Author: NBTC

Layer-1 blockchain Aptos saw an increase in new developer interest following the viral social media campaign from user BuzzlamicJihad. So much so that Ash Pampati, head of ecosystem at Aptos, told Decrypt that the Aptos Foundation would be “super open” to bringing the user onto its team. Aptos surged 17% in a single day in February, as BuzzlamicJihad’s unofficial “community takeover” of the network went viral on social media. Following Aptos Labs founder and CEO Mo Shaikh stepping down in December, the pseudonymous BuzzlamicJihad started to claim that his community takeover, or CTO, hadn’t been priced in. Over the coming…

A new report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) shows that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are being used more during times of economic stress. This happens mostly in countries where inflation is high, it’s expensive to send money, or the government limits how much money can leave the country. People turn to Bitcoin and stablecoins like USDT and USDC when their financial systems stop working properly or become too expensive to use. This is especially true for small international payments. Crypto gives people another option when they can’t rely on banks or traditional money systems. A new BIS paper…

MSTR earnings came out May 1. My morning media stops last Thursday (here and here) asked for a preview. We don’t talk about stocks, so I planned to zoom out and hit themes. While preparing, I had to suppress the eye-roll reflexes that MSTR triggers. MSTR, of course, is the ticker symbol for MicroStrategy, or Strategy, as the company is now known. Strategy, fronted by Michael Saylor, pioneered the “bitcoin treasury” model that’s now been copied by Metaplanet and dozens of other companies. Strategy plans to raise $84 billion, according to its most recent announcement, across equity and fixed income…

Stellar (XLM), an open-source blockchain known for fast and low-cost cross-border payments, is drawing the attention of both retail and institutional investors in 2025. However, the concentrated distribution of XLM supply and its potential for real-world asset (RWA) applications present opportunities and challenges. What Does the Concentrated Supply and Rising Exchange Balances Mean? One major concern about Stellar is the concentration of XLM supply. According to Flipside Crypto, the top 10 XLM wallets hold approximately 25 billion XLM. The total circulating supply is 30.9 billion XLM, meaning nearly 80% of the supply belongs to a small group. XLM supply distribution.…

Malaysia’s largest national electric utility company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), is helping authorities crack down on electricity theft tied to illegal crypto mining operations in the country, which it claims has jumped nearly 300% over the last six years. The surge in complaints “reflects increasing public awareness of reporting on illicit crypto mining activities,” according to a statement provided by TNB to local media on Monday. Of the 610 cases it first discovered in 2018, the number has risen to 2,397 cases by 2024, TNB said. The increase is attributed to unauthorized miners siphoning subsidized electricity through tampered or bypassed…

A new war just broke out on Wall Street, and this one doesn’t involve banks or bailouts—it’s a brutal face-off between Bitcoin maxis and gold bugs, and it’s being fought through exchange-traded funds. This week, Tidal Financial Group filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch two aggressive long-short ETFs. One will back Bitcoin while betting against gold, and the other will do the opposite. The firm is pushing these under its Battleshares brand, turning the never-ending pissing contest between crypto and metal into a market product. According to Bloomberg, the funds would give investors a loud, one-click…

U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipping more than 200 points, signalling the broader risk assets market was largely constrained after last week’s gains. As the Dow fell 200 points, the S&P 500 lost 0.6% and the tech heavy Nasdaq opened 0.8% down. This outlook for U.S. stocks came as Wall Street braced for a big week in terms of tariffs developments and crucially, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two day meeting. Over the past week, stocks edged higher amid notable remarks on the U.S.-China trade war front. However, with reports that there’s no imminent…

Valour, a subsidiary of DeFi Technologies and issuer of exchange-traded funds, has announced the launch of two new ETPs for Litecoin and Curve DAO Token. Valour launched the Valour Curve DAO (CRV) and Valour Litecoin (LTC) exchange-traded funds on the Spotlight Stock Market in Sweden. Following the announcement, prices for both assets rose, with LTC surging more than 12% to outpace most top-100 altcoins by market cap. The rally comes even as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently delayed a decision on a proposed spot Litecoin ETF. Litecoin, often dubbed “digital silver” in relation to Bitcoin, rose above $92,…

American Bitcoin, Hut 8’s majority-owned unit backed by the Trump family, will go public via a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP). Shares of Hut 8 Corp. (HUT) jumped 12% in pre-market trading, while Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP) soared more than 200%, following the news. American Data Center, which was owned by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, merged their firm with American Bitcoin in March. The Trump brothers own 20% of American Bitcoin, while Hut 8 holds the remaining 80%. The stock-for-stock transaction will result in Gryphon acquiring American Bitcoin, with the combined company adopting the American Bitcoin name…

This is a segment from the Supply Shock newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. Who is Bitcoin for? That depends on who you ask. A BlackRock analyst would say that Bitcoin is a key portfolio differentiator. The volatility is the use case, best utilized by those who want to capitalize on it. Someone living in countries suffering from rampant inflation would share a different view. Bitcoin would be a potential route toward capital preservation, shielding them from sudden currency devaluation due to central bank policy, and so on. For activists living under totalitarian regimes, like Farida Nabourema, the robust decentralization…