Author: NBTC

In brief The IMF said crypto flows in Nepal grew markedly between 2019 and 2024 despite a legal ban, peaking above 13% of GDP in 2021. It urged Nepal to regulate crypto under international standards, warning of capital-control evasion and deposit outflows. An expert told Decrypt that trading and remittances keep crypto alive in banned markets, making regulation a smarter tool than prohibition. Nepal banned crypto, but crypto did not leave Nepal. In a report released Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) flagged growing crypto adoption in Nepal despite a legal ban and urged authorities to monitor the sector closely…

$XRP community figures Eri and Jake Claver recently argued that $XRP value goes far beyond cross-border payments. In a post on X, Eri shared a clip from a recent livestream by Digital Ascension Group chairman Jake Claver. The discussion focused on the so-called “stablecoin sandwich” model. Eri said she agreed with two of Claver’s key points. One of them is that Ripple has already used stablecoins such as USDT and $USDC as bridge assets in its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service. Ripple Already Used Stablecoins in ODL According to Eri, Ripple’s payment infrastructure has previously incorporated Tether and $USDC as bridge…

Three US Navy guided-missile destroyers came under attack from Iranian forces while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on May 7, with CENTCOM confirming that all incoming threats were successfully intercepted and the US responded with strikes against Iranian missile launch sites, command-and-control locations, and military infrastructure in southern Iran. The engagement marks one of the most significant direct military exchanges between US and Iranian forces during what is technically still a ceasefire, one brokered on April 8 and already showing serious cracks. What happened in the strait The USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason…

Vladimir Putin chose one of Russia’s most symbolically charged days to float the idea that the war in Ukraine might be wrapping up. Speaking during Victory Day celebrations on May 9, the Russian president suggested the conflict could be approaching “completion.” The remark came against the backdrop of ceasefire discussions reportedly brokered by US President Donald Trump, who has positioned himself as the dealmaker capable of ending Europe’s largest land war since 1945. Markets moved fast Bitcoin surged 4% to $85,000 in the hours following Putin’s comments on May 9. Ethereum followed the next day with a 3% climb, according…

Validators are entities that keep Ethereum running by locking up ether ($ETH), checking transactions and earning staking rewards for doing so. Funding, in this context, means paying for the shared work Ethereum relies on, such as developer tools, security research, public infrastructure and other projects that help the network but do not always have a direct business model. The proposal seeks to shift that burden toward validators, who earn $ETH rewards for securing the network and benefit when Ethereum becomes more valuable. It argued that validators are natural long-term stakeholders because better ecosystem funding can increase network activity, $ETH burn…

Digital Asset, the development firm behind the Canton Network (CC) blockchain used by major banks and trading firms, said Thursday it closed a $355 million fundraising round to back its efforts to bring capital markets onchain. The investment was led by a16z, with the participation of global institutions including ABN Amro, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, HSBC, SBI Group and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority through a subsidiary. The amount raised beat the target of $300 million at a $2 billion valuation that was reported last month. The investment comes as traditional financial firms increasingly back blockchain infrastructure built…

Lite Strategy, a public company focused on Litecoin treasury holdings, announced a $1 million strategic investment in ZK Innovations, a blockchain infrastructure developer behind LitVM. The deal makes Lite Strategy one of the key institutional partners supporting the next stage of the Litecoin ecosystem. Along with funding, Lite Strategy received governance participation rights and the option to acquire a share of future network tokens. LitVM is preparing to launch its mainnet and aims to bring smart contracts to Litecoin for the first time. The project is designed to expand Litecoin beyond payments by supporting dApps, tokenized RWAs, and other blockchain-based…

Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of Binance, is continuing to give interviews after completing his prison sentence in the US. Speaking to the Crypto Banter channel, CZ described his experience as a “turning point in his life,” sharing his vision for the future and his personal transformation. CZ stated that before going to jail, his lawyers warned him about his biggest fear: “extortion and blackmail.” He added, “Newspapers were writing that I was the richest person to ever go to a US prison.” CZ said he befriended a former Cisco software engineer who was sentenced to 25 years…

Ethereum is on the verge of making unfortunate history. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is on the cusp of recording three consecutive losing quarters for the very first time. At press time, the flagship altcoin, which recently slipped to fifth place by market capitalization, is changing hands at $1,732, CoinGecko data shows. The massive losing streak What is notable is that Ethereum has never printed three consecutive losing quarters. However, this is about to become reality. Ethereum ended the final quarter of 2025 deep in the red with a return of 28.28%. Bears extended their winning streak into the…

South Korea retained its position as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency market in the first quarter of 2024, with an estimated trading volume of $69 billion, according to a report from U.S. blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs. The data, cited by the Seoul Economic Daily on June 11, places the United States firmly in the lead at $212 billion, followed by Russia ($48 billion), India ($46 billion), and Turkey ($40 billion). Sharpest Year-over-Year Decline Among Major Markets Despite its high ranking, South Korea’s trading volume fell 28% compared to the same period last year—the steepest decline among the top five markets.…