Author: NBTC

The European Commission has proposed expanding the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) over crypto and broader financial markets in a bid to narrow the competitive gap with the United States. Published Thursday, the package would transfer “direct supervisory competences” for key pieces of market infrastructure, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), trading venues and central counterparties, to ESMA and strengthen its coordination role in the asset management sector. The proposal still needs approval from the European Parliament and the Council, where it is under negotiation. If adopted, ESMA’s role in overseeing EU capital markets would more closely…

KuCoin Pay, the popular crypto exchange KuCoin’s native crypto payments provider, has partnered with PlatON, a popular fintech infrastructure platform. The partnership aims to advance digital asset settlements and payments across the globe without any borders. As KuCoin Pay revealed in its official press release, the integration denotes a landmark in developing a relatively secure and inclusive digital economy. Thus, this move promises to offer wider payment options, securer transfers, and completely borderless experience to benefit users and merchants worldwide. 💳 KuCoin Pay × PlatON: Expanding Borderless Digital PaymentsWe’re partnering with @PlatON_Network to enhance global payment accessibility through the integration…

Ethereum competes with other chains like Solana or BNB Chain, thanks largely to its layer-2 solutions. In fact, while the layer-1 of Solana and BNB Chain do not require layer-2 solutions due to their very fast and cost-effective transactions, Ethereum’s layer-1, on the other hand, needs layer-2 to compete on equal footing in these aspects. The most important Ethereum layer-2 solutions are Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, zkSync Era, and Starknet. These are different solutions based either on easily implementable rollups or on secure and fast zero-knowledge (ZK) protocols. Arbitrum Base Optimism Polygon zkSync Era Starknet Which Layer-2 to Choose Arbitrum…

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has argued that a reliable, on-chain gas (transaction fee) futures market should be developed to reduce future uncertainty in network fees. According to Buterin, while transaction fees are low today, users don’t have a clear understanding of how fees will change over the next two years. Therefore, the market needs a new mechanism to generate expectations about future gas fees. Buterin explained that such a futures market could function like a prediction market built on BASEFEE, allowing users to see market signals about future gas prices more transparently and protect themselves against potential price increases.…

Most of the money stolen by Russian cybercriminals ends up exchanged to cryptocurrencies, according to a representative of a public institution consulting the government in Moscow on new laws and regulations. Law enforcement should be able to confiscate digital coins, despite the absence of legislation clearly defining the matter, Evgeny Masharov, member of the Commission for Public Review of Bills and Regulatory Acts, insisted, adding to the impetus for adopting a comprehensive framework for digital assets. Russian fraudsters favor converting funds into cryptocurrency The largest portion of the funds illicitly obtained by those involved in cybercrime gets laundered through conversion…

Kraken has enabled around-the-clock trading for its tokenized stocks, a move that leverages its crypto infrastructure to directly challenge the traditional Monday-to-Friday, 9-to-5 operating hours of legacy stock exchanges like the NYSE and Nasdaq. Why 24/7 Trading Matters for Market Structure The feature, now live on its Kraken Pro platform for professional traders, extends trading for its “xStocks” from a 24/5 schedule to full 24/7 coverage. The initial rollout includes 10 of its most popular tokenized equities, such as TSLAx (Tesla), SPYx (S&P 500 ETF), and NVDAx (Nvidia). Since launch, xStocks have recorded more than $10 billion in combined CEX…

BNB Chain, Binance Pay, and Google have launched a joint initiative built on Google Cloud’s infrastructure, Binance Pay’s transaction tools, and BNB Chain’s blockchain network for efficient agentic commerce payments. According to the partnership’s announcement made through BNB Chain’s LinkedIn feed on Monday, the collaboration will add Binance to a select group of companies working directly with Google Cloud within a framework known as the Agent Payments Protocol. As reported by Cryptopolitan, Google introduced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) in mid-September as an open and interoperable network that uses AI agents to start and complete payments in compliance with industry…

Morning Ville is emerging as one of the most intriguing NFT initiatives within the Soneium ecosystem, blending digital identity, creators, builders and Web3 gamification. What is Morning Ville Morning Ville: NFTs minting announced How to submit your wallet for whitelisting Final thoughts What is Morning Ville Morning Ville is meant to be a modern society, and a playground designed for creators and community on Soneium. It’s is emerging as a next-generation character IP built for the long run, blending digital identity, creator tools, gamified experiences, real-world culture, and rich cross-media storytelling into a unified universe. A few days ago, the…

Ethereum is showing two major signals this quarter: record-breaking stablecoin settlement flows and a new long-term accumulation pattern highlighted by market analysts. Fresh data from Token Terminal place Q4 stablecoin transfers near the 6-trillion-dollar mark, already above last quarter’s total with weeks still remaining. At the same time, chart analysts say Ethereum’s multi-year structure has moved into a Wyckoff accumulation phase, reflecting quieter positioning beneath the surface as the market resets after the 2022–2023 decline. Ethereum Stablecoin Volume Nears 6 Trillion Dollars in Q4 Ethereum is on pace to process nearly 6 trillion dollars in stablecoin transfers during the fourth…

Tether and Bitfinex shareholder Christopher Harborne has donated £9 million ($12 million) to Nigel Farage’s right-wing party Reform UK, making the crypto investor’s political donation one of the biggest in UK history. Reform UK also received a £50,0000 donation earlier this year from Viscountess Rothermere, the wife of the owner of the UK’s largest news outlet, the Daily Mail, a £500,000 donation from a high-profile property developer, and £100,000 from an investment firm founder. According to DonationsWatch, Harborne has spent almost £21 million ($28 million) on political party donations and Reform UK (formerly known as the Brexit Party), has received…