Category: Long Reads

Can Stablecoins Break Free From the US Dollar? Nearly all stablecoins track the U.S. dollar. Experiments with baskets and commodities show how hard that grip is to loosen. Callan Quinn Go to decrypt.co

Creator Capital Markets: How Pump.fun Changed Streaming in 2025 The term “creator capital markets” was coined in 2025, with Pump.fun investing heavily into its livestreamer ecosystem. Ryan Gladwin Go to decrypt.co

Every AI Tool You Need in 2026 From Anthropic to Z.AI, the 2026 AI toolkit space demands knowing which platforms deliver. These are the best. Jose Antonio Lanz Go to decrypt.co

The Year in Crypto ETFs 2025: Bitcoin, Ethereum Thrive as XRP and More Join the Party This year, ETFs opened several new doors to crypto on Wall Street, as the SEC forged a fresh approach to the products. André Beganski Go to decrypt.co

Emerge’s 2025 Tech Trend of The Year: Quantum Computing Stopped Being Background Noise Advances in quantum computing this year clarified timelines and forced a reassessment of Bitcoin’s future security Jason Nelson Go to decrypt.co

Emerge’s 2025 Project of the Year: The Deep-Sea Machine That Caught an Ultra High-Energy Ghost Beneath the Mediterranean, physicists at the Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope Initiative built a cathedral of glass spheres that listens for cosmic whispers—and this year, it heard the most energetic neutrino humanity has ever recorded. Josh Quittner Go to decrypt.co

Emerge’s 2025 Story of the Year: How the AI Race Fractured the Global Tech Order 2025 saw the US-China rivalry weaponize every layer of the technology stack—from minerals to models to military doctrine. Jose Antonio Lanz Go to decrypt.co

GG Story of the Year 2025: Crypto Gaming Collapses as Funding Dries Up Venture capital funding for crypto gaming all but evaporated this year, causing games to shut shop and players to lose their communities. Ryan Gladwin Go to decrypt.co

The Best AI Large Language Models of 2025 Forget the hype. These are the LLMs that caught our attention in 2025—from autonomous coding assistants to vision models processing entire codebases. Jose Antonio Lanz Go to decrypt.co

The Year in Solana 2025: Trump and Wall Street Take Notice Solana opened 2025 with major momentum, thanks to the Trump meme coin and a new all-time high. But the year wasn’t all up and to the right. Logan Hitchcock Go to decrypt.co

The Year in Ethereum 2025: Institutions Embrace ETH as the ‘Ivory Tower’ Crumbles This year, global power centers like Wall Street learned to love Ethereum—and Ethereum learned to love them back. Sander Lutz Go to decrypt.co

Emerge’s 2025 ‘Person’ of the Year: Ani the Grok Chatbot Ani’s rise showed how chatbots became partners instead of tools, driving a year of AI intimacy and its human consequences. Jason Nelson Go to decrypt.co

Dead Internet Theory Gains Traction as AI Content Surges Online Experts warn that much of what is now online comes from machines pretending to be human. What does that mean for the future internet? Jason Nelson Go to decrypt.co

The 7 Largest Publicly Traded Ethereum Treasury Firms Publicly traded firms are now stacking Ethereum, pulling in billions of dollars of ETH. These are the largest holders. Logan Hitchcock Go to decrypt.co

Why Are So Many Crypto Games Shutting Down? Experts Weigh In Experts say launching tokens for crypto games applies unnecessary pressure on development—and makes failures even more public. Ryan Gladwin Go to decrypt.co

Why Are So Many Public Companies Pivoting to Crypto, And What Happens If Bitcoin Crashes? Although some firms may be forced to sell their Bitcoin if markets cool, others could be acquired by asset managers hunting for deals. André Beganski Go to decrypt.co

Buy a Burger With Bitcoin? Beware the Tax Risks, Experts Warn Steak ‘n Shake now accepts Bitcoin payments, but buying burgers (or anything else) with BTC comes with risks, tax experts told Decrypt. Liz Napolitano Go to decrypt.co

How Crypto Fight Night Became the Industry’s Premier Networking Event Crypto Fight Night isn’t made for fight fanatics—it’s an event for crypto bros to break bread after months of battling in the trenches. Ryan Gladwin Go to decrypt.co

Trump’s SEC Is Ending Crypto Lawsuits and Investigations—These Are the Biggest Under President Trump, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is backing down from fights with crypto firms. Logan Hitchcock Go to decrypt.co

The 10 Public Companies With the Biggest Bitcoin Portfolios Firms like MicroStrategy, Tesla, and Coinbase have purchased billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin between them. These are the biggest whales. Stephen Graves,Logan Hitchcock Go to decrypt.co

9 Most Influential Crypto Cities in the World in 2024 Some old names and some new ones. Here’s a look at this year’s top influential crypto cities worldwide. Sebastian Sinclair Go to decrypt.co

These Crypto Industry Stars Shone Brightest in 2024 From crypto influencers to Telegram gaming trailblazers, meme coin maestros, and the masterminds behind this year’s NFT comeback. Liz Napolitano,Sander Lutz Go to decrypt.co

The Year in Solana: A Comeback Story Solana, a layer-1 decentralized network, made significant strides user activity and more in 2024. And that’s meant good things for its native token SOL. Logan Hitchcock Go to decrypt.co

The 7 Best Video Game Remakes and Remasters of 2024 This year served up remakes and remasters like comfort food—some lightly refreshed, others reimagined from scratch. Eric Frederiksen Go to decrypt.co

The Year in Crypto: Gary Gone Wild Gensler, who once said that “everything but Bitcoin” falls under his agency’s purview, is on the way out. But what’s next for the industry? André Beganski Go to decrypt.co

The Year in Crypto: Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs Bring More Investors Into Crypto Bitcoin ETFs became a lightning rod for institutional capital this year, while spot Ethereum ETFs opened the door for other assets. André Beganski Go to decrypt.co

SCENE’s 2024 Story of the Year: The Boom—and Bust—of Celebrity Meme Coins Celebrities swarmed to crypto this year, launching their own meme coins to varying degrees of success. Where does the “celeb meta” go from here? Ryan Gladwin Go to decrypt.co

5 Weirdest Tech Trends of 2024: From AI Lovers to Brain Hacking Remember when the weirdest thing about 2023 was the beer made of Amouranth’s vaginal yeast? Well, 2024 said “hold my mug.” Jose Antonio Lanz Go to decrypt.co

GG’s 2024 Game of the Year: Off the Grid Off the Grid forced the industry to take crypto gaming seriously after making a big splash in early access. Gunzilla shares what’s next. Ryan Gladwin Go to decrypt.co

From DMM Bitcoin to the US Government: Largest Crypto Exploits and Hacks of 2024 The crypto industry may have matured this year, but hackers made off with billions by targeting a mix of DeFi projects and exchanges. Mathew Di Salvo Go to decrypt.co

Santa’s Crypto Naughty List 2024 From controversial founders to outright scammers, these seven crypto figures landed on Ol’ Saint Nick’s “naughty list” in 2024. Liz Napolitano Go to decrypt.co

Santa’s Crypto Nice List 2024 These seven crypto industry figures landed on Ol’ Saint Nick’s “nice list” for fostering trust in the future of crypto and blockchain networks. Liz Napolitano Go to decrypt.co