Author: NBTC

TransCrypts, a blockchain startup building tools for people to own and share verified credentials, has raised a $15 million seed round led by Pantera Capital. The round included Lightspeed Faction, Alpha Edison, Motley Fool Ventures, and a mix of returning investors such as Mark Cuban and Protocol Labs. The funding follows a strong summer for the San Francisco-based company. In September, TransCrypts won CoinDesk’s Pitchfest at Consensus Hong Kong, taking home $10,000 in tokens, a trophy, and ten coaching sessions. Founder and CEO Zain Zaidi said that the win helped the team refine its vision for what he calls “self-sovereign…

U.S. bank Citizens began coverage of Circle Internet (CRCL) with a market perform rating, noting that while the company is poised to capitalize on stablecoin growth, its valuation already captures much of the upside. Circle, issuer of the second-largest stablecoin, the dollar-pegged USDC, and euro-pegged EURC, has built a broad infrastructure suite, including a payments network, cross-chain protocol and programmable wallets. It is working on Arc, a planned layer-1 blockchain, that Citizens sees as central to programmable money in payments, trading and tokenization. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a real-world asset such as a…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to retain his role as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. The agency will also announce a new deputy commissioner at a later date. Bessent began his role at the IRS in August, following the removal of Billy Long from the post by President Donald Trump just two months after his confirmation. Long has since taken over as the U.S. ambassador to Iceland. IRS appoints Frank Bisignano as its CEO Today, @SecScottBessent announced that @SocialSecurity Commissioner Frank Bisignano will serve as Chief Executive Officer of @IRSNews. In this newly created position, Mr. Bisignano will…

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read more editions, subscribe “We never made the error that so many others have: mistaking their product for the device that delivers it.” — Michael Bloomberg I’m old enough to remember when a Bloomberg Terminal was a stand-alone box wedged onto a cluttered trading desk between a dual-receiver phone and a clacking machine for time-stamping order tickets. The chunky keyboard had colorful buttons for the most-used functions, a squawk-box speaker, and a fun roller ball that made navigating the Terminal feel like playing Missile Command (an arcade game found in 1980s…

Payments giant Stripe unveiled a stablecoin issuance platform and AI commerce tools at its New York showcase on Tuesday, marking a push to tie its payments business to the growing role of digital dollars and artificial intelligence in online transactions. Open Issuance, underpinned by stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge that Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion last year, enables firms to launch their own stablecoins, minting and redeeming tokens with just a few lines of code. Phantom’s CASH token, an open-loop stablecoin by the popular crypto wallet provider, will be the first to debut through Open Issuance, the firm announced. The recently-launched…

The GENIUS Act includes a key rule that bars stablecoin issuers from paying interest directly to holders. While this provision was likely intended to protect banks from losing deposits, it has unintentionally created a highly profitable regulatory loophole. The rule carves out a business opportunity for crypto exchanges and fintech distributors. They can now capture this yield and turn it into a powerful engine for innovation. Bypassing the Stablecoin Yield Ban A key feature that has sparked significant debate in light of the GENIUS Act has been its ban on stablecoin issuers from paying any interest or yield directly to…

OpenEden announced on X that it has entered a three-way collaboration with Plume Network and Chainlink to “set new standards for compliant tokenized RWAs,” saying the partnership will enable USDO to become the first bridged asset natively deployed on Plume’s real-world asset (RWA) blockchain, powered by Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). “Real assets. On-chain. Coming soon,” the company added in the post. The move signals an industry push to marry the compliance requirements of traditional finance with the technical promise of tokenized real-world assets. OpenEden, which has been positioning its USDO stablecoin and tokenization stack as institutional-grade tools for bringing…

Bearish pressures in the cryptocurrency market continue to push Ethereum’s price down despite the positive optimism around the token. Ethereum, which is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, now trades around $4,289, hovering under the $4,530–$4,550 resistance band. While analysts project a possible upside, they note that the resistance band remains a key hurdle for Ethereum. If the token fails to break through that level, then the price could drop to a low of $4,200, or even deeper if pressure increases. Despite the slowing momentum, Ethereum remains one of the top cryptocurrencies, drawing attention from institutional investors. Ethereum price forecasts…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to introduce a new “innovation exemption” to support crypto developers and digital asset firms building in the U.S., with rulemaking expected to start by the end of 2025, Chair Paul Atkins said. The plan was revealed during a Futures and Derivatives Law Report event hosted by the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York. SEC pushes ahead with crypto exemption despite government shutdown The SEC Chair explained that many people who build with digital assets relocate their work to other countries due to unclear or stringent regulations by the SEC.…

U2DPN has announced its groundbreaking collaboration with REI Network to accelerate Web3 connectivity and blockchain scalability. This partnership is set to integrate REI Network’s high-speed, cost-efficient blockchain infrastructure into U2DPN’s advanced connectivity solutions. With this, the alliance aims to foster decentralized innovation across various platforms or sectors. 🚨 Partnership Announcement 🚨We’re excited to announce that @u2dpn_network is partnering with @GXChainGlobal – the lightweight, zero-fee, EVM-compatible blockchain designed for scalable Web3.Together, we empower builders, projects, and communities to unlock real-world use… pic.twitter.com/Ux28gQ6dmS — U2DPN (@u2dpn_network) October 8, 2025 U2DPN, a decentralized network for data transmission and connectivity, has announced he news…