Author: NBTC

Foundry Digital, the largest Bitcoin mining pool by hashrate, launched a Zcash ($ZEC) mining pool that quickly grew to control about 30% of the network’s hashrate, according to company data and its newly released block explorer. The New York-based firm said multiple institutional miners joined the pool ahead of its public debut, following an initial announcement in March. Alongside the pool, Foundry introduced Zcashinfo.com, a block explorer that tracks network activity. The site shows pool rankings, hashrate distribution, block data and mining difficulty in real time. Zcash, launched in 2016, lets users send transactions on a public blockchain while keeping…

Grayscale crypto ETF options are advancing through regulatory review, as the SEC evaluation of NYSE American’s proposal reflects a structured approach to expanding institutional access to digital asset derivatives. Key Takeaways: SEC review targets NYSE American proposal tied to Grayscale ETF with 76.02% bitcoin exposure. Regulators examine whether proposal meets investor protection and market integrity standards. Public comment period opens, allowing industry participants to weigh in on ETF options framework. SEC Review Delays Crypto ETF Options Expansion Plans Growing institutional interest in crypto derivatives continues shaping market development, as regulators evaluate new pathways for structured digital asset exposure. The U.S.…

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has unveiled the first members of its new innovation task force as the agency continues its push to provide greater clarity for the crypto market. The Innovation Task Force was initially launched by CFTC Chairman Mike Selig on March 24, who appointed Michael Passalacqua as the leader of the group. Passalacqua is currently the senior advisor to Selig at the CFTC. In an announcement Friday, the CFTC said that Passalacqua will be joined by a list of five initial members including Hank Balaban, a former Latham & Watkins crypto lawyer; Sam Canavos, an ex-Patomak…

Aave Labs, the core development team behind the Aave protocol, has been granted $25 million in stablecoins, alongside a token allocation of 75,000 $AAVE by its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) as part of the “Aave Will Win” framework. The vote passed Saturday with nearly 75% in favor. The stablecoin allocation will be paid in installments over 12 months, while the 75,000 $AAVE tokens will vest linearly over four years, according to the governance dashboard. The Aave Will Win framework aims to accelerate the protocol’s growth, with the DAO funding development and Aave Labs focusing on building and scaling. The stablecoins…

Lawmakers are intensifying scrutiny of a Trump-linked memecoin event as concerns grow over potential financial conflicts, market volatility, and the influence of token-based access models tied to political activities. Key Takeaways: Senators Warren, Schiff, and Blumenthal probe $TRUMP token event tied to Mar-a-Lago access model. $TRUMP token volatility spiked to $3.08 before a sharp drop, signaling fragile speculative demand. Lawmakers cite $4.3 billion retail losses as $TRUMP and $MELANIA expose market imbalance risks. Senators Investigate Trump-Linked Memecoin Event Structure A political push to scrutinize crypto-linked presidential activities is intensifying regulatory attention across digital asset markets. The Senate Banking, Housing, and…

Users on Scroll, an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) network, paid more than $50,000 in excess transaction fees over roughly four days after the team behind the project repeatedly raised the parameters that determine how much users pay for posting data to Ethereum, according to an analysis published by L2BEAT. The overcharges stemmed from six manual increases to two fee multipliers on Scroll’s gas price oracle, the smart contract that calculates the Layer 1 data portion of every transaction’s cost. Each update raised the previous value by 2x to 10x, compounding to 1,280x the original baseline by April 5, L2BEAT said.…

World Liberty Financial minted 25 million $USD1 stablecoins on Monday morning and burned 3 million through its TokenGovernor contract, on-chain data shows, as the Trump-linked venture continues managing the fallout from a lending position that trapped depositors on DeFi protocol Dolomite. The activity follows $WLFI’s statement last week, posted in response to CoinDesk’s reporting on the Dolomite transactions, that it had repaid $25 million of the roughly $75 million it borrowed against its own governance token. The venture deposited billions of $WLFI tokens as collateral and borrowed stablecoins that were partially routed to Coinbase Prime, pushing Dolomite’s $USD1 lending pool…

Metaplanet’s CEO Simon Gerovich has shared an exciting update concerning crypto asset regulations in Japan, sparking discussions across the crypto community. On Saturday, April 11, Gerovich revealed that the Japanese government has approved a cabinet decision on amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. This approval allows the country to officially classify cryptocurrencies as financial products, marking a major milestone for the crypto ecosystem. Bitcoin in spotlight in Japan’s new law Following the approval of the rule amendment, Gerovich noted that as crypto-related rules become more defined, the market is likely to effectively recognize the essential asset with strong…

In a significant development for decentralized finance, the cross-chain liquidity protocol THORChain has announced plans to integrate the mainnets of three prominent yet distinct cryptocurrencies: Monero ($XMR), Bittensor ($TAO), and Zcash ($ZEC). This strategic expansion, detailed in an official blog post, aims to bridge substantial liquidity gaps and connect diverse blockchain ecosystems within the next two months. The move signals a major step toward a more interconnected and functionally rich decentralized financial landscape, directly addressing long-standing community demand for native support of privacy-preserving and AI-driven digital assets. THORChain’s Strategic Mainnet Integration Roadmap THORChain’s development team has outlined a clear, phased…

Ron Hammond, head of policy at crypto market maker Wintermute, has a cautious outlook on the Clarity Act, putting its chances of passage this year at around 30% even as momentum builds in Washington. “There are a lot of moving parts,” Hammond said, pointing to a legislative process that is advancing, but unevenly. The Clarity Act aims to create rules around crypto market structure regulation in the U.S., including codifying how the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission can oversee digital assets in the U.S. Hammond’s estimate broadly aligns with other signals in the market. A recent…