Author: NBTC

European crypto exchange WhiteBIT is making preparations to enter the Saudi Arabian market after reaching an agreement with private Saudi investment conglomerate Durrah AlFodah Holding. European crypto exchange WhiteBIT has signed a strategic partnership with Durrah AlFodah Holding, a private Saudi investment conglomerate, to advance blockchain development, digital finance, and data infrastructure in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The partnership was facilitated by Seaside Arabia, a business enabler focused on facilitating the soft landing and market entry of startups in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Seaside Arabia serves as the strategic consultant and subject matter professional throughout the agreement, providing…

Cryptocurrency mining has become a major economic sector, capable of influencing the energy and industrial strategies of the world’s leading powers. According to the November 2025 report published by ApeX Protocol, global cryptocurrency production is dominated by a few countries that, thanks to advanced infrastructures and targeted energy policies, are driving the growth of this ever-evolving sector. China: The Silent Giant of Mining Energy Efficiency and Growth Potential United States: Mining Power Under Pressure The largest mining operation in the world Russia and Canada: Efficiency and Steady Growth Russia: Significant Production with Limited Consumption Canada: Energy and Innovation Germany: European…

Crown, a São Paulo–based fintech focused on programmable money in emerging markets, has raised $8.1 million in seed funding to launch BRLV, a stablecoin pegged to the Brazilian real (BRL) and fully backed by Brazilian government bonds. The round was led by Framework Ventures, with participation from Valor Capital Group, Coinbase Ventures, Norte Ventures, Paxos, and Ed Wible, co-founder of Nubank, who is also joining Crown’s board. The funding will accelerate Crown’s product development and market expansion as it seeks to become Brazil’s leading BRL stablecoin issuer. BRLV differs from dollar-denominated stablecoins like USDC by offering native revenue sharing to…

Buenos Aires — Fintech giant Robinhood (HOOD) is laying the groundwork to push the traditional financial system into a permissionless ecosystem, according to the head of strategy at blockchain development company Offchain Labs. The brokerage app’s recently launched tokenized stock offering in Europe, which already includes nearly 800 publicly traded securities and is set to add private equity, is the first step in a longer, three-phase roadmap to create a permissionless financial ecosystem, said A.J. Warner, chief strategy officer at Offchain Labs, in an interview with CoinDesk on the sidelines of Devconnect in Buenos Aires. Offchain Labs is the firm…

An interesting incident regarding cryptocurrency mining occurred in Malaysia. Malaysia’s national energy company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), reported losses of $1.1 billion due to electricity theft by cryptocurrency miners from 2020 to August 2025, Reuters reported. The country’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources announced in a document sent to parliament that it had identified 13,827 workplaces that illegally leaked electricity for crypto mining between 2020 and August 2025. This resulted in losses of at least 4.57 billion ringgit ($1.1 billion). The ministry stated that the activity in question poses a serious threat to the national electricity supply system, public…

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 500 points as stocks opened lower on Tuesday, with the market reacting further to mounting trade tensions between the United States and China. Summary Dow Jones slipped 500 points as stocks extended losses on Tuesday. Investor sentiment flipped negative as China responded to U.S. trade war moves. Bitcoin fell under $110,500 while gold The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid roughly 500 points, or 1.78%, giving up more of Monday’s gains. The picture across Wall Street was similar. The benchmark S&P 500 dropped 1.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 2% as pressure spread…

PDAX, a regulated cryptocurrency exchange in the Philippines, has partnered with Web3 payroll provider Toku to enable remote workers in the country to receive wages in stablecoins. According to Tuesday’s press release, the new integration connects Toku’s token-based payroll system with PDAX’s regulated cash-out rails, enabling companies to send stablecoin wages through their usual payroll flows and allowing workers to convert earnings to pesos without incurring wire fees or delays. Toku routes payments directly to PDAX wallets or external addresses for real-time, onchain settlement. Workers can then cash out to nearly any Philippine bank or e-wallet, including GCash and GrabPay,…

The Litecoin (LTC) hashrate has more than doubled within one year as the computational power of the network soared by 117%. As highlighted by the Litecoin Foundation, within the last 365 days, the LTC hashrate has been 1.7PH/s. By now, it has scaled to 3.7PH/s. Litecoin network security now strengthened For context, the computational power securing a network is measured in petahashes per second. Hence, a higher hashrate implies that the network is more secure at this moment compared to one year ago, when Litecoin was celebrating the 1.7PH/s achievement as a huge milestone. Notably, in proof-of-work blockchains like Litecoin,…

Hong Kong has launched the pilot testing phase for tokenized deposits and crypto assets (Project Ensemble), utilizing real-value transactions. The HKMA (Hong Kong Monetary Authority) said last week that the launch transitions the initiative from a sandbox experiment to a live value-bearing settlement. The HKMA described the project as pivotal for the country’s crypto roadmap, adding that the city is working towards becoming the region’s crypto hub. The new pilot is expected to operate through 2026 and will initially focus on treasury management, tokenized money-market fund transactions, and real-time liquidity. The Hong Kong de facto central bank initiated the sandbox…

Citigroup (C) CEO Jane Fraser offered a clear stance on the future of digital finance, telling investors that tokenized deposits — not stablecoins — will be the primary engine behind next-generation payments and financial market infrastructure. Speaking on an investor call following the bank’s third-quarter earnings release on Tuesday, Fraser explained that institutional clients are asking for seamless, real-time cross-border money movement that is low-cost and compliant. “What our clients want is interoperable, multi-bank, always-on payment solutions provided in a safe and sound manner,” she said. “That is best done by tokenized deposits.” Citi has invested heavily in digital asset…