Author: NBTC

“DeFi is dead.” That’s how Maple Finance CEO and co-founder Sid Powell summarizes what he sees coming for crypto over the next few years. However, this doesn’t mean the end of decentralized finance; rather, it is the end of treating DeFi as something separate from traditional markets. “In a couple of years, institutions won’t distinguish between DeFi and TradFi at all,” Powell explained to CoinDesk in an interview. “Eventually, all capital markets activity will take place onchain.” Think of it this way: before the internet, people would buy goods and services the traditional way — by going to merchants physically.…

Crypto exchange Coinbase will stop paying USDC rewards to non-paying customers next week, confirming to Decrypt on Thursday that only Coinbase One premium subscribers will be eligible to earn 4% on their stablecoin holdings. The exchange first made the announcement in an email sent to Coinbase customers on Thursday, saying the change will take effect on December 15. A Coinbase spokesperson confirmed that USDC rewards are now a member-exclusive benefit of Coinbase One. “Coinbase One allows you to earn 10x the average savings rate in the U.S. with uncapped earnings and no minimum balance,” they said, noting that other benefits—like…

Posts on X (Twitter) suggest that Bitmain co-founder Micree “James” Zhan Ketuan may be facing a billion-dollar fine, alleged detention, and a complete fallout with business partner Jihan Wu. Conflicting reports leave the crypto community scrambling to verify the details of one of the sector’s most high-profile crises. Bitmain Co-Founders at Center of Growing Speculation and Uncertainty Bitmain, a pioneer in Bitcoin mining hardware, controls equipment powering over 74% of the global Bitcoin hash rate. It is also responsible for chips used in AI data centers running Nvidia H100s. The company now finds itself at the intersection of geopolitics, legal…

The highly-anticipated Uniswap protocol fee switch, dubbed “UNIfication,” is set to pass and go live later this week, having reached the 40 million vote threshold needed to trigger one of the biggest upgrades in the decentralized exchange protocol’s seven-year history. As of early Monday, nearly 62 million votes have already been cast in favor of the UNIfication governance proposal since voting opened on Dec. 20, with voting set to close on Thursday, Christmas Day. Uniswap Labs CEO Hayden Adams said on Thursday that a successful vote would follow a two-day timelock period in which Uniswap v2 and v3 fee switches…

Bakkt reported Q3 revenue of $402.2 million, rising from $316.3 million in the same quarter last year, while also recording a net loss of about $21.6 million due to a $37.2 million non-cash charge tied to changes in the value of warrant liabilities linked to a direct offering. The number missed expectations and the stock dropped 13% in Monday morning trading, according to the company’s Q3 filing. Q3 GAAP EPS came in at -$1.15, compared to -$0.45 last year and far below the $0.50 average analyst expectation. Total operating expenses climbed to $427.5 million, up from $341.5 million in the…

Aster has issued an official announcement about its trade partnership with Trump-linked World Liberty Financial (WLFI). Earlier this month, the founder and chief executive of Aster Leonard later hinted at the collaboration, saying, “Word travels fast in this space. Had an amazing time with World Liberty Financial and everyone who joined us in Dubai. We’re exploring ways to expand USD1 adoption together. Stay tuned.” We said stay tuned—here we go. 🦅 We’re excited to share that we’re collaborating with @worldlibertyfi to list the USD1-denominated RAVE/USD1 trading pair on Aster and bring more USD1 trading pairs across the Aster ecosystem. Rocket…

Bitcoin’s “miners are dumping” story is comforting in the way simple stories always are. Price slides, miners run out of oxygen, coins hit exchanges, and the price is shoved around by a single, easy villain. But miners are not a single actor, and selling pressure isn’t just a mood. It’s math, contracts, and deadlines. When stress shows up, what matters is not whether miners want to sell, but whether they have to, and how much they can sell without breaking the business they’re trying to keep alive. That’s why the most useful way to think about a miner “capitulation” is…

Key Takeaways The Nasdaq 100 has soared 130% since January 2023, largely due to advances in artificial intelligence boosting technology company valuations. Market analysts are increasingly drawing parallels to the dot-com era of the late 1990s, when a wave of internet enthusiasm led to excessive valuations and a subsequent crash. The Nasdaq 100 has surged 130% since January 2023, drawing comparisons to the dot-com era as AI advancements drive rapid valuations across major technology companies. Recent analyses highlight parallels between current AI-driven market enthusiasm and the late 1990s focus on internet adoption during the dot-com bubble. The historical period saw…

Sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex is quietly moving funds again, according to an on-chain payout architecture uncovered by blockchain analytics firm Global Ledger. The forensic evidence confirmed that Russian actors have rebuilt a functioning payout system despite law enforcement efforts. Garantex Quietly Moves Millions A new investigation by Global Ledger reveals that Garantex, a Russian crypto exchange previously hit by Western sanctions and a server seizure, is still managing to move large sums of money. Researchers have uncovered new Garantex-linked wallets on Bitcoin and Ethereum that, together, hold more than $34 million in cryptocurrency. At least $25 million has already been…

Hacken introduced a new framework to assess security, financial logic, and systemic risk across crypto yield products, providing investors with a verifiable gauge of sustainability in volatile markets. Summary Hacken launched the Yield Risk Score, a standardized metric for assessing crypto yield products. The framework evaluates protocols across technical security, financial logic, and dependency risk. According to a press release shared with crypto.news on Nov. 10, Hacken has introduced a new framework designed to evaluate the risk profile of crypto yield products. The Yield Risk Score, or YRS, assesses three dimensions: technical security, financial sustainability, and systemic dependencies. The initiative…