Author: NBTC

POAP, the blockchain-based platform that turned event attendance into digital collectibles, is entering maintenance mode — ending active development on its current platform after nearly seven years as a fixture of the Web3 community. In a post on X, POAP co-founder and general manager Isabel Gonzalez announced that starting March 16, 2026, new issuers will no longer be able to create POAPs through the platform’s issuer interfaces. Existing issuers, integrations, and collector-facing tools will continue to function, but the platform itself will no longer receive active development. “Some operations may also run more slowly as we reduce the resources allocated…

A crypto user has lost millions during a crypto swap on the decentralized finance protocol Aave, with a Maximal Extractable Value, or MEV, bot also front-running the transaction to make almost $10 million. A recently funded wallet from Binance containing $50.4 million USDt (USDT) executed a swap via decentralized exchange aggregator CoW Protocol and the SushiSwap DEX on Thursday, aiming to convert the full amount into the Aave ($AAVE) token. However, the wallet only received 327 $AAVE tokens valued at approximately $36,000, according to Etherscan. The result was an almost total loss as the user paid around $154,000 per $AAVE,…

The rial, Iran’s official currency, has failed in 2026. Hyperinflation chews through savings every single day. Sanctions stack on top of bad decisions and endless geopolitical pressure. Every day, folks wake up to less money. Families scramble to buy basics while everything they saved disappears. This feels too familiar. Lebanon went through the exact same crisis starting in late 2019. The same kind of banking freeze, the same worthless currency slide, the same desperate search for anything that holds value. Bitcoin turned out to be that financial safe haven then. Signs point to it doing the same in Iran now.…

Three policy developments from South Korea in a single week have fed a growing sense among industry participants that regulators are pulling back — even as the country’s landmark Digital Asset Basic Act inches toward passage. None of the three moves is, on its own, a prohibition. But taken together, they are being read by parts of the market as a pattern. Prosecutors Liquidate Recovered Bitcoin Rather Than Hold It The Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office announced on March 10 that it had sold 320.88 Bitcoin — worth approximately 31.59 billion Korean won ($21.6 million) — recovered after a phishing incident,…

Mastercard’s crypto partner push is really a plan to keep stablecoins inside its network Mastercard is trying to make sure the stablecoin era still needs its card services. On Wednesday, the company launched a program with more than 85 crypto-native firms, payments providers, banks, compliance vendors, custody companies, exchanges, and infrastructure groups. On its face, that reads like another ecosystem announcement. However, let’s look at what the list implies. Mastercard is assembling the counterparties it needs so that if stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and other digital-dollar instruments become meaningful payment rails, those flows can still pass through Mastercard’s acceptance, trust, and…

EUR-pegged stablecoins occupy an insignificant portion of the DeFi market even as Europe draws closer to a unified crypto rulebook. According to Barter Swap, a DeFi protocol, euro stablecoins account for 0.35% of total stablecoin supply, with a share of trading volume below 0.1%. The gap shows that euro-based assets remain limited in day-to-day DeFi activity. The market is narrow as Circle’s $EURC leads with about $445 million in market cap, followed by $EURCV, $AEUR, $EURI, and EURe. These tokens have built a foothold in the market, but supply figures do not show how often they are actually used. Related:…

The Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has taken a decisive step toward strengthening its financial position. The bank will begin purchasing gold directly from a state owned trader to build stronger Central Bank gold reserves. This move signals a major shift in how the country manages national wealth. Officials want to anchor financial stability with tangible assets. Gold offers protection during currency volatility and external shocks. By expanding Central Bank gold reserves, Congo aims to reduce dependence on foreign currency holdings. The strategy could reshape the Democratic Republic of the Congo economy in the coming years.…

Blockchain and crypto are technologies performing the same functions as existing financial infrastructure, so they shouldn’t be treated as separate asset classes when crafting legislation, according to the fintech chief of Australia’s securities regulator. In a paper presented at the Melbourne Money & Finance Conference on Wednesday, Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) head of fintech, Rhys Bollen, said crypto should be regulated on “economic substance rather than technological form.” Tokenized securities should fall within securities laws, and stablecoins should trigger payment services legislation, Bollen said, while noting that other elements of crypto may be subject to consumer protection laws.…

Backpack Exchange appointed former CFTC Acting Chairman Mark Wetjen as President of Backpack US to lead the exchange’s formal entry into the American market. CEO Armani Ferrante confirmed the hire signals the start of U.S. office buildouts and staff hiring, capping what he described as a multi-year push to bring Backpack to American users. Why it matters: Wetjen’s prior role as CFTC Acting Chairman gives Backpack direct regulatory credibility as U.S. crypto oversight tightens. American users have been locked out of Backpack — Wetjen’s appointment marks the first concrete step toward domestic access. A compliance-first leadership hire signals Backpack is…

Blockchain analytics platforms continue to track how capital moves across different crypto ecosystems. Data referenced by crypto.news shows that Hyperliquid captured the largest net inflows among blockchain networks during the past month. The platform recorded approximately $616 million in net capital inflows. Total incoming capital reached about $2.4 billion, while outflows reached roughly $1.8 billion. The difference between these figures produced the strong positive net flow. Large inflows often signal rising user adoption, growing liquidity, and increased trader activity within a blockchain ecosystem. In the case of Hyperliquid, the inflow surge reflects strong demand for decentralized derivatives trading. NEW: $HYPE…