Author: NBTC

In the final week of 2025, weekly prediction market notional volume cleared $5.3 billion, and the opening week of 2026 pulled the same trick—once again topping $5 billion and etching fresh records into the sector’s ledger. Prediction Markets Gain Serious Attention Prediction markets have been stealing the spotlight lately, and data compiled by Dune Analytics makes it clear that three platforms are running most of the table. Figures from the first week of 2026 show the year kicked off with $5.26 billion in volume—just a whisker shy of the Dec. 29 high-water mark of $5.38 billion. Dune.com data compiled by…

Data shows Ethereum layer 2 MegaETH hit network speeds of up to 47,000 transactions per second in testing as the project prepares for a stress test ahead of its mainnet launch. In an X post on Monday, MegaETH said it will launch a “global stress test” on Thursday, with an official launch to follow. “On Jan 22nd, we’re opening mainnet to users for several latency-sensitive apps while the chain is under intense, sustained load,” MegaETH said, adding: “Stress tests only matter if they’re uncomfortable. We’re targeting sustained, true TPS of 15-35K, totaling 11B transactions across 7 days.” Source: MegaETH The…

Welcome to CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2025. This year, Bitcoin broke an all-time high, reaching $126,000 a few short months ago, Ethereum saw not one but two major network upgrades take effect, Solana broke into Wall Street and through it all retail and institutional traders gained ever more access to crypto markets through wrapped products like exchange-traded funds. Continuing the end of 2024’s crypto industry optimism, 2025 saw the resurgence of the U.S. as a dominant market in crypto for both retail and institutional players, the cementing of cryptocurrencies as an asset class for the mainstream investor and even the growth…

Polymarket gives 73% odds the Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs today. If ruled illegal, the Treasury may owe importers up to $600B in refunds with no clear plan to pay it back. Two hours after the ruling, three Fed Presidents speak amid an ongoing DOJ investigation into Powell. The Supreme Court is set to rule on Trump’s tariffs today, and Polymarket traders are giving a 73% chance the Court strikes them down. Most people think that’s good news. It might not be. Macro analyst NoLimit, who says he’s called the last three market tops and bottoms publicly, warned that…

Binance Australia has restored direct dollar deposits and withdrawals for local users, reopening PayID and bank-transfer access after more than two years of disruption to its banking services in the country. The exchange said the functionality is now available to all Australian customers following a phased rollout to a smaller user group in recent months. Users can move funds between their bank accounts and Binance in Australian dollars, marking the first time since mid-2023 that the platform has offered direct fiat on and off-ramps in the market.  Australian banks have taken a cautious approach to crypto-related services in recent…

The concept of tokenized gold is moving in the right direction with the official release of XAUT, the gold-backed digital asset by Tether Gold, on the Mantle network. This growth is backed by crypto exchange Bybit, which has indicated complete deposits and withdrawals of XAUT on Mantle and has provided a new avenue for XAUT users to gain physical access to gold via high-performance blockchain architecture. XAU₮ by @tethergold is coming to Mantle.With deposits + withdrawals enabled via @Bybit_Official, tokenized, vault-backed gold now moves seamlessly on our high-performance rails.Accelerating our RWAvolution, we’re making real-world finance flow efficiently, and at scale.…

The crypto investment landscape just witnessed a significant move. Paradigm, a heavyweight in the venture capital space, has placed a major bet on the future of digital money in Latin America. The firm has invested a substantial $13.5 million in a Series A round for the stablecoin startup Crown, signaling strong confidence in its mission to bridge traditional finance with the blockchain world. Why Is Paradigm’s Investment in This Stablecoin Startup a Big Deal? Paradigm is not your average investor. The firm has a proven track record of identifying and backing foundational crypto projects early. Therefore, its decision to lead…

Ripple is expanding its regulatory footprint in Europe after receiving what it described as a preliminary e-money authorization from Luxembourg’s financial regulators. The blockchain payments company said in a Wednesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph that it had received preliminary approval for its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). Ripple said the step moves it closer to a full authorization, which would allow the company to provide regulated payment services in stablecoins and other digital assets across the European Union under passporting rules, subject to meeting remaining conditions. “Gaining our preliminary approval is…

Traders who prize both leverage and decentralization continue to gravitate toward Hyperliquid. The perpetuals-focused decentralized exchange has pulled further ahead of its rivals, such as Aster and Lighter, who struggle to convert short-term activity into durable trading volumes. Over the past seven days, Hyperliquid processed about $40.7 Billion in perp trading volume, according to data from CryptoRank and DefiLlama, outpacing Aster at $31.7 Billion and Lighter at $25.3 Billion. The gap is even more pronounced in open interest, a measure of where traders are willing to hold leveraged positions rather than simply rotate flow. Over the last 24 hours, Hyperliquid…

CheerLand, a blockchain-based GameFi metaverse aggregator that helps users to monetize gaming and social activities via Play-to-Earn (P2E), has disclosed its strategic partnership with OptiView, an artificial intelligence (AI-Powered) all-in-one multi-chain asset management platform. The hidden purpose of this collaboration is to simplify and optimize multi-chain real-world asset (RWA) and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) asset management for users. 🚀 CheersLand x OptiView 🚀We’re excited to partner with @optiview_x, an all-in-one platform simplifying multi-chain asset management through AI-powered analysis and personalized insights. 🤖Together, we’re exploring smarter ways to help users navigate assets across chains.🤝 pic.twitter.com/8spGakcV3S — CheersLand | #RWA #DePIN…