Author: NBTC

Enterprise blockchain firm Ripple has secured the 16th spot on the 2026 CNBC Disruptor 50, a prestigious annual ranking of cutting-edge venture-backed companies. The controversial company has been recognized for “bringing blockchain into real-world finance.” The fledgling sector is currently entering its “disrupter era.” The vast majority of the companies are based in the US, with 23 of the 50 companies being in California. The 2026 list welcomes 22 new entrants. “Vibe coding” and prediction markets have become the emergent themes. AI dominance A cursory glance at the Disruptor 50 list will be sufficient to see the absolute dominance of…

A crypto PAC affiliated with Fairshake has poured $5 million into a Texas congressional runoff ahead of Tuesday’s vote. Protect Progress, an affiliate of the crypto-backed Fairshake PAC, spent $5 million supporting Democratic challenger Christian Menefee in Tuesday’s Texas 18th District runoff and a further $2.8 million opposing incumbent Al Green, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Fairshake reported $193 million cash on hand heading into 2026. The Kalshi prediction market gave Menefee a 91% probability of winning, with Polymarket at a similar figure. Total betting volume on the parallel Texas Republican Senate race between Ken Paxton and John Cornyn…

Bitcoin trended downward on Wednesday, dropping beneath the $75,000 threshold to trade at $74,570 at the time of writing. This slide erased nearly 3% of its weekly value and dragged its market capitalization back below $1.5 trillion. Key Takeaways: Bitcoin fell below $75K on May 27 as Glassnode flagged fading exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows. Bitstamp data showed BTC dropped 3% weekly, wiping out $115.3M in leveraged longs. Polymarket traders priced U.S.-Iran deal odds at 30% ahead of the May 31 deadline. Onchain Metrics Signal Fading Momentum For the second consecutive day, bitcoin trended downward, slipping below the $75,000 threshold even…

The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has been hit by recent criticism and negative commentary following a $20 billion drop in total value locked (TVL) and $1.1 billion lost to hacks like the $292 million Kelp DAO bridge exploit. DeFi isn’t safe anymore because AI is becoming ‘superhuman’ at hacking, former OpenZeppelin CTO and co-founder Manuel Aráoz said this week. “DeFi is dead,” said one commentator on X recently. Andrew Forson, president of DeFi Technologies, has an entirely opposite view and a bit of criticism of his own: “DeFi is way more than those protocols that have been hacked,” Forson said…

Mastercard (MA) abandoned plans to invest in crypto infrastructure firm Zerohash following the payments giant’s $1.8 billion acquisition of BVNK, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. In January, Mastercard was reported to be considering a strategic investment in the Chicago-based company even after it opted to stay independent. At the time, Zerohash was said to be in talks to raise $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. Now, Zerohash is said to be raising a new funding round at an even higher valuation, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition…

The highly anticipated V11 “Van Rossem” hard fork update in the Cardano ecosystem has been officially launched on the Preview testnet. While the approval process continues on the PreProd testnet, the next phase of the network, the mainnet governance vote is targeted for May 29th. According to information shared by Cardano developers, the V11 update enables smart contracts to run faster and at lower costs, while also bringing enhanced cryptography features and improvements to staking pool security. The update is expected to particularly improve performance on the Plutus smart contract infrastructure. Related News Detailed Technical Report Published Following Bitcoin’s Latest…

The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 on May 14, 2026, but the biggest threat to its passage was never the crypto skeptics or the SEC holdouts. It was the American Bankers Association. The ABA spent April and May running an emergency lobbying campaign to close what it calls the “stablecoin yield loophole” in the bill, a provision that lets crypto exchanges pay activity-based rewards on stablecoin balances. The ABA’s own research estimates that yield-bearing stablecoins could grow the market from $300 billion to $2 trillion at the direct expense of bank deposits, reducing lending capacity by 20…

Block’s Cash App has quietly begun rolling out its highly anticipated stablecoin payment feature, a source familiar with the matter told CoinDesk Wednesday. According to this individual, the feature is now active for 25% of Cash App’s nearly 60 million users, with plans to scale to 100% by the end of the week. A spokesperson at Block confirmed the roll-out in response to a request for comment. The launch marks an unprecedented ideological shift for Block’s leadership and changes how the platform handles digital fiat currency. The source familiar with the matter said that integrating alternative blockchain rails indicates Block…

Bitcoin is exhibiting a diverging market trend that bulls would not want to see, with prices relying heavily on bullish derivatives momentum. Bitcoin ($BTC) dropped below $75,000 today, building on the bearish momentum from the previous day. Amid this, a report has highlighted a concerning mismatch between demand and derivatives sentiment, adding to the current market uncertainty. Key Points Bitcoin’s latest market structure shows a growing disconnect between sentiment and actual demand. Binance funding rates have moved back into positive territory, signaling that leveraged long positioning is increasing. However, the Binance taker buy volume has trended lower for several months…

Trezor stablecoin yield is now live inside Trezor Suite, marking a notable shift for hardware wallet users who want access to DeFi-style returns without leaving the wallet’s own interface. From 28 May 2026, users can earn yield on $USDC and $USDT on Ethereum, with the new feature built to work inside the Trezor environment rather than through a separate wallet connection or external dApp. That matters because one of crypto’s longest-running frictions has been the split between security and usability. Hardware wallets are built for custody, while DeFi has often pushed users toward browser wallets, app connections, and unfamiliar interfaces.…