Author: NBTC

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial. Over the past five years, DeFi has grown from a niche concept into a functioning, if still volatile, alternative to parts of traditional finance. As of November 2025, its total value locked sits in a $100–$120 billion range, which is enough to confirm activity, but no longer enough to mean transformation. Summary DeFi’s TVL has fallen from its 2021 peak because most early “yield” was synthetic — driven by token emissions rather than real economic activity —…

The IMF dropped an explanatory video on its X handle today exploring the new phenomenon of tokenized markets. The international body responsible for ensuring the stability of the international monetary system recognized the advantages of tokenized markets in the video, but warned that they can be prone to flash crashes and are more volatile than traditional markets. “Tokenization can make financial markets faster and cheaper, but efficiencies from new technologies often come with new risks,” the video states. IMF lays out benefits of tokenized markets The video frames tokenization as the next step in money’s evolution, explaining that tokenization can…

Binance is once again at the center of a legal dispute following a 2022 incident that led to the loss of significant user funds. Summary Florida’s appeal court has reinstated a lawsuit claiming Binance failed to freeze and recover roughly 1,000 BTC stolen in 2022. The ruling found Binance maintained sufficient U.S. and Florida contacts through affiliates and infrastructure, overturning a lower court’s dismissal. The case returns to trial court, adding pressure on offshore exchanges facing similar negligence and stolen-asset lawsuits. A Florida appeals court has reopened a long-running dispute involving Binance after finding the case deserves another look. According…

Antithesis, a Northern Virginia startup pitching itself as infrastructure for never-down software, raised a $105 million Series A led by Jane Street, a bet that stress-testing distributed systems matters as much for blockchains as it does for high-speed trading. The company’s platform uses deterministic simulation testing, running large-scale, production-like simulations to surface the kinds of edge cases that can blow up in live networks, Antithesis said in a press release Wednesday. When a failure hits, Antithesis said it can replay the bug exactly, helping engineers isolate issues without the usual can’t reproduce limbo, a familiar pain point for crypto protocols…

Blockchain gaming company Wemade is pushing for a Korean won-based stablecoin ecosystem, forming a Global Alliance for KRW Stablecoins (GAKS) with Chainalysis, CertiK and SentBe as founding partners. Wemade announced that the alliance will support StableNet, a dedicated mainnet for Korean won-backed stablecoins, with publicly-released code and a consortium model that aims to meet institutional and regulatory requirements. Under the partnership, Chainalysis will integrate threat-detection and real-time monitoring, while CertiK will handle node validation and security audits. Meanwhile, money transfer company SentBe will contribute licensed remittance infrastructure across 174 countries. This allows the KRW stablecoin initiative to operate within South…

Growing confidence in achievable U.S. crypto rules is rising as the SEC signals readiness to advance digital-asset policy under existing authority, hinting at long-awaited clarity that could accelerate industry participation and strengthen the nation’s competitive footing. US Market Stirs as SEC Targets One-Month Window for Innovation Relief Growing optimism around clearer crypto regulation gained momentum as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins shared on Dec. 2 in an interview with CNBC that the agency is actively engaging with lawmakers and examining steps it can take while Congress considers broader action. “We’re working with Congress, and we’re providing…

The crackdown on Bitcoin mining in Malaysia now starts from the air. According to reports from Bloomberg and the Financial Times, drones sweep across rooftops, scanning for strange heat signals inside abandoned houses, vacant shops, and other dead zones. These hot spots almost always point to rigs running nonstop. On the ground, police walk with handheld sensors that pick up unusual electricity use. Citizens allegedly report birds chirping all night, but it’s just fake sounds playing on speakers to cover the roar of mining machines behind locked doors. Miners move quickly. They set up in one place, install heat shields…

Firelight, a new decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, is bringing staking to XRP users, while offering protocols a form of onchain protection against hacks. Built by Sentora and backed by Flare Network, Firelight lets XRP holders stake their tokens to earn rewards tied to demand for DeFi “cover,” protection that can help protocols absorb losses from exploits, the protocol said in a Wednesday press release The concept is similar to insurance in traditional finance, an area where the $160 billion DeFi sector still lags with billions of dollars lost in exploits and hacks hindering broader adoption. “At this stage in DeFi’s…

Law and Ledger is a news segment focusing on crypto legal news, brought to you by Kelman Law – A law firm focused on digital asset commerce. Applying the Howey Test Following our Introduction, posted last week, today’s article is Part I of our multi-article series: Is Crypto a Security? The opinion editorial below was written by Alex Forehand and Michael Handelsman for Kelman.Law. U.S. securities law does not contain a dedicated statute for digital assets. Instead, the SEC and courts continue to apply the investment contract doctrine from SEC v. W.J. Howey Co.—a 1946 Supreme Court case involving orange…

Malaysian authorities formed a joint task force using high-tech drones and police on the ground to find and shutdown nearly 14,000 illicit Bitcoin mining rigs, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday. Drones hover over buildings, searching for thermal heat signatures, while police on the ground scan areas with sensors that detect illicit electricity use. Neighbors often call in complaining of strange noises, only for police officials to find crypto mining rigs. State-owned utility company Tenaga Nasional (TNB) recently reported that the illegal crypto miners have stolen $1.1 billion from the national grid since 2020. “The risk of allowing such…