Author: NBTC

Regulators in Hong Kong laid out ten measures to boost bond issuance, deepen RMB markets, and advance tokenized assets. The plan ties in a third batch of tokenized green bonds and a new stablecoin licensing regime, signaling how the city wants to anchor its role in digital finance. A Roadmap With Four Pillars Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Monetary Authority (HKMA) released a Fixed Income and Money Market Roadmap. The framework rests on four pillars – expand issuance, strengthen secondary-market liquidity, grow offshore renminbi capacity, and build next-gen infrastructure. Since 2019, Hong Kong has already issued…

A new poll conducted by consultancy company McLaughlin and Associates suggested that issues related to digital assets could have a significant impact on the 2026 US midterm elections. According to the results of a survey released on Wednesday by the crypto advocacy organization Digital Chamber, the majority of a group of 800 respondents — 64% — said candidates’ positions on cryptocurrency were “very important” when considering whether they would vote for them. While 38% of the respondents said they identified as Democrats, 37% of the group said they would trust Republican candidates more to advance crypto policies. “As redistricting continues…

Google’s AP2 Protocol introduced a universal framework where AI agents can initiate payments the same way humans do. The system supports credit cards, bank transfers, and crypto rails for stablecoin payments, letting AI assistants spend with explicit authorization from users. To build this, Google teamed up with over 60 major partners. Prominent names include Coinbase, Mastercard, PayPal, MetaMask, Polygon, Adobe, Revolut, Shopify, Intuit, and more. The goal is to make AI-driven commerce safe, auditable, and interoperable across banks and blockchains. Why is a New Protocol Needed? As AI agents start doing more real-world tasks like buying products, booking travel, or…

A wave of heavy market activity on October 10 sent shockwaves through both traditional and digital markets, exposing the limits of major centralized crypto exchanges. The turbulence began moments after US President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on Chinese imports. The policy surprise spooked global investors, triggering a sell-off that spread from equities to digital assets within minutes. Trump’s Tariff Shock Exposes Cracks in Major Crypto Exchanges Following the announcement, crypto traders responded in two distinct ways. Some rushed to cut their losses, while others scrambled to “buy the dip.” The simultaneous surge in orders overloaded several exchanges, including…

Grayscale’s announcement that its Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF became the first US-listed spot crypto ETF allowing staking helped push ETH’s price above $4,700 in October. However, Grayscale’s ETH staking activity has not been strong enough to keep prices above that level for long. Grayscale Staked Over 300,000 ETH, But Selling Pressure Is Greater On October 6, Grayscale said its Ethereum Trust ETFs (ETHE, ETH) and Solana Trust (GSOL) now allow investors to earn staking yields directly through traditional brokerage accounts. Industry leaders expressed optimism about the news, calling it a bullish signal for ETH and the broader Ethereum ecosystem. “It’s…

After the US House of Representatives approved the CLARITY Act, a cryptocurrency regulation bill, in July 2025, all eyes turned to the Senate drafting its own version. If both chambers agree on the final text, the bill will be submitted to President Donald Trump for approval. Despite the government shutdown, progress is reportedly being made. A spokesperson for the Senate Agriculture Committee told Unchained that Committee Chairman John Boozman is working on a bipartisan proposal: “This is a deliberate and good-faith negotiation process. We are committed to securing bipartisan support within the committee.” Although a clear timetable has not yet…

Prediction markets, which have gained popularity thanks to global interest in the 2024 US presidential election, continue to increase their cryptocurrency integrations. At this point, Kalshi, the most popular prediction market platform, is also accelerating its cryptocurrency integrations. Kalshi, a US CFTC-regulated prediction platform, integrated Solana (SOL) support in May, allowing users to fund their accounts with USDC and other crypto assets, enabling a seamless transition from traditional finance to blockchain. Speaking at a Solana event, John Wang, head of cryptocurrency at Kalshi, explained why they chose Solana. John Wang said Solana was ideal for Kalshi’s high-volume event contract trading…

On a large liquidation wave that swept the crypto market on October 11, 2025, several decentralized protocols were tested. As reported by an update of X by 0xQuantic on X, it was a smooth sail in the storm with Flare DeFi. According to Quantic, which is an active member of the Flare ecosystem, all was well and predictable and the network was robust and technically sound, even during the extreme stress over the market. During this major liquidation event, many protocols were put to the test.As an active Flare DeFi user can say that everything was running smoothly and as…

Ethereum recorded its largest validator exit on record this week, with more than 2.4 million Ether worth over $10 billion awaiting withdrawal from its proof-of-stake network, but institutional participants are stepping in with billions in the validator entry queue. Ethereum’s exit queue surpassed 2.4 million Ether (ETH) worth over $10 billion on Wednesday. The spike in exits extends the validator queue time to more than 41 days and 21 hours, according to blockchain data from ValidatorQueue.com. Validators are responsible for adding new blocks and verifying transactions on the Ethereum network, playing a critical role in its operation. Ether validator queue.…

Since September 24, Aster has outperformed stablecoin firm Circle in the amount of protocol revenue it generated, breaking the recent duopoly between the USDC issuer and Tether. Aster first overtook Circle in 24-hour revenue, becoming the second biggest protocol by daily earnings, right behind Tether on September 24 when it raked in $12.03M in protocol revenue fees while Circle brought in $7.71M, a figure that is around its usual daily baseline. The Aster DEX has stringed together consecutive days of strong revenue generation. Source: DeFiLlama. Aster stays ahead of Circle Aster, a recently launched perp DEX being positioned to compete…