Author: NBTC

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. Solana DeFi has matured rapidly in recent years. But even as core behaviors like high-speed trading, airdrop farming and multi-leg strategies gain traction, many users still face infrastructure built for slower, passive chains. And while recent attention has turned toward liquid restaking, most new LRTs are functionally yield wrappers with limited composability. That leaves users in a situation where they must either sacrifice liquidity for returns or forgo yield entirely to participate in DeFi strategies. Blueprint Finance, the team behind the Ethereum-based Concrete protocol, saw an opportunity.…

Key Takeaways World Liberty Financial plans to distribute USD1 tokens via an airdrop to WLFI holders as a trial. The test aims to verify the company’s onchain airdrop infrastructure and reward early adopters. World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the DeFi project backed by Trump and his sons, has issued a proposal to conduct a small-scale airdrop of its USD1 stablecoin to all current holders of WLFI tokens to test the airdrop system in a live environment. The test is also aimed at introducing the stablecoin to early WLFI supporters. According to the proposal published on Monday, all wallets currently holding WLFI…

TL;DR CleanSpark will sell part of its monthly Bitcoin production to finance operations and avoid share dilution, moving away from its full-retention strategy. It expanded its credit line with Coinbase Prime to $200 million and launched an institutional treasury desk to optimize the management of its digital assets. With more than 12,000 BTC in reserves and 40.2 EH/s of power, the company aims to reach 50 EH/s and establish itself as a self-sustaining and efficient operator. CleanSpark changed its operational and financial strategy by announcing it will no longer retain 100% of the Bitcoin it produces. Starting in April, the…

Amid the rise of AI and surveillance technologies, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin advocates for enhanced privacy measures to ensure decentralization remains intact. The world’s changing at a dizzying pace. Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than most of us can keep up with, reshaping nearly every aspect of life as we know it. Along with this rise in AI, there’s a growing concern: privacy. When it comes to cryptocurrency, privacy has always been a bit complicated to say the least. It’s something that’s been debated endlessly — sometimes heatedly — and never really resolved. In a recent blog post, Ethereum’s co-founder…

A recent filing with the US SEC revealed that the self-acclaimed Bitcoin Treasury firm Strategy could break its HODL strategy and sell its BTC tokens. Specifically, the Michael Saylor-chaired firm filed an 8-K form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on April 7. Publicly traded companies usually submit this form to the regulator when disclosing significant events within the organization. Strategy filed the Monday form with the US SEC to update investors on its business activities in the first quarter, which ended on March 31, 2025. The disclosure provided detailed information on the Bitcoin acquisitions and the status of…

The crypto lending market is showing signs of life again. Centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms are experiencing a resurgence, with the latter leading. This rise follows a devastating collapse that saw major players like Celsius, Genesis, and BlockFi crumble. This left investors reeling and battered trust in the sector. According to a recent report by Galaxy Digital, the total size of outstanding CeFi borrows as of Q4 2024 was $11.2 billion. This represented a 73% rise from the bear market lows when it reached $6.4 billion. CeFi Lending Market Performance. Source: Galaxy Digital Despite this positive growth,…

Steve Yun, representing TON Foundation as a board member, met with BeInCrypto during the 2025 Web3 Festival Hong Kong. In this exclusive interview, he discussed TON’s recent developments and their unique position in the blockchain landscape as a mini-app focused infrastructure built for Telegram’s ecosystem. The conversation covered TON’s $400 million secondary market investment, technical upgrades to their asynchronous architecture, and strategic initiatives across DeFi and gaming sectors. Yun also shared his perspectives on expansion into US markets and leveraging the Asia-Pacific region’s familiarity with super-app ecosystems. TVL on TON has dropped by 72%. Why, and what’s your response? The…

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark (CLSK) is moving away from its strategy of HODLing 100% of the BTC it mines. The Henderson, Nevada-based company said it is returning to selling a portion of the bitcoin mined to support its operations in an announcement on Tuesday. “While we remain committed to bitcoin as a long-term, hardened asset, we believe a more effective way to increase shareholder value is through a balanced approach between monetizing new production and building long-term holdings,” CEO Zach Bradford said. CleanSpark’s holdings now exceed 12,000 BTC, worth just over $1 billion at current prices. The company has also increased…

Fuse Network, a prominent Layer 2 blockchain platform, has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., a cybersecurity provider. The cooperation presents an AI-based firewall that protects blockchain-based apps and solutions in real-time. The firewall technology developed by Check Point is designed to fight fire as threats occur. Unlike conventional security instruments that only detect problems when they appear, this new layer tackles them from the root. It will be the first time a blockchain network will incorporate this solution to monitor live threats and counter them within wallets, smart contracts, and dApps. Threat Prevention for…

The worst fears for risk assets, including cryptocurrencies, are coming true, and that has raised the risk of bitcoin (BTC) falling below $74,000 in a move that could shake out leveraged long bets. On Sunday, CoinDesk discussed the possibility of pronounced downside volatility in risk assets due to a potential unwinding of the Treasury market arbitrage bets, a dynamic that catalyzed the 2020 crash. Per observers, the unwinding of the so-called carry trades, involving hedge funds exploiting minor price discrepancies between Treasury futures and securities, has begun. That’s evident from the nearly 70 basis points rise in the U.S. 10-year…