Arthur Pinto Melo
Markets & Policy Editor
Arthur writes about the intersection of crypto markets and financial policy, with a particular eye on regulation, macro flows, and infrastructure.
Bitcoin cements its position above six figures as institutional flows deepen
A closer look at how sustained ETF inflows and treasury allocations are quietly rewriting Bitcoin's ownership map.
Ethereum's upgrade roadmap: what shipped, what's next, and what it means for users
The next Ethereum upgrades focus on lowering costs for rollups and simplifying validator operations. Here is a plain-language walkthrough.
Solana's mobile bet is starting to pay off — but not the way it planned
Solana's mobile-first play was ridiculed at launch. The user data now tells a more interesting story.
The NFT market's quiet recovery is driven by things nobody was watching
Trading volume is up, but the composition of that volume tells a different story than the last cycle.
Two years in: how Europe's MiCA regime is reshaping crypto product design
The rules have moved from theoretical text to lived reality for European crypto teams. The product implications are already visible.
Stablecoin payments finally have real, non-crypto usage — and the numbers show it
Cross-border payroll, supplier settlement, and merchant payouts are quietly consuming most stablecoin volume.
DeFi TVL is climbing again — this time the composition looks healthier
Total value locked is back near cycle highs, but concentration risk and mercenary yield have both fallen.
Self-custody is quietly winning the behavioural argument
The share of coins held in self-custody has been trending up for three straight quarters. The reasons are more cultural than technical.
CBDC adoption is very uneven — and the pattern is finally coherent
The countries succeeding with a central bank digital currency share a small set of design choices. The ones stalling share the opposite.
AI agents making on-chain payments is no longer a thought experiment
A small but growing category of production systems now uses stablecoin rails for machine-to-machine payments. The design choices are worth understanding.
Bitcoin mining's energy narrative has changed — quietly and with data
The mining industry now publishes enough disclosure to answer questions that were rhetorical five years ago.
Account abstraction is quietly fixing the wallet UX crisis
Recovery flows, session keys, and gasless transactions are ceasing to be novelties. That has real consequences for onboarding.
The Layer 2 competition has narrowed — and that is good for users
The chart of active rollups looks less crowded than a year ago. The survivors have converged on a smaller set of design choices.
On-chain identity is finally being used for boring, productive things
Verifiable credentials, decentralised identifiers, and reputation attestations are showing up in places where they solve a real problem.
Exchange consolidation is entering its next phase
The set of venues that will still matter in five years is smaller than the current list. Here is the shape of the shakeout.