Author: NBTC

Crypto’s market structure bill cleared committee with votes to spare and a calendar working against it. Eleven months after the House passed it and one year after the $GENIUS Act proved Congress could legislate on crypto at all, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act stands closer to law than any market structure bill in American history, and closer to a familiar death. On May 14, 2026, the Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill by a vote of 15 to 9, with all thirteen Republicans joined by two Democrats. The crypto industry celebrated for roughly a day before the second half…

Crypto exchange CoinMENA has entered a banking agreement with Standard Chartered to strengthen fiat payment infrastructure for customers in the United Arab Emirates. Under the agreement, CoinMENA will use Standard Chartered to support fiat on- and off-ramps, client money accounts and virtual account-based transaction management, according to a press release shared to Cointelegraph. The exchange said the arrangement would improve transparency and liquidity settlement with approved global counterparties. In the announcement, Standard Chartered UAE, Middle East and Pakistan CEO Rola Abu Manneh said the UAE had established itself as a leading regulatory environment for digital assets, creating opportunities for financial…

Ethereum [$ETH] whale participation weakened sharply as large transaction activity dropped across the network. An X post from a prominent market analyst showed that whale transactions fell by 86.6%, declining from 2,194 transactions recorded on the 5th of June to just 294 at the latest reading. The drop highlighted a significant reduction in high-value transfers and suggested that major holders had stepped away from active network participation. The decline emerged while Ethereum traded near an important recovery zone, making the slowdown particularly notable. Large transaction counts often reflect increased engagement from institutions and high-net-worth investors. However, recent readings showed that…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has added trillions of dollars to global stock market valuations and turned AI companies like Nvidia, OpenAI, and Anthropic into Wall Street’s hottest trade. But India’s Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Dr. Anantha Nageswaran called current AI-related stock valuations a “bubble.” Also added that fears of AI replacing large numbers of workers are being exaggerated by companies eager to attract capital. India’s CEA: “AI Valuations Are A Bubble” Speaking in an interview with Indian news media ANI, Nageswaran drew a clear distinction between AI’s real technological potential and the market enthusiasm surrounding it. “AI-related stocks and AI-related valuations…

Eric Trump said Justin Sun’s lawsuit against World Liberty Financial is “ridiculous,” but not as ridiculous as the $6 million the TRON founder once spent on Maurizio Cattelan’s banana duct-taped to a wall. The only thing more ridiculous than this lawsuit is spending $6 million on a banana duct-taped to a wall. We are incredibly proud of the @worldlibertyfi team… https://t.co/ahfBKvCdwN — Eric Trump (@EricTrump) April 22, 2026 The Trump son, who co-founded the DeFi project that is facing backlash over its governance and a controversial $75 million loan, mocked Sun and his iconic move after the entrepreneur said he…

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), a prominent advocate for digital assets, has stated that the CLARITY Act will provide long-sought legal certainty for developers, stronger protections for investors, and greater integrity for the broader cryptocurrency market. The remarks, reported by Cointelegraph, come as the bill gains renewed attention in a Congress increasingly focused on establishing a federal framework for digital assets. What the CLARITY Act Proposes The CLARITY Act, formally titled the “Cryptocurrency Legal Clarity and Investor Protection Act,” is designed to address a central tension in U.S. crypto policy: whether digital assets should be classified as securities or commodities.…

Bitcoin is once again seeing sustained profit-taking on-chain, according to CryptoQuant data. The adjusted SOPR, or aSOPR, has stayed above the key 1.0 level for nine straight days, showing that spent $BTC is moving at an average profit. The signal comes as Bitcoin trades near $80,700 after its recent recovery from April lows. CryptoQuant analyst Carmelo Alemán said Bitcoin is absorbing profit-taking without immediate damage to price structure, with demand still taking in realized supply. aSOPR Holds Above 1 CryptoQuant said Bitcoin’s adjusted SOPR has returned to a structurally important zone. The metric tracks whether coins moved on-chain are being…

The Ethereum Magicians discussion for EIP-8304 introduces a draft design for trustless log and transaction indexing, aimed at making historical lookups easier to verify without centralized indexers. TL;DR EIP-8304 proposes a simpler trustless log and transaction indexing design. The goal is to help apps and light clients verify historical logs and transactions more efficiently. The proposal could reduce reliance on centralized off-chain indexers. It remains an early-stage draft with no confirmed implementation timeline. A Simpler Indexing Proposal For Ethereum A new Ethereum Magicians discussion around EIP-8304 is focused on a technical but important part of the developer stack: how applications…

A viral thread alleging that Ripple systematically dumps hundreds of millions of $XRP on its own holders every month to fund company operations has reignited one of crypto’s oldest debates. The argument laid out a detailed case against Ripple’s tokenomic structure. The main claim was when $XRP launched in 2012, 100 billion tokens were created at genesis. Founders kept 20 billion and handed 80 billion to the company. In December 2017, Ripple locked 55 billion $XRP into smart contracts releasing 1 billion per month, of which Ripple typically relocks 70 to 80% and keeps the remainder, roughly 200 to 300…

Ready, a self-custodial crypto wallet and payments company, has reportedly restricted card access for users outside the European Economic Area, according to multiple user reports. Ready has restricted $USDC card functionality for users outside the European Economic Area following a change in its card provider, according to notices shared by users on social media. Several users shared screenshots of an in-app notice from Ready stating: “Your Ready Card will be deactivated within the next hour,” citing changes affecting users “primarily outside the EEA.” The reported changes left some users questioning how quickly access to crypto-linked payment cards can be restricted…