Author: NBTC

Bitcoin was built to move money, not host home videos. Yet for more than a decade, developers, artists, and trolls have smuggled animated images and video clips into on-chain transaction data. Tens of thousands of archival nodes around the world download them, validate them, and store them or their ownership certificates on hard drives indefinitely. Some of it’s art. Most of it’s just silly. The methods range from elegant to absurd. Some formats wrap a file inside a single transaction’s witness data or stamp pixels into transaction outputs. Other methods slice files into bizarre private keys. A few stash content…

Initial US jobless claims came in at 200,000 for the week ending May 2, beating the 205,000 consensus and reinforcing a picture of a still‑resilient labor market that keeps pressure on the Federal Reserve to delay or dilute rate cuts crypto traders have been hoping for. For the week ending May 2, initial jobless claims in the United States came in at 200,000, undercutting the market’s 205,000 forecast and signaling that layoffs remain historically low despite tighter monetary conditions. A Robinhood-hosted prediction market that had assigned the highest probability to the 200,000 bucket ahead of the release is now settling…

Ripple’s move to integrate $XRP and $RLUSD directly into its Treasury system could pose some benefits to the average employee. Just weeks after Ripple introduced this integration, $XRP community figure Chad Steingraber explained why this development could have major benefits for businesses and workers. Key Points Ripple integrated $XRP and $RLUSD into Ripple Treasury in early April 2026. Corporate treasury manages company cash flow, liquidity, risks, banking relationships, and funding strategies. Chad Steingraber said this integration could benefit everyday employees by allowing real-time payroll payments. $XRP may help address global treasury challenges by improving global liquidity. How $XRP in Treasury…

Texas regulators targeted an alleged crypto investment and MLM scheme that promised millionaire status, passive income, and high monthly returns through recruitment and trading codes. The order also cites withdrawal fees, investor lockups, and claims of low-risk, AI-assisted trading. Key Takeaways: Recruiters allegedly promised investors they could become millionaires within months through aggressive referral incentives. Regulators cited claims of 60% monthly returns, principal protection, and a 99.6% trading success rate. Investors faced withdrawal hurdles that included a 20% handling fee and a later 12% charge tied to taxes and account transfers. Texas Order Flags Crypto Returns, Recruitment, and Investor Lockups…

WalletConnect Pay has integrated Solana, enabling users to make payments with $SOL, $USDC, and $USDT through merchants connected to its payment network. The expansion strengthens WalletConnect’s multi-chain infrastructure, which already supports Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Optimism, and Arbitrum. By combining Solana’s high-speed transactions and low fees with WalletConnect’s extensive wallet ecosystem, the platform is advancing the practical use of crypto for everyday payments and digital commerce. WalletConnect is expanding its payment infrastructure with the addition of Solana, allowing users to spend $SOL, $USDC, and $USDT at merchants that support WalletConnect Pay. The integration enhances the protocol’s multi-chain approach and brings one…

Bitcoin price continued consolidating above the key $80,000 psychological support level this week as improving institutional sentiment and strengthening technical structure fueled speculation that bulls may soon attempt a breakout toward the long-awaited $100,000 mark. According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin ($BTC) traded around $80,500 at press time on May 15 after briefly rallying above $81,800 earlier in the session. The asset remains nearly 32% above its February lows near $61,000 despite renewed volatility across broader financial markets, with buyers continuing to defend the broader uptrend structure that has remained intact since March. One of the biggest catalysts supporting sentiment…

ChimpX, a renowned AI-led blockchain network, has collaborated with Predict Protocol, a decentralized prediction platform. The partnership is set to broaden opportunities across prediction markets and decentralized finance (DeFi). As ChimpX revealed in its official X announcement, the development highlights a strategic move toward delving into the intersection of decentralized finance applications and AI. Hence, the joint effort focuses on investigating unique opportunities regarding the development of DeFi systems. Partnership 🤝Announcement We’re excited to welcome @PredictFDN to the ChimpX ecosystem. Predict Protocol is a permissionless prediction market infrastructure built on BNB Chain, enabling anyone to create and trade event markets…

Boston Fed President Susan Collins backed holding rates steady and urged the Fed to strip out language that implicitly points to cuts as the next move, reinforcing a higher‑for‑longer stance that has repeatedly whipsawed crypto when markets price in dovish pivots too early. Collins told reporters she backed the latest decision to keep rates on hold but “hopes to adjust the wording of the statement to avoid implying a rate cut,” according to a summary of her remarks carried by Jinshi and echoed in recent coverage of her speeches. She added that “an increasing number of officials” want the Federal…

Intesa Sanpaolo’s Ripple Custody Move Signals a New Backbone for Institutional Crypto A subtle but significant shift is reshaping global finance, and it’s accelerating under the radar. Market analyst ChartNerd reports that Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank, is now leveraging Ripple Custody to anchor its digital asset strategy. While this may appear to be just another step into blockchain, the move signals something far more consequential, touching on a structural redefinition of how major institutions store, manage, and ultimately interact with value. Custody is the bedrock of finance, without secure asset storage, markets don’t scale. That’s where Ripple Custody is…

A group of Senate Republicans has urged US financial regulators to clarify the capital standards for companies engaged in crypto activities. Senator Cynthia Lummis said on Thursday that she led the group in sending a letter on May 27 to Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Miki Bowman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Travis Hill, and Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould. The letter commended the agencies’ guidance in March that clarified the capital treatment of tokenized securities, but urged them “to build on that progress to move towards a clear and fair capital treatment for on-balance sheet treatment of…