Author: NBTC

It’s not often in crypto that you can say “this time is different” in good faith. But this time it really is different for Bitcoin’s halving, slated for next month. As Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo noted recently, this is the first time bitcoin (BTC) has rallied before the programmatic slashing of block rewards — all three prior halvings (2020, 2016, 2012) preceded a major runup in crypto prices. This column is part of CoinDesk’s “Future of Bitcoin” package published to coincide with the fourth Bitcoin “halving” in April 2024. It also published in The Node newsletter, a daily rundown of…

The price of Ethereum ($ETH) has surged by approximately 7% in the past three hours, reaching beyond the $3,600 mark. Remarkably, the price growth is accompanied by substantial whale action on the blockchain. Over this timeframe, the systems spotted two significant whale transactions across addresses 0x666 and 0x435. Ethereum Whales Withdraw $40M from Binance In total, the two whales removed 11,657 $ETH, equal to about $40.28 million, from Binance at an average price of around $3,455. In general, such substantial withdrawals from exchanges signal that whales are buying directly on-chain, as shown by data from SpotOnChain. Furthermore, over the last…

Venture studio Thesis is announcing Mezo, a bitcoin layer 2 network, out of stealth. Mezo closed a $21 million fundraising led by Pantera Capital. The blockchain allows bitcoin owners to hold their tokens while earning yield. Blockchain venture studio Thesis has unveiled Mezo, a Bitcoin layer-2 network, from stealth with a $21 million fundraising round led by Pantera Capital The fundraising also involved Multicoin, Hack VC, ParaFi Capital, Nascent, Draper Associates, Primitive Ventures, Asymmetric Ventures and Dan Held, and DCF God, Thesis said Tuesday. Mezo is a “permissionless Bitcoin economic layer that leverages a neutral smart contract infrastructure” to offer…

Gaming cryptocurrencies were among the best performers during the weekend amid rising demand from day traders. Gala price surged by over 34% on Sunday as it surged to its highest point since August 2022. It has risen by over 400% from its lowest point in 2023, bringing its total market cap to over $1.8 billion. Axie Infinity, the pioneering gaming platform, rose by 20% while Ronin surged by 18%. Other top-performing gaming tokens were Decentraland (MANA), The Sandbox (SAND), and Beam. All these tokens rose by double-digits and moved to their highest level since 2022. As a result, the total…

Studio369, the studio behind the Ethereum-based mech shooter game MetalCore, announced the launch of its latest closed beta test on Tuesday that makes it the first playable title deployed on the new Immutable zkEVM scaling network. The second MetalCore closed beta, running until April 22, will introduce new quests, the Barony system (the game’s version of guilds), advanced customization, and other features. MetalCore’s native token, MCG, will also play a vital role in the game’s economy and progression. The upcoming token will let players convert things like mechs, weapons, and vehicles into NFTs that can be equipped and used in…

March proved to be another breakthrough month for the cryptocurrency market, with spot volumes on the 10 largest exchanges growing by an average of 119% compared to March, responding to Bitcoin’s historical highs, which tested levels above $73,000. Trading activity among investors on the largest centralized platforms reached levels not seen since May 2021. The record-breakers over the past year, on the other hand, grew two, three, or even six times. In March, Bitcoin closed its seventh consecutive month of uninterrupted growth, adding another 17% to its value and setting a new all-time high. As a result, the volumes of…

The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin exceeded $ 70,000 last night while counting the days for halving. While the upward move in BTC continues, the largest altcoin Ethereum price continues to trade below $3,500 and fails to rise despite high expectations for the Dencun upgrade. As Ethereum continues to show signs of weakness against Bitcoin, the ETH/BTC pair also achieved its lowest weekly close since April 2021. While the situation in ETH is not positive, legendary analyst Peter Brandt, known for his successful predictions, said that the Ethereum price may be in a bear trap. Bear trap? That is always a possibility…

A crypto staking specialist is looking to expand to the United Arab Emirates, marking the latest segment player looking to set up shop there. Northstake has gained initial approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) — a first step toward getting a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license, the company told Blockworks. Such a license will allow the Denmark-based company to offer crypto custody services, like custodial staking, to institutional investors in the emirates. It ultimately seeks to use the UAE as “a strategic base” to survey expansion options. Northstake CEO Jesper Johansen said the UAE is “becoming a…

Shiba Inu, lead developer, Shytoshi Kusama, explains why he believes SHIB will take the lead in the ongoing memecoin season. As the meme coin market continues to see a strong uptrend, there have been speculations regarding which meme-based token will lead others. According to data from CoinGecko, the valuation of the meme coin market is up 13.7% in 24 hours to $62.7 billion. The two biggest tokens in the meme coin category are Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). Both tokens alone have a cumulative market cap of over $44 billion. Kusama Disagrees With KuCoin With the meme coin season…

Take a card from your opponent’s deck and watch the world burn. Controversy has circled rising NFT card game Parallel since announcing last week that it has added one of the best-known Hearthstone streamers as an ambassador and spokesperson for the game. Parallel announced on Friday that Thijs “Thijs” Molendijk, an esports pro and the third-largest Hearthstone streamer by average views, would support the crypto trading card game. Both games revolve around building decks of digital cards and competing against online rivals, but unlike Blizzard’s Hearthstone, Parallel is built around optional Ethereum NFTs. While the past Hearthstone European Champion received…