Author: NBTC

A quiet legal skirmish over the definition of perpetual futures is threatening to reopen a tax question that many traders and platforms have ignored. CME Group CEO Terry Duffy warned on Wednesday that the unresolved fight over whether these contracts are swaps or traditional futures could eventually drag the IRS into the picture, according to the original report. The timing matters because U.S. crypto derivatives volumes are growing, and any forced reclassification would ripple through every exchange offering perpetuals to American users. Duffy’s comments surface as Washington is already grinding through broader crypto legislation. While most of that debate focuses…

Following the recent launch of RobinhoodChain earlier this month, the protocol has continued to post explosive growth in its key metrics across the DeFi and RWAs ecosystem. With Robinhood gaining massive traction following its big move this month, it has recorded an explosive surge in transfer activity over the last 30 days. Robinhood in the spotlight While the grand debut of the blockchain has brought the Robinhood ecosystem into the spotlight, the protocol has continued to gain traction amid rapid adoption from users across the world. Amid this unprecedented growth, the latest onchain data from the RWAs Foundation shows that…

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…