Author: NBTC

Ripple veteran David Schwartz has provided financial support for the US Senate campaign of prominent XRP backer John Deaton, who played an instrumental role in the company’s successful legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Of course, the donation was made directly with the token. The contribution came after Deaton took to social media to solicit grassroots funding. Deaton has stressed that he relies on small-dollar donors, distancing himself from traditional fundraising methods. “Unlike career politicians, I don’t take PAC money. I don’t take lobbyist money. I don’t answer to special interests,” Deaton stated on X. He noted…

A solo home miner running a consumer-grade Canaan Avalon Nano 3S beat odds of roughly 149 million to one, winning Bitcoin block 951771 this weekend, and collecting a reward worth approximately $232,000. Key Takeaways: A solo home miner using a Canaan Avalon Nano 3S at 6.68 TH/s won Bitcoin block 951771 on May 30, 2026, at 4:27:23 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). The block reward of 3.1404 $BTC was worth approximately $232,000, paid out via Braiins Solo pool. Roughly 20 to 24 solo home mining wins have occurred in the past 12 months, with odds of about 1 in 149 million…

The Strategy trade is starting to look less like a clean Bitcoin bet and more like a financial Jenga tower with orange laser eyes. Investors bought MSTR for the $BTC upside. Now they have to read the debt schedule, the STRC yield, the 8-K, and the fine print that turns “0% debt” into a 2027 cash problem. The author of this article owns a tiny bit of Strategy. And when I received the email that the board had decided to pause its heavy Bitcoin buying and repurchased about $1.5 billion of 0% convertible notes for around $1.38 billion, I couldn’t…

Jeffrey Huang, the Taiwanese singer and prominent Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) $NFT whale, has suffered another liquidation amid the recent downturn in cryptocurrency markets. According to on-chain data from Lookonchain, this latest event brings his cumulative losses to approximately $31.99 million (47.9 billion won). Details of the Liquidation Lookonchain reported that Huang’s position was liquidated as the price of Ethereum ($ETH) dropped, triggering a forced closure of his leveraged long trade. At the time of reporting, Huang still holds a 25x long position on 1,275 $ETH, valued at roughly $2.77 million. His entry price for this remaining position is…

Toncoin ($TON) surged from roughly $1.32 on May 1 to an intraday high of $2.90 by May 7, pushing its market cap to approximately $7.8 billion. The catalyst was Pavel Durov’s announcement that Telegram would replace the $TON Foundation as the network’s primary driving force and become its largest validator within two to three weeks. Alongside that, ton.org was updated to state that the domain is “controlled by MTONGA.” Traders took the combination as confirmation that $TON had, in substance, become Telegram’s chain. This means being directed by the same company whose 1 billion users would determine its value. Toncoin…

The US Department of Justice has charged Owe Martin Andresen, 49, with laundering over $2 million in cryptocurrency by converting it into gold bars. Andresen was arrested in Germany on US charges connected to darknet-market activity and money laundering. From darknet marketplace to bullion dealer Andresen’s case traces back to Dream Market, one of the most prominent darknet marketplaces of the last decade. The platform operated from 2013 to 2019, processing significant volumes of illicit goods with Bitcoin serving as the primary payment method. The conversion of crypto into gold bars is a well-documented laundering technique. Instead of trying to…

Bitcoin’s network difficulty, a measure of how hard it is for miners to solve the cryptographic puzzles required to add a new block to the blockchain, increased by 1.72% in its latest automatic adjustment. The new difficulty level now stands at 138.96 trillion (T), reflecting the ongoing computational arms race among miners securing the network. What the Adjustment Means for the Network This uptick, which occurred at block height 890,304, signals that the average computing power, or hash rate, dedicated to mining Bitcoin has increased over the past two weeks. The difficulty adjustment is a core feature of Bitcoin’s design,…

Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank, significantly increased its exposure to cryptocurrency assets in the first quarter of 2026. According to the shared data, the bank increased its crypto-related assets from approximately $100 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 to approximately $235 million as of March 31. According to the published table, the bank’s largest position is concentrated in spot Bitcoin ETFs. Intesa Sanpaolo’s ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF position increased from 2.49 million to 3.61 million, while its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF holdings rose from 470,000 to approximately 647,000. The bank also opened a new position of 2.49 million in…

The latest excitement in the Cardano ecosystem comes from crypto analyst Eilert, who revealed that Grayscale could potentially launch a dedicated Cardano ETF, referred to as “GADA,” before October 23, 2026. According to the analyst, the SEC’s approval of new generic listing standards for spot crypto ETFs has created a much smoother path for future launches. Under the updated framework, a crypto asset must first complete six months of CME futures trading before becoming eligible for a spot ETF review process. Cardano ETF 2026 Launch Timeline August 9, 2026 — $ADA becomes eligible for the streamlined ETF approval process after…

Two Democrats voted to advance the Clarity Act out of the Senate Banking Committee alongside all of the panel’s Republicans, and several more indicated they might be willing to support the overall bill with some changes. The market structure legislation isn’t at the finish line yet, but the crypto industry can probably take a sigh of relief. You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future editions. The narrative The Senate Banking Committee advanced its crypto market structure bill, the Clarity Act, to the Senate floor…