Author: NBTC

Hana Financial Group, one of South Korea’s largest financial conglomerates, has announced a landmark investment of approximately 1 trillion won (about $725 million) to acquire a 6.55% stake in Dunamu, the operator of the country’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit. The deal, first reported by Digital Asset, marks one of the most significant institutional investments in South Korea’s digital asset sector to date. Strategic Implications for Hana Financial This investment signals a major shift in how traditional financial institutions in South Korea are approaching the cryptocurrency market. Hana Financial Group, which operates KEB Hana Bank and Hana Securities, is positioning itself…

Toncoin $TON has rallied more than 110% in the past week, climbing from around $1.35 to a four-month high near $2.89. The catalyst was a single post from Telegram founder Pavel Durov on May 4, announcing that @telegram itself is taking direct control of The Open Network and stepping in as its largest validator. The move ends years of arms-length distance between the messaging app and the blockchain it originally built. That decision lands on top of a network that was already shipping. $TON delivered sub-second finality in April, cut transaction fees by six times, and is rolling out a…

Decentralized derivatives platform Ventuals said it will compensate users within 48 hours after its pre-IPO SpaceX perpetual contract on Hyperliquid plunged 45% within a 30-minute window on Thursday afternoon, triggering liquidations across hundreds of accounts. Specifically, SPACEX-$USDH fell from $2,277 to $1,254 before partially recovering to around $2,174. While it remains unclear from Ventuals’ X post how much it will compensate, Hyperliquid data shows the move liquidated 484 users and wiped out $1.74 million in notional value over the past 24 hours. The liquidation cascade was linked to what Ventuals described in an X post as incorrect data returned by…

Broader crypto momentum had already started weakening before whale positioning abruptly rotated toward aggressive Bitcoin [$BTC] downside exposure across Hyperliquid [$HYPE] markets. Traders also became more defensive once larger speculative wallets started reducing altcoin risk beneath softer market continuation. Trader Evaded later closed $HYPE and Zcash [ZEC] longs worth roughly $2.85 million and $2.36 million after holding positions for several days. However, the wallet also absorbed nearly $591,000 in Ethereum [ETH] losses before shifting aggressively into a 15x leveraged Bitcoin short. Source: X That position later expanded toward roughly 990 $BTC, worth nearly $74.84 million, while unrealized profits climbed beyond…

Ethereum price has fallen below the key $2,000 support level as institutional outflows, geopolitical tensions, and a bearish technical breakdown weigh on market sentiment. According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum ($ETH) price traded near $1,990 at press time after slipping under the psychological $2,000 threshold for the first time in months. The move came amid persistent selling pressure across U.S. markets, with traders growing increasingly defensive as risk appetite deteriorated across both crypto and traditional assets. A sharp decline in American spot demand appears to be one of the immediate drivers behind the breakdown. Market participants have pointed to a…

Onramp has raised $12.5 million in a Series A round led by Early Riders, valuing the bitcoin financial services firm at $135 million as it pushes to scale a custody model designed to meet institutional standards. The Austin-based company told Bitcoin Magazine it now holds more than $1 billion in assets under custody and has recorded zero security incidents since its founding in 2023. The new capital will support expansion of Onramp Finance, its recently launched platform that combines bitcoin custody, brokerage, and cash management, while funding new partnerships across banks, registered investment advisors, and fintech firms. At the center…

Tom Zschach, the former chief innovation officer at the SWIFT payment network, took to social media on Thursday to pour cold water on the utility of the $XRP token within the new institutional framework. As reported by U.Today, Ripple, alongside J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, and Ondo Finance, has executed the near-real-time redemption of a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund on the $XRP Ledger (XRPL). However, the community questioned whether it is actually beneficial for $XRP. A major caveat Ripple has lauded the pilot as a “meaningful step toward 24/7 global financial markets”, but Zschach was quick to point to a potential caveat…

A majority of European crypto users are still using unlicensed exchanges weeks before the EU’s MiCA transition period comes to an end, according to an analysis published by OKX Europe. According to an analysis by OKX Europe shared with crypto.news, 7.6 million of the 18.5 million crypto exchange app downloads recorded across Europe between May 2025 and May 2026 went to platforms that do not hold a valid Markets in Crypto-Assets license. OKX Europe said those downloads accounted for 41% of all exchange app installs tracked during the period. The study, which cited Sensor Tower download data and licensing records…

Nasdaq has moved closer to offering cash-settled bitcoin index options, a move set to democratize crypto risk management and eliminate legacy operational barriers. Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission granted Nasdaq PHLX conditional approval to list European-style options under the ticker QBTC. These will be cash-settled, European-style options tracking the CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index (BRTT). Cash-settled means the options are settled in U.S. dollars. At expiration, the exchange credits or debits the cash difference between the strike price and the final index value and no actual bitcoin is delivered or received. For the average market participant,…

Bitmine Immersion (BMNR), the largest publicly-traded Ethereum treasury firm, bought 26,497 ether ($ETH) last week, sharply reducing the pace of accumulation after making its largest purchase of 2026 just a week earlier. The latest acquisition, worth roughly $53 million at current $ETH prices, lifted Bitmine’s holdings to nearly 5.42 million tokens, or approximately 4.49% of ether’s circulating supply, according to a Monday company update. The purchase was down more than 75% from the prior week’s 120,000 $ETH haul. The slowdown comes after Thomas “Tom” Lee, chairman of Bitmine, said in May at Consensus 2026 that the company planned to moderate…