Author: NBTC

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. ICYMI, Sol Strategies announced that it was investing CAD $25 million ($17.4 million) in the Solana ecosystem earlier this week. CEO Leah Wald told me ahead of the new year that Sol Strategies was focused on building up the “next level” of its business strategy. Obviously, given Sol’s focus, the firm is gonna be bullish on the ecosystem, but Wald noted how pleasantly surprised she was at the amount of developer activity and overall enthusiasm for Solana right now. She is skeptical, however, about a solana ETF…

The U.S. Treasury announced that Rodney Hood, former chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), will serve as head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), effective today. The report, reported by FOX reporter Eleanor Terrett, draws attention as Hood’s past support for cryptocurrencies raises expectations of potential regulatory changes. Hood has previously defended the role of cryptocurrencies in the financial sector, citing their importance for credit unions and broader financial services. “Cryptocurrencies need to be part of the credit union system. If you don’t have that, it will hurt your ability to compete with other…

Just recently, a new wave has emerged—a slew of bitcoiners are channeling their digital wealth into luxury timepieces, with brands like Rolex taking center stage. Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Piaget: Bitcoin Buyers Splurge on Iconic Timepieces As bitcoin (BTC) cruises just shy of the $100,000 threshold, with the premier digital currency having eclipsed that level last month, proponents of the leading cryptocurrency are channeling their augmented affluence into opulent items. For example, on the social media platform X, an account known as The Luxury Watch Guy, a purveyor of high-end timepieces, explained that when BTC hit $100,000, there was a…

Klarna Bank, a Swedish fintech company known for its Buy Now, Pay Later service plans to embrace cryptocurrency after previously criticizing it. Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski made the announcement about that the firm plans to embrace cryptocurrency. The announcement came as the fintech prepares for an initial public offering and business expansion in the US. Klarna Bank explores crypto to increase its fintech offering Klarna Bank CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has been vocal about his skepticism of crypto in the past, arguing that high transaction fees make it unsuitable for commerce. He has even dismissed digital currencies as a “decentralized ponzi.”…

ThorChain founder JP Thorbjornsen and the development team have decided to pause the ThorFi Savers and Lending programs for the next 12 months. The decision, announced Thursday, comes after consultations with key community members, devs and node operators, according to the project’s Discord. Thorchain is a decentralized liquidity protocol that enables cross-chain asset swaps without the need for wrapped tokens or centralized exchanges. It allows users to trade native assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum and others directly on the platform, using its native token, RUNE, to facilitate transactions and secure liquidity pools. But the protocol is undergoing a major restructuring to…

Tom Goldstein, a former U.S. Supreme Court lawyer, has been arrested for the second time in a month over allegations of undisclosed cryptocurrency transactions worth millions of dollars. Prosecutors argue that these transactions suggest an effort to hide assets and evade justice. The Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed Goldstein’s arrest and noted that he is currently undergoing a bail review hearing. His legal team has not yet issued a response to the latest allegations. BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein was arrested again Monday following his earlier release, after prosecutors alleged that he secretly made millions…

Japan’s Bitcoin proxy company Metaplanet wants to increase its Bitcoin holdings to 10,000 BTC by 2025. The company’s CEO, Simon Gerovich, disclosed this on X while highlighting the company’s target for the new year. According to Gerovich, 2024 was a transformative year for Metaplanet as it expanded its Bitcoin treasury and established itself as Asia’s leading Bitcoin treasury company. He continued that the company now plans to double down on its winning hand. He said: “Last year was transformational, as we broke records, expanded our Bitcoin treasury, and reinforced our position as Asia’s leading Bitcoin Treasury Company. This year, we’re…

Remixpoint (3825), a Japanese energy consulting firm that decided build up cryptocurrency reserves, boosted its holdings by more than 8,000% in the nine months ended Dec. 31 and is now close to having spent its target of 10 billion yen ($65 million). The Tokyo-based company held 5.8 billion yen ($38 million) of crypto at year-end, up from 68 million on March 31. It had spent 9 billion yen on crypto as of Thursday, it said in an earnings presentation, without giving the current value of its holdings. While Remixpoint focuses on energy consultancy, it has recently expanded to provide cryptocurrency…

Geo Genesis, the latest application by The Graph, empowers anyone, regardless of technical expertise, to participate in creating and managing Spaces, multi-purpose collaborative hubs designed for organizing, sharing and governing knowledge. Geo Genesis user app introduced by The Graph team According to the official statement by The Graph decentralized data indexing protocol, Geo Genesis, its user application for data exchange, has gone live. Spaces, a class of universal knowledge sharing hubs, is the core element of the new development. What is The Graph? pic.twitter.com/otTd8rsn2S — The Graph (@graphprotocol) December 11, 2024 These Spaces are set to foster collaboration and enable…

A crypto veteran believes Bitcoin (BTC) and the rest of the digital asset market will remain listless in the first few weeks of 2025. Pseudonymous trader The Crypto Dog tells his 853,00 followers on the social media platform X that he thinks the market will not regain bullish momentum until President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office. The analyst believes that Trump’s inauguration on January 20th will act as a strong catalyst that sends Bitcoin and altcoins to greater heights. “The inauguration likely acts just the same as election day – it’s going to pin us down until it’s over.…