Bitcoin’s safe-haven appeal grows during trade war uncertainty  

Coinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hit by a $20 million ransom demand as cyber criminals attempted to steal sensitive user data from the exchange.Cyber criminals have bribed and recruited a “group of overseas support agents” to steal Coinbase customer data to facilitate social engineering schemes such as phishing attacks.“These insiders abused their access to customer support systems to steal the account data for a small subset of customers,” wrote Coinbase in a May 15 X post, adding that no passwords, private keys, funds, or Coinbase Prime accounts were affected.Less than 1% of Coinbase’s monthly transacting users’ data was affected by the attack.Source: CoinbaseAfter stealing the data, the attackers “tried to extort Coinbase for $20 million to cover this up,” which the exchange refused.Related: Ukraine strategic Bitcoin reserve bill reportedly in final stagesInstead, Coinbase will establish a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of these attackers.Scammers often masquerade as the most recognized brands to inspire a fake sense of trust in their victims.U.S. brands impersonated by scammers the most. Source: MailsuiteIn 2024, Coinbase was the most impersonated cryptocurrency brand by scammers, but the Meta platform was targeted by over 25 times as many scammers as the crypto exchange, Cointelegraph reported in June 2024.Related: Top South Korean presidential hopefuls support legalizing Bitcoin ETFs

Ukraine is reportedly moving closer to adopting Bitcoin as a national reserve asset, a move that could bolster its financial resilience amid the ongoing war with Russia. Lawmakers are reportedly working on a Bitcoin (BTC) national reserve proposal, with a draft bill in its final stages, according to Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of parliament who confirmed the plan to local media outlet Incrypted.The proposal was announced during the CRYPTO 2025 conference in Kyiv on Feb. 6. “We will soon submit a draft law from the industry allowing the creation of crypto reserves,” Zhelezniak said.Cointelegraph reached out to Zhelezniak for comment on the bill’s status but had not received a response by publication.Related: Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam BackBitcoin has gained international attention as a national reserve asset since the election of US President Donald Trump in November 2024. On March 7, Trump signed an executive order to establish a national Bitcoin reserve seeded with BTC confiscated from criminal cases.Source: Margo MartinA month later, Swedish MP Rickard Nordin issued an open letter urging Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson to consider adopting Bitcoin as a national reserve asset, citing its growing recognition as a “hedge against inflation,” Cointelegraph reported on April 11.Related: Satoshi Nakamoto turns 50 as Bitcoin becomes US reserve assetLegal challenges may delay adoptionWhile Ukraine’s push for a national Bitcoin reserve marks a potentially historic shift in crypto policy, it may require “significant legal change,” according to Kyrylo Khomiakov, regional head of CEE, Central Asia and Africa, at crypto exchange Binance.“We commend Ukraine’s ambition to establish a strategic crypto reserve,” he told Cointelegraph. “Implementing such a reserve would necessitate significant legal changes, indicating that this process will not be swift.”He added, “Another positive aspect is that this initiative will likely lead to greater regulatory clarity in Ukraine, as the government will need to articulate its stance more clearly.”Ukraine was reportedly planning to legalize cryptocurrencies in early 2025 with the finalization of a draft bill in coordination with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Daniil Getmantsev, head of the tax committee of the Verkhovna Rada.On April 8, Ukraine’s financial regulator proposed taxing certain crypto transactions as personal income with a rate of up to 23%, excluding crypto-to-crypto transactions and stablecoins.Not all voices in Ukraine’s crypto industry are optimistic about the timing of the proposal. ” The country is broke. More than 50% of the budget is in grants and loans from the European Union,” said Michael Chobanian, the founder of Ukraine-based Kuna exchange. “The population is decreasing at the fastest rate in the world. Men are kidnapped and sent to the army against their will.”“What kind of BTC reserves are we talking about here? This is done only to divert your attention,” Chobanian claimed.Magazine: Helping Ukraine without donating: Laura’s DeFi staking plan

The US Senate could pass a key bipartisan stablecoin bill as soon as next week after removing language targeting President Donald Trump and his family’s sprawling crypto interests.Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis said onstage at an event by Coinbase’s lobbying arm, Stand With Crypto, that she thinks it’s a “fair target” to have the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, passed by May 26 — Memorial Day in the US.Joining her onstage was Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who hinted that the bill’s language was changed to scrap provisions that targeted Trump’s various crypto projects, which include memecoins, a crypto platform, a stablecoin and a crypto mining company that plans to go public, among others.“When this language comes out, people will see really good refinement, a lot of progress, on things like consumer protection, and bankruptcy protection, and ethics,” Gillibrand said. “Things beyond just ‘what’s the structure?’ and ‘what’s required for an issuer?’”Source: Brian ArmstrongSenate Democrats pulled support for the bill on May 8 and stalled its momentum, airing concerns that it wouldn’t help address multiple crypto-tied deals that will personally enrich Trump.“A lot of what President Trump is engaged in is already illegal,” Gillibrand said. “I also think his issuance of a memecoin is illegal based on current law.”“It’s literally offering anyone who wants to curry favor with the administration to just send him money — that’s about as illegal as it gets.”“I’m not so worried about this bill having to deal with all President Trump’s ethics problems. What this bill is really intended to do is regulate the entire space of stablecoins,” she added.Gillibrand said the revised bill includes “some ethics requirements,” but it was “not an ethics bill.”“If we were dealing with all President Trump’s ethics problems, it would be a very long and detailed bill,” she added.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, also on stage, was hopeful the Senate would vote on the stablecoin bill “early next week.”Armstrong, whose company cozied up to Trump by donating $1 million to his inauguration fund, declined to comment when asked if the President’s memecoin could impact the passage of bipartisan crypto bills.“It’s not my place to really comment on President Trump’s activity,” he said. “What I do think is important is that this bill remains focused on stablecoins.”Crypto bills “absolutely critical” to pass before midtermsThe crypto industry is pushing for Congress to pass the GENIUS Act and a Republican-drafted crypto market structure bill before the midterm elections on Nov. 3, 2026, where all 435 House seats and a third of the 100 Senate seats are up for election.“We have a very narrow window to get legislation through between now and the midterms,” Marta Belcher, the president of the crypto lobby group the Blockchain Association, told Cointelegraph at the Consensus conference in Toronto.“I strongly suspect that window is going to close very quickly. I don’t know if we’re going to get another window like this to get legislation through,” she added.“It’s absolutely critical that we get it through now, especially because there really is a real possibility that in the future we end up with an administration that is hostile to crypto.”The association’s communications director, Chris Jonas, added that it’s critical the bills pass before Congress takes a recess for the month of August.Related: Crypto execs flock to DC to support Senate stablecoin bill “Once you get into the calendar year of the midterms, historically not a lot of legislation moves, so that’s why it’s so critical,” he explained.Trump should be on track to sign both crypto bills before the August break, according to Bo Hines, the executive director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets.Hines noted on stage at Consensus on May 13 that negotiations on both bills are still ongoing, but it was “the President’s desire” to sign both “stablecoin legislation and market structure legislation before the August recess.”Legal Panel: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight