Helene Braun

Helene is a New York-based markets reporter at CoinDesk, covering the latest news from Wall Street, the rise of the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and updates on crypto markets. She is a graduate of New York University's business and economic reporting program and has appeared on CBS News, YahooFinance and Nasdaq TradeTalks. She holds BTC and ETH.

Helene Braun

Latest from Helene Braun


Tech

NFT Project Pudgy Penguins Takes Over Las Vegas Sphere in Holiday Campaign

The NFT brand’s animated segments will air on the Sphere across Christmas week, signaling the crypto company's move into real-world consumer markets.

Pudgy Penguins NFT are on a holiday rally. (Screenshot)

Markets

Bitcoin Plunges Below $90K as AI Worries Drag Nasdaq, Crypto Stocks Down

Chipmaker Broadcom's 10% slide weighs on the market as Chicago Fed's Goolsbee signals more cuts than the median for 2026.

Bitcoin (BTC) price (CoinDeesk)

Markets

Robinhood Stock Slides 8% After Big Decline in November Trading Volumes

Slumps across equity, options and crypto trading in November raised concerns that retail investor momentum may be fading.

Robinhood logo on a screen

Markets

Bitcoin Stumbles Back Below $90K as Dollar Sinks to 7-Week Low After Fed Rate Cut

The U.S. dollar, along with precious metals and bond yields, is reacting as expected to easier financial conditions, but crypto remains in a bearish trend.

DXY Index (TRadingView)

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Finance

Most Influential: Shayne Coplan

Once mired in legal trouble that included federal probes and law enforcement raids, Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan has emerged victorious this year, casting off the yoke of regulatory scrutiny and growing the prediction market he founded into a $9 billion betting empire.

Shayne Coplan Polymarket

Markets

State Street and Galaxy to Launch Tokenized Liquidity Fund on Solana in 2026

The fund will run on Solana at launch and use PYUSD.

State Street building in London (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Markets

Bitcoin Swings Wildly as Fed's Powell Straddles Labor Market and Inflation Issues

"Powell is threading the needle between their two mandates," said one analyst.

Bitcoin (BTC) price on Dec. 10 (CoinDesk)

Policy

Paxful Pleads Guilty to Aiding Crime, Ignoring AML Laws

The DOJ said the firm knowingly facilitated illicit trades tied to sex work, sanctions evasion, and fraud, earning millions in fees while ignoring U.S. law.

CoinDesk

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Markets

GameStop Posted $9.4M Loss on Bitcoin Holdings in Q3

The firm has not announced any new bitcoin purchases since May, when it bought 4,710 BTC.

Gamestop location

Tech

Blockstream Connects Lightning and Liquid for Faster, Private Bitcoin Payments

The new update enables trustless swaps between Lightning and Liquid, removing technical hurdles for fast, self-custodial BTC spending, the company said.

Adam Back, CEO Blockstream (CoinDesk/Personae Digital)