Author: NBTC

Kyrgyzstan has officially launched USDKG, a gold-backed stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the USD, with an initial issuance of $50 million, according to PR shared with crypto.news. Summary USDKG is pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar and fully backed by gold reserves. State-owned issuer aims to expand reserves to $500 million and later $2 billion. The project marks Central Asia’s first state-supervised, gold-backed digital currency. USDKG is built on the Tron blockchain and audited by ConsenSys Diligence, with future support planned for Ethereum. Tokens are issued by a state-owned company under the Ministry of Finance, OJSC Virtual Asset Issuer. However, it’s…

Ethereum has rolled out its Fusaka upgrade, a major step that lets the network handle more transactions while prioritizing safety and decentralization. Fusaka centers on EIP-7594: PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling), a system that enables Ethereum nodes to verify that block data is complete without downloading everything. This increases the network’s capacity while keeping it safe and decentralized. Ethereum – the world’s largest smart contract blockchain with a total value locked (TVL) of over $73 billion in decentralized finance (DeFi) – processes 1.3 to 1.8 million transactions per day, according to Etherscan data. ETH is up 5% over the past…

South Korea is fast approaching a turning point in its regulation of digital assets as lawmakers and financial authorities are reportedly working on a plan to restrict the issuance of Korean-won-pegged stablecoins to consortia in which commercial banks hold a majority stake. The plan, which was reportedly discussed in a closed meeting that involved lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DP), officials from the Financial Services Commission (FSC), and representatives of the banking industry on December 1, comes as part of the ongoing effort to enact a comprehensive Digital Asset Basic Act, which will regulate stablecoins and other…

Ethereum activated its highly anticipated “Fusaka” upgrade on Wednesday, marking the blockchain’s second major code change of 2025. The update is designed to help Ethereum handle the increasingly large transaction batches coming from the layer-2 networks that settle on top of it. The Fusaka upgrade, also sometimes called a “hard fork”, was triggered at 21:49 UTC and is expected to finalize within roughly 15 minutes, after which developers will know whether the change has landed smoothly. Many of the core developers were gathered to celebrate the occasion on the EthStaker livestream. Fusaka – a blend of the names Fulu +…

U.S. crypto asset manager Bitwise says most digital asset treasury (DAT) companies are likely to be taken over by bigger players as the sector starts to shrink. In an X post on Nov. 24, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley suggested that it’s still early days for DATs and that they’re on track to become operating companies that will “acquire and consolidate” smaller private crypto firms. The X post was in response to Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan’s Nov. 23 thread in which he said size will ultimately determine which DATs survive. Larger firms can issue debt, lend crypto, access deeper…

US Representative Stephen Lynch pressed Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman on Tuesday over her past remarks encouraging banks to “engage fully” with digital assets, questioning the Fed’s role in advancing crypto frameworks while showing confusion over the definition of stablecoins. In a Tuesday oversight hearing, Lynch asked Bowman, the Fed vice chair for supervision, about remarks she had made at the Santander International Banking Conference in November. According to the congressman, Bowman said she supported banks “[engaging] fully” with respect to digital assets. However, according to Bowman’s comments at the conference, she referred to “digital assets” rather than specifically…

Ethereum has officially implemented its Fusaka upgrade, designed to increase the network’s transaction processing capacity while maintaining security and decentralization standards, according to network documentation. ETH co-founder Vitalik Buterin tipped his hat to the developers behind the initiative. Summary Ethereum rolls out Fusaka upgrade to boost transaction processing while keeping security and decentralization intact. Key innovation is EIP-7594 (PeerDAS), allowing nodes to verify block data without downloading everything, improving efficiency. Upgrade supports scaling and DeFi growth, helping Ethereum handle millions of daily transactions and maintain its leading smart contract ecosystem. “Big congrats to the Ethereum researchers and core devs who…

Robinhood shares (NASDAQ: HOOD) climbed more than 10% yesterday (Wednesday) after the retail brokerage announced plans to launch its own futures and derivatives exchange, deepening a push into prediction markets that has become the company’s fastest-growing revenue source. Until now, the fintech had been expanding its offering through Kalshi, generating more than 50 percent of the platform’s trading volume. By launching its own exchange, Robinhood can list contracts directly instead of relying solely on distributing Kalshi’s products. The brokerage is partnering with Susquehanna International Group to acquire a 90% stake in MIAXdx, a derivatives platform previously known as LedgerX. Miami…

Key Takeaways Gary Gensler, former SEC Chair, stated that all crypto assets except Bitcoin are highly risky and speculative. Gensler argued that Bitcoin is distinct from other digital assets in the eyes of regulators, often viewed as a commodity. Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler has distinguished Bitcoin from other digital assets, stating that every crypto asset except Bitcoin is highly risky and speculative. “The American public and the worldwide public have been fascinated with cryptocurrencies. But it’s a highly speculative, volatile asset,” said Gensler on Bloomberg TV today. “And putting aside Bitcoin for a minute, all the thousands of other…

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial. Bitcoin (BTC) mining has evolved from garage rigs and warehouse farms into an institutional-scale industry projected to generate over $20 billion in revenue in 2025. Yet, most investors still see mining through an old lens. They either buy ASICs and deal with the headaches or gamble on volatile mining stocks. Summary Bitcoin mining is shifting from hardware ownership to financial products, with tokenized hashrate and derivatives giving investors direct exposure to mining rewards without managing machines. Hashrate…