Author: NBTC

Near Protocol ($NEAR) is making waves in the DeFi space after launching the industry’s first “Confidential by Default” perpetuals trading on near.com. The feature completely masks all perpetual positions and their asset types, sizes, entry time, and trading direction. The perks of Near’s private perpetuals trading While transparency is a core tenet of blockchain technology, it also vastly disadvantages whales, institutions, and their AI agents in several ways, including: Front-running: on-chain bots see pending orders and execute ahead of them, degrading execution prices. Strategy copying: public orders make it easy to mirror profitable trading strategies, reducing the competitive edge. Forced…

The probability that the Federal target rate could be bumped up by 25 bps to 375-400 bps was increasing by the day. The FedWatch tool showed a probability of a rate hike at 87.3%. This meant that the chances of a bearish Bitcoin [$BTC] price reaction are also higher. In a CryptoQuant analysis, XWIN Japan pointed out that $BTC was between persistent, long-term buyers and short-term caution. The short-term trends could flip bearishly for Bitcoin once again, especially if the caution is given reason to blossom into panic. Bitcoin retraces into key demand zone at $76k Friday’s U.S. CPI report…

Sky Ecosystem has partnered with Galaxy to enhance institutional access to sUSDS, as announced by the CryptoTwitter commentator @SkyEcosystem. This collaboration includes Galaxy adding $100 million worth of sUSDS to its balance sheet, which is a significant step in expanding the institutional trading landscape. The move highlights a growing interest in the sUSDS among institutional players, potentially altering market dynamics. What Happened The broader crypto market is currently reflecting mixed signals, with varying momentum across major assets. Sky Ecosystem’s recent partnership with Galaxy focuses on institutional access to sUSDS, a stablecoin that is gaining traction. Galaxy’s addition of $100 million…

Stablecoin infrastructure company HIFI has raised $37 million in a Series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital as the use of stablecoins for payments and cross-border transfers continues to grow despite weakness in the broader crypto market. Cross-border stablecoin flows rose 77.5% to $220.3 billion in the 12 months ending June 2026, even as the wider crypto market shrank by more than a third over the same period, according to Chainalysis. HIFI CEO Zach Walsh told Cointelegraph that the Series A is the company’s first priced funding round. The company did not disclose its valuation. “HIFI is processing…

$XRP Ledger’s (XRPL) newest server release defines a future lending market in which depositors could commit assets to a vault for a fixed term and wait until a set redemption date to withdraw. For $XRP holders, the design introduces a possible liquidity lock that can last from minutes to years. The $XRP Ledger Foundation released xrpld 3.4.0 on Sept. 16 with LendingProtocolV1_1 code for closed-ended vaults and cash-basis accounting. The first feature fixes the period during which deposited capital can fund loans, and the second recognizes interest when a borrower pays it. Availability still depends on the amendment process and…

South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has announced it will offer new trading support for Renzo ($REZ). According to the announcement, $REZ will be listed in the $USDT trading pair, and transactions will be conducted via the Ethereum network. Upbit announced that $REZ deposit and withdrawal operations are planned to open within 1 hour and 15 minutes of the announcement’s publication. Trading on the $REZ/$USDT pair is expected to begin on September 10th at 3:00 PM. The exchange warned users that the start time of trading may be delayed if sufficient liquidity levels are not reached. With the start of trading,…

The institutional demand around Bitcoin strengthened as Morgan Stanley expanded MSBT holdings while ETF inflows remained positive. Reportedly, Morgan Stanley’s MSBT Bitcoin ETF received another 51.58 $BTC, valued at around $4 million, from Coinbase Prime. Notably, the latest transaction followed a series of transfers into the fund for the previous two weeks. Across these transfers, MSBT has now received a total of 641.87 $BTC, worth roughly $50.6 million. Therefore, Morgan Stanley’s persistent accumulation enhanced Bitcoin’s institutional demand narrative as its price consolidated after a rapid expansion. Importantly, the transfers showed several additions across the two-week period, rather than reflecting a…

Cardano’s decentralized finance (DeFi) activity has picked up recently, with decentralized exchanges recording a sharp increase in trading volume over the past week. According to DeFiLlama data, Cardano’s DEX volume has surged 148% over the past seven days to $17.49 million. The increase points to stronger trading activity across Cardano-based DEXs. Nonetheless, current volume remains well below the $101.89 million recorded in mid-August, when DEX volume surged 1,434% in a week. While the latest increase signals renewed activity, it has not yet returned to the levels seen last month. Cardano currently records $2.18 million in 24-hour DEX volume, while its…

Privacy-centric coin Zcash ($ZEC) was the best performer among the top 10 cryptocurrencies at press time, after surging 10% in the day to trade at $1,467. Other than recent whale activity catapulting upside past 1,300, the coin has also benefited from the recent endorsement by Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm venture capital and tech investment firm. Source: CoinMarketCap Zcash rallies on developer funding model According to Huang, the network’s inflation-funded developer fund is “an elegant mechanism” to tackle the public goods funding dilemma or long-term project funding. Notably, the inflation-funded model redirects a portion of block mining rewards away from…

Coinbase recently tweeted about Grok learning how to use its platform, implying new user-friendly features that may attract institutional interest. This tweet has garnered significant attention, including 713 likes and 99 retweets, indicating a growing curiosity surrounding Coinbase’s offerings. As more traditional banks engage with cryptocurrency, Coinbase’s innovations could play a pivotal role in shaping investor sentiment. Inside the Move The broader crypto market currently exhibits mixed signals, reflecting varying momentum among major assets. Coinbase’s mention of Grok learning to navigate its platform could signal enhancements that appeal to both retail and institutional users, especially as banks like JP Morgan…