Author: NBTC

The European Central Bank (ECB) said Thursday its planned digital euro app will exceed the accessibility requirements of the European Accessibility Act. The proposed design includes enhanced visual design, full keyboard navigation, screen-reader support, time-out warnings, simplified language, error prevention and reduced motion settings, among other accessibility features, the ECB said in a Thursday release. The ECB first described the standalone digital euro app in an October 2025 progress report, saying it would serve as a fallback if bank apps failed and allow users to switch payment service providers without learning a new application. The report said both bank and…

The Sandbox Studio has attracted more than 12,000 applications within a month, signaling strong creator interest as development moves toward a wider beta release. Despite that demand, access remains limited to over 30 alpha creators testing the engine, tools, and publishing process. The selected group includes experienced Roblox, Unity, and Unreal Engine builders, alongside developers using Cursor, OpenAI Codex, and Claude Code. The Sandbox plans to admit up to 10 additional creators weekly while maintaining direct support, workshops, and faster responses to technical feedback. This controlled pace keeps testing focused as applications continue accumulating before beta. Engine Upgrade Improves Build…

Bitcoin traded near $65,000 heading into the weekend, sitting at the center of two macro forces pulling in opposite directions. The Aug. 7 jobs report weakened the case for a September rate hike, and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz threaten to revive the inflation trade that the report just cooled. The US economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, far short of the roughly 80,000 gain economists expected, a headline number that carries extra weight because the revisions made the preceding months look weaker. May and June payrolls were revised down by a combined 103,000, the labor-force participation rate slipped,…

South Korea has approved plans to establish a new 20 trillion won investment account within its sovereign wealth fund to finance artificial intelligence, data centers and other strategic industries while allowing domestic investments for the first time. According to a South Korean government statement released Friday, the new account will be created under the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), expanding the sovereign wealth fund’s mandate beyond overseas assets. The government said the account will begin with at least 20 trillion won in capital, funded through equity contributions from public institutions, including policy banks. Unlike KIC’s existing portfolio, which primarily manages foreign…

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says the problem with today’s payment apps isn’t complicated. They just weren’t built to talk to each other. Speaking at an event, Garlinghouse compared modern payment networks to the earliest days of the internet. Garlinghouse compared today’s payment apps to old closed networks like AOL once, pointing out that Venmo and PayPal couldn’t move money between each other until recently, despite PayPal owning Venmo. Why sending money overseas is still so painful Garlinghouse said the highest friction in the entire payments system shows up when people try to send money internationally. It’s slow, expensive, and prone…

Bitcoin price held near $65,000 on Aug. 8, but its failure to reclaim the short-term holder cost basis left the recovery exposed to renewed selling. Bitcoin price struggles to hold above $65,000 According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin ($BTC) price was trading near $65,015 at the time of writing after repeatedly testing the $65,000 area. The daily candle had traded between $64,784 and $65,075, showing limited volatility following the rebound from its late-July lows. The price has recovered from an Aug. 2 low near $62,200, but sellers continue to defend the area immediately above $65,000. In an Aug. 8 X…

$HTX DAO has completed another large-scale token burn, removing 7.47 trillion $HTX tokens worth approximately $13.6 million from circulation as part of its second-quarter 2026 supply reduction program. It stated that the latest transaction brings the cumulative amount of $HTX donated and burned to 117.79 trillion tokens. The burn transaction was executed on the TRON blockchain and is publicly verifiable through Tronscan. $HTX DAO said the ongoing burns are designed to optimize the token’s supply structure while supporting the ecosystem’s long-term value. Q2 Burn Smaller than Previous Quarter The latest burn follows an even larger reduction in the first quarter…

Bitcoin is trading around $64,925 on the daily chart, barely moved on the session at +0.05%. That flat close hides how tight the setup has become. Price is pressed up against the upper half of a two month range, and the levels above and below are close enough that the next daily candle could set the direction for weeks. Bitcoin price USD The chart has been range bound since the June breakdown. Bitcoin lost the low $70,000s in early June, dropped hard toward the high $50,000s in July, and has been grinding back up ever since. Now it is back…

Ansem, a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency market, suggested that PumpFun’s native token, $PUMP, could increase in value 10 to 15 times if it improves its community relations and delivers on its previously promised airdrops. In its assessment, Ansem stated that token buybacks alone may not be sufficient to support the valuation of projects. Noting that Hyperliquid has an annualized revenue of approximately $800 million and PumpFun approximately $440 million, Ansem reminded that both platforms regularly use a portion of their profits for token buybacks. However, he pointed out that the valuation difference between the two tokens is quite high.…

HIVE Digital Technologies just posted one of its strongest quarters on record, and the numbers tell a story of a crypto miner rapidly reinventing itself as an AI infrastructure player. HIVE Q1 2027 revenue climbed to $79.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, a jump that reflects both a booming Bitcoin mining operation and a fast-scaling artificial intelligence cloud business. The Nasdaq-listed company, trading under the ticker HIVE, also disclosed a steep accounting loss tied to a tax dispute in Sweden, adding a layer of complexity to what is otherwise a growth story. Key takeaways Total revenue…