Author: NBTC

$NEAR has announced SPICE, its next major protocol update. SPICE, an abbreviation for “Separation of Consensus and Execution,” is seen as a significant step in the network’s Nightshade 3.0 roadmap. According to $NEAR, the update will reduce block times on the network from the current 600 milliseconds to 200 milliseconds. This represents approximately a threefold increase in speed. The SPICE update is fundamentally based on separating the consensus layer from the transaction execution layer. This allows validators to reach consensus on blocks without waiting for transaction execution. The goal is to reduce network latency and support more complex, longer-running transactions.…

As efforts continue to garner support for the Clarity Act, a bill containing comprehensive regulations for the cryptocurrency sector, a notable meeting took place between representatives of law enforcement, White House officials, and members of Congress. According to journalist Eleanor Terrett, the meeting was held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, hosted by the White House Crypto Council and Patrick Witt. At the meeting, attended by approximately 20 people, House Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer and White House AI and crypto advisor David Sacks made opening remarks before leaving. Also present were officials from the U.S. Treasury Department, the Financial…

Something big just happened in US crypto trading. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has cleared the way for a brand new kind of crypto product to be sold inside the country, and one trading platform has already jumped in to offer it. According to a cryptopolitan report, Kalshi, a platform best known for letting people bet on real-world events, started selling Bitcoin perpetual futures to American customers on June 3. These are called BTCPERP, and Kalshi is now the first company to sell this kind of product after getting the green light from the CFTC. Perpetual futures are financial contracts…

Something is shifting inside the Bitcoin mining network — and JPMorgan’s latest analysis puts a number on it. According to the bank, bitcoin mining sensitivity to price movements has reached levels not seen before, with more miners than ever sitting dangerously close to their breakeven point. That proximity to the edge is changing how the entire network behaves when prices move. Key takeaways JPMorgan reports the beta of Bitcoin mining difficulty relative to price has climbed to 0.62 over the past six months, reflecting sharply increased network sensitivity. Bitcoin has traded below its estimated production cost of $78,000 for five…

The $XRP Ledger (XRPL) continues to attract capital into its real-world asset (RWA) ecosystem even as major blockchain networks face heavy outflows. Data shared from RWA.xyz shows XRPL recorded $1.7 billion in net RWA inflows over the past 60 days. In contrast, several leading networks posted significant declines during the same period. Ethereum led the outflows with $5.8 billion leaving the network. Arbitrum followed with $3.0 billion in outflows, while Solana and Polygon recorded declines of $653 million and $250 million, respectively. Against this backdrop, XRPL stood out alongside TRON and HyperEVM as the only major networks to post a…

Bitcoin is entering one of its most consequential trading weeks since its February correction, with Middle East tensions pushing oil prices higher, inflation expectations hardening, and options traders positioning for a possible break above $85,000. According to CryptoSlate’s data, the largest digital asset briefly dipped on Sunday after President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest response to a US peace proposal, then recovered above $82,000 before easing near $81,034 as of press time. The move kept Bitcoin inside the narrow range that has defined trading in recent weeks, even as geopolitical risk continued to feed into energy markets and rate expectations.…

Altura will begin winding down its stablecoin yield vault after a sharp rise in withdrawal requests over the weekend. CEO Ranveer Arora said the protocol processed more than 8.5 million $USDT in instant redemptions over 24 hours before deciding to close the vault in an orderly way. Arora said the team made the move because of “sustained withdrawal demand and current market sentiment.” He added that Altura’s priority was user capital and that the team wanted all redemptions completed in a “fair, transparent, and efficient manner.” The announcement marks a sharp change for a vault built around stablecoin yield on…

Kbank, the South Korean internet bank that serves as the primary banking partner for the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, is reportedly considering joining a consortium led by Hana Financial Group to develop a won-denominated stablecoin. The news, first reported by Money Today Broadcasting, signals a potential expansion of institutional interest in blockchain-based digital currencies within South Korea’s tightly regulated financial sector. Background of the Consortium Hana Financial Group, one of South Korea’s major financial conglomerates, has been assembling a consortium of partners to explore and potentially issue a stablecoin pegged to the South Korean won. Such a digital currency…

Goldfinch, a cryptocurrency lending project, faced a serious crisis due to increasing defaults and restructurings in its loan program targeting Africa and emerging markets. The project, backed by prominent investors such as a16z and Coinbase Ventures, was once cited as one of the most notable examples of how decentralized finance could increase financial inclusion in developing countries. However, recent developments have raised questions about the sustainability of this model. According to sources close to the project and some depositors, two of the approximately eight borrowers in Goldfinch’s loan portfolio have defaulted, and the remaining six have entered a restructuring process.…

Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia charged two men Wednesday with running an international bitcoin and crypto money laundering operation that processed nearly $400 million in illicit funds over five years, part of a sweeping multinational law enforcement takedown that dismantled the group’s criminal infrastructure across multiple continents. Ruslan Igorevich Tkachuk, 37, a Ukrainian national, and Alexander Vladimirovich Ledenev, 25, a Russian national, were arrested in Batumi, Republic of Georgia, where both men reside, according to U.S. Attorney David Metcalf of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Each faces one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and one count of sting money…