Author: NBTC

U.S. lawmakers and White House officials used a Nakamoto Stage panel to argue that clear crypto rules will decide whether the United States leads or cedes ground in the next phase of financial innovation. The discussion, titled “Are We Getting More Clarity?”, focused on the Clarity Act, enforcement under past administrations, and the risk that political swings could undo progress on crypto regulation. Senator Cynthia Lummis warned that another hostile administration would mean “game over for sensible regulation,” framing the 2026 election cycle as a direct test of whether Congress can lock in a durable framework for digital assets. She…

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has completed its acquisition of Bitnomial, giving the firm a full U.S. derivatives stack regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The deal gives Payward control of Bitnomial’s futures broker, exchange and clearinghouse licenses. That structure allows Payward to offer regulated crypto derivatives in the U.S. without relying on a patchwork of third-party venues. The transaction values Payward’s equity at $20 billion. It follows the firm’s $1.5 billion acquisition of retail futures platform NinjaTrader in 2025, the two deals together forming the backbone of its U.S. derivatives push. Payward said it…

A key indicator of Bitcoin demand in the cryptocurrency market turned negative at the end of March, causing concern among investors. According to data shared by the onchain data platform CryptoQuant, the “Apparent Demand” indicator, which measures the true strength of market demand, recorded a decrease of approximately 63,000 BTC. CryptoQuant analysts stated that this decline revealed that new buying demand was insufficient to offset the existing selling pressure. Specifically, they noted that sales by individual investors and other market participants outpaced purchases by institutional investors. A more notable development occurred among “whale” investors, as they are known. These investors,…

Investors continue to move into dollar-pegged tokens as geopolitical risk and prolonged weakness in crypto markets push them toward perceived safety on-chain. The total stablecoin market capitalization hit a record $313 billion on Sunday, underscoring resilient demand even as the broader digital asset space remains under pressure and tensions escalate in the Middle East. Latest data from DefiLlama shows the combined value of stablecoins climbed 1.14% over the past week to $313.008 billion. The increase came as the US–Iran conflict intensified and oil prices spiked, amplifying risk aversion across traditional and digital markets. In that backdrop, traders and investors parked…

Ripple is overhauling how it secures the $XRP Ledger, and AI is at the center of the effort. Its engineering team outlined a new AI-driven security strategy for the $XRP Ledger in a detailed post earlier this week, one that integrates machine learning tools across the protocol’s entire development lifecycle. The strategy includes AI-assisted code scanning on every pull request, automated adversarial testing guided by threat models, and a dedicated AI-assisted red team that continuously analyzes the codebase and how features interact in real-world scenarios. A newly-created ‘red team’ has already identified more than 10 bugs, with low-severity issues disclosed…

Three members of Congress positioned digital asset regulation as a matter of national security and economic competition during a panel discussion at The Bitcoin 2026 Conference in Las Vegas on Monday. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) spoke on “The Bitcoin Bloc: A New Force in American Politics,” moderated by Faryar Shirzad, Chief Policy Officer at Coinbase. Miller-Meeks described Bitcoin as “financial democracy” and linked cryptocurrency adoption to America’s 250th anniversary, framing support for digital assets as patriotic. She cited the Chinese Communist Party as a threat and characterized crypto policy as a national security…

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has accused former custody partner Etana and its CEO, Dion Brandon Russell, of misappropriating more than $25 million in client funds, according to a second amended complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Colorado on Monday. The crypto exchange alleges that Etana Custody, which is going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, operated a “Ponzi-like” scheme in which custodial assets were commingled, spent on operating expenses and risky investments, and falsely reported as intact to clients. The Wyoming-based firm said it entrusted Etana with hundreds of millions of dollars over several years as…

Those who rushed into bitcoin over the past two years are now heading for the exits and it’s not a great sign for the market. Public companies, once seen as long-term holders, are increasingly selling bitcoin as prolonged price weakness weighs on balance sheets and strategic plans. Take Empery Digital (EMPD), which announced on Wednesday that it sold 370 $BTC at an average price of $66,632, generating $24.7 million, leaving the company with 2,989 $BTC. The firm used part of the proceeds to repay its outstanding term loan fully and also released approximately 1,800 $BTC that had previously been held…

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has taken to the X social media network to opine that the future of financial transactions will be dominated not by humans, but by autonomous AI programs. “Very soon, there are going to be more AI agents than humans making transactions,” Armstrong stated. He pinpointed a critical friction point in traditional finance that makes this inevitability a massive catalyst for digital assets: “They can’t open a bank account, but they can own a crypto wallet. Think about it.” Legacy financial institutions require government-issued identification, proof of address, and rigorous Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance. Cryptocurrencies, on…

World Foundation, the non-profit entity behind the biometric identity verification protocol formerly known as Worldcoin, disclosed today that its subsidiary completed the sale of around $65 million in $WLD tokens through a series of over-the-counter deals with four counterparties over the past week. Based on the disclosed average price, World Assets, Ltd., the unit responsible for token issuance and distribution, sold approximately 239 million $WLD tokens. 1/ World Assets, Ltd. has now closed a series of OTC sales for a total of $65,000,000 with four counterparties over the past week, the first of which settled on March 20, 2026. —…