Author: NBTC

When Kraken announced its acquisition of Breakout in September 2025, it sent a clear signal to the cryptocurrency industry: prop trading has arrived. The deal marked the first time a major cryptocurrency exchange entered the proprietary trading space directly, combining Kraken’s institutional-grade infrastructure with Breakout’s evaluation-based funding model. “Breakout gives us a way to allocate capital based on proof of skill rather than access to capital itself,” said Arjun Sethi, Kraken’s co-CEO. “In a world that is rapidly shifting from who you know to what you know, we want to build systems that reward demonstrated performance, not pedigree.” The acquisition…

KBW is taking a more cautious stance on the crypto mining sector. The Wall Street investment bank downgraded Bitfarms (BITF), Bitdeer (BTDR), and HIVE Digital (HIVE) from outperform to market perform. In a series of notes to investors published Monday, the bank signaled that while the industry’s pivot toward high-performance computing (HPC) and AI hosting is compelling, the path to monetization is fraught with execution risks and long lead times. Faced with a record-low margin environment following the 2024 halving, bitcoin miners are rebranding as digital infrastructure providers to capture a slice of the AI gold rush. By converting warm…

Ethereum faces mounting downside risk as macro volatility rises, with Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone signaling a drift toward the lower end of its long-held trading range and $2,000 support coming into view. Strategist Flags Ethereum Downside Bias as $2,000 Support Comes Into Focus Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone shared on social media platform X on Jan. 25 a technical outlook suggesting ethereum risks drifting toward the lower boundary of its long-standing trading range amid rising macro volatility. He said: “Ether appears to be heading toward the lower end of its $2,000-$4,000 range since 2023. I see greater…

Corning shares jumped more than 16% to a record high after the company announced a multiyear agreement with Meta Platforms valued at up to $6 billion to support the expansion of advanced data centers in the United States. Under the deal, Corning will supply Meta with its latest optical fiber, cable, and connectivity technologies designed to meet the scale and density requirements of next-generation AI data centers. Meta will serve as an anchor customer as Corning expands manufacturing capacity across North Carolina, including a significant expansion at its optical cable facility in Hickory. The agreement is expected to drive employment…

Liquity, a protocol that develops decentralized stablecoins on Ethereum, also known for creating the most reliable decentralized stablecoins, is pleased to announce that BOLD has gained an A- rating from Bluechip. BOLD is the second decentralized stablecoin created by Liquity. The main purpose of Liquity’s BOLD is to give a fully decentralized, crypto-backed stablecoin that removes bank, custodian, and censorship risk. A decentralized stablecoin just outranked USDC.@bluechip_org rated BOLD A-, placing it above USDC (B+) and DAI (B+).The only A- rated stablecoin backed 100% by crypto.How did this happen? 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Ptfcbv98Je — Liquity (@LiquityProtocol) January 26, 2026 Bluechip is known…

A couple of Ethereum ($ETH) staker wallets have recently extracted massive amounts from Binance. Totalling $37.64M, these $ETH withdrawals have triggered speculation over the likely motive behind them. As per the data from Onchain Lens, the wallets “0xA75” and “0xd4f” have carried out 2 large transactions, pulling out 5,000 $ETH and 8,000 $ETH. These transfers signify the rising on-chain activity as well as the potential strategic positioning among big holders while market sentiment is shifting. 2 $ETH staker wallets have withdrawn 13,000 $ETH ($37.64M) from #Binance.– Wallet “0xd4f” withdrew 8,000 $ETH, worth $23.16M.– Wallet “0xA75” withdrew 5,000 $ETH, worth $14.48M.https://t.co/pPN8UOJB5Phttps://t.co/sYpG6KfYdS…

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is partnering with Corning in a multi-year agreement worth up to $6 billion to supply fiber-optic cables for its AI data centers, the tech giant disclosed in a Tuesday press release. The agreement will allow Corning to expand manufacturing in North Carolina and grow its workforce, while Meta’s data centers will continue to support thousands of construction and operational jobs. “Building the most advanced data centers in the US requires world-class partners and American manufacturing,” Joel Kaplan, Chief Global Affairs Officer at Meta, said in a statement. “This collaboration will help create good-paying, skilled US jobs, strengthen…

Decentralised exchanges are no longer trying to reinvent trading from scratch. Instead, they are increasingly borrowing from the world’s oldest and most liquid market: foreign exchange. As on-chain liquidity grows and attracts larger, more time-sensitive flows, DEXs are discovering that the real challenge is reliability, not innovation. Decentralised finance has long experimented with foreign-exchange–style trading, mainly at the margins. Automated market makers (AMMs) such as Curve Finance, Uniswap, and Balancer have all optimised pools for low-volatility pairs, particularly stablecoin-to-stablecoin trades. What on-chain markets have struggled to deliver is FX-grade behaviour: tight spreads at scale, continuous liquidity during stress, and the…

Ethereum price slipped below the $3,000 mark last week, reflecting broader market volatility and uneven investor confidence. ETH briefly dipped to lower support before stabilizing, highlighting a clear divide between investor groups. While some participants reduced exposure aggressively, others appear to be positioning for a rebound, creating mixed signals for near-term price direction. Ethereum Institutions Are Skeptical Institutional investors showed a decisive shift toward risk reduction in the week ending January 23. Ethereum recorded more than $630 million in institutional outflows during that period. This wave of selling erased earlier gains and pushed ETH’s month-to-date flows to a negative $77.4…

Blockchain infrastructure firm Zerohash is in talks to raise $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The company recently pulled out of acquisition talks with Mastercard, CoinDesk reported, though the payments giant is still considering a strategic investment in Zerohash, and discussions remain ongoing. The raise comes amid rising demand for enterprise-grade crypto infrastructure, as more financial institutions move to offer tokenized assets, stablecoins and onchain settlement at scale. Zerohash didn’t respond to requests for comment by the time of publication. The amount could change as discussions are still ongoing. Fortune…