Author: NBTC

Bitso Taps Ripple, $XRP, and $RLUSD to Supercharge Cross-Border Payments in Latin America Bitso is expanding its global footprint by accelerating cross-border payments in Latin America using Ripple Payments, $XRP, and $RLUSD, positioning itself at the forefront of faster, lower-cost, and more transparent international transactions for businesses. Well, cross-border payments in Latin America have historically been plagued by high fees, slow settlement, and poor transparency, largely due to reliance on multiple intermediary banks that add delays and unpredictable costs. Gabriele Zuliani, Bitso’s Head of Growth, welcomed the move saying: “$RLUSD and Ripple Payments let us reinvent how money moves globally:…

Ripple Bets $5M on DeFi Infrastructure for Autonomous AI Agents Ripple is betting $5M on the agentic economy, backing San Francisco’s t54 to build an AI trust layer for secure autonomous agent transactions. The seed round, co-led by Anagram, PL Capital, and Franklin Templeton, also attracted Virtuals Ventures, Blockchain Coinvestors, ABCDE, and Ripple. Well, this strategic investment signals a growing conviction that AI agents will rely on DeFi rails to operate securely. What was once speculative “DeFAI” is now becoming tangible infrastructure. In 2025, AI agents and trading bots are resurging in crypto, powered by upgraded decentralized platforms, advanced AI-driven…

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, called for the platform to move beyond its financial roots and take on a broader mission of building open systems that safeguard privacy, freedom, and coordination in an increasingly volatile digital landscape. In a post published on X, Buterin described these efforts as “sanctuary technologies”, decentralized infrastructure meant to shield users from government and corporate surveillance, geopolitical instability and the expanding reach of artificial intelligence. The Ethereum co-founder acknowledged that the network has played a limited role in tackling these challenges directly, even as internal discussions have shifted toward how the platform might contribute…

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has escalated scrutiny of major cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb following an unprecedented operational mistake in which the firm accidentally credited customers with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin. Summary South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has launched a full-scale investigation into Bithumb following a massive $43 billion Bitcoin “fat-finger” error. The incident stemmed from an internal operational mistake that temporarily credited users with Bitcoin far exceeding the exchange’s actual holdings. Regulators are examining Bithumb’s internal controls and IT systems, with potential penalties possible if violations are confirmed. The investigation follows a striking error…

Neutron, which identifies itself as a public PoS blockchain that allows $BTC holders to earn yields on a suite of BTCFi products and services, has announced a temporary service disruption until at least March 9 after a security update in which it said “a white hat flagged a vulnerability” in its code. Neutron quickly moved to calm fears about fund safety in its announcement, noting that all funds are safe and that users did not have to take any further action at this time. However, until at least March 9 when it promised that fixes are due to go live,…

The balance of Ethereum ($ETH) held on centralized exchanges has fallen to a new multi-year low, with more than 31 million $ETH withdrawn in February alone, marking the largest monthly outflow since November. The supply contraction comes as $ETH continues to struggle to establish sustained momentum above the $2,000 level. According to on-chain analysis highlighted by Arab Chain, approximately 31.6 million $ETH left major exchanges during the month. Binance accounted for the largest share, with roughly 14.45 million $ETH withdrawn, nearly half of the total. OKX followed with around 3.83 million $ETH, while Kraken recorded close to 1.04 million $ETH…

Iran has seen a rise in stablecoin usage as its currency continues its steep decline this week as it dropped to trading at 1.42 million against the United States dollar before recovering slightly to around 1.38 million. The collapse erased household savings and pushed the prices of essential goods higher. According to reports, inflation rose to 42.2% year over year in December, while food prices and health-related costs climbed to 72% and 50%, respectively. The reports have worsened public frustration amid fears of hyperinflation. Demonstrations have expanded across several areas in Tehran and some major cities. Shopkeepers near the Grand…

Changpeng Zhao uses X to slam scapegoating, telling traders to own their risk as Bitcoin, Ethereum and $BNB prices slide across the market. Summary Changpeng Zhao says critics “make stuff up” about Binance and must “take responsibility” for their own trades.​ He argues compliance flags and police cases, not social media outrage, decide when funds are frozen or released.​ Community voices frame the backlash as noise while $BTC, $ETH and $BNB trade lower, testing sentiment around Binance’s ecosystem. Binance’s co‑founder is done playing scapegoat. On X, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao fired back at critics, insisting that users—and the media—have to stop…

The Aave Chan Initiative, one of the most active governance groups inside the Aave DAO, announced its shutdown after a dispute over transparency and voting power tied to a record budget request from Aave Labs. Marc Zeller, founder of ACI, announced that the eight-person team will not seek renewal of its contract and will wind down operations over the next four months. The group plans to continue participating in governance during that period while handing off infrastructure and open-sourcing its tools. The exit marks a turning point for Aave, the leading decentralized finance protocol with nearly $27 billion in total…

Ethereum’s validator queue has surged to unprecedented levels as large investors, including corporates and crypto exchanges, rush to stake the token rather than sell into recent market rallies. Roughly 3.4 million $ETH is now waiting to enter Ethereum’s validator set, creating a backlog estimated at about 60 days, according to data from ValidatorQueue.com. The figure marks a sharp rise from roughly 904,000 $ETH in early January, underscoring a wave of demand for staking across the network.  The buildup suggests that some of the market’s largest players are choosing to lock up supply for yield, a move analysts say reflects…