Author: NBTC

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has completed the world’s first on-chain disbursement of universal basic income (UBI) using a digitally native sovereign bond, USDM1, via the Stellar blockchain. Developed in partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) and infrastructure provider Crossmint, the multimillion-dollar initiative is part of RMI’s national UBI program, known locally as ENRA, the Marshalls Islands’ Finance Ministry confirmed. The program replaces quarterly physical cash deliveries with direct digital transfers to eligible citizens, many of whom live across widely dispersed islands. USDM1 is a U.S. dollar-denominated sovereign bond fully backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills. The…

Public, a platform designed for long-term investment, announced that it has paid $65 million in cash and stock for Alto’s CryptoIRA business, thereby expanding the number of Bitcoin retirement options it offers. According to the announcement, Alto clients will be able to use the platform until early 2026 when complete integration with Public’s system is anticipated. The firm confirmed that it will integrate Alto’s technology in the following months, allowing its members to trade cryptocurrencies within their IRAs. Factually, CryptoIRAs will enable investors to trade cryptocurrency without having to deal with the tax implication that usually comes with every sale…

Tajikistan’s parliament amended the Criminal Code on December 3 to specifically criminalize electricity theft for virtual asset production. The legislation, Article 253, replaces previous administrative fines with criminal charges for unauthorized grid connections. Enforcement agencies can now prosecute miners immediately rather than issuing warnings. Lawmakers framed the reform as a response to growing pressure on energy infrastructure and rising financial losses. The Legislative Hammer: Article 253 On December 3, Tajikistan’s parliament approved amendments that criminalize electricity theft for cryptocurrency mining. The changes add a specific offense covering unauthorized energy use for virtual asset production. Hence, enforcement agencies now gain clearer…

Animoca Brands is a global digital assets leader building blockchain and tokenized assets to advance the future of Web3 innovation. Animoca Brands has announced its strategic partnership with GROW Investment Group (“GROW”), a leading investment and asset management platform in China, backed by Julius Baer. We have entered into a term sheet with GROW Investment Group (“GROW”), China’s leading investment and asset management platform backed by @juliusbaer. Under the term sheet, Animoca Brands will enter into a strategic partnership with GROW and make an equity investment in GROW… pic.twitter.com/KheuutlMrk — Animoca Brands (@animocabrands) December 16, 2025 With the passage of…

The week of November 9-15, 2025, recorded $122.35 million in crypto funding across 10 projects. Summary Crypto startups raised $122.35M this week, led by Lighter’s strong $68M round. Funding flowed into AI gaming, compute networks, and encrypted blockchain platforms. Ten projects secured capital, with smaller rounds from Bluefin, Curvance, and others. As per the data, Lighter’s $68 million raise led the last week’s funding period that featured derivatives platforms, gaming ventures, and infrastructure development. Here’s a breakdown of this week’s crypto VC activity as per Cryptofundraising data: Lighter Lighter has raised $68 million in an unknown round The project has…

Key Takeaways Hut 8 partnered with Anthropic and Fluidstack to develop AI data centers in the US. The agreement establishes a pathway to deploy at least 245 megawatts and up to 2,295 megawatts of capacity. Hut 8 has entered into an AI infrastructure partnership with Anthropic and Fluidstack to develop a large-scale AI data center infrastructure across the US. Under the agreement, Hut 8 will deliver between 245 megawatts and 2,295 megawatts of data center capacity for Anthropic, leveraging high-performance compute clusters operated by Fluidstack. Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot said the challenge of scaling an advanced AI infrastructure ultimately…

As quantum computing researchers celebrate breakthrough after breakthrough, Web3’s $4-trillion asset base faces a ticking time bomb. Last December, Google announced that their quantum Willow chip performed a computation in less than five minutes that would have taken a state-of-the-art super computer ten septillion years (about 100 trillion times longer than our universe is old). Drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, and optimization problems of all kinds will enter a golden age thanks to quantum. But most modern encryption, which relies on math puzzles that are functionally impossible for a classical computer to solve, could be cracked instantly by quantum.…

Key Takeaways Berkshire Hathaway acquired a $4.3 billion stake in Alphabet, marking its first major investment in the company. The firm trimmed its Apple holdings by about 15% but continues to hold a large position in the stock. Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, acquired 17.8 million Alphabet (GOOG) shares valued at around $4.3 billion in Q3 2025, according to a new filing. It’s the company’s first multi-billion-dollar stake in a core Big Tech platform whose primary value drivers are fast-changing areas like AI and cloud computing. During the quarter, Berkshire trimmed its Apple position by roughly 15%, though the…

A federal judge denied Apple and OpenAI’s motions to dismiss Elon Musk’s antitrust lawsuit Thursday, allowing X Corp. and xAI’s claims of market monopolization to proceed toward trial. On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman rejected both companies’ attempts to dismiss the case, ruling that the allegations warrant further examination through summary judgment.  “This Order should not be construed as a judgment (or pre-judgment) on the merits of this litigation,” the ruling says.  The lawsuit, filed in August, targets Apple’s June 2024 decision to make ChatGPT the exclusive AI assistant integrated into iOS. “This is a procedural step.…

Stargate Finance, a cross-chain native asset transfer protocol, today announced that Beldex (BDX), a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that enables users to execute public and private transactions, is available on the cross-chain liquidity protocol. The aim of the deployment of BDX on Stargate is to introduce the cryptocurrency into one of the most actively utilized blockchain networks in the world. Stargate, which is powered by LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) Standard, has rapidly become a foundation for cross-chain liquidity, linking more than 70 blockchain networks and facilitating real-time and safe transfer of crypto assets. Traditionally, transferring digital assets between blockchains involved multiple…