Author: NBTC

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. We learned this week that Stripe and Circle are planning to launch their own L1 chains. Ethereum community members were quick to question why corporations shouldn’t launch L2s instead. Ethan Buchman has a simple explanation: Vertical integration is profitable. Christian Catalini of Lightspark echoes this view in Forbes: “… stablecoin issuers have strong incentives either to commoditize the rails — by issuing on multiple networks and positioning themselves at the center of interoperability across them — or to nudge most activity to a network they control. Either…

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs have outpaced Bitcoin funds for a fifth straight trading day, a move market observers are tying to aggressive corporate accumulation purportedly draining exchange and OTC supply, among other macro factors. Ethereum funds took in $640 million to cap Thursday’s trading session, led by BlackRock’s ETHA ($520 million) and Fidelity’s FETH ($57 million), after nearly $730 million on August 13, $523 million on August 12 and a record $1 billion tacked on August 11, data from Farside Investors shows. Over the past five days, Ethereum ETF inflows have totaled $3.37 billion, against inflows of $966 million for…

Crypto exchange Bullish has raised the size of its initial public offering to $990 million from $629 million, as the company looks to take advantage of a hot market for crypto firms. CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Bullish. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Bullish is aiming to sell 30 million shares at a price of $32 to $33 each, or $990 million and a valuation of $4.8 billion at the top of the range. In a previous filing on Aug. 4, the company had planned to market 20.3 million shares at $28 to…

China’s local legislature has formally declined to create local rules for disposing of seized cryptocurrency. Instead, it called for national-level regulations from the Beijing authorities. This reflects an inevitable collateral consequence of China’s total crypto ban. Henan Province Says Local Legislation Unsuitable The Congress of Henan Province, a central Chinese province south of Beijing with nearly 100 million residents, released a report reviewing its “Draft Regulations on the Management of Assets Involved in Cases.” The province’s legal affairs committee acknowledged that virtual currencies have property attributes and constitute case-related assets, a consensus already established in judicial practice. However, they noted…

Zoro, a prominent firm that integrates blockchain and AI, has joined MAGNE.AI, the platform developing the earliest AI-powered Web3 smartphone. The collaboration attempts to merge the strengths of Zoro and MAGNE.AI to introduce a cutting-edge AI smartphone. Zoro’s official announcement on X mentions that the partnership merges blockchain-led features with on-device intelligence to offer a matchless and inclusive user Web3 experience in one place. Hence, this development is anticipated to establish new standards for blockchain and AI convergence in the wider mobile industry. 📱 Meet https://t.co/uxrkMcNIhY! Our newest hardware partner merging AI, Web3, and secure mobile infrastructure into one device.@Magne_Ai…

Bitcoin Pizza Day and the lost Newport hard drive have company — an Ethereum wallet worth over a billion dollars, frozen since 2014. Summary In 2014, Estonian banker Rain Lõhmus bought 250,000 ETH in Ethereum’s presale, storing it in a wallet that has never been accessed. The stash, worth about $1.18 billion today, is fully visible on-chain yet unreachable without the lost presale password and JSON wallet file. Lõhmus’s case joins Bitcoin Pizza Day and James Howells’s landfill hard drive as one of crypto’s most famous billion-dollar “what if” stories. Ethereum’s presale encryption makes brute-forcing the password nearly impossible without…

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds staged a solid recovery last week with $260 million in inflows after two consecutive weeks of outflows, but still fell short of Ethereum fund’s $268 million performance as digital asset products posted $572 million in combined weekly flows. The inflows came in after weathering significant early-week turbulence that saw $1 billion flow out of funds, as per Farside Investors. But when President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing crypto assets in 401(k) retirement plans, it triggered $1.57 billion worth inflows during the latter half of the week, according to crypto asset manager CoinShares. The policy shift…

CBDT is asking platforms to explain how taxes, unclear regulations, and liquidity issues have affected them. It also questioned the questioned the lack of clarity in derivative trading, cross-border transactions, and the definition of a VDA. Clear regulatory framework may offer more job opportunities and attract foreign businesses. India is taking a closer look at its crypto tax and regulatory system. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has raised questions about the current framework for Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs). It is reviewing the effect of the 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) and the lack of clear rules for…

CDARI, a popular blockchain platform, has officially collaborated with AppBase, a well-known Web3 entity dealing with app chain infrastructure. The partnership aims to redefine app chain infrastructure as well as social engagement in the Web3 ecosystem. As revealed in CDARI’s official social media announcement, the mutual initiative focuses on fortifying developers and consumers to release exclusive application chains (app chains) with robust DePIN ecosystems and social task-led engagement. Thus, the move is poised to broaden opportunities for builders while also strengthening community interactions. 🚨 PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨We’re thrilled to join forces with @AppBaseGlobal — the Web3 platform empowering builders &…

The identity behind a long-unknown, massive cryptocurrency whale has been revealed. Blockchain analysis platform Arkham announced that the address in question belongs to Bitmine Immersion Technologies. The company is chaired by renowned Wall Street strategist Tom Lee. According to Arkham data, Bitmine holds a total of $5.14 billion in assets with 1.17 million Ethereum (ETH), making it the company with the largest Ethereum treasury in the world. Bitmine purchased an additional 28,650 ETH (approximately $129.89 million) in just the last hour. This aggressive buying strategy appears set to continue in the coming days. Tom Lee highlighted the supply shortage in…