Author: NBTC

Today, Hiromi Yamaji, the CEO of the Japan Exchange Group (JPX) told Bloomberg that Japan’s first cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund could list as early as next year, accelerating a timeline that regulators and market participants had previously predicted to end in 2028. The new timeline matters for Japanese-listed firms holding a lot of crypto in their books. Just days before Yamaji’s comments, Metaplanet’s head of Bitcoin strategy, Dylan LeClair, urged the global community to oppose a separate JPX proposal (closing on May 7) that would bar companies holding more than 50% of their assets in crypto from the Tokyo Stock Price…

Erik Voorhees’ Venice has rolled out new encrypted AI interface models designed to make privacy verifiable rather than trust-based. Venice AI just released End-to-End Encryption Verifiable by any external party Vires in numeris Here’s how it works 🧵 pic.twitter.com/VZLWarvAUC — Venice (@AskVenice) March 18, 2026 The update adds Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and End-to-End Encrypted (E2EE) options alongside its existing anonymous proxy access and zero-data-retention processing. TEE, operated by Venice’s external partners $NEAR AI Cloud and Phala Network, runs AI workloads inside hardware-secured enclaves with attestation, preventing access by operators. The company says remote attestation produces cryptographic proof that models…

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has applied for a national trust company charter with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), according to a Friday announcement shared with CoinDesk, as the company looks to expand its regulated digital-asset custody business. If approved, the charter would establish Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), a federally regulated entity focused on fiduciary custody and related services for digital assets. Kraken said the trust would primarily serve institutions and customers seeking bank-level custody protections under OCC oversight. The filing marks Payward’s latest effort to expand its U.S. regulatory footprint…

Pundi X, a next-gen tech platform developing AI and blockchain-led solutions, has joined Units Network, a notable modular blockchain entity. The partnership focuses on merging scalable blockchain infrastructure with community-driven AI datasets, backing the next era of dApps. As per Pundi X’s official press release, the development aims to unveil a community-curated and verifiable data infrastructure for the swiftly expanding Units.Network. Thus, the initiative underscores the rising convergence of blockchain technology and AI within the wider Web3 sector. https://t.co/bVNQLU89eB — Pundi X Labs (@PundiXLabs) May 13, 2026 Pundi X Brings AI Data Instruments to Units Network to Broaden Modular Blockchain…

Glassnode’s Accumulation Trend Score by cohort is signaling broad-based selling led by retail participants as bitcoin falls below $67,000. The 30-day Accumulation Trend Score, broken down by wallet cohorts, measures the relative behavior of entities accumulating or distributing coins on-chain. It combines both the size of each cohort’s holdings and their net balance change over the past 30 days. A score closer to 1 indicates accumulation, particularly by larger entities, while a score near 0 reflects distribution or a lack of accumulation. Currently, the heaviest selling pressure is coming from retail participants holding less than 10 $BTC. Wallets with under…

Ethereum is holding near a key support area while its short-term correction remains active. At the same time, the weekly chart shows $ETH forming a setup that looks similar to past consolidation zones before larger rallies. Ethereum Holds $2,220 Support as $ETH Correction Stays Active Ethereum remains in a corrective phase after briefly breaking below Friday’s swing low during CPI driven volatility, according to a chart shared by MCO Global on X. The 1-hour $ETH chart shows price slipping below a short-term support area before stabilizing near the same zone. The move came after stronger-than-expected inflation data added pressure to…

Mastercard beat earnings with $4.35 EPS as quarterly profit rose to $3.9 billion, putting card spending, network fees, and its crypto plan back in front of investors. Mastercard (NYSE: MA), the world’s second-largest debit and credit card company, posted a 14% profit rise as more people paid with cards. Global purchase volume increased 10% on a local currency basis to $759 billion. U.S. purchase volume rose 9% to $268 billion from a year earlier. The quarter also landed with stronger consumer data. A global survey showed U.S. consumer sentiment rose sharply in the first quarter as optimism over the economy…

Major Wall Street investors poured $500 million into Ripple in 2025 — a figure that reflects just how embedded $XRP has become in the company’s financial backbone, and why analysts say Ripple has little reason to walk away from it. A newly circulated academic paper, published in Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, argues that $XRP’s role in Ripple’s cross-border payment network makes abandonment not just unlikely, but structurally difficult. The paper was brought to wider attention by $XRP community researcher SMQKE. The Case Against Cutting Ties Ripple Payments — formerly known as RippleNet — uses $XRP as a…

An obscure figure, believed to have actually run the recently failed European exchange Zondacrypto, is now reportedly hiding in Dubai. Direct losses from the crash of the coin trading platform, one of the largest in its region, approach $100 million, but the total is likely higher. Zondacrypto’s real boss identified in Poland The chief executive of the Polish-rooted exchange Zondacrypto, which suffered a spectacular collapse last month, has been merely a figurehead. That’s according to publications in Poland, where the Estonia-licensed platform was the leading trading venue for digital assets until just a few weeks ago. Its CEO, Przemysław Kral,…

Decentralized prediction market platform Myriad has selected Chainlink (LINK) as its official oracle infrastructure, marking a significant step toward real-time settlement capabilities for crypto-based forecasting markets. The integration, first reported by Decrypt, will initially support prediction markets tied to Bitcoin ($BTC), Ethereum ($ETH), Binance Coin ($BNB), and Solana ($SOL), with plans to expand into real-world asset (RWA) markets in future phases. Why Oracle Infrastructure Matters for Prediction Markets Prediction markets rely on accurate, tamper-proof external data to settle outcomes fairly. Without a reliable oracle, a platform cannot determine which outcome occurred in a verifiable way. By adopting Chainlink’s decentralized oracle…