Author: NBTC

PayPay Corp. and its majority owner, SoftBank Group Corp., are targeting up to $1.1 billion in a US IPO, positioning the deal as a potential record-setting American listing for a Japanese firm. The Tokyo-based fintech firm and an affiliate of SoftBank Vision Fund II are together selling 55 million ADRs at $17 to $20 each, with a Nasdaq debut expected under the ticker “PAYP,” according to a preliminary prospectus published on March 2. PayPay itself is offering about 31 million ADSs, while an existing shareholder linked to SoftBank’s Vision Fund will sell roughly 24 million shares. The company expects net…

TOKYO, March 2025 – Japanese financial regulators are now considering a landmark criminal investigation into a controversial meme coin named after the country’s prime minister, a move that could redefine cryptocurrency enforcement in one of the world’s most significant markets. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) has initiated preliminary inquiries into the ‘Sanae Token,’ a digital asset issued on the Solana blockchain that directly references Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. This potential Japan FSA meme coin probe represents a critical test case for how authorities handle the intersection of digital assets, celebrity references, and financial regulation in the rapidly evolving crypto landscape.…

Solana-based exchange Backpack now offers retail investors direct IPO share allocations on-chain, bypassing traditional brokerages, through infrastructure partner Superstate. Backpack is known for managing fee-free FTX creditor claims and acquiring FTX EU’s assets to restore licensed trading in Europe. Why it matters: Retail investors gain access to pre-listing IPO allocations previously reserved for institutional buyers, opening a new equity entry point. Backpack’s compliance-first model, not a decentralized exchange (DEX), is what legally enables this product, CEO Armani Ferrante said. User participation directly determines which IPOs Backpack can attract, making community size a financial variable. The platform positions itself as a…

Pieverse has launched Purr-Fect Claw, enabling any project on the $BNB Chain to plug AI agents directly into mainstream apps like WhatsApp. The agents run in a trusted execution environment for security, and users can instruct them to swap on DEXes, rebalance portofolios and make contract calls. Pieverse, a financial infrastructure service provider for the agentic economy, has launched Purr-Fect, which allows projects built on $BNB Chain to integrate AI agents directly into messaging apps. Pieverse says that the new service can be integrated into WhatsApp, LINE, and Kakao, and support for other messaging apps will be added in the…

Ethereum price continues to trade in a sideways structure that reflects a gradual decline rather than stability. $ETH has struggled to generate sustained upside momentum. The exit of new participants has weighed on sentiment, even as some long-term metrics show early signs of improvement. This divergence creates a mixed outlook for Ethereum. While network growth has weakened, improving holder retention offers a counterbalance. Ethereum New Holders Dip Ethereum has seen a sharp decline in new addresses over the past several days. Daily new addresses fell nearly 36% within 48 hours, dropping from 298,000 to 191,000. This contraction pushed Ethereum’s Network…

Key takeaways Bitcoin’s narrative as digital gold remains significant and enduring. A declining dollar is expected to be bullish for Bitcoin in the medium term. The success of the Bitcoin ETF was driven by pent-up demand and improved investor access. Bitcoin and Ethereum are now considered established assets in asset allocation models. The launch of ETFs is expected to legitimize Bitcoin and drive institutional investment. Bitcoin will continue to be a central focus for investment strategies. Venture investing in the crypto space is considered too difficult and should be avoided. The digital asset ecosystem is growing, presenting significant investment opportunities.…

Crypto exchange MEXC has expanded its tokenized equities offering through its partnership with Ondo Finance, listing new onchain representations of US stocks that trade against Tether on its platform. According to company announcements this week, the expansion includes 17 newly listed tokenized stock pairs and seven additional tokens tied to US defense and energy companies. The tokens are issued as ERC-20 assets on Ethereum and trade against Tether (USDT) pairs on the exchange. The underlying shares are held in regulated trust accounts and subject to quarterly third-party audits, with the tokens designed to represent ownership of the corresponding underlying equities.…

What is it? The “Uberization” of GPUs Cocoon (Confidential Compute Open Network) is a decentralized network for AI compute built on the $TON blockchain. But it’s not “just another hosting platform for neural nets.” It’s an attempt to create a global marketplace for compute power, one where trust in a corporation is replaced by trust in processor-level security and protocol rules. Is Cocoon the “anti-Amazon”? Modern IT lives under the rule of the “Big Three”: AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Their security model is based on delegated trust: you hand your data to a provider, relying on reputation and contracts.…

In a recent post on the X social media network, Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz recalled that he had felt like an “investment genius” after famously selling a total of 40,000 $ETH when the leading cryptocurrency was trading at just $1.05. Schwarz was personally invited by Ethereum’s Buterin to take part in the launch of the red-hot altcoin. The architect behind the $XRP Ledger wanted to show some support for the project and handed over a total of 20 $BTC. This sum allowed Schwartz to buy the entire stash. Schwartz initially bought the 40,000 $ETH tokens at $0.311 and ended…

Bitfinex Securities said on Monday it will resume issuing tokenized bonds for Luxembourg-based securitization fund ALTERNATIVE, with future sales expected to exceed $10 million. The USDt-denominated bonds will be issued and settled on the Liquid Network, a Bitcoin sidechain, with fundraising, coupon payments and principal repayments executed fully onchain. The move follows four prior tokenized bond issuances since 2023 totaling $6.2 million, three of which have matured and been fully repaid, representing about $1 million in principal returned to investors. Across those offerings, investors received 20 onchain coupon payments worth more than $1.1 million by the completion of their first…