Author: NBTC

A decade ago, the crypto market was straightforward: When bitcoin $BTC$76,540.50 surged, some 500 or more alternative cryptocurrencies followed suit; when it plunged, the entire market crashed. Portfolios spread across “diverse tokens” with unique use cases looked diversified on paper, but cratered during the bitcoin slides. Fast forward to 2026, and very little has changed, even though the number of altcoins has increased to several thousand. Despite institutions supposedly painting crypto as a multifaceted asset class akin to stocks, with each project boasting distinct investment appeal, the reality is grim. The market’s still a one-trick pony, following $BTC up and…

Finst, a Netherlands-based regulated crypto exchange, announced an €8 million Series A round led by Endeit Capital, lifting its total funding to €15 million. The round attracted continued support from existing investors, including Eelko van Kooten, founder of Spinnin’ Records, and Mark Fransen, co-founder of DEGIRO. The company will direct the new capital toward European expansion, enhanced staking products, expanded asset selection, new platform features, and additional offerings for retail and professional users. “Our mission has been clear from day one: to make crypto investing safer, fairer and radically more transparent,” Finst co-founder Julien Vallet said. “With this Series A…

With another $25 million from Ripple and $24 million from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the crypto industry’s chief campaign-finance fund, the Fairshake political action committee, is amassing unprecedented firepower for this year’s midterm congressional elections. The crypto super PAC that exploded onto the scene in the last political cycle is set to report it has $193 million on-hand, according to a Wednesday statement. If it were to spend that money this year, it would likely stand among the top five PACs in the country, rivaling the 2024 tallies of the parties’ own top campaign-finance organizations. It was already ranked as the…

Crypto Twitter is angry again. This time, the target is familiar: Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ). Over the past few days, major allegations have taken over Twitter (or X) timelines, with some users calling him “a scammer” and demanding he be “sent back to prison.” So what is actually behind the latest accusations, and how much of it is supported by verifiable evidence? The October Market Crash: What Happened? One of the most serious allegations facing Binance dates back to October, during what later became known as “Crypto Black Friday.” On October 10,…

The Central Bank (CBI) of Iran bought $507 million of Tether’s $USDT stablecoin with the primary purpose of manipulating foreign exchange markets and bolstering the value of the rial, which recently traded at 1.4 million for one U.S. dollar, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. Elliptic said it uncovered the purchases through two leaked documents that allowed researchers to map out the central bank’s wallet infrastructure, “revealing a systematic accumulation of $USDT totaling at least half a billion dollars,” a report by Tom Robinson said. “It indicates a sophisticated strategy to bypass the global banking system.” The United Nations imposed…

In a recent Roundtable interview, Bilal Bin Saqib, chairman of Pakistan’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council, told host Jackson Hinkle that Pakistan isn’t trying to catch up to the region. He’s instead betting on the country to set the pace. Pakistan’s regulatory ambition takes shape Pressed on why Asia feels “lagging” on adoption outside of places like Singapore, Saqib said Pakistan plans to “create an enabling environment” and a regulatory framework that countries “from Morocco to Malaysia will get inspired from.” He framed the push as a generational shift, arguing Pakistan’s leadership wants…

The U.S. government is set to partially shut down at midnight, despite the Senate voting in favor of a funding package intended to keep the government running — showing the importance of specificity in prediction market contracts. The House of Representatives is out of session this week, and will not be back until Monday. Because the House needs to pass the package the Senate voted on Friday evening, this means that the government will technically shut down at 12:00 a.m. ET Saturday, and likely remain shut through the weekend. It’s just a partial shutdown and should not have a significant…

Key Notes Cork Protocol raised $5.5M from a16z CSX and Road Capital to build programmable risk infrastructure. The protocol introduces cover tokens and depeg swaps as insurance-like products against stablecoin failures. Phoenix launched on Ethereum as one of the first decentralized risk management solutions for onchain assets. Cork Protocol, a decentralized programmable risk layer, has raised $5.5 million in a successful seed round led by a16z’s CSX startup fund and Road Capital. The funding round drew participation from a slew of noteworthy VC and crypto investment groups including 432 Ventures, BitGo Ventures, Cooley, DEPO Ventures, Funfair Ventures, G20 Group, Gate…

President Donald Trump is seeking a meeting with broad-based leaders to kickstart the debate on the stalled crypto bill. The Senate has delayed its negotiations on the Clarity Act, which was passed by the House in 2025. The crypto market has remained under bearish pressure due to a lack of a strong factor to trigger liquidity rotation. After a prolonged delay in the passage of the Clarity Act, the White House is keen to expedite the process. According to Bloomberg, the White House is seeking to meet with top executives from the banking and cryptocurrency industries to discuss stalled crypto…

Binance blamed the October 10 flash crash on a macro shock colliding with heavy leverage and evaporating liquidity, rather than any breakdown in its trading systems following speculative chatter on social media. In a report released Saturday, the exchange said global markets were already under pressure following trade-war headlines when crypto markets cracked. Bitcoin and ether had rallied for months into early October, leaving traders heavily positioned and exposed. 10/10’s myths and facts explained.👉 https://t.co/SpE6scqpSx pic.twitter.com/OJhZESWlP4— Binance (@binance) January 30, 2026 At the time, open interest across bitcoin futures and options exceeded $100 billion, creating conditions ripe for forced deleveraging…