Author: NBTC
SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, expected to leave the agency in less than a month, used one of her final public speaking engagements to address the regulator’s response to digital assets. Speaking at a Brookings Institution event on Thursday, Crenshaw said standards at the SEC had “eroded” in the last year, with “markets [starting] to look like casinos,” and “chaos” as the agency dismissed many years-long enforcement cases, reduced civil penalties and filed fewer actions overall. The commissioner, expected to depart in January after her term officially ended in June 2024, also criticized many crypto users and the agency’s response to…
Circle, the publicly listed issuer of one of the biggest US dollar stablecoins globally, has entered into a strategic partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. Bybit entered into the partnership with an affiliate of Circle to expand liquidity and usability of its USDC (USDC) stablecoin, according to a joint announcement on Monday. “The partnership aims to expand USDC access across Bybit’s global ecosystem, strengthen liquidity of the world’s largest regulated stablecoin, and reinforce Bybit’s position as a regulatory-compliant platform committed to transparency and trust,” the companies said. The partnership comes as USDC is gaining momentum, with its market capitalization surging to…
NEW YORK — Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in a massive fraud that saw roughly $50 billion wiped from the crypto ecosystem over the course of just three days in May 2022. The sentence, handed down by District Judge Paul Engelmeyer of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) is slightly more than the 12-year sentence requested by prosecutors and much greater than the five-year sentence suggested by Kwon’s lawyers. Kwon must serve at least half of this sentence before he can apply for a transfer to South…
South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, is under fresh scrutiny. After new details emerged about last month’s major hacking incident. According to data submitted to lawmakers, the attack lasted just 54 minutes. Yet hackers moved out over 104 billion tokens, worth roughly 44.5 billion won. The breach began at 4:42 a.m. and ended at 5:36 a.m. During that short window, funds linked mainly to Solana based assets flowed into unknown external wallets. By volume, BONK tokens made up more than 99% of the stolen units. By value, however, Solana took the biggest hit at nearly 19 billion won. Other affected…
The central bank in Moscow is going to give Russian investors access to derivative instruments based directly on cryptocurrencies. Similar products on the Russian market today only track foreign funds or crypto indices. The monetary authority is now working to adjust Russian regulations. CBR to permit Russian investors to buy true crypto-based derivatives The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is preparing to grant investors access to derivative financial instruments (DFIs) tied to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). The move will allow private investors in Russia to acquire futures and options directly linked to cryptocurrencies, the Russian business news portal RBC revealed…
The crypto sector has been freed from its annual reference in the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s litany of financial risks posed to the U.S. system, though it’s not unique in that, because the report has effectively removed much of its focus on “vulnerabilities” to the financial system. The FSOC, established after the 2008 mortgage meltdown that crashed the global economy, was meant to be an early-warning effort in which the council of regulatory chiefs tries to collectively spot dangers coming down the road. The digital assets industry was an annual item on that list, though the reports always noted the…
Key Takeaways Moonbirds will launch its native BIRB token in early Q1 2026, expanding its NFT ecosystem on Solana. Orange Cap Games, which acquired Moonbirds, is rapidly growing and diversifying into physical collectibles and trading card games. Moonbirds will launch its native token BIRB on Solana in early Q1 2026, as confirmed by Spencer Gordon-Sand, CEO of Orange Cap Games, the NFT project’s parent company. “Our native token is coming early Q1 [of] 2026 as we pursue growing toward being a multi-billion dollar company doing billions of dollars of revenue like Pop Mart does, being the Pop Mart of web3,”…
UAE Islamic Bank ruya has opened its platform to Bitcoin investment in partnership with UAE-regulated Fuze, a digital asset infrastructure provider. It becomes the first Islamic Bank to enable customers to buy and sell Bitcoin through its mobile application. ruya is offering Bitcoin investment as part of its broader investment offering in an Islamic ethical format. Working with Fuze, ruya is ensuring that the Bitcoin trading and investment offering is secure, user-friendly, and compliant with Islamic financial principles. According to the Chainalysis 2024 Geography of Crypto Report, the UAE saw over US$30 billion in cryptocurrency inflows between July 2023 and June 2024 —…
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued no-action letters to the operators of prediction markets platforms Polymarket, PredictIt, Gemini and LedgerX/MIAX on Thursday, announcing that the companies did not have to meet certain recordkeeping demands as long as they meet other specified requirements, and that the companies might be able to clear contracts through a third-party clearing member. The CFTC said in a press release that the no-action letters mean the regulator will not pursue any enforcement action — a court case alleging the companies broke the law — tied to how these companies comply with “certain swap-related recordkeeping requirements…
Robinhood is rolling out a broad set of crypto features and services as it races to become a global digital finance platform, the company announced Monday. Support for Ethereum and Solana staking in New York, with nationwide access pending regulatory clearance are going live on Tuesday, the company said in a set of details shared with Decrypt. It has also introduced new fee tiers for high-volume U.S. traders, enhancements to its crypto trading API, and plans for cost basis tracking to simplify tax reporting. In Europe, Robinhood has added perpetual futures contracts with up to 7x leverage on coins like…