Author: NBTC

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. “Trust is one of the greatest economic forces on Earth.” — Charlie Munger What money will the world trust next? The Spanish dollar (a.k.a. pieces of eight, a.k.a. Spanish peso) was the first global currency. From the 16th through 19th centuries, silver coins minted by the Spanish government circulated on all six of the world’s inhabited continents, and were legal tender on five of them (parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, and both Americas). In many of those places, they were so welcome you could even cut them…

A new report by Phoenix Group and LunarCrush highlights the top cryptocurrencies using AI technology that gain the most social interest. The real-time rankings are based on the number of engaged posts and total social engagement within 24 hours for May 16, 2025. TOP #AI PROJECTS BY SOCIAL ACTIVITY$TAO $VRA $INJ $RENDER $QUBIC $FET $AIXBT $DIA $NEAR $THETA pic.twitter.com/WWvpTBCe18 — PHOENIX – Crypto News & Analytics (@pnxgrp) May 16, 2025 $TAO, $VRA, and $INJ Come on Top The analysis was based on two key dimensions. There are two categories: engaged posts that show the number of likes, retweets, and comments,…

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that money paid into a Bitcoin Depot ATM as part of separate scams must be returned to the company, and not to the victims, reversing a lower court ruling. The two scams happened in July 2023 and February 2024, when the corresponding victims were separately contacted by scammers and coerced into transferring Bitcoin worth $14,000 via a Bitcoin Depot ATM in Linn County. Police had seized the deposited cash as part of their investigations but were unable to retrieve the transferred BTC. A district court had ruled that the seized cash, totalling $28,000, should…

The debate over Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN heats up, as developers of Bitcoin Core – the most popular node software – said they plan to scrap OP_RETURN entirely in the next release.The OP_RETURN limit is an 80-byte cap on the amount of arbitrary data that can be embedded in a Bitcoin transaction using a special, unspendable output field. “Large-data inscriptions are happening regardless and can be done in more or less abusive ways,” said Core contributor and Engineer at Blockstream Greg Sanders, known as ‘instagibbs,’ in a post on Github announcing the removal. “The cap merely channels them into more opaque forms…

Flamingo Finance has announced the latest changes to its platform, including a new method for minting its over-collaterialized stablecoin, FUSD, as well as FLM minting changes. USDT to FUSD Users can now directly mint FUSD with USDT on Neo N3, providing an alternative to minting by taking a loan with Flamingo Lend or exchanging for FUSD with Orderbook+ or Convert. The reverse operation is also possible. USDT to FUSD and FUSD to USDT is accessible via the Wrap & Unwrap interface under the Asset Actions tab on the web app. While minting from USDT is not subject to limits, unwrapping…

MetaLeX Labs founder Gabriel Shapiro has opined that Ripple acquiring Circle could result in a “crypto apocalypse.” However, if Ripple ends up securing the deal, it will likely fail to pass the antitrust muster. Regulators review deals for antitrust concerns, meaning that they will determine whether the deal could allow Ripple to gain too much control over the ecosystem. “Making Ripple the largest asset issuer on every blockchain would obviously be disastrous and anticompetitive,” Shapiro said. Shapiro has noted that the company previously used its influence in order to harm its competitors by spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD). Back…

Notable XRP community commentator “J4b1” has boldly claimed that May 19 could mark the most important moment in XRP’s history. According to the analyst, a confluence of regulatory, legal, and institutional developments is aligning to create a powerful setup that could transform XRP’s market trajectory. XRP Futures ETFs Set to Launch The core of the prediction lies in the launch of XRP futures ETFs filed by CME Group, set to begin trading on May 19. Historically, both Bitcoin and Ethereum had futures ETFs before their spot counterparts. Those moments proved to be key turning points in their price action, particularly…

Bitcoin price started a downside correction below the $96,500 zone. BTC is now trading below $95,000 and struggling to start a fresh increase. Bitcoin started a fresh decline below the $95,500 zone. The price is trading below $95,500 and the 100 hourly Simple moving average. There is a connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $94,750 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair could start another increase if it clears the $95,750 zone. Bitcoin Price Faces Resistance Bitcoin price started a downside correction below the $97,200 support zone. BTC declined below the…

A tokenized version of a major private credit fund managed by Apollo will arrive on Solana’s SOL$164.84 decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, bringing traditional financial instruments closer to the fast-growing network.The launch, orchestrated by lending platform Kamino Finance with support from tokenization specialist Securitize and DeFi risk advisor Steakhouse Financial, aims to make the Apollo’s Diversified Credit Securitize Fund (ACRED) token the first of its kind to be available for on-chain borrowing and leverage on Solana. The token’s debut is pending on completing an audit, Kamino said. The ACRED token, launched in January, offers exposure to Apollo’s private credit strategies and…

eToro (NASDAQ: ETOR) filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday to register shares for its newly established employee share purchase plan, following its recent public listing earlier this month. At the same time, the fintech’s share price rebounded by 4.5% on Wall Street during yesterday’s session, closing at $66.14. It marked the largest single-day gain since last week’s IPO. The British Virgin Islands-incorporated eToro Group Ltd., which operates a social trading and investment platform, submitted an S-8 registration statement dated May 20 to register shares under three employee benefit plans, including its 2025…