Author: NBTC

South Korean Prime Minister nominee Han Seong-sook has fully liquidated her cryptocurrency portfolio, including holdings in Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to official documents submitted to the National Assembly. The disclosure, filed by President Lee Jae-myung’s office on behalf of the nominee, marks a significant step in the country’s ongoing scrutiny of public officials’ digital asset holdings. Disclosure Details and Timeline The confirmation hearing request revealed that Han initially reported virtual assets worth 20.29 million won (approximately $14,700) as of the end of the previous year. This portfolio included major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. A subsequent update showed that…

Much of the activity has occurred on offshore exchanges, including fast-growing platforms such as Hyperliquid, which has attracted professional traders seeking deep liquidity and continuous access to leveraged markets. Prediction market Kalshi, which introduced perps on its platform earlier this month, saw over $1 billion in trading volume within just one week. The debut comes weeks after the CFTC signaled that regulated platforms could offer perpetual futures. In May, the agency approved Kalshi’s bitcoin perpetual contracts and issued guidance that also cleared a path for Coinbase (COIN) to connect U.S. customers to global options and perpetual markets. Kraken has been…

Decentralized finance protocol Venus Protocol has introduced a new lending service on the $BNB Chain that accepts tokenized U.S. stocks as collateral. The service, which went live this week, allows users to deposit on-chain representations of popular equities — including Tesla (TSLAB), Nvidia (NVDAB), and an S&P 500 index-tracking ETF — into the Venus Core Pool. How Tokenized Stock Lending Works Tokenized stocks, known as bStocks on the $BNB Chain, are blockchain-based tokens that track the price of their underlying real-world assets. By depositing these tokens into Venus Protocol, users can borrow stablecoins such as USDT and USDC without needing…

The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin ($BTC), started the new week above $80,000, while continuing to be affected by developments between the US and Iran. While bullish predictions for Bitcoin continue, Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research, known for his accurate predictions, stated that the $BTC price could reach $88,000. Thielen argued that Bitcoin’s rise is driven by spot demand rather than leverage, and that the increasing spot demand could push the price towards a target of $88,000. In his analysis published from account X, Thielen stated that the current Bitcoin rally is driven by spot demand rather than the futures market,…

One person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk that xStocks and its distribution partners gathered more than $1 billion in customer orders. But when underwriters finalized allocations, many of those requests went unfilled. Binance, Bybit and Bitget received no shares and canceled their offerings. Meanwhile, customers of Kraken and xStocks received only a fraction of the allocations they requested. The shortfall wasn’t limited to crypto platforms, though. Data compiled by Access IPOs showed some retail investors at traditional brokerages received only a portion of the shares they had sought. An xStocks spokesperson said “overwhelming demand” prevented all orders from being…

Shiba Inu lead developer Shytoshi Kusama has continued to maintain a low profile on X, even as broader market weakness weighs heavily on $SHIB’s performance. Kusama has remained inactive on the social media platform for more than a month. His last appearance came on May 13, when he shared an enthusiastic post and tagged fellow developer Kaal Dhairya. At the time, many community members believed the developers were preparing to unveil a major update that could potentially support $SHIB’s price. However, shortly after that post, Kusama went completely silent. Since then, he has neither published new posts nor interacted with…

The International Monetary Fund has recommended that Nepal replace its blanket ban on cryptocurrencies with a regulatory framework aligned with global standards, citing a sharp rise in cross-border crypto inflows that have persisted despite legal prohibition. The recommendation appears in the IMF’s 2026 Article IV Consultation report, published Tuesday, which assesses Nepal’s economic policies and financial stability risks. Why the IMF is pushing for regulatory change According to the report, Nepal experienced a significant increase in stablecoin and uncollateralized crypto asset inflows between 2019 and 2024, even after the Nepal Rastra Bank declared all crypto trading, mining, and related activities…

Keyrock, the Brussels-based crypto investment group backed by SC Ventures and Ripple, has secured a MiCA license, allowing the company to scale its regulated digital asset services across the European Union, according to a Monday statement. The license was obtained through its French subsidiary, Keyrock FR SAS. According to General Counsel Reza Ghadiri-Zare, MiCA’s harmonized regulatory framework provides the certainty needed for sustainable industry growth while reinforcing confidence among clients, counterparties, and business partners. “A sustainable digital asset industry relies on the robust and unified regulation MiCA provides. Securing our MiCA license provides regulatory certainty as we scale our services…

Banxchange is extending the $XRP Ledger beyond its established payments and tokenization use cases by building a decentralized publishing network for journalists and content creators. In a post on X, the platform said its BXE token supports instant payments to contributors worldwide. The project is targeting the global media and entertainment sector, which it values at roughly $2.5 trillion, while placing creator compensation directly on blockchain rails. BXE Connects Publishing With Onchain Rewards BXE is issued natively on the $XRP Ledger and serves as the reward asset for Banx Media. Writers create an account, connect an XRPL-compatible wallet, and then…

Disclosure: The author of this story owns shares in Strategy (MSTR).When executive chairman Michael Saylor confirmed on Strategy’s (MSTR) Q1 2026 earnings call on May 6 that the company was prepared to sell bitcoin, it appeared to mark a shift for the world’s largest publicly traded corporate holder of the cryptocurrency. But the move would not be unprecedented. In December 2022, Strategy sold bitcoin for tax-loss harvesting purposes — the same rationale the company now appears to be signaling to the market once again. On Dec. 22, 2022, Strategy sold 704 bitcoin for approximately $11.8 million at $16,776 per coin,…