Author: NBTC

And more and more games launch on the chain, the Solana gaming ecosystem aims to get a boost from Thursday’s launch of the Solana Game Pass—a free NFT that will provide early access to games and potential crypto rewards to players. Available to mint via NFT marketplace Magic Eden, the Solana Game Pass launches with four weeks’ worth of promotions across 30 partnered games, comprising “Season 0” of what’s planned to be a multi-season program. Players who hold the free NFT will gain early access to games, and can complete quests via Solana’s partner platform GAM3S.GG to win raffle tickets…

Hidden Road Partners CIV US LLC, a subsidiary of Hidden Road, has received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to operate as a broker-dealer. The announcement was made today (Thursday). The development comes shortly after Hidden Road disclosed that it plans to be acquired by Ripple. On April 8, 2025, the company announced a definitive agreement for a $1.25 billion acquisition by Ripple, a provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions. “Our broker-dealer registration is a significant step in the development of Hidden Road’s fixed income prime brokerage platform and bolsters our capabilities in traditional financial markets,”…

Ethereum saw a recent price recovery after a dip earlier in April. A large influx of ETH to derivatives exchanges suggests potential hedging or short positions, historically preceding price drops. Global economic uncertainty adds to the volatile outlook for Ethereum despite its recent gains. Ethereum has been making headlines again. After a sharp drop earlier this month, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency is showing signs of recovery. On April 9 alone, ETH jumped 8.24%. In the past 24 hours, it has climbed another 1.5%. But fresh on-chain data is raising some concerns – there’s been a large and unusual flow of…

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. Last week, Meanwhile announced a whopping $40 million raise co-led by Framework Ventures and Fulgur Ventures. However, the raise is a bit more significant than was initially reported. “This is the largest equity investment that Framework Ventures has ever made,” Framework’s Michael Anderson exclusively told me. If you’re not familiar, Meanwhile is a bitcoin life insurance company valued at $190 million after their Series A announcement. Oh, and here’s an interesting factoid: They only have 10 employees. “We’ve written all our own technology,” Zachary Townsend, Meanwhile’s CEO,…

The long standing legal battle between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple reached its apparent conclusion after Brad Garlinghouse announced on March 19 that the agency would ‘drop the case’, causing an immediate surge in XRP’s market capitalization. To be more precise, March 19 saw the token’s market cap skyrocket from $132.66 billion to $148.63 billion. The 12.03% surge was short-lived, however, as the ensuing market-wide downturn proved stronger. By press time on March 31, XRP’s market capitalization had receded to $122.53 billion, for a total loss of $26.1 billion since the announcement. What’s more, the downturn might…

Spot trading volume across the top ten centralized exchanges (CEXs) hit $5.4 trillion in Q1 2025, a 16.3% decline from the previous quarter, as crypto market momentum cooled following a euphoric end to 2024. Top Crypto Exchanges See 16% Volume Dip in Q1 2025 Crypto trading cooled off sharply in the first quarter of 2025. According to CoinGecko’s Q1 crypto industry report, spot trading volume on the top ten centralized exchanges (CEXs) totaled $5.4 trillion, a 16.3% drop compared to Q4 2024. Binance held on to its lead with a 40.7% market share, although its monthly volume tumbled from over…

A big-time Ethereum (ETH) investor who had been sitting dormant for a while, and had accumulated 76,000 ETH during the 2015 ICO, has reappeared after three years of radio silence. About an hour ago, the wallet linked to the original ICO address “0xD612” sent 6,000 ETH — about $9.55 million at the time — to a new address. Just 45 minutes later, 3,000 ETH, which is worth about $4.78 million, were moved from the new address to a known Kraken deposit address, which suggests a likely sell-off. According to the blockchain, this whale bought ETH at the ICO price of…

Anchorage Digital Bank, a leading cryptocurrency custody firm backed by Wall Street giants, is being investigated by a financial crimes unit within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to sources familiar with the matter. The investigation, conducted by the department’s El Dorado Task Force, has reached out to former Anchorage employees in recent weeks to gather information about the company’s internal practices and compliance protocols. The nature and scope of the investigation has not been officially disclosed, but the task force is known for its efforts to combat cross-border money laundering and financial crimes through preventive investigations. Anchorage Digital,…

Kaspa, a leading proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain platform known for its speed and scalability, has reached a significant milestone in its development journey. In a recent update shared on X, the Kaspa team announced the completion of the feature freeze for its Crescendo roadmap, setting the stage for the highly anticipated Main Hardfork Version scheduled for March 31, 2025. The feature freeze date marks the point at which no additional features will be added to the hardfork, allowing the team to focus on testing, stabilization, and preparation for the main Hardfork version and mainnet development. The mainnet deployment of this upgrade,…

Crypto exchange giant Kraken has laid off hundreds of staffers across all areas of the business over the past several months, as the firm continues to streamline its operations ahead of a potential public listing in the U.S., according to two people familiar with the situation. Kraken was reported to have laid off 400 staff, or about 15% of its workforce, at the end of October last year, when Silicon Valley investor and Kraken board member Arjun Sethi became co-CEO alongside David Ripley, who took the reins when former CEO Jesse Powell stepped down in 2023. Since Sethi became co-CEO,…