Author: NBTC

Ink, a Layer 2 (L2) blockchain launched by U.S. crypto exchange Kraken in December 2024, saw its total value locked (TVL) surge by nearly 3,800% in less than two weeks, climbing from $6.42 million on Oct. 15 to nearly $249 million as of press time. Ink TVL. Source: DefiLlama However, data from DefiLlama shows that out of 30 protocols deployed on Ink, more than 97% of this sharp increase came from a single product, Tydro, a non-custodial lending protocol built by the Ink Foundation, as a white label instance of open-source DeFi giant Aave. The Ink Foundation announced the launch…

Vitalik Buterin praised ZKsync’s Atlas upgrade, calling the team’s work “underrated and valuable.” Atlas brings over 15,000 TPS, one-second finality, and near-zero fees to Ethereum’s Layer-2 ecosystem. The upgrade turns Ethereum into a real-time liquidity hub, removing the need for separate Layer-2 liquidity pools. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has given a strong nod to ZKsync’s latest upgrade, Atlas, calling the team’s work “underrated and valuable.” His post quickly drew attention across the crypto community. The update marks a major shift in how Ethereum handles speed, cost, and liquidity. ZKsync’s Atlas Brings Big Numbers and Bigger Change ZKsync, known for its…

TL;DR: Circle and Galaxy remain profitable amid post-IPO volatility. eToro’s stock has dropped nearly 40% since its debut. Investors favor crypto firms with stability and institutional focus. Circle and Galaxy Digital have emerged as the only crypto firms still in profit after their public listings, contrasting sharply with peers like eToro, which has seen its valuation plummet. The divergence underscores how the post-IPO landscape for crypto companies remains volatile, shaped by market sentiment, regulatory pressure, and shifting investor confidence. Only a Select Few Crypto IPOs Are Staying in the Green Circle’s IPO performance has defied broader market struggles, bolstered by…

Perpetual futures are crypto’s hottest trading strategy right now, with traders flocking to these high-risk bets on high-risk assets in record numbers. But as access to these products gets easier, now available to anyone with a crypto wallet or a Telegram account, analysts warn they present the crypto market with a “double-edged sword.” Perpetual futures, or perps, are derivative contracts with no expiration date that allow users to place leveraged bets, using borrowed capital, on the future price of an asset, such as Bitcoin. Bet correctly and your winnings are multiplied, based on the amount of leverage on the position.…

Bitcoin miners just got hit with a hefty 6.31% bump in difficulty this week, pushing the rating to a hefty 155.97 trillion. Even so, miners kept the hashrate roaring above the 1,100 exahash per second (EH/s) mark, with block times clocking in close to the classic 10-minute rhythm. Bitcoin Miners Face the Squeeze Despite Modest Revenue Increase in October October treated bitcoin miners a bit sweeter, dishing out roughly $1.595 billion in revenue — with around $1.584 billion of that coming straight from the block subsidy, according to figures collected by newhedge.io. That’s a modest upgrade from September’s $1.564 billion…

In 2018, IBM Blockchain World Wire was a real-time global payments network built on the Stellar blockchain. Stellar’s architecture was well-suited for payments, offering anchors, rapid consensus, and minimal fees, all aligning perfectly with IBM’s objectives. IBM first announced a collaboration with Stellar in 2017 and later built IBM Blockchain World Wire, a real-time cross-border payments network that used the Stellar protocol. The project was created to shorten settlement times, lower costs, and let banks issue stablecoins or use digital assets for final settlement. World Wire launched into limited production in 2019 with several bank partners and pilot corridors. Still,…

On Oct. 30, 2025, Ethereum (ETH) blob fees — data availability fees for Ethereum’s L2 networks — registered an all-time high. While being painful in general, such spikes are indicators of high demand for Ethereum’s (ETH) throughput. Fusaka, Ethereum’s upcoming upgrade, is expected to mitigate such spikes. 42,000 Gwei: Ethereum (ETH) blob fees log new ATH, community sees “high demand” Ethereum (ETH) blob fees — commissions paid by Layer-2 blockchains for using Ethereum’s computational resources as a data availability layer — set a historic record Oct. 30, 2025. The metric suddenly spiked over 42,000 Gwei, an Ethereum supporter @materkel mentioned…

The race to acquire blockchain infrastructure is picking up speed, according to U.S. bank Citizens. Citizens said it expects the pace of mergers and acquisitions across digital assets to accelerate from here in a new research report. The analysts noted that the digital-asset industry’s technical complexity, talent shortages, and stringent compliance demands make acquisitions the most practical path for incumbents. Meanwhile, digital-native companies gain scale, customer reach, and regulatory credibility by joining larger financial networks. Mastercard (MA) is in advanced talks to buy ZeroHash for as much as $2 billion and that Coinbase (COIN) is nearing a similar-sized deal for…

Japan has built one of the world’s most conservative stablecoin regimes. But after pioneering a comprehensive legal framework for yen-pegged stablecoins, its bank-dependent structure has been called out for limiting innovation in the decentralized finance sector. In Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan are in the spotlight for rolling out licensing rules for stablecoin operators. While regulators celebrate Japan’s legal clarity, its inward-looking framework could leave the country lagging behind regional peers like Singapore and Hong Kong, warns Professor of Economics Sayuri Shirai at Keio University. Under Japan’s current framework, Shirai doesn’t see momentum for stablecoins taking off. She explains…

Crypto exchange Binance is partnering with blockchain data platform Bubblemaps to give users of its non-custodial Web3 Wallet more insight into potential insider trading and token manipulation. The integration will allow millions of Binance Web3 Wallet users to utilize Bubblemaps’ blockchain data visualization tool to view token distribution and onchain wallet clusters, aiming to add “layers of transparency” to the Binance experience, according to a Wednesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph. Binance aims to help traders identify insider trading activity or other coordinated market behavior by analyzing a token’s distribution pattern. “As more traders and activity move onchain, the need for…