Author: NBTC

China Merchants Bank’s (CMBI) brokerage arm has attained a virtual assets license from Hong Kong, becoming the first Mainland China broker to do so, South China Morning Post (SCMP) said. The license, which was issued on Monday by the Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, will allow the lender’s brokerage arm to offer crypto asset trading, custody and advisory services, the news outlet reported. However, though the license grants the company access to Hong Kong, CMBI will not be able to conduct crypto business in mainland China, a lawyer told SCMP. “By securing this license, CMBI gains regulated access to…

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, has announced plans to offer custody services for Russian crypto assets in a bid to increase its influence in the country’s cryptocurrency space. With this step, the state-owned bank aims to take a leading role in Russia’s development of digital assets. Anatoly Pronin, Executive Director of the bank’s Alternative Payment Solutions Department, noted that cryptocurrency custody services are becoming increasingly widespread globally, and that Sberbank has submitted regulatory proposals to the Central Bank of Russia accordingly. Pronin argued that cryptocurrencies should be regulated similarly to traditional assets held in bank accounts and that the bank will…

Forty of the world’s top AI researchers just published a paper arguing that companies need to start reading their AI systems’ thoughts. Not their outputs—their actual step-by-step reasoning process, the internal monologue that happens before ChatGPT or Claude gives you an answer. The proposal, called Chain of Thought monitoring, aims to prevent misbehavior, even before the model comes up with an answer and can help companies to set up scores “in training and deployment decisions,” the researchers argue But there’s a catch that should make anyone who’s ever typed a private question into ChatGPT nervous: If companies can monitor AI’s…

On Monday, July 14th, the crypto market witnessed a slight slowdown in recovery momentum after a week of strong inflow. The top cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, show the mounting selling pressure with long-wick rejection candles in the daily chart. Despite the risk of a potential pullback, high-net-worth investors continue to accumulate ETH, signaling long-term conviction in this asset. Ethereum Whales Accumulation Counters Short-term Pullback Since last week, the Ethereum price has bounced from $2,464 to a recent high of $3,082, accounting for a 22% gain. This recovery is likely triggered by investors’ optimism toward the upcoming ‘Crypto Week,’…

Australia’s Central Bank is taking the next step in its digital currency journey. On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced a new trial to explore how digital money could improve Australia’s wholesale tokenised asset markets. Project Acacia is a joint effort between the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC). It is also backed by ASIC, APRA, and the Australian Treasury. Project Acacia Enters Next Phase As part of the project, the RBA will test stablecoins, digital bank deposits, and a trial version of CBDCs. The project started last November with the…

The Senate Agriculture Committee leapt into Congress’ negotiation over crypto’s market structure legislation with a hearing on Tuesday, and its ranking Democrat, Senator Amy Klobuchar, outlined the significant changes she’d like to see before she’d embrace the effort to set up digital assets regulations. As the House potentially nears passage of its own market structure bill in the Digital Asset Markets Clarity Act (despite a procedural delay on Tuesday), Klobuchar’s committee will need to sign off on its own legislation. And any major changes she and other Democrats are willing to pursue as a party could stretch the legislative process…

OpenAI has unveiled its most autonomous AI tool yet: a version of ChatGPT that can browse the web, run apps, and complete real-world tasks with little-to-no human input. But with the leap in capability comes a stark warning: The technology could also invite a new wave of security threats. Launched on Thursday, ChatGPT Agent enables users to delegate complex tasks, such as planning vacations, booking hotel rooms, researching competitors, generating slide decks, and even placing online orders. The feature will start rolling out today to Pro, Plus, and Team users. To complete tasks, the agent uses a virtual computer and…

Bitcoin (BTC) shattered its previous records, reaching a new all-time high (ATH) of $111,861.22 earlier today. This decisive move saw the world’s largest cryptocurrency break free after being stuck for weeks in a tight trading range between $104,000 and $107,800, igniting a fresh wave of bullish momentum. As the market digests this new peak, former tech CEO Mike Alfred has shared some bold predictions for where Bitcoin might be heading next, suggesting this rally has significant legs, largely thanks to a different breed of investor this time around. Mike Alfred’s Bullish Case: Bitcoin on Track for $200K-$315K In a recent…

German businesses are split in their expectations about the future of cryptocurrency as a means of payment, shows a large-scale study covering hundreds of companies registered in the Bundesrepublik. While nearly half of the interviewed organizations believe crypto payments will become a common phenomenon in the next decade, most remain skeptical about taking decentralized digital money for the goods and services they are offering. German firms undecided on crypto as payment tool The share of German companies accepting and spending cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) is still quite small, but many more think crypto payments will grow in the coming years,…

According to IOTA, its future objectives include an expansion of its product ecosystem with a focus on real use cases in trade and logistics. IOTA’s Progress Report for Q2 2025 has pointed out some of the key progress that occurred within the ecosystem, including the Rebased Protocol, Gas Station, and IOTA Identity. IOTA has hinted that it would strongly focus on the product ecosystem expansion in the future. IOTA has, in its progress report for the second quarter of 2025 (Q2 2025), highlighted some of its successful implementations, including the mainnet launch of the IOTA Rebased and the debut of…