Author: NBTC

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. Blockchain devs are increasingly centering their new products around user accounts and identities — and are launching their own chains as a result. Zink, an SVM L1 from ATMTA, is the latest new blockchain to join the trend. ATMTA is the studio behind the in-development space exploration game Star Atlas, which for years was expected to use Solana’s mainnet for all its crypto elements. But that now appears to be changing. While some die-hard Solana fans might see the move as a shakeup, those unfazed by this…

The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector’s total value locked (TVL) has climbed to $154.248 billion, with liquid staking giant Lido and lending platform Aave maintaining dominant positions. Lido, Aave Take Top Spots as DeFi TVL Surpasses $150B Data from defillama.com shows TVL declined 3.23% over the past 24 hours, yet the figure remains well above the $150 billion threshold, showcasing the sector’s scale. Stablecoins in circulation have a combined market capitalization of $273.3 billion, with decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms handling $24.665 billion in daily trading volume. Perpetuals markets processed $38.692 billion over the same period, while network participants paid $121.27 million…

The world of corporate finance is witnessing a significant shift as companies increasingly explore the potential of digital assets. A notable development comes from Nasdaq-listed 707 Cayman Holdings, which is embarking on a strategic journey to build a substantial crypto treasury. This move highlights a growing trend in how traditional businesses view and integrate cryptocurrencies. What is 707 Cayman Holdings’ Bold Crypto Treasury Move? Nasdaq-listed 707 Cayman Holdings has signed an important Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Precious Choice Global. This agreement signals their clear intention to explore building a significant crypto treasury reserve. This strategic initiative aims to include…

Miomi Game, a web3 esports platform launched on multiple blockchain across the ecosystem, has integrated Polygon to bring gaming prizes in Agora’s stablecoin AUSD to players. Summary esports platform Miomi Game has added support for Agora stablecoin AUSD on Polygon. The web3 platform will tap into the stablecoin for crypto prizes. Miomi Game recently integrated Tether (USDT) on Manta Network. The esports online arena announced the integration with Polygon on Friday, and eyes fast, low-cost, and secure transactions for players. With this move, Miomi Game players can now create, join matches and win using AUSD on the Polygon network AUSD…

Polygon integration with Polkadot on the Hyperbridge testnet is an immense step forward in cross-chain integration. The announcement highlights the integration as being by default trustless, moving towards decentralized bridging systems. Hyperbridge itself down-streams the proof computation to cryptographic co-processors, providing a cheaper on-chain computation cost. This architecture helps cross-chain messages to be scalable, secure and additionally makes them efficient since it swarms numerous message proofs into one succinct verification camcoder that is convenient to use in general verification. Technical Support of Hyperbridge Hyperbridge executes proofs off-chain, and provides final validation on-chain without excessively burdening Polkadot main chain. The strategy…

Aave reached multiple all-time highs this week, fueled by the heated crypto market. The money market protocol reached $3 trillion in cumulative deposits on Aug. 15, while surpassing $29 billion in active loans on August 13, according to Token Terminal data. Additionally, Aave’s total value locked (TVL) climbed to a record high above $40 billion on Aug. 14, based on DefiLlama data. The achievements come amid DeFi lending emerging as the second-largest category with $75.3 billion in combined TVL. Lending sector shows strong growth DeFi lending protocols collectively manage $75.3 billion in total value locked across 540 protocols, making it…

As reported on CoinDesk, institutional capital is flooding into digital assets at an unprecedented pace, with JPMorgan forecasting $60 billion in inflows by 2025—outpacing private equity and private credit. But beyond the headline numbers lies a deeper transformation: institutions are not just investing in crypto, they’re rewiring how capital itself moves.—From Static Assets to Programmable CapitalBlackRock’s tokenised treasury fund, BUIDL, has ballooned to around $3 billion AUM and is now being used as collateral on major crypto exchanges. This signals a profound shift toward “programmable capital markets,” where assets are not only held but actively deployed in real-time financial operations.Adam…

Circle is building its own blockchain — and it’s not a rollup, but a layer-1. In doing so, the American stablecoin issuer is betting that the shortest path between a dollar and a smart contract is the one it controls — full-stack, sovereign, and custom-built for payments. The new chain, dubbed Arc, will be Ethereum-compatible, but use USDC for gas, and feature sub-second deterministic finality. The big question for Ethereum is whether Arc will shift stablecoin activity or function more like a hub-and-spoke architecture, internalizing issuance and settlement while routing liquidity and flow outward to the broader EVM ecosystem via…

Following the US inflation data released yesterday, expectations for the first interest rate cut of 2025 increased in September. While the 25 basis point interest rate cut in September is priced in at over 90%, calls for the Fed to cut interest rates in the US continue unabated. At this point, the final call came from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, making his clearest call to date. Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Bessent said there was a possibility of a large interest rate cut in September. Treasury Secretary Bessent, who stated that the FED should cut interest rates by 150-175 basis…

Velo Protocol, a popular web3-based financial ecosystem, has recently announced a strategic alliance with Digital Pilipinas, a leading private sector organization in the Philippines working towards the country’s digitalization. This timely partnership, when the Philippine government is pushing for a digital-first economy, is a major step ahead in accelerating the adoption of digital and blockchain-based financial systems in the country. Leveraging the Potential of Blockchain for Philippines’ Digitalization As countries step up their efforts to adopt digital systems for efficiency, ease of business, and inclusion, the Philippines is one country at the forefront of such efforts. At the heart of…