Author: NBTC

Key Takeaways The US and Taiwan have reportedly finalized a trade deal reducing tariffs on Taiwanese goods from 20% to 15%, aligning with Japan and South Korea. Taiwanese semiconductor firms will invest $250 billion directly into US operations and offer $250 billion in credit guarantees for supply chain expansion. The United States and Taiwan have reportedly reached a landmark trade agreement aimed at deepening economic ties and accelerating US-based semiconductor manufacturing. According to a Bloomberg report, the White House was set to announce the deal on Thursday, which would lower tariffs on Taiwanese imports from 20% to 15% and unlock…

A new study by Paypal and the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA) shows that cryptocurrency payments have grown to be more than a footnote in the U.S. According to this study, 4 in every 10 merchants accept crypto, with these alternatives becoming everyday solutions for digital natives. Paypal Study: Crypto Payments Going Mainstream in the U.S. A new study shows cryptocurrency, which has been unable to make a dent in the payments industry, is now more than a footnote in the sector. According to a joint research conducted by payments giant PayPal and the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA), cryptocurrency payments have…

Several local mining experts agree that there is sufficient gas in the country to establish a mobile fleet of bitcoin miners directly adjacent to oil extraction operations. Estimates set the gas lost to flaring operations in the country at 13,000 cubic meters, which could be used to power bitcoin mining farms. Venezuela Might Become a Bitcoin Gas Mining Powerhouse With the recent opening of Venezuela’s oil industry, speculation has surged about the use of flared gas to power bitcoin mining facilities in the country. While the country has 6,000 cubic kilometers of gas, the ninth nation with the most proven…

The DeFi industry is experiencing fast growth, and Pieverse has partnered with TermMax in order to address this growth. Pieverse’s AI agents will work together with TermMax’s vault system to provide stable and predictable automated transactions. The partnership’s primary objective is to develop a solid foundation for reliable on-chain finance as DeFi and neobanking continue their development. Bridging the Gap Between AI and Stable Yields At the center of this collaboration is TermMax’s fixed-rate yield protocol as it integrates into the Pieverse Agentic Neobank console. Historically, DeFi yields have been extremely unstable and difficult to predict, so autonomous agents dependent…

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the central plumbing behind U.S. capital markets, says it is preparing to support digital representations of all 1.4 million securities currently held within its custody system, deepening its commitment to tokenization and redefining how far the technology could reach in U.S. capital markets. While DTCC’s tokenization platform — built following its 2023 acquisition of Securrency — has already been publicly disclosed, a new comment from DTCC President of Clearing and Securities Services Brian Steele on Thursday suggests the effort is much broader in scope than previously understood. “Our goal is to eventually enable…

The Moscow Exchange intends to introduce new cryptocurrency indices and futures based on them, expanding its range of products linked to digital assets. Russia’s largest stock market has been among the pioneers in the country’s growing market for crypto investments since the offering of such instruments was authorized in 2025. Moscow Exchange to pitch more crypto futures to Russian investors Moscow Exchange (MOEX) plans to launch three new crypto indices in 2026, which will track the performance of Solana (SOL), Ripple’s XRP, and Tron (TRX). The platform will offer futures contracts based on these benchmarks, one of its top executives…

The biggest Bitcoin mining facility in Russia, BitRiver, has found itself in an expanding legal and financial crisis that is currently throwing new light on underlying structural risks in the industrial crypto-mining sector of the country. The huge amounts of debt, purported tax violations, and the results of being in a market where no regulations have been firmly established have been revealed through bankruptcy monitoring against the company that controls BitRiver, Fox Group LLC, and criminal charges against its founder, Igor Runets. Repeated requests by Infrastructure of Siberia, which is a subsidiary of the energy and metals group En+, petitioned…

On February 5, 2025, the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape witnessed a monumental shift as daily trading volume on decentralized perpetual futures exchanges, commonly known as Perp DEXs, skyrocketed to a staggering $70 billion. This figure, reported by Wu Blockchain and verified through DefiLlama data, represents the second-highest daily volume on record. Consequently, this surge marks a definitive recovery from the market downturn observed on October 10, 2025, signaling a powerful resurgence in investor activity within the crypto derivatives space. The volume milestone underscores a broader trend of capital migration towards non-custodial, on-chain trading platforms. Analyzing the $70B Perp DEX Daily…

As Iran’s economy reels from deepening unrest and a collapsing currency, cryptocurrency activity tied to the country surged to nearly $7.8 billion in 2025, according to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. According to Chainalysis, the data shows digital assets increasingly serving two distinct roles—as a financial escape valve for civilians during periods of instability and a growing channel for state-linked actors operating under sanctions. “For Iranian citizens living under a government struggling to maintain economic stability amid inflation rates of 40-50%,” Chainalysis wrote, “cryptocurrency represents not just a sanctions workaround but a way to opt out of…

Safello launches regulated crypto services in Finland under MiCA authorization, enabling euro payments, trading and custody. Safello announced on February 3, 2026 in Stockholm that it has launched services in Finland as its first cross‑border establishment, operating under its authorization as a crypto‑asset service provider under the EU’s Regulation on Markets in Crypto‑Assets (MiCA); Finnish users can buy, sell, transfer, and store crypto‑assets via Safello’s mobile app, with order‑book trading and a swap service available. The launch supports euro payments and payouts through established payment partners and will roll out on web after the app release; Safello says initial financial…