Author: NBTC

Japanese convenience store operator Lawson will test payments with the yen-denominated JPYC stablecoin in early August. The company will run the trial at its Takanawa Gateway City store in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. HashPort, a digital asset wallet provider, will support the payment system and process balance changes linked to purchases. Lawson described the project as Japan’s “first” stablecoin payment trial connected directly to a point-of-sale system. That claim comes from the company and the test has not yet started. Lawson has not announced a chainwide launch. Japan’s Top-Three Convenience Store Chain Lawson to Launch Country’s First POS-Integrated Stablecoin Payment TrialJapan’s…

In a recent social media post, Phong Le, CEO of Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), described Bitcoin as a powerful symbol of freedom, drawing a direct comparison between the cryptocurrency and the United States as a land of opportunity. Le’s comments, shared on X, frame Bitcoin not just as a digital asset, but as a foundational tool for monetary liberty. Bitcoin as the ‘America of Money’ Le articulated his vision by likening Bitcoin to the ‘America of money.’ He explained that just as the United States offered his family freedom and the chance to pursue the American Dream, Bitcoin provides a similar…

Since falling below $1,900, Ethereum has faced rising bearish pressure. The altcoin extended its decline to $1,800. At press time, $ETH traded around $1,843 after gaining 0.35% over 24 hours. It remained up 2% weekly. With Ethereum struggling to maintain upward momentum, some whales appeared to be reducing their exposure. Why did this whale sell 30K $ETH? Ethereum [$ETH] whales showed signs of increased distribution amid prolonged market weakness. Onchain Lens reported that one whale sold 30,000 $ETH worth $55 million through Galaxy Digital’s over-the-counter desk. The wallet exchanged the $ETH for USDC before depositing the funds into Coinbase. The…

Paybis said more companies now use stablecoins for international payments, based on a report released at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam. The crypto platform, which says it serves 7 million users, presented the data as payment firms and banks met at the conference. The company said 22.5% of surveyed businesses already use stablecoins for cross-border payments or plan to do so within 12 months. The report points to a shift from retail crypto trading toward business payment use. Paybis said stablecoins made up 86% of its crypto volume in April 2026, compared with 12% in July 2023. That change shows how…

President Donald Trump called on the Senate to pass the Clarity Act “in honor of Senator Lindsey Graham, a big supporter” of the crypto market structure bill, in a Truth Social post Monday. Graham, the South Carolina Republican and Senate Banking Committee chair, died unexpectedly on July 11. Trump framed the bill as a race against Beijing. “China, and many other countries, would like to take complete and total control of this major financial ‘happening,’ as well as A.I., where we are now leading, but where they are fighting hard,” he wrote, adding “Don’t let China win on either subject!!!”…

Major crypto exchange OKX has sent out a notice to users of $USDC on the Solana blockchain, announcing a temporary suspension of deposit and withdrawal services due to scheduled wallet maintenance. OKX said the temporary pause is due to wallet maintenance and will take place in the next 24 hours, on July 14. 由于钱包维护，我们将于7月14日14:30 (UTC+8) 暂停 $USDC 在 Solana 网络的充提服务，待维护完成后恢复。相关代币的交易不受影响，请勿在钱包维护期间进行 $USDC 的充提操作，以免造成资金损失，感谢您的理解与支持~ — OKX中文 (@okxchinese) July 13, 2026 Due to wallet maintenance, OKX said it will suspend $USDC deposit and withdrawal services on the Solana network on July 14 at 14:30 (UTC+8), and resume them after the maintenance is completed.…

Base creator Jesse Pollak said the network made the wrong bet on onchain social and will refocus its strategy around trading, payments, and AI agents as it seeks to become infrastructure for global finance. lots of conversations about base over the last week. wanted to share my candid take after a week of listening and a lot of reflection over the last 6 months. first off – in case it’s not obvious, the first quarter of 2026 was a punch in the face. I spent 2024 and 2025 making a… — jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) July 15, 2026 Pollak said the first…

The controversial Bitcoin soft fork aimed at combating network spam, BIP-110, has failed to garner enough support from miners. As of 4th July, the final day for miners (miner-activated soft fork, MASF) to implement the temporary upgrade, the support was surprisingly negligible. Notably, only 10 blocks out of 2,016 supported the move, or less than 1% of the total Bitcoin hashrate power. Source: BIP110 monitor For the soft fork to be activated, 55% of blocks should signal support in a 2,016-block period. Reacting to the low support by miners, David Bailey, founder of the Bitcoin Conference and treasury firm Nakamoto,…

Ethereum [$ETH] has continued to hover around $1.8k. After successfully rebounding from $1800, the altcoin has shown relative strength, rising to $1876. As of this writing, Ethereum was trading around $1866, up slightly by 1.7% on the daily charts. As $ETH hovered around $1.8k, whales turned optimistic and opened long positions. Whale dumps $BTC for Ethereum long According to Lookonchain, two newly created wallets sold 72 Bitcoin [$BTC] worth $4.66 million and then jumped to Ethereum. After dumping $BTC, the trader opened a 20x long position in 12,000 $ETH, worth approximately $22.4 million. So far, with $ETH holding above the…

The bitcoin ETF bleed has spread across crypto. U.S. spot bitcoin funds shed another $396.60 million on Wednesday, extending a record outflow streak to 13 straight sessions and a $4.37 billion drain since mid-May, while ether, solana and $XRP products joined the redemption wave. Hyperliquid’s spot $HYPE ETF was the only major crypto fund still pulling in net new money. BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest bitcoin ETF by net assets, absorbed the bulk of Wednesday’s outflow with $342.34 million in redemptions, according to SoSoValue data. Fidelity’s FBTC lost another $54.26 million. The two funds dropped 2.76% and 2.65% respectively as bitcoin…