Author: NBTC

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. Many in the US woke up Wednesday to bitcoin back above $90,000. After Donald Trump mentioned five tokens in his Sunday post about a crypto reserve, prices soared. BTC included (despite confusion from some about why this wouldn’t be a BTC-only reserve). Bitcoin ascended to about $95,000 Sunday, but essentially lost all those gains Monday. It traded in the mid-80s for much of Tuesday. The early Wednesday surge wasn’t because Trump mentioned BTC in his address to Congress Tuesday night. He didn’t. Rather it came after…

Chainlink, Hyperlane, and Velodrome—three prominent blockchain infrastructure providers—have joined forces to launch Super USDT, a new interoperable version of the USDT stablecoin for the OP Superchain ecosystem. Powered by Hyperlane for cross-chain transfers and secured by Chainlink CCIP, Super USDT maintains a 1:1 verifiable backing with native USDT on Celo. Mento Labs is supporting the initiative by providing 1:1 feeless swaps into USDT on Celo through the Mento Protocol. The token aims to solve liquidity fragmentation across the Superchain ecosystem, offering a streamlined and cost-effective solution for developers and users. Previously, different blockchains within the Superchain had to create their…

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has taken a more moderate approach with the Donald Trump administration, has backed down from the majority of major cryptocurrency cases initiated under its former Chairman Gary Gensler. Accordingly, the new SEC administration is dropping lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies one by one and closing investigations. At this point, SEC member Hester Peirce, who leads the SEC’s newly formed Crypto Task Force, has made good on her promise to “rescue” the SEC from various crypto-related lawsuits. The SEC has dropped its lawsuits against Robinhood, Coinbase, and ConsenSys, while suspending its lawsuits against Binance…

Today data from CryptoRank.io disclosed massive growth in the TVL across multiple blockchain platforms over the past month. Top 10 Blockchains by TVL Growth in February 2025February’s market performance was negative across the board — not just in prices but also in TVL. That’s why it’s worth examining which chains managed to grow despite the downturn. Among major chains, the recently launched… pic.twitter.com/hnpAKaMJDU — CryptoRank.io (@CryptoRank_io) March 5, 2025 Chains with top TVL growth last month SX Rollup SX Rollup emerged as the best-performing blockchain with a growth of 9,908% over the past month. This hike in its TVL shows…

While the quantity of ethereum held by liquid staking platforms has remained static within a narrow band of 13.6 to 14 million since Q4 2024, Binance’s derivative for staked ether has undergone a dramatic expansion, ballooning 27.27% since mid-November. Ethereum Liquid Staking Conquest Rocket Pool, the ether liquid staking protocol, long lingered in the shadow of Lido, the dominant liquid staking derivative network. Today, the narrative pivots: Binance’s derivative offering, wrapped binance beacon ether (wBETH), has eclipsed rivals to secure its rank as the second-largest protocol trailing only Lido. A pie chart of the total value locked ETH (13.68 million)…

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev believes that blockchain technology will eventually underpin stock trading, arguing that crypto’s infrastructure could make financial markets more accessible, cost-efficient, and resilient. Tenev made the statement during a fireside chat, where he outlined how integrating stocks with blockchain networks could remove many inefficiencies in traditional trading systems, allowing assets to trade seamlessly around the clock. Crypto rails in stock markets Tenev pointed to the 24/7 nature of crypto trading, lower settlement times, and reduced transaction costs as key advantages over legacy financial infrastructure. He contrasted this with the stock market, where trades are limited to specific…

The team behind the Shiba Inu ecosystem has announced an upgrade to ShibaSwap, introducing new and improved liquidity pools (LPs) to the DEX. Leading Shiba Inu developers announced the latest ShibaSwap upgrades on Social Media X. According to the team, the new pools expand the ability for users to add liquidity to the Shiba Inu ecosystem. The latest ShibaSwap upgrade includes a user-friendly liquidity pool management, allowing users to easily create, import, and transfer LPs on a single page. The upgrade also improves the user experience with a cleaner and more intuitive UI for easy navigation. The upgrade has optimized…

The White House says it supports a congressional resolution that aims to repeal the so-called “Broker DeFi Rule,” a regulation that critics say unfairly targets the cryptocurrency industry and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. White House cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence chief David Sacks has confirmed that the administration supports the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution introduced by Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Mike Carey. The measure, known as SJ Res. 3, seeks to repeal an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule issued on December 30, 2024, that expanded the definition of “intermediary” to include software that processes DeFi transactions. The rule requires…

ABU DHABI — In just one month, Kaia-powered Mini Dapps on LINE Messenger have taken Asia by storm, attracting over 35 million users and generating $2 million in in-app sales.— Launched on January 22, these Mini Dapps have rapidly gained traction, primarily in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Korea. With an impressive average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) of $39 and a 13% paying user rate (PUR), the adoption rate highlights the massive market potential for Web3 applications in Asia.Kaia Chain Sees Record GrowthThe success of Mini Dapps has fueled a surge in Kaia’s blockchain activity. Since the launch of the…

Uniswap Labs’ decision to launch Unichain, its Layer-2 (L2) network, without extensive consultation with the Uniswap DAO has sparked significant controversy within the DeFi community. Critics argue that this move raises serious concerns about transparency, centralization, and the broader impact on Uniswap’s ecosystem. Uniswap Labs and Uniswap Foundation Under Fire The launch of Unichain has highlighted governance concerns for the Uniswap ecosystem. Community members and delegates expressed frustration over the lack of input from UNI token holders. Notably, DeFi analyst Ignas pointed out that Uniswap Foundation recently approved a $165.5 million funding proposal to support Unichain’s development and incentivize liquidity…