokens at a price of 0.40 USD in July 2021 when the market price was around 90 USD—a 99 percent discount. The company realized profits of 1.28 billion USD from these positions. During a UST crisis in May 2021, Jump intervened with token purchases worth 20 million USD, but falsely presented this as algorithmic stabilization. The final Terra collapse in May 2022 destroyed over 40 billion USD in value, with UST crashing from one dollar to 0.02 USD. Jump Trading described the lawsuit as a “desperate attempt” to shift responsibility away from Terraform Labs.
The bankruptcy trustee of Terraform Labs has filed a USD 4 billion lawsuit against the trading firm Jump Trading.
SEC ends Aave investigation after four years without sanctions
The US Securities and Exchange Commission closed its four-year investigation into DeFi protocol Aave without recommending enforcement actions. The agency had been investigating since 2021 whether the AAVE governance token should be classified as an unregistered security. Aave manages over 40 billion USD in total value locked and controls approximately 60 percent of the DeFi lending market share across 14 blockchains. Founder Stani Kulechov described the process as resource-intensive but expressed relief at its conclusion. The decision creates an important precedent for protocols with comparable governance structures, though the SEC emphasized that non-enforcement does not constitute exoneration. The closure follows a series of recent case dismissals against Uniswap Labs and Consensys, reflecting the strategic shift under SEC Chair Paul Atkins toward structured regulation rather than aggressive enforcement.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its investigation into leading DeFi protocol Aave after four years.
PayPal applies for banking license for direct lending business
In addition: Fintech giant PayPal is pursuing a Utah charter as an Industrial Loan Company (ILC) and filed applications with the FDIC and Utah financial authorities. The license would enable the company to internalize lending operations currently handled through partner banks, as well as offer FDIC-insured interest-bearing savings accounts. Since 2013, PayPal has issued over 30 billion USD in 1.4 million loans to 420,000 business accounts with exceptional Net Promoter Scores between 76 and 85 points. The ILC structure allows non-banks to provide banking services without full subjection to the Bank Holding Company Act. During the Trump administration, over 18 fintech companies applied for banking licenses, including crypto firms like Circle, Ripple, BitGo, and Paxos, which received conditional preliminary approvals for national trust banks from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
PayPal has applied to the FDIC and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions to establish a Utah-chartered industrial bank.
