Author: NBTC

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read more editions, subscribe “Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.” — Alfred North Whitehead Investors love the pricing power of “last mile” businesses. Comcast charges $75 a month for internet access because it buried the cable outside your house that connects you to the world wide web. Walmart is the last mile of consumer goods because its shelves are where supply meets demand, and brands pay dearly (in discounts and promotions) to win a place on them. Amazon charges third-party…

Research-driven crypto firm Delphi Digital and institutional staking platform Chorus One have teamed up to launch a new institutional-grade validator on Solana. Summary Delphi Digital and Chorus One have joined the Solana validator list. The platforms have partnered to launch an institutional-grade validator to support Solana security and decentralization. Validators earn rewards from protocol rewards, staking and pools. Delphi Digital’s strategic advisory arm Delphi Consulting and Chorus One will tap into their respective platforms’ infrastructure and expertise to strengthen Solana (SOL) staking for institutions, the firms said in an announcement. This new institutional-grade validator, Delphi Consulting noted, is a fresh…

Ethereum (ETH) is struggling to hold above $4,200 after a sharp sell-off triggered widespread liquidations across the crypto market. It has dropped nearly 9% over the past week, with traders bracing for a potential retest of the $4,100 level. Data from CoinGlass shows that more than $178 million in positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with ETH long traders suffering the biggest blow, over $127 million wiped out. A notable case saw one Hyperliquid trader lose nearly $6.2 million after re-entering ETH longs too aggressively, turning months of gains into heavy losses within just two days. This volatility…

The Federal Reserve’s Reverse Repo Facility (RRP) dropped to its lowest level in 1,596 days, suggesting a crack in the liquidity backbone of global markets. This turnout, which points to tightening financial conditions, raises alarm bells across Wall Street and crypto circles. Experts Warn as Federal Reserve Reverse Repo Drops to a 5-Year Low Malone Wealth founder Kevin Malone noted the decline, warning that the “excess cushion” in financial markets is vanishing. BREAKING NEWS: Federal Reserve Reverse Repo drops to the lowest level in 1,596 days. What happens tomorrow? pic.twitter.com/Fv5TL9yObS — Kevin Malone (@Malone_Wealth) August 19, 2025 He explained that…

As user interactions continue to increase in the cryptocurrency market, the list of projects with the most active users on a weekly basis has been published. This data represents the number of unique addresses performing revenue-generating transactions on a project’s app or blockchain. The metrics are calculated using a 7-day moving average. Here are the 15 projects with the most weekly active users, their active user numbers, and the change in active user numbers compared to the previous week: NEAR Protocol (NEAR) – 15.9 million (+1.1%) BNB Chain (BNB) – 15.9 million (+5.3%) Solana (SOL) – 14.3 million (-19.2%) Tron…

Digital-asset investment products pulled in $3.75 billion last week, lifting assets under management to $244 billion on August 13. The total ranks among the largest weekly inflows seen recently, CoinShares data shows. Prices rose, but the main driver was money moving into funds rather than a broad retail rush. Concentrated Flows From A Single Product Based on reports from CoinShares, almost all of the inflows came through one provider. The US accounted for $3.73 billion, almost the entire week’s total. Canada added $33.7 million, Hong Kong close to $21 million, and Australia $12 million. By contrast, Brazil and Sweden recorded…

India is racing toward becoming a $10 trillion economy. But one missing piece, according to CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta, is the absence of an INR-backed stablecoin. In a series of posts on X, Gupta argued that the opportunity is too big to ignore. Globally, the stablecoin market has already crossed $150 billion. Yet India, despite its scale, has yet to launch a rupee-linked version. Gupta believes an INR stablecoin could lower costs, speed up payments, and widen financial access. He stressed that India’s digital rails, led by UPI, make it uniquely suited for this innovation. “The rupee should lead the…

VersaBank, a Canadian digital bank with a focus on business clients, has started testing a tokenized deposit that the bank says provide a safer and more compliant alternative to stablecoins. The pilot, run through the bank’s U.S. subsidiary VersaBank USA, will trial a U.S. dollar version of the bank’s blockchain-based Digital Deposit Receipts (DDRs) tech. Each token, branded USDVB, represents one U.S. dollar held on deposit at VersaBank USA. The program will simulate thousands of transactions of small value, first internally and then with select external partners. Tokens will be managed through the bank’s digital vault and e-wallet platforms and…

Ethereum price started a recovery wave from the $4,050 zone. ETH is now back above $4,220 but it faces many hurdles near $4,400. Ethereum started a recovery wave above the $4,150 and $4,220 levels. The price is trading below $4,350 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average. There is a bearish trend line forming with resistance at $4,355 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken). The pair could continue to move down if it settles below the $4,220 zone in the near term. Ethereum Price Faces Resistance Ethereum price extended losses after there was a close below the…

On July 18, President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, establishing the first comprehensive federal framework to regulate stablecoins in the United States, and bringing long-awaited clarity to the growing market for U.S. dollar-pegged tokens. Since then, the market for stablecoins globally has shown a level of resilience and growth that even the most skeptical observers can’t easily dismiss, at least for now. Just weeks after being signed into law, the regulatory clarity around how stablecoins must be backed, audited, and supervised seemed to calm big institutions and everyday investors, pushing the stablecoin market cap up an additional…