Author: NBTC

NBTC

NBTC is the editorial account for NBTC News, covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, blockchain infrastructure, exchanges, mining, regulation and digital asset markets. The editorial team focuses on clear sourcing, timely updates and practical context for crypto readers.

Trump Nominates Erica Schwartz as CDC Director 2026 After Fourth Leadership Change in a Year

Trump nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director 2026 on Thursday, tapping a former Navy rear admiral and deputy surgeon general from his first term to lead an agency that has cycled through four leaders in the past 12 months and remains without a Senate-confirmed director since Dr. Susan Monarez was fired last August. The CDC director 2026 nomination arrives at one of the most unstable stretches in the agency’s modern history. The CDC has had no Senate-confirmed permanent director for all but about four weeks of Trump’s second term. Monarez was confirmed in July 2025 and fired just weeks…

LegalApr 20

HashKey Chain Joins HabitTrade to Advance Adoption of RWAs On-Chain

HashKey Chain, a prominent blockchain infrastructure entity, has partnered with HabitTrade, a RWA tokenization platform. The partnership aims to expand RWA adoption with the use of blockchain infrastructure. As per HashKey Chain’s official social media announcement, the development is poised to enable compliant and institutional-scale access to diverse tokenized financial tools. As included in this move, both entities are attempting to connect decentralized finance networks and conventional capital markets. 📢 Official Announcement HashKey Chain × HabitTrade @HabitTrade 🤝 We are thrilled to announce a strategic partnership to accelerate compliance-friendly RWA adoption on-chain. 🔥 Key Highlights: • HabitTrade’s open-source Stove Protocol…

BlockchainApr 20

Alito and Thomas Will Not Retire This Year, Closing Trump’s Window for a Fourth Court Pick

Supreme Court news broke Friday as sources close to both justices confirmed to CBS News that neither Justice Samuel Alito nor Justice Clarence Thomas plans to retire this year, ending months of speculation that Trump might be able to lock in a fourth Supreme Court appointment before the November midterms. Supreme Court news that both Alito and Thomas will remain on the bench removes the single biggest potential variable from the 2026 political calendar. A vacancy would have triggered a confirmation battle before a Senate that is already managing a compressed schedule and a hostile midterm environment. Republican leaders would…

LegalApr 20

DAZN to Embed Blockchain-Backed FIFA Prediction Market in World Cup 2026 Live Streams

Sports streaming platform DAZN will integrate $ADI Predictstreet – FIFA’s first-ever official prediction market partner and a blockchain-backed forecasting platform licensed in Gibraltar – directly into its livestreams ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the companies announced Monday from Zurich. Key Takeaways: A Controversial Sprint From Gibraltar License to DAZN Deal Prediction and betting components are going to be significantly more woven into the fabric of the FIFA World Cup product this year with rapidly forming partnerships like this recently announced deal. Under this partnership, $ADI Predictstreet will be embedded before, during, and after live events on DAZN, enabling…

BlockchainApr 20

Ethereum just had its busiest quarter ever, capping a three-year comeback

Ethereum, the world's largest smart contract blockchain, just printed its busiest quarter ever, and the token's price hasn't budged. The network processed 200.4 million transactions on its base layer in Q1 2026, marking the first time it has crossed that threshold in a single quarter, according to Artemis data. Quarterly transaction count bottomed near 90 million in 2023, then spent most of 2024 grinding sideways between 100 million and 120 million. The Ethereum smart contract blockchain is a decentralized system that can automatically execute agreements without the need for a bank, lawyer, or middleman. Transactions on Ethereum are records of…

EthereumApr 20

Congress on verge of making regulated dollar stablecoins act almost like digital cash

Washington isn't trying to solve every crypto policy fight at once, but it appears to be carving out a workable path for one specific category of digital asset: the regulated, dollar-pegged stablecoin. The $GENIUS Act established the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, and a bipartisan House tax discussion draft now proposes friendlier tax treatment for those same tokens when people actually use them. Together, the two efforts point toward a deliberate, stablecoins-first lane in American crypto policy that could reshape how users, merchants, and issuers interact with digital dollars in the years ahead. What the stablecoin tax draft…

LegalApr 20

Major Partnership Announced Between XRP and Japanese E-Commerce Giant Rakuten – “Billions of Dollars in Potential”

Rakuten, the Japanese e-commerce giant, has taken a significant step to accelerate cryptocurrency adoption. By integrating $XRP as a payment method into its platform, the company provides direct access to 44 million users. According to the announcement, users can now make payments with $XRP through the Rakuten Pay app. This integration will enable $XRP use at over 5 million merchant locations across Japan. Users can also buy and sell this digital asset developed by Ripple through the app, purchase $XRP with Rakuten points, and store their assets in the Rakuten Wallet. Related News Why Did the Bitcoin Price Go Up?…

ExchangesApr 20

Banks Likely to Choose Ethereum for Finance, Says Raoul Pal

Top crypto executives are making a stronger call on Ethereum’s role in traditional finance. In their view, banks will prefer Ethereum when real money, real assets, and real settlement move on-chain. Real Vision’s Raoul Pal says Wall Street is already moving toward blockchain infrastructure. The remaining question is not whether banks adopt blockchain, but which network they trust most. His bet is on Ethereum, the largest DeFi network globally. Why Banks May Choose Ethereum Pal said large financial institutions care most about uptime, resilience, scale, and proven history. Banks do not usually bet core systems on untested technology. They prefer…

EthereumApr 20

Everyone Celebrated The GENIUS Act. Nobody Read The Compliance Section.

Treasury’s new compliance rules for stablecoin issuers carry the same obligations as a bank charter. Most issuers can’t afford that. Which is the point. On April 8, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of Foreign Assets Control published a joint proposed rule that most of the crypto industry either missed or misread. The rule implements the $GENIUS Act’s requirement that permitted payment stablecoin issuers — PPSIs, in the new regulatory shorthand — be treated as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act. Full AML/CFT programs. Suspicious activity reports filed with FinCEN. Customer due diligence at bank-grade standards. Technical…

LegalApr 20

OKX launches X-Perps, MiFID-regulated crypto derivatives in Europe

Crypto exchange OKX said Wednesday it is launching a Europe-specific cryptocurrency derivatives platform called X-Perps. The company said the new derivatives product is available to retail and institutional traders across the European Economic Area (EEA). OKX said the platform is purpose-built in compliance with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), a European Union regulatory framework governing financial instruments such as securities and derivatives. The launch comes just over a year after OKX secured a MiFID II license in March 2025, which allowed the exchange to expand its derivatives trading across the EU. Platform features multi-asset collateral and up to…

ExchangesApr 20