Author: NBTC

Texas broke its all-time electricity demand record twice in two days last week. ERCOT served a preliminary 91,308 megawatts around 5 p.m. on July 22, one day after demand hit 87,403 megawatts and erased the 85,508-megawatt mark that had stood since Aug. 10, 2023. Neither afternoon saw an appeal for energy conservation, and the system carried more than 20 gigawatts of headroom at the peak. Days later, the grid operator told regulators that demand could roughly double within six years to 175,000 megawatts, while a long-term forecast that had reached about 367,790 megawatts by 2032 was being reworked after regulators…

Flowra today announced a collaboration with compliance infrastructure provider Honeypot to introduce validator-level sanctions and risk screening for Solana, extending compliance capabilities into the block-building process through Flowra’s Programmable Block Policy framework. The collaboration enables institutional validators to define customizable policies governing which transactions and bundles can be included during block construction. By combining Honeypot’s compliance intelligence with Flowra’s validator infrastructure, the companies aim to provide regulated operators with additional tools to meet compliance requirements while maintaining independent control over how those policies are implemented. The initial rollout supports screening against sanctions-related criteria, including wallet addresses associated with sanctioned entities,…

Bitcoin has suspended its recent price rally following a sudden price flip to the downside trajectory, failing to reclaim the much-anticipated $70,000 level. While the drawdown has seen Bitcoin remain in the red zone for the past few days, Bitcoin is back to trading below $64,000. However, popular crypto analyst Ali Martinez has spotted a new price target for Bitcoin. Bitcoin eyes 7% price surge On Thursday, June 18, Martinez shared on-chain data suggesting that Bitcoin could be preparing for another price leg up toward $69,000. However, this will not happen if the asset fails to hold support at $64,000.…

Circle President Heath Tarbert has defended the company’s long-term strategy after Circle shares fell sharply from their post-IPO peak. Speaking in a July 14 interview with FOX Business, Tarbert said management remains focused on building financial infrastructure rather than reacting to short-term moves in the stock. The interview came as Circle faced growing investor concern over competition in the stablecoin market. CRCL had traded near $260 after its public debut before falling toward the low $60 range. Tarbert said Circle is “playing the long game” and argued that successful execution would eventually support shareholder value. Tarbert points to $USDC network…

The chances of passing the CLARITY Act get slimmer with each passing day, leaving crypto users, particularly industry stakeholders, concerned over what could become of the regulatory ecosystem. A tightening US legislative calendar and political gridlock ahead of the August recess have reduced the probability of passing the Act to around 27%. Many crypto community participants have begun considering what the future may hold if the CLARITY Act fails to meet its deadline, or if US lawmakers do not pass the bill into law. Any of these scenarios would redirect the industry back to the SEC’s regulatory supervision regime. Therefore,…

A funding table from researcher 0xviet shows billions concentrating around platforms linking digital assets with mainstream finance. The ranking places Robinhood first at $5.77 billion, followed by Polymarket at $2.87 billion and Kalshi at $2.76 billion. Across 22 entries, the graphic lists about $17.27 billion for exchanges, wallets, payments, prediction markets, AI, and blockchain infrastructure. However, those totals combine equity rounds, corporate backing, structured facilities, and conditional commitments, complicating direct comparisons. Source: X Prediction Markets Secure the Largest Strategic Capital Deals Prediction markets account for two of the chart’s three largest totals, highlighting the substantial capital directed toward event-based platforms.…

By the time SBI Crypto pulled the plug on its Bitcoin pool in Japan on July 31, its seven-day average hashrate had fallen 64% in a month. Later that day, a Hashrate Index reading put Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool at 60% of recent blocks. The timing makes them look connected. Weekly data tell a messier story. SBI Crypto’s official update set the first cutoff at 22:00 UTC on July 30, or 07:00 JST on July 31. Share acceptance stopped, and miners began a graceful disconnect. The company scheduled a full Stratum shutdown by 23:59:59 UTC. Its website would stay…

Open USD (OUSD), a new institutional-focused stablecoin backed by a consortium of more than 140 companies, is set to launch on Ethereum from day one. The announcement was confirmed by Ethereum Institutional, which said Open USD will debut on Ethereum with support from a broad coalition of financial and technology firms, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock and BNY. The project is being developed by Open Standard, an independent company designed to govern the stablecoin via a consortium model that does not rely on a single issuer. Open USD aims to differentiate itself from established stablecoins such as USDT and USDC…

Prominent cryptographer and Blockstream CEO Adam Back explained in detail why Bitcoin should not be considered the sole invention of Satoshi Nakamoto, and why the architecture of the first cryptocurrency is actually the result of collective work by the cypherpunk community that had been underway since as early as 1997. According to Back, the basic concept of decentralized money based on Proof-of-Work technology was discussed in detail by researchers on private mailing lists long before the publication of Bitcoin’s official white paper. He specifically pointed out that developers such as Peter Todd had referred, at a young age, to “attempts…

Bank of Japan Insider Claims Alarm Financial Circles On Yen Carry Trade Unwinding Allegations of an anonymous financial commentator about the Bank of Japan’s future actions and their implications on financial markets are flooding social media on Sunday. Yuto Kanzaki, a financial commentator and alleged Bank of Japan insider who claims to be “anonymous for security,” has revealed information that, if true, hints at a possible unwind of the yen carry trade, which would bring a large liquidity crunch to stock and crypto markets. “Japan’s wealth is returning to its homeland. By any means necessary. The Bank of Japan has…