Olivia Capozzalo
- Content, Communications, and Marketing Strategy, Freelance
Lisbon
As seen in:
She's In Russia,
Yahoo Finance,
Cointelegraph,
Crypto News,
3AM Magazine,
The Defiant,
Intellyx
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Olivia Capozzalo
Strategy Resumes Weekly Buys with Smallest BTC Purchase Since December
The largest digital asset treasury company, Michael Saylor's Strategy, resumed its Bitcoin (BTC) purchases last week after a one-week pause, the company announced on X. Strategy bought 535 BTC — its smallest weekly purchase since December — for about $43 million total, and an average price per BTC of about $80,340. Last week’s buy brought the firm’s total Bitcoin treasury to 818,869 BTC, as of May 10.
Circle Raises $222M in Arc Presale at $3B FDV
USDC issuer Circle announced the completion of the presale for its stablecoin-focused blockchain Arc, raising $222 million in token sales, as part of its Q1 2026 report, published on Monday, May 11. The presale, which gives the Layer 1 chain a fully diluted valuation of $3 billion, was led by a16z crypto, which bought $75 million worth of Arc’s native token, Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire told CNBC.
‘Polkadot Is Kind of Done.’ The Once Hyped Layer 0 Faces Falling Usage, and Controversy
Former Polkadot insiders report lack of direction and support from leadership, treasury overspending, and even failure to pay contributors for their work. Blockchains The exploit of Polkadot's bridge protocol Hyperbridge last month is a symbol of deeper dysfunction within one of crypto's most ambitious ecosystems, a former insider says.
Zcash Rallies 30% on Multicoin Investment News
The crypto VC's co-founder said the firm has been buying ZEC since February, and has "built a significant position." Markets Zcash (ZEC) rallied over 30% to become today’s top gainer after crypto-focused venture capital firm Multicoin revealed that it’s been accumulating the privacy coin for the past three months.
a16z Crypto Raises $2.2B Fund to Turn New Infra into Everyday Products
Andreessen Horowitz's crypto arm has closed its fifth dedicated fund at $2.2 billion, signaling renewed institutional confidence in crypto infrastructure even as overall sector fundraising contracts sharply. Crypto Fund 5 from a16z crypto targets startups “turning new infrastructure into products people use every day.” The firm's partners pointed to stablecoins as the clearest proof of durable adoption amid market turbulence.
Arbitrum DAO Elects Six New Security Council Members Amid Ongoing Kelp Fallout
The Arbitrum DAO announced results today for its March 2026 Security Council election, naming six new members to the 12-person body.
World Liberty Financial Sues Justin Sun for Defamation
The Trump family-linked crypto company World Liberty Financial has filed a defamation lawsuit against TRON founder Justin Sun, escalating a feud that has been simmering for months. The firm announced the move in an X thread today, May 4. According to World Liberty Financial, Sun “engaged in prohibited transactions,” including allegedly transferring tokens to Binance. Last September, as The Defiant reported at the time, World Liberty blacklisted a wallet associated with Sun containing 500 WLFI.
Lotus Taps WisdomTree Money Market Fund to Build Yield Floor into DeFi Lending
Pre-launch DeFi lending protocol Lotus has announced that WisdomTree's Treasury Money Market Digital Fund (WTGXX) will serve as part of the reserve framework backing LotusUSD, its core vault token, according a press release shared with The Defiant. The DeFi protocol said the move marks one of the first instances of a money market fund being referenced within a DeFi lending protocol. LotusUSD reserves are composed of USDC and tokenized short-duration U.S. Treasuries.
SparkLend Sees Over $1B in Deposits Since Kelp Exploit as Aave TVL Plunges
DeFi's lending landscape is being reshuffled in real time as capital flees Aave in the wake of the Kelp bridge exploit, and a notable chunk of appears to be landing on SparkLend. Spark's stablecoin lending protocol SparkLend has seen over $1.4 billion in deposits flow into it in the past few days since the $290 million Kelp bridge exploit on Saturday, April 18, which has continued to rock DeFi since.
Hardware Wallet Tangem Announces Global Rollout of Its Retail Payments Service
Switzerland-headquartered hardware wallet company Tangem today announced the global rollout of its retail payments product, Tangem Pay, per a press release shared exclusively with The Defiant. The new feature lets Tangem wallet users spend stablecoin USDC anywhere where Visa is accepted, using virtual Visa cards that can be added to Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Kraken's Parent Firm to Acquire US Derivatives Exchange Bitnomial
Payward, the parent company of U.S. centralized exchange Kraken, announced today, April 17, that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Bitnomial, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated crypto derivatives exchange. Bitnomial was founded in 2014 and over more than a decade of operations has acquired the full set of CFTC licenses — exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage — becoming what Kraken says is the first crypto company in the United States to do so.
Charles Schwab Announces Rollout of Spot BTC and ETH Trading for Retail Clients
Charles Schwab announced the planned launch of its spot crypto trading platform, Schwab Crypto, in a press release today, April 16. The platform offers Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading to Schwab’s retail clients from within the existing platform, alongside traditional investments. The phased rollout of the platform begins in the coming weeks, and will let Schwab's existing brokerage customers buy and hold BTC and ETH directly within their accounts, without leaving the platform.
Two Long-Time Ethereum Foundation Contributors Announce Departures
Josh Stark, a member of the management team at the Ethereum Foundation, announced on X today, April 16, that he will leave the foundation at the end of this month. Stark’s announcement comes just a day after another EF contributor, Trent Van Epps, also revealed his departure, writing that he left the foundation last week. Both Stark and Van Epps are leaving the Ethereum Foundation after five years, per their X posts.
Fireblocks Launches Stablecoin Yield Product via Aave, Morpho
Enterprise crypto infrastructure firm Fireblocks has launched an on-chain lending product, Earn, giving its institutional clients direct access to two of DeFi's largest lending protocols, per a press release shared with The Defiant. Via Earn, the firm’s more than 2,400 institutional clients will be able earn yield on their stablecoin holdings via Morpho and Aave, directly from the Fireblocks platform.
SEC Gives DeFi Front-Ends a Narrow Path Around Broker-Dealer Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Trading and Markets issued new staff guidance today, April 13, that outlines conditions under which certain crypto-related user interfaces may operate without registering as broker-dealers under federal securities law.
Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF MSBT Sees $30.6M in Inflows on First Day
Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF, MSBT, kicked off trading as expected on Wednesday, April 8, on NYSE Arca. The fund saw a relatively strong debut, with $30.6 million in net inflows yesterday, per Farside data. Morgan Stanley's fund page shows that the fund held 444.4 BTC valued at $31,654,653.90 as of April 8. Meanwhile, CoinDesk reported the fund generated $34 million in day-one trading volume.
Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF Set to Launch on April 8: Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley's much-anticipated spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund is expected to begin trading on Wednesday, April 8, on NYSE Arca. Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas confirmed the launch date in an X post today, citing the NYSE’s listing notice.
84% of Polymarket Traders Are Losing Money, New Research Finds
On-chain researcher Andrey Sergeenkov found that only 2% of the 2.5 million wallets analyzed have ever made over $1,000. Research & Opinion 84.1% of all Polymarket traders are in the red, according to new research published today, April 6, by independent on-chain analyst Andrey Sergeenkov. The report looked at 2.5 million wallet addresses, analyzing data from on-chain transactions on Polygon, via Dune Analytics.
IMF Says Tokenization Is a 'Structural Shift' in Finance, Not Just a Tech Upgrade
In a new staff research note published on Thursday, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) argues that tokenization represents a "structural shift in financial architecture," not just an incremental efficiency gain.
Argentina's State-Backed Energy Giant YPF Launches Tokenization Initiative on XRP Ledger
YPF Luz, the electricity subsidiary of Argentina’s largest energy company, has partnered with Buenos Aires-based blockchain infrastructure company Justoken to launch an energy tokenization platform built on XRP Ledger (XRPL), the firms announced earlier this month. The platform, dubbed Enertoken, tokenizes, commercializes, and manages electricity contracts via XRPL, the public blockchain originally developed by Ripple Labs, which remains a core contributor.
Solana Foundation President Says Web3 Gaming 'Is Not Coming Back'
Solana Foundation president Lily Liu said blockchain gaming is dead in an X post today, March 20. A later, self-proclaimed "shitpost" from the Foundation’s chief product officer poked fun at Liu’s statement, but the original post had already set off a wave of comments, both criticizing Liu’s take, and defending the future of web3 gaming.
Kalshi Raises $1B at $22B Valuation: Report
CFTC-regulated prediction market platform Kalshi is raising around $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation in a new funding round, according to multiple reports. The new round is led by Coatue Management, per The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the news on Thursday. March 19. The deal doubles the valuation from Kalshi's previous round in November, which also raised $1 billion, but at an $11 billion valuation, as The Defiant reported.
Celo Proposes Shifting Opera to 'Long-Term Stakeholder' with 160M CELO Grant
Publicly traded web browser Opera (NASDAQ: OPRA) announced that it has committed to being a long-term holder of Ethereum Layer 2 Celo’s native token, CELO, according to press release published today, March 19.
Bitcoin Gets Native DeFi Stack as OP_NET Goes Live on Mainnet
OP_NET, a smart contract protocol that embeds execution directly into standard Bitcoin transactions, activated on Bitcoin Layer 1 (L1) today, March 19. The execution layer brings with it a live DeFi stack that includes a decentralized exchange (DEX), token issuance, and yield farming, without leaving Bitcoin mainnet via bridges or wrapped assets, per a press release shared with The Defiant.
ZEC Rallies 20% After Cypherpunk Reports First Annual Profit
Zcash (ZEC) surged as much as 20% on Monday evening, March 16 — spiking from $231 to as high as $284 — after ZEC digital asset treasury (DAT) firm Cypherpunk Technologies (Nasdaq: CYPH) released its full-year 2025 financial results showing a swing to profitability. ZEC remains up roughly 9% on the day as of press time today, March 17, trading over $270, making it the top performer among the top-100 large-cap crypto assets, per CoinGecko data. ZEC 7-day price chart.
BNB Chain Overtakes Ethereum, Base by Number of AI Agents
BNB Chain has surpassed Ethereum as the blockchain hosting the largest number of AI agents operating under the ERC-8004 standard, according to data from Agentscan and 8004scan. Out of 89,451 total registered ERC-8004 AI agents, there are currently 34,278 on BNB Smart Chain (BSC), the BNB Chain ecosystem’s EVM-compatible blockchain network, per 8004scan. Base is the second-largest network by number of agents, with 16,549, followed by Ethereum mainnet with just over 14,000. ERC-8004 agents by chain.
Jito Foundation Acquires Solana News Outlet SolanaFloor
The Jito Foundation has acquired SolanaFloor, a media outlet focused on the Solana ecosystem. SolanaFloor reported the acquisition and that it’s resuming operations today, March 10, just over two weeks after the media outlet announced it was shutting down, “effective immediately.” Jito Foundation develops Jito, the second-largest liquid staking protocol on Solana, per DefiLlama data. Jito Liquid Staking boasts a total value locked of $1.1 billion.
Tornado Cash Dev Roman Storm Could Face Retrial
A United States federal prosecutor has requested to to retry Roman Storm, the co-founder of decentralized cryptocurrency mixer protocol Tornado Cash, according to court documents submitted on March 9. In a letter to U.S. district judge of the District Court for the Southern District of New York, Katherine Polk Failla, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said the government wants to retry Storm on two charges.
Two Largest DAT Companies Double Down on Crypto Buys
The largest digital asset treasury (DAT) companies for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) added more crypto than usual to their stockpiles last week. Michael Saylor’s Strategy announced on Monday, March 9, that its latest weekly Bitcoin purchase totaled 17,994 BTC at an average price of about $70,946 per coin. Last week’s buy is nearly 6x larger than the previous week’s buy of 3,015 BTC — which itself marked a notable uptick in accumulation after weekly buys shrank since late January.
Zcash Dev Team's New Company Raises $25M in Seed Round
The recently founded firm Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) — formed by the core developers of Zcash (ZEC) after they recently exited Electric Coin Capital — announced today, March 9, that it has secured over $25 million in seed funding to support the privacy-focused ecosystem.
Backpack Teams Up with Superstate to Offer On-Chain IPO Access
The move expands Backpack's existing partnership with Robert Leshner's tokenization firm. DeFi Centralized exchange (CEX) and wallet app Backpack announced today, March 4, that it will offer early access to initial public offerings on-chain in partnership with Superstate. Currently, Backpack is offering users access to a waitlist for the new offering.
CFTC Says It's 'Modernizing' Rules to Make a Place for DeFi in the US
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig said that the agency is "modernizing" its rules "so that there’s a place" for decentralized finance in the United States.
Ahead of today's Congressional hearing on SEC oversight, Republicans urged Gensler to repeal SAB 121
Share Republican lawmakers have strongly requested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission repeal a controversial rule for banks that deal with crypto. Yesterday, Sept. 23, a group of more than 40 members of Congress sent signed letters to the heads of four major United States regulators. The letters demand that the regulators communicate across agencies about a particularly controversial SEC bulletin from 2022, known as SAB 121.
Meme coin Bonk plans to launch an ETP - but is the SEC on board?
Share The proposed BONK ETP — potentially the first ever meme coin exchange-traded product — could bridge the gap between crypto investors and Wall Street. Table of Contents Bonk eyes Wall Street Is a Bonk ETF a done deal? Bonk’s price action remains flat Social media’s mixed reactions Bonk eyes Wall Street Bonk , a top meme coin built on Solana , has announced plans to launch an Exchange Traded Product in the United States.
Is SUI a good investment?
Share The SUI token continues to make waves in the crypto markets. We take a deep dive into the Sui blockchain and expert SUI price predictions to see what investors can expect from the project. Table of Contents What is SUI? SUI crypto news SUI crypto price prediction Is SUI crypto a good investment?
Hamster Kombat backlash: why users are boycotting one of the most-hyped crypto games
Share Hamster Kombat has finally allocated HMSTR to users a few days before the official airdrop. But token allocation details have left many players upset. Whether you’re one of the millions of avid players of the Telegram-based tap-to-earn game Hamster Kombat, or you’ve managed to ignore it entirely, the hype around the game since its launch this spring is very real.
NEAR, FET, TAO surge following Alibaba, Nvidia partnership
Share Artificial intelligence-related cryptocurrencies have recorded impressive gains after Nvidia teamed up with Alibaba. According to data provided by CoinGecko, AI tokens recorded a 5.9% surge over the past day. Their cumulative market cap is currently sitting at $28.9 billion with a daily trading volume of $2.77 billion.
DeFi TVL reaches 1-month high, leading protocols surge
Share The total value locked in decentralized finance protocols has reached its one-month high as the broader crypto market recovers. According to data provided by DefiLlama, the global DeFi TVL is currently sitting at $87.3 billion — a level last seen on Aug. 27. The weekly trading volume, however, declined by 2.2% in the last seven days and is hovering at $23 billion. Top 10 DeFi protocols – Sept. 23 | Source: DefiLlama Notably, the DeFi TVL plunged to $75 billion on Sept.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs ended the week with $92m in inflows, ETH ETFs continue to struggle
Share Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds in the United States experienced joint net inflows to close the trading week, and both saw even larger inflows earlier in the week. However, ETH ETFs are still experiencing net outflows since launching this summer. According to data from SoSoValue, the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of $92 million on Friday, Sept. 20, 42% lower than the $158 million inflows recorded on Sept. 19.
Kamala Harris on crypto: Dem nominee makes first public statement on the industry Original
Share Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has vowed to help grow investment in the crypto industry, alongside other emerging tech, like artificial intelligence. This marks the first time Harris has made a public statement regarding her stance on crypto. At a fundraiser at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan on Sept.
TOKEN2049 Singapore main highlights
Share TOKEN2049 has ended in Singapore. Here are three highlights from one of the most anticipated crypto conferences of the year. One of the largest industry conferences, TOKEN2049, was held from Sept. 18 to 19 in Singapore. It brought together leading figures in the crypto space, who shared their thoughts on trends, developments and priorities for the industry. What will the crypto industry be like in three years?
POL to USD, chart & market stats
24h Volume $42,999,536 Market Cap $1,896,385,976 24h Low/High $0.209016 / $0.214334 24h -0.72% 7d -1.17% POL (ex-MATIC) to USD price Chart Widget is displayed using TradingView's technology, a platform, which offers tools and data for comprehensive market research: here, you can track the latest events in the Economic calendar, watch live prices, and much more POL (ex-MATIC) price today The current price of POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) is $0.212068, as of Jun 8, 2025.
Harris dips a toe in the crypto waters - is it enough?
Share Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ team finally broke their silence on crypto. But is the cautious approach too little, too late? For months, Kamala Harris’ campaign has been notably quiet on the subject of crypto, leaving many to speculate about the Democratic candidate’s stance on the industry. However, the wait appears to be over.
Only 0.0028% of Americans would qualify for the unrealized capital gains tax that had Crypto Twitter up in arms this week
Share Recent rumors swirling on X wrongly accused presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ of endorsing President Biden’s 2025 proposal for a 25% tax that includes unrealized capital gains. What’s the truth behind the headlines and what caused the confusion?
Solana ETFs have just suffered a huge setback — here's why
Share The U.S. SEC looks reluctant to approve Solana ETFs, with the regulator undecided on whether or not SOL is a security. It took years for exchange-traded funds based on Bitcoin’s spot price to hit the U.S. markets — and it was equally messy as issuers tried to get an Ether (ETH) ETF approved. By the looks of things, the road to launching a Solana sol-1.34% Solana ETF will be even more arduous, as the Securities and Exchange Commission has already started digging its heels in.
The Democrats are ignoring crypto - is that a good thing?
Share Crypto wasn’t mentioned once as the Democrats set out their priorities for the next four years, but some argue this indicates that Biden’s aggressive crackdown will end. The 2024 Democratic National Convention kicked off in Chicago yesterday and will see Kamala Harris formally confirmed as the party’s presidential nominee.
Analysts reveal bullish case for Bitcoin as global liquidity rises Original
Share The stage looks set for Bitcoin to surpass its previous all-time high, fueled by a surge in global liquidity, several macroeconomic analysts argue. In recent weeks, the global macro financial outlook has been showing signs of a shift. Over the weekend, Goldman Sachs economists announced that they had lowered their estimations of the probability of a U.S. recession in 2025 from 25% to 20%.
Banana Gun Price Prediction 2024-2030 Original
Share Over the weekend, the Banana gun token saw a price surge based on integration news. However, after that initial spike, the BANANA coin price started to drop gradually. Table of Contents What is Banana Gun Banana Gun crypto news BANANA coin price prediction: short-term outlook Banana Gun price prediction 2024 Banana Gun price prediction 2025 Banana Gun price prediction 2030 Is Banana Gun token a good investment? On Aug.
TAO to USD, chart & market stats
24h Volume $242,012,332 Market Cap $2,899,811,161 24h Low/High $328.46 / $349.31 24h 1.83% 7d 45.01% Bittensor to USD price Chart Widget is displayed using TradingView's technology, a platform, which offers tools and data for comprehensive market research: here, you can track the latest events in the Economic calendar, watch live prices, and much more Bittensor price today The current price of Bittensor (TAO) is $334.47, as of Apr 23, 2025.
Top Bitcoin miners expect a BTC price rally: experts
Share Industry experts expressed optimism about the sector and the leading cryptocurrency’s price performance post-halving in comments to crypto.news today, July 31. Bitcoin mining has been in the spotlight since the latest Bitcoin halving in April. The post-halving scenario typically marks a period of struggle for miners, as it reduces mining rewards, which, of course, affects miners’ profitability.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Olivia
Contact Olivia, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack