Author: NBTC

Investors are watching Standard Chartered stock closely as 2025 ends, with digital initiatives and capital returns shaping expectations for the year ahead. Standard Chartered share price holds near 2025 highs STAN share buybacks approach US$1 billion Blockchain treasury solutions move from pilot to practice Profitability supported by fee-based and wealth businesses Analyst views on valuation remain split Outlook for Standard Chartered into 2026 Standard Chartered share price holds near 2025 highs Standard Chartered PLC (LSE: STAN) closed on 22 December 2025 at around 1,792p (£17.92), just shy of its year-high of 1,808.5p. With a market capitalization of approximately £40.6 billion,…

Senate Republicans are reportedly escalating efforts to advance the long-stalled crypto market structure legislation, delivering what they described as a “closing offer” to Democratic negotiators as Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) moves toward a committee markup as soon as next week. Senate Banking Committee Republicans sent a document Monday night outlining a series of proposed changes to the bill ahead of a bipartisan member meeting Tuesday. The document, described as a “closing offer and state of play,” includes more than 30 revisions to Title I, which governs the legal classification of digital assets, as well as two new titles…

Ethereum released a long post on X to recount the high points of its year 2025, a year that its DeFi TVL reportedly grew up to 9 times as much as any competing networks in terms of DeFi. According to Ethereum, it was in 2025 that it transitioned from an emerging technology to the foundational “scaffolding” of a digital civilization, a growth defined by technical maturity, institutional integration, and global expansion. Ethereum has matured into a global clearinghouse While other L1s optimized for high-speed trading and retail transactions, competing for users, Ethereum was focused on solidifying its position as the…

Key Notes Spot XRP ETFs have seen six weeks of consistent inflows since launch in mid-November despite major macro uncertainties. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs saw heavy outflows of $497 million and $644 million last week, respectively. Apart from XRP ETFs, asset managers noted growing interest in Solana ETFs, which saw $66.5 million in inflows last week. Spot XRP XRP $1.93 24h volatility: 0.3% Market cap: $116.83 B Vol. 24h: $2.43 B ETFs in the United States have continued to show strength, clocking $82 million in inflows over the past week. The significance of these net flows is even more pronounced…

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is inching closer to agreement on a bipartisan crypto market structure bill, with a vote next week, its chairman said, as industry insiders prepare for a blitz of the Senate offices on Thursday. Republicans on the committee are exhibiting wide confidence that their finish line is near on the lengthy negotiations over a bill to set up regulated crypto markets in the U.S. However, Democratic negotiators haven’t broadly weighed in on the rapid timeline that committee Chairman Tim Scott said will conclude with a January 15 markup hearing. A document that emerged from the Tuesday…

Ripple Senior Executive Officer and Managing Director of Middle East and Africa Reece Merrick reflects on the journey in the last five years. This comes as the SEC lawsuit marks five years: on Dec. 22, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a high-profile enforcement action against Ripple, alleging that it broke securities laws by selling XRP without registering it as a security. Merrick reflects on this, saying that five years ago, the SEC launched its lawsuit against Ripple, adding that he remembers it as if it were yesterday. The Ripple exec said that what stayed with him the…

South Korean police are investigating allegations that Kim Byung-kee, a senior lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, abused his parliamentary position to attack cryptocurrency exchange Upbit after his son secured employment at rival platform Bithumb. Kim, a 25-year veteran of the National Intelligence Service who served as its personnel director before entering politics, now faces at least nine separate corruption allegations—several involving claims he leveraged government connections to benefit his family. Son Joins Bithumb, Then Calls to “Shut Down” Upbit According to a local media report, Kim began showing sudden interest in both Dunamu (the operator of Upbit)…

Wall Street broker Benchmark said bitcoin miner Hut 8 (HUT) is using last week’s River Bend announcement to cement a shift from a crypto-first power owner into an institutional-grade digital infrastructure platform. Analyst Mark Palmer said the structure, counterparties and cash-flow quality separate HUT’s deal from the wave of recent AI data center agreements. He reiterated his buy rating on the stock and lifted his price target to $85 from $77, suggesting 93% upside from Friday’s close of $44.12. Shares are higher by 2.8% premarket to $45.34. Last Wednesday, Hut 8 signed a $7 billion, 15-year AI data center lease…

A group of US community bankers is pressuring Congress to change the GENIUS Act to close a supposed “loophole” that allows yield-generating stablecoins to undercut banks. The American Bankers Association’s Community Bankers Council said in a letter on Monday to the Senate that it must tighten the stablecoin regulating bill passed last year to stop stablecoin issuers from offering yield to tokenholders through third parties. “Some companies have exploited a perceived loophole allowing stablecoin issuers to indirectly fund payments to stablecoin holders through digital asset exchanges and other partners,” the group of more than 200 community bank leaders said. The…

After a lackluster November, bitcoin miners collected even slimmer proceeds in the final month of 2025, with revenue tallying roughly $1.21 billion—marking the year’s second-softest monthly showing. December Delivers Pain for Bitcoin Miners, but the Worst May Be Passing Although conditions are improving for bitcoin miners in 2026, December’s revenue still ranked as the second weakest month of 2025, trailing only April’s cumulative total of $1.18 billion according to newhedge.io stats. In November, miners pulled in $1.26 million, and December’s $1.21 billion figure came in 4.13% lower. Dec. 18, 2025, marked the weakest day of the month for hashprice, the…