Author: NBTC

Stephen “Cap” Newnham, who leads the Solana community group Superteam UK, said he will run as an independent candidate in the Aug. 13 parliamentary by-election in Clacton against Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. On Tuesday, Newnham outlined five campaign pledges, including support for local entrepreneurs, digital and artificial intelligence education, financial literacy in schools and onchain political transparency. He announced his intention to stand as an independent candidate on July 9. Newnham’s fourth pledge, “You should own your pension,” argues that existing structures like self-invested personal pensions and small self-administered schemes allow savers to choose where their assets are held.…

Dubai-based Emirates NBD has started processing real-time cross-border U.S. dollar payments through the Partior blockchain network. The service is initially available to eligible corporate and institutional clients, marking the bank’s first live use of Partior’s blockchain settlement infrastructure. Announced on July 14, the service initially supports U.S. dollar transfers to beneficiaries with J.P. Morgan accounts. J.P. Morgan also participated in the first live transaction as both the settlement and beneficiary bank. The system allows eligible payments to settle in real time, giving businesses faster processing and better visibility into transaction status. Blockchain Targets Payment Delays Cross-border payments often pass through…

Pendle has announced its collaboration with Aave for PT Looping, stating that the process is now just a mouse-click and seconds away. This integration aims to simplify access for users, indicating a significant advancement in their DeFi offerings. More details are expected soon, as shared in a tweet by Pendle. The Key Development The recent announcement from Pendle regarding its collaboration with Aave marks a pivotal moment for users looking to engage with PT Looping. This integration could facilitate easier access to Aave’s lending protocols, thus enhancing user experience and potentially increasing network activity. With the broader crypto market displaying…

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has teamed up with fund servicing giant Apex Group and digital asset exchange Archax to tokenize real estate, the firms said on Thursday. Infrastructure provider Ownera and real estate investment manager LRC Group are also included in the debut of the blockchain-native real estate fund. The tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) is all the rage among crypto native firms and traditional finance players alike, but real estate has so far proved elusive as an asset class, at least in terms of scalable distribution. The fund combines blockchain-native issuance with established fund structures, according to a press…

Despite broader market uncertainty, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has emphasized that the network’s underlying fundamentals remain strong. He made this known in a recent update to Cardano enthusiasts. According to Hoskinson, network reliability remains one of the most important indicators of blockchain health, and Cardano continues to excel in that area. He stressed that the network has never been hacked, while block production continues uninterrupted and at a consistent pace. In his view, these operational metrics demonstrate that Cardano’s core infrastructure remains dependable regardless of short-term market sentiment or price fluctuations. Update https://t.co/VGYNjGrBl0 — Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) June 29, 2026…

Ripple Chief Technology Officer Emeritus David Schwartz has argued that the regulator repeatedly portrayed $XRP itself as a security before courts rejected that position. The discussion unfolded on X in response to former SEC attorney Marc Fagel, who argued that the agency’s legal case centered on Ripple’s sales of $XRP rather than on the token itself. “To prove a violation of Sec. 5, they needed to establish Ripple sold $XRP as a security; and they say exactly that,” Fagel wrote. “They might have to take that on when suing exchanges, but not here.” Schwartz disagreed, accusing Fagel of oversimplifying the…

Kraken has announced that it would start issuing its recently launched debit card to eligible customers in the UK and the EEA, letting them spend crypto and cash balances straight from their Kraken accounts and earn up to 2% cashback. The Kraken Card runs on Mastercard’s network, which Kraken says reaches more than 200 countries and territories. Cardholders can fund it from any crypto or fiat balance they hold, with more than 600 supported currencies available to be converted at the point of purchase, according to Kraken’s product blog. Cashback is paid weekly in Bitcoin, Euros, or Pounds, and the…

ARK Invest’s director of research pushed back against investor a16z crypto’s thesis that traditional finance will adopt blockchain through permissioned infrastructure rather than decentralized finance (DeFi). Lorenzo Valente said in a Wednesday X post that public blockchains have already outperformed private blockchain initiatives, citing the growth of tokenized assets on Ethereum and other open networks. He added that crypto-native firms such as Circle and Coinbase, rather than incumbent financial institutions, are best positioned to build the next generation of financial infrastructure. A day earlier, a16z crypto argued that traditional financial institutions are not embracing DeFi but selectively adopting blockchain technology…

Bitcoin ($BTC) consolidated near two-week highs into Sunday’s weekly close as traders geared up for fresh market turbulence. Key points: Bitcoin approaches its highest levels in two weeks, but Mondays have been “terrible” for $BTC price action, a trader warns. $BTC/USD is in the process of deciding the fate of its 200-week moving average. Crypto market analysis sees “greener shoots” on the back of the latest US macro data. Trader: Past seven Mondays “absolutely terrible” for $BTC price Data from TradingView showed $BTC/USD focusing on $62,700, the site of a key long-term trend line, the 200-week simple moving average (SMA).…

Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of the Near Protocol, has publicly dismissed a recent community proposal to burn tokens held by the Near Foundation, labeling the move as a highly inefficient use of ecosystem resources. In a statement that has sparked discussion across the blockchain community, Polosukhin argued that simple token burns have historically failed to deliver meaningful benefits to markets or network ecosystems. Why a Token Burn Is Considered Inefficient Polosukhin pointed to examples from other Layer 1 blockchain networks that have executed foundation token burns in the past. He noted that these actions often generated short-term market excitement but failed…