Author: NBTC

Chipmakers Back AI Data Center Boom In a Bernstein research note published Thursday, analyst Gautam Chhugani said the 530 megawatts contracted capacity agreement highlights a broader shift in AI infrastructure financing. Major chipmakers increasingly backing long-term data center leases signed by former Bitcoin miners. Bernstein argues that chipmakers are increasingly using their balance sheets to help secure long-term AI infrastructure, allowing miners with existing power infrastructure to transition into AI hosting businesses. Profitability Outlook Bernstein estimates the partnership will generate around $14 billion in total revenue over 15 years and almost $900 million in average annual revenue. Also, roughly $1.8…

Circle incurred $1.4 billion in distribution costs connected to Coinbase in 2025, up from $924.5 million the year before, according to the company’s own 10-K filing. Those distribution costs equaled roughly 51% of its total 2025 revenue and reserve income. $USDC circulation grew 72% year over year to $75.3 billion in the fourth quarter, and full-year revenue and reserve income climbed 64% to $2.7 billion. Circle retained a 39% margin after distribution and transaction costs, unchanged from 2024 even as growth accelerated. A chart shows Circle’s revenue growing from $1.68 billion to $2.7 billion between 2024 and 2025 while its…

The US Treasury Department proposed new rules Monday detailing how stablecoin issuers and digital asset service providers would comply with key provisions of the $GENIUS Act. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking focuses on Section 3 of the law, defining when a payment stablecoin is considered issued in the United States and when a platform is considered to offer or sell a stablecoin to someone in the country. The proposal is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Aug. 18, with comments accepted for 60 days. Under the proposal, a stablecoin would generally be considered issued in the US if…

The latest expansion in tokenized U.S. T-bills shows that new issuance is increasingly spreading across major blockchain ecosystems. Over the last thirty days, Solana [SOL] added $378.2 million, leading Ethereum’s [$ETH] $272.2 million increase by roughly $106 million. This suggests that Solana has taken the lead over Ethereum [$ETH] as far as adding new treasury value to its users’ accounts. Meanwhile, off-chain holdings expanded by $81.7 million, while $BNB Chain added $49.2 million, extending growth beyond the two leaders. Token Terminal Smaller increases followed on zkSync Era at $6.1 million, while other networks remained below $1 million. Additional treasury products…

Author’s note: In my view BIP110 is both useless and harmful, and I do expect it to fail (see scenario 1). Despite this I tried to write this article as factually as I could, entertaining different possible scenarios, as I do hope it may provide some clarity on this soft fork attempt. The OP_RETURN debate has escalated to the point where Bitcoin Knots implemented BIP110: a consensus protocol change that temporarily limits the size of OP_RETURNs and intends to reduce other types of data on Bitcoin’s blockchain as well.However BIP110 does not have consensus: not everyone agrees there’s a problem…

Aave, one of crypto’s largest lending and borrowing protocols, still hasn’t recovered from the April 18 hack of KelpDAO. Indeed, the value of all crypto assets in its smart contracts is down 43% since the attack, and 67% below its 52-week high. Despite KelpDAO users entrusting $26.4 billion to Aave just prior to the hack — already way down on the October 2025 peak of $45.9 billion — there’s a mere $14.9 billion worth of assets in the ecosystem today. North Korean hackers looted KelpDAO in mid-April, and through its acceptance of KelpDAO tokens as collateral for loans, Aave was…

A day before the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announces its interest rate decision, the Japanese yen gained nearly 3% against the dollar. The sharp movement in the currency market fueled speculation that the Japanese government may have intervened again to support the yen. The USD/JPY pair fell by over 400 points during the day, dropping to 158.5. The daily loss approached 3%, marking the sharpest decline since Japanese authorities’ currency intervention earlier in the year. Market participants believe that the rapid and strong appreciation of the yen may be due to direct foreign currency sales by Japanese authorities. However, the…

Stellar ($XLM) has shown little price movement following the Stellar Development Foundation’s announcement of its new partnership with the x402 Foundation. Technical analysis suggests the market is lacking a clear direction, with traders waiting on a decisive catalyst to trigger fresh momentum for $XLM. SDF Partners with x402 Foundation The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), the nonprofit organization driving development and growth for the Stellar network, revealed that it has joined the x402 Foundation as a Premier member. SDF described the x402 Foundation as aiming to establish open standards for internet-native payments over HTTP, seeking to build broader frameworks for programmable…

Donald Trump’s ‘crypto president’ title is once again gaining attention in the global digital asset ecosystem as the US is gearing up for a critical meeting. On August 19, the Trump administration is set to meet with crypto and prediction market executives, highlighting the government’s growing interest in the blockchain industry. The US’s crypto-friendly approach stands in contrast to India’s restrictive stance. While the Trump administration is trying to foster crypto growth, the Indian crypto market doesn’t have clear regulations. Indian investors are still facing a 30% crypto tax on gains and a 1% TDS on transactions. While the US…

Venom Foundation, the platform backing the Venom blockchain, has reportedly expressed support for a single blockchain TPS standard model. In this respect, the Venom Foundation has urged the blockchain market to adopt an inclusive and verifiable model for transaction-per-second (TPS) standards. In the official press release, the platform pushed L2 and L1 networks, auditors, institutional infrastructure consumers, and benchmark platforms to bring more reproducibility and transparency to performance claims. Hence, the proposed approach would permit each of the TPS figures to get a seamless accompaniment from standardized information elaborating on the measurement of the results. Venom Proposes Unique, Common Blockchain…