New Hampshire proposes bill to establish 'strategic Bitcoin reserve'

FDIC Vice Chair Travis Hill said he expects the agency, which insures deposits in U.S. banks, to take a more “open-minded approach” to technology and called for more guidance on digital assets in a speech posted on Friday.Hill’s remarks follow concerns from some in the crypto industry that the FDIC had asked financial institutions to pause crypto-related activity. 

Recent figures reveal that cybercrime has inflicted losses of $298 billion on German companies alone in 2024, with 90% of surveyed businesses expecting damages to rise further. The primary targets? Sensitive data like intellectual property, patents and user credentials. These alarming statistics underscore the urgent need for more secure and scalable data infrastructure to mitigate cyber risks.While blockchain technology is often safe on the layer 1 protocol level, its application in enterprise-scale data management is still evolving. Traditional centralized systems often prioritize convenience over security, leaving vulnerabilities that cybercriminals exploit. Though blockchain’s promise of security and data sovereignty is clear, its enterprise adoption has been hindered by challenges in scalability, accessibility and speed.Large organizations such as Florida-based National Public Data (NPD), which experienced a colossal breach earlier in mid-2024, frequently dodge accountability and transparency. That highlights the mounting problem of centralized companies having this much control over sensitive data: Their primary concern is protecting themselves, and not users.Luckily, the subset of the blockchain sector focused on data sovereignty has made great strides. While much of industry conversation has surrounded Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF inflows, data security impacts the entire underpinning of our election and financial institutions —- we would be wise to start paying attention to the infrastructure under development.Governments such as the State of Rhode Island have started to for use in business registration and land titling, however, politicians and decision-makers at the government level remain wary of blockchain infrastructure due to its affiliation with crypto schemes such as FTX. These solutions are in a unique position to continue expanding while acquiring even more legacy cloud computing solutions. What is currently missing is the ability for the user to own their data and control the physical location of the nodes on which they store their data.DePIN introduces a decentralized framework that reduces reliance on centralized cloud providers, mitigating the risks associated with single points of failure.Enterprises can benefit from decentralized systems that ensure data privacy, sovereignty, and scalability — essential in the face of growing cyber threats.For example, solutions like CESS offer decentralized storage and data retrieval networks while focusing on data sovereignty (using mechanisms like location-based storage selection), dynamic data access, AI enablement, and data monetization.As cyberattacks become more sophisticated, traditional centralized systems are proving insufficient to address modern data security needs. DePIN’s decentralized framework provides a robust alternative, ensuring that data remains accessible, secure, and verifiable — even under extreme circumstances like server failures or targeted attacks.Looking ahead, decentralized infrastructure is poised to redefine how businesses, governments, and developers manage sensitive data. By reducing reliance on vulnerable centralized systems, DePIN enables a more secure and sovereign digital ecosystem. As more enterprises adopt these solutions, the transition to decentralized systems will not only mitigate cyber risks but also unlock new opportunities for innovation and growth in the data-driven economy.

Usual Money’s USD0++ token dropped 10% from $1 to $0.90 via decentralized exchanges on Friday following the protocol’s dual exit update, sparking concerns about stability and transparency.The UK Treasury has amended legislation, clearly exempting crypto staking from rules governing collective investment schemes.Crypto exchange Bybit is set to temporarily restrict services in India starting on Jan. 12, citing regulatory developments and ongoing efforts to finalize its Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider registration in the country.The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Bhutan, a small country in South Asia, is making big waves in the crypto world.The Kingdom, which populates roughly 770,000 people and lies between India, China and Nepal, just made headlines after one of its cities adopted a crypto reserve strategy. This includes bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and Binance’s BNB token (BNB).El Salvador has previously made bitcoin part of the country’s national reserve and several other countries, including the United States, are considering taking similar measures to strengthen its already robust economy.But Bhutan could set an example for smaller countries, where making crypto part of their national reserve strategy could have an enormous economic impact.“They are coming out guns loaded to show the world what’s possible in the digital asset space by bringing in foreign companies to help take advantage of the growing global interest in crypto as a whole,” said Phillip Shoemaker, executive director of Identity.com, a non-profit organization providing decentralized identity verification.“I see this move as potentially triggering similar actions among other governments around the world, especially in smaller countries that are subject to the whims of foreign-exchange volatility and geo-political uncertainty,” he said.According to a report by the World Bank in May this year, although Bhutan does have a fairly robust economy, downside risks persist as the country’s fiscal deficit is expected to widen. To ensure economic growth, it needs to attract more foreign investments, the report suggested.Bhutan listened and acted by creating Gelephu Mindfulness City, the region that is adopting crypto as part of its goal of “mindfulness, sustainability, and innovation.”“The special economic zone being created helps to attract foreign investment, so its accumulation of digital assets more generally could be really compelling at the international level,” Shoemaker said.Bhutan was already well positioned for this move. The country has an estimated 24,000 megawatts of technically feasible hydropower potential, of which it has so far only developed about 7%.“It gets so much electricity from hydro sources, after all, and it makes sense for them to lean into the mining aspect of it,” said Shoemaker.Bitcoin mining requires enormous energy which has sparked concerns about the negative environmental impact of crypto mining. However, use of hydropower solves that problem as it is much more cost efficient and reduces miners’ carbon footprint.In April 2019, the country started using its massive amounts of hydropower to start mining bitcoin, according to an article by Forbes. Today, the country owns over 11,000 bitcoin, worth roughly $1.1 billion, according to data on Arkham. This puts Bhutan among the top five countries to hold bitcoin in its reserves, according to BitcoinTreasuries data.“Bitcoin mining, in particular, is such a good tool for leveraging various forms of renewable and stranded energy,” said Jagdeep Sidhu, Core Developer at Syscoin and President of the Syscoin Foundation. “I imagine that other governments are increasingly looking at Bhutan as an example of how to launch their own Bitcoin reserves, especially countries that have abundant sources of energy that could otherwise be wasted.”