Author: NBTC

The Tempo blockchain that Stripe built to outperform Bitcoin’s capacity of five transactions per second (TPS) is publishing less than three. Seven months ago, Stripe pitched its new blockchain on the premise that existing blockchains had insufficient capacity for its institutional payment flows. Bitcoin (BTC) miners have added about 160 million transactions over the past 12 months, averaging 5.1 TPS, a number that Tempo’s capacity would dwarf, CEO Patrick Collison claimed in September. Collison also bragged that Tempo would have capacity for 10,000 TPS, levitating Tempo’s theoretical future high above Bitcoin. Unfortunately, there are now real-world numbers to settle theoretical…

Amidst commitments to make its DeFi financial solutions accessible to digital asset investors worldwide, XPower Finance, a decentralized mutual financial protocol, today entered into strategic integration with Blazpay, an AI-powered DeFi platform. This partnership enabled XPower Finance to tap into Blazpay’s AI-driven DeFi network to bring advanced intelligence and multi-chain capabilities to enhance user participation on its decentralized mutual finance platform, aiming to make user interactions more rewarding and engaging. XPower Finance is a mutual yield DeFi protocol built in the OKB (formerly OKX) ecosystem and deployed within the XLayer’s L2 network built by OKX. This DeFi yield aggregator enables…

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are rallying, and to those fixated on rising prices, the market may seem to be booming. Overall activity, however, tells a different story. Leading the rally are Bored Ape Yacht Club and Pudgy Penguins. Their floor prices, the lowest possible acquisition cost, have climbed double digits in recent weeks, and their tokens have posted double-digit gains. Still, the comeback is unfolding with far fewer buyers. Pudgy Penguins’ floor has climbed above 5 $ETH, up more than 20% on the week, with 201 sales and nearly 1,000 $ETH in volume over the past seven days supporting the move.…

An ongoing bear market combined with wider global economic struggles has hit crypto firms hard, causing delays, staff layoffs, and AI pivots. This week, crypto protocol Algorand announced it was reluctantly reducing its workforce by 25%. Algorand claimed the “tough” layoff was in response to “the uncertain global macro environment as well as the broader downturn in crypto markets.” Indeed, as the year continues, bitcoin’s price is struggling to gain upward momentum after dropping to $63,000 in late February. The escalating war between the US, Irael and Iran is also causing the price of oil to rocket, and threatens deeper…

$XRP has recently seen a sharp surge in its network activity, recording significant increases in its daily burn rate in the past week. While its price has remained weak, showing little-to-no major increases recently, $XRP’s network usage remains strong, as it has recorded a sharp spike in its burn rate over the past day. The surge in the $XRP network usage is most evident in its burn metric, which has spiked rapidly regardless of weak price movement. $XRP burn rate explodes As of Friday, April 3, data from crypto analytics platform Cryptoquant shows that the amount of $XRP burned as…

The rapid rise of AI agents is beginning to reshape how payments happen online, and crypto infrastructure is emerging as a natural fit, according to Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak. “What was almost impossible nine months ago is now totally possible,” Pollak said in an interview with CoinDesk, pointing to the accelerating capabilities of autonomous AI systems. As these agents evolve, one need is becoming clear: they require native ways to transact. “Agents are defined in software and operating software, they want money as software,” said Pollak, who will be speaking at Consensus Miami 2026 next month. That shift is fueling interest…

The original Bitcoin ($BTC) Rainbow Chart is pointing to a higher valuation range for the end of April, even as the asset currently attempts to exit a recent consolidation phase below the $70,000 mark. Notably, the chart suggests that while Bitcoin remains far from overheated territory, it is still positioned in a historically undervalued zone. This positioning leaves room for upward movement should broader cryptocurrency market sentiment strengthen in the coming weeks. According to the chart’s projected bands for April 30, 2026, Bitcoin’s price ranges are mapped across a spectrum reflecting market sentiment and long-term valuation zones. At the top…

Babylon Foundation has announced a $3 million $USDT deposit into Aave, as a support to current recovery efforts across the DeFi ecosystem. This comes at a time when several projects are working together to stabilize markets after the recent rsETH disruption. Babylon Deposits $3M $USDT into Aave As per the announcement, $2 million will be deployed into Aave V3, and the remaining $1 million will go into V4. The foundation said that the capital would provide liquidity support alongside recovery plans. Babylon also explained how the money will be used over time. Any interest generated from the deposit will be…

In a tweet, Ripple Senior Executive Officer/Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, Reece Merrick outlines four insights from Ripple’s 2026 survey of global finance leaders. “Debate is over,” Merrick said while adding that the Ripple 2026 survey of over 1,000 finance leaders provides insight into where finance is going. The debate is over. The @Ripple 2026 survey of 1,000+ finance leaders provides insight into where finance is going:🟢72% of finance leaders say digital assets are now table stakes.🟢74% see stablecoins as a treasury tool, not just payments.🟢89% say custody is a top… — Reece Merrick (@reece_merrick) March 20, 2026 Merrick…

ZetaChain (ZETA) has officially integrated OpenAI’s latest GPT-5.5 model into its proprietary AI layer, marking a significant leap in blockchain-based artificial intelligence. Announced on April 25 via its official X account, this move follows the recent addition of Alibaba’s Qwen 3.6 Max model. Users can now access ChatGPT’s GPT-5.5 on ZetaChain 2.0’s Anuma platform without any separate installation. This integration optimizes the model for coding, research, and data analysis, supporting a context of over one million tokens. ZetaChain GPT-5.5 Integration: A New Era for AI Interoperability ZetaChain, a Layer 1 blockchain specializing in AI interoperability, has taken a bold step…