Author: NBTC

Key Takeaways According to BlackRock’s strategists, the labor market is cooling but not breaking, which supports a pause or very limited cuts rather than aggressive easing next year. More cuts would only come if the labor market deteriorates sharply, which they say is not their base case. The Federal Reserve is expected to deliver limited rate cuts in 2026 unless there is a sharp deterioration in the labor market, according to BlackRock senior strategists Amanda Lynam and Dominique Bly. Their outlook reflects recent US labor market data, which point to modest softening but no sharp downturn. Although the unemployment rate…

Onchain analytics firm Nansen ranked Solana, BNB Chain, Base, Tron and NEAR Protocol as the busiest blockchains in 2025. Solana led the pack with 23.01 billion transactions, while BNB Chain followed with 3.89 billion. Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 Base handled 3.29 billion for third, as Tron trailed with 3.22 billion and NEAR came in fifth with 1.89 billion. Even as 2025 was marked by institutional adoption, retail-focused use cases continued to dominate transaction volumes, particularly on blockchains with low fees and high throughput. Top five blockchains by activity in 2025. Source: Nansen Solana’s DEX boom and memecoin craze Solana’s dominance came…

As Ethereum closes out a pivotal institutional year, ether.fi CEO and co-founder Mike Silagadze is already looking ahead to 2026, and he believes the network’s next phase will be defined less by speculation and more by financial products that feel familiar to everyday users, he told CoinDesk in an interview. Ether.fi is best known for its restaking platform on Ethereum, but has since expanded its focus toward building crypto-native neobanking products that combine yield, self-custody and onchain financial services. Silagadze will be speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus Hong Kong conference in February 2026 Silagadze described 2025 as a turning point for…

Rob Hadick, general partner at cryptocurrency-focused investment firm Dragonfly, appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program and offered important insights into the current state of cryptocurrencies, predictions for 2026, and emerging technologies. Hadick said that the focus should be on long-term trends rather than short-term price movements. Hadick responded to criticisms of Bitcoin’s performance this year by advising a “broad perspective.” He reminded listeners that Bitcoin has increased by 26% compared to the day before the 2024 elections, and by doubling its value by 100% in the last two years, noting that this rise rivals, and even surpasses, traditional indices like…

Introduction In 2008, Bitcoin heralded a revolutionary change in the world of finance with the advent of blockchain technology. Decentralization, anonymity, and transparency helped Bitcoin and the subsequent blockchains develop traction among investors. Being a data structure, a blockchain relied on the connections of blocks that contained essential information about transactions. Every block had information about the previous block in the form of a cryptographic hash. For years, the technology had no competitor, but the introduction of directed acyclic graph changed the situation. What is The Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)? The Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) is a data structure like…

If the Pudgy Penguins brand was an island like Hawaii, then it would be toward the beginning of a years-long phase, where molten lava erupting from the ocean’s floor has started cooling and forming newly habitable land. That’s according to Steve Starobinsky, at least. With decades of experience in the toy-making world, Starobinsky was tasked in March with refining Pudgy’s approach to consumer packaged goods. But he acknowledged in a recent interview with Decrypt that Honolulu’s iconic beaches didn’t form overnight. As Pudgy’s director of business development and partnerships, Starobinsky said his newest role requires a relatively methodic approach to…

Key Takeaways Circle introduces GLDC and SILC, allowing users to swap USDC for tokenized gold and silver 24/7 with deep COMEX-based liquidity. Gold and silver have both hit record highs in December, gaining over 70% and 140% year to date, respectively. Circle announced today that it has entered the tokenized commodities market with the launch of GLDC and SILC, two new digital assets representing tokenized exposure to gold and silver. The offering, available through CircleMetals.com, allows users to instantly swap USDC for tokenized gold or silver at real-time prices, backed by liquidity modeled on COMEX reference markets. Tokens are issued…

A press release published on Christmas Eve claimed that Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, had launched a new platform offering tokenized gold and silver trading. However, it is “fake,” a Circle spokesperson told CoinDesk. The platform, launched under the name CircleMetals, was promoted through a press release distributed on Dec. 24, a date when many U.S. businesses are closed or operating at limited capacity, and response times are slower. The release described a new service enabling 24/7 swaps between USDC and purported gold (GLDC) and silver (SILC) tokens, supposedly backed by COMEX-linked liquidity. Oddly, it prompted users to…

Investors who followed financial educator Robert Kiyosaki’s long-standing preference for hard assets and select cryptocurrencies at the start of 2025 would have seen mixed results by late December. Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, has consistently argued that gold, silver, Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH) help protect against inflation, currency debasement, and systemic financial risk, though these represent only some of his publicly known investments. Kiyosaki’s top investments As of press time, Bitcoin was trading at about $87,182, down roughly 5% year-to-date; Ethereum was near $2,928.34, off about 12% year-to-date; gold was trading around $2,928.34, up roughly 71%…

One of Russia’s largest banks is now offering tokens based on regular unleaded fuel, of the kind sold at gas stations across the country. When the instrument matures, investors can either collect their money with accrued interest or receive a fuel card and use it to top up their tanks. Russia’s Alfa-Bank issues digital financial asset on fuel Alfa-Bank, Russia’s biggest private banking institution, has announced the launch of a digital financial asset (DFA) offering a choice between making a profit on the investment and receiving a physical product in return. EuroTrans, a major Russian fuel operator that controls the…