Author: NBTC

South Korea’s Naver Financial has pushed back the timeline for its planned share swap with Dunamu, the operator of crypto exchange Upbit, according to a regulatory filing posted on Monday. In a filing with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the company said it expects to hold a shareholder vote on Aug. 18 and complete the transaction on Sept. 30, marking a roughly three-month delay from earlier target dates of late May or early June. Naver Financial’s plans to acquire Dunamu were first revealed in September 2025, as local news agencies Yonhap and Chosun reported the company was preparing a share…

A group of Ethereum projects have announced a new effort aimed at fixing a growing problem in Ethereum: its ecosystem is becoming too fragmented. Revealed at the EthCC conference in Cannes, the project — called the “Ethereum Economic Zone” (EEZ) — is designed to make Ethereum’s many add-on networks (known as layer 2s, or L2s) work together more seamlessly. The framework is being developed by Gnosis, Zisk and the Ethereum Foundation. Gnosis is a longtime Ethereum infrastructure developer, while Zisk focuses on zero-knowledge proving technology. It comes as Ethereum for years relied on L2 networks to scale, though these networks…

The world’s largest asset manager continues to move aggressively into crypto. BlackRock now plans to hire a Managing Director of Digital Assets in New York. This role carries a salary of around $350,000 and signals a serious long-term commitment. The firm wants a leader who can shape its approach to crypto, stablecoins, and tokenized finance. This step shows that traditional finance no longer treats crypto as an experiment. Wall Street once viewed crypto with caution and skepticism. That narrative has shifted dramatically over the past few years. BlackRock digital assets initiatives now sit at the center of its innovation roadmap.…

Stablecoin-backed payment systems are becoming embedded into everyday transactions across Southeast Asia, as infrastructure providers expand partnerships with card issuers and regional payment networks. Data from Singapore-based StraitsX shows that between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the same period in 2025, transaction volume tied to its card program increased 40 times, while the number of cards issued rose 83-fold. Card Infrastructure Expands Alongside Market Growth StraitsX operates primarily as a backend provider, enabling partners to issue stablecoin-linked cards rather than offering consumer-facing products. Through its role as a Visa BIN sponsor, the firm supports issuers, including RedotPay, which processed…

An enormous cryptocurrency whale with deep ties to the mining sector has executed a headline-grabbing withdrawal from the world’s largest exchange. According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, a wallet linked to Chun Wang, the co-founder of the major Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, recently withdrew 9,000 $ETH from Binance. The transfer, which was valued at approximately $17.86 million, caught the attention of on-chain researchers due to the sheer size. Decentralized yield The F2Pool-linked wallet immediately deposited the entire 9,000 $ETH sum into Aave, a leading decentralized lending and borrowing protocol. The whale is putting the capital to work to earn a…

Two former Blackstone professionals Connor Dougherty and Lily Yarborough have closed a $25 million round to digitize private credit, betting blockchain can unlock faster and more transparent lending. The seed round was led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Susquehanna’s crypto arm, Maven11, and TeraWulf founders, Fortune reported Monday. The company declined to disclose its valuation. Dougherty and Yarborough are building their startup, Valinor, a gateway between traditional finance and crypto. The duo, who began their careers as analysts at banks before joining Blackstone’s private credit arm, believe private credit is the next major category to move onchain, and…

In the Turkish Grand National Assembly, tax regulations targeting crypto assets were removed from the bill following last-minute negotiations between the government and opposition parties. While the withdrawal of controversial regulations in the cryptocurrency market has provided short-term relief to the sector, it also signals that the regulations have not been completely shelved and may be brought up again in the future. The General Assembly, chaired by Deputy Speaker Celal Adan, discussed a comprehensive omnibus bill proposal that includes tax policies, defense spending, and various economic regulations. However, before official discussions began, following strong objections from opposition MPs, an agreement…

CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta has broken his silence after being briefly detained in a fraud case, calling the experience “shocking” and “very disheartening.” In response to the incident, CoinDCX launched the Digital Suraksha Network and pledged ₹100 crore (approximately $10.5 million) to boost India’s cyber safety infrastructure. The program includes: 24/7 WhatsApp number to check suspicious links Open API that shares scam site data Training for law enforcement on blockchain forensics and tracking digital assets Nationwide awareness campaign urging users to check platforms before they transact Gupta stated that no single company can fix these issues alone, as the scam…

The question of whether Ethereum ($ETH) can really act as a store of value is coming up more and more as the network grows into a core part of the decentralized economy. That label used to belong almost entirely to Bitcoin, seen as “digital gold” because of its fixed supply. But since the Merge and the upgrades that followed, Ethereum has started to play by a different set of rules—and that’s starting to shift the conversation. As of March 2026, Ethereum isn’t just for developers anymore. It’s become a global settlement layer. Still, with the price moving sideways lately, investors…

Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade is in talks to take the lead in selling SpaceX IPO shares to everyday US investors, giving the brokerage an early advantage over Robinhood and SoFi in one of the most closely watched listings of 2026. Reuters reported Monday that SpaceX is considering routing a meaningful share of its smaller ticket retail allocation through E*Trade, though the talks are still private and not final. Fidelity is also seeking a role in the distribution. The retail fight matters because SpaceX is discussing an unusually large allocation for individuals. Reuters reported last week that Elon Musk is considering reserving…