Author: NBTC

The global financial system continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Institutions now focus heavily on efficiency and connectivity. As a result, cross border payments have become a major priority for regulators and banks worldwide. This shift reflects growing demand for faster and more transparent financial transactions across countries. At the same time, global organizations aim to reduce friction in international transfers. They want systems that communicate seamlessly and operate without delays. Therefore, initiatives like the BIS taskforce signal a major step toward improving financial infrastructure. These developments highlight the importance of collaboration between traditional institutions and emerging technology providers.…

The supply of Ethena’s synthetic dollar stablecoin, $USDe, has experienced a dramatic $800 million contraction within just three days, according to on-chain data from analytics firm CryptoQuant. This rapid liquidity exodus is now exerting significant pressure across interconnected decentralized finance protocols. The event, tracked from March 10 to March 13, 2025, represents one of the most substantial short-term supply reductions for a major stablecoin this year. $USDe Supply Drop Triggers Market Analysis CryptoQuant’s data reveals the $USDe circulating supply fell from approximately $4.2 billion to $3.4 billion. This 19% decline occurred amid broader market volatility. Analysts immediately began scrutinizing blockchain…

Blockchains were built as public networks in the best tradition of open-source technology. But their future is private. And that future is arriving faster than most people realize. This month, Tempo — the Stripe-backed payment blockchain that raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation, with Visa, Mastercard, Paradigm, and UBS among its backers — published a detailed architectural proposal for private enterprise stablecoin transactions. Tempo is not a scrappy privacy-native project. It is arguably the most institutionally credentialed blockchain launch in years, built by people who deeply understand what banks, payment processors, and enterprises actually need. When a network…

Since the KelpDAO incident on April 18, 2026, Aave founder Stani Kulechov has consistently made it clear that the protocol was not hacked or compromised in any way during the attack. Nonetheless, that did not stop Aave from losing nearly $10 billion in the next four days, and Fluid is among those picking up the slack. As Aave was struggling with its pools being completely tapped out, withdrawals being frozen, and lenders stuck with collateral they didn’t want, Fluid launched a WETH Redemption Protocol without warning. The concept of the protocol was surprisingly great: Fluid’s lite vault held wstETH as…

Oracle network Pyth Network has been selected as the resolution data source for Kalshi’s expansion into commodities markets, underscoring the growing focus on reliable pricing infrastructure in event-based trading. Kalshi said on Wednesday that Pyth will supply real-time pricing data for its newly launched commodities hub, which debuted in April. The data will be used to determine how event contracts tied to commodity prices are settled. The move reflects a broader push among prediction market platforms to strengthen backend infrastructure as they expand into more complex asset classes. Accurate, tamper-resistant data feeds are critical for ensuring fair and transparent contract…

To further provide DeFi traders and investors with an advanced user experience, Niza Ecosystem, a Web3 protocol that focuses on DeFi trading, staking, and cross-chain applications, today entered into a strategic partnership with AIW3, a Web3 intelligence platform that offers AI-powered automation to execute trading strategies across decentralized and centralized exchanges. The collaboration enabled Niza to integrate with AIW3’s intelligence technology to enhance trading and various DeFi activities on its decentralized multichain ecosystem. Niza Ecosystem is a Web3 protocol built on Solana and BNBChain, allowing users to participate in different DeFi trading, staking, and multichain applications across various chains supported…

Base has launched the Azul upgrade on testnet, calling it the network’s first independent upgrade ahead of a planned mainnet rollout on May 13. The upgrade introduces a multiproof system combining TEE and zero-knowledge proofs, with the aim of advancing decentralization and speeding up withdrawal finality. Base is moving its next technical upgrade into public view, and the message is fairly clear. The network wants to show it can evolve with more independent proof infrastructure while keeping one eye on speed and another on decentralization. The Coinbase-incubated Layer 2 said its Azul upgrade is now live on testnet, marking what…

WalletConnect has added support for Canton Network, a blockchain built for institutional finance. The two companies first revealed the partnership at EthCC in Cannes, during a panel moderated by The Defiant’s senior editor Olivia Capozzalo, before releasing the news publicly today, April 22. The deal aims to bring Canton’s privacy-focused infrastructure to WalletConnect’s global ecosystem, enabling access to stablecoin payments, tokenized real-world assets, and DeFi applications. According to a press release viewed by The Defiant, the crypto infrastructure firm’s ecosystem supports 700 crypto wallets, 70,000 decentralized applications, and 55.5 million users, all of which can now connect to the protocol,…

In brief The Ronin blockchain will migrate to Ethereum layer-2 on May 12 after four years as a sidechain. $RON token inflation will drop dramatically from over 20% to less than 1%. Ronin’s token is down nearly 98% from peak, reflecting flagging momentum across the crypto gaming industry. Ronin, the gaming-focused blockchain that powers games like Axie Infinity and Pixels, will migrate to become a true Ethereum layer-2 scaling network on May 12, marking a fundamental shift after four years operating as an Ethereum sidechain. The migration will trigger at block 55,577,490, transitioning Ronin to the OP Stack, Ethereum layer-2…

Uzbekistan has created a special crypto mining zone across Karakalpakstan under a presidential resolution signed on April 17, opening a supervised framework that lets approved mining companies sell mined digital assets on foreign platforms while keeping the proceeds inside the country’s banking system. A presidential decree effective April 20 creates the “Besqala Mining Valley,” a special mining zone across the Republic of Karakalpakstan, where registered legal entities can carry out crypto mining, use a mix of power sources and apply for resident status through a new directorate under the republic’s Council of Ministers. The framework gives miners in the zone…