Author: NBTC

As AI agents become a bigger topic in crypto, Pranav Ramesh told CoinDesk that Nasdaq has already been using them across several sections of its business and has sharply expanded that use over roughly the past 18 months. Ramesh, head of options research at Nasdaq and co-founder and CTO of Leadpoet, said the most meaningful shift has been in trust. “AI agents are relatively new, probably being used more and more over the last six months,” he said, arguing that earlier systems hallucinated too often for sensitive enterprise workflows. He said Nasdaq is using AI agents in areas including market…

Three US senators have reportedly asked one of the people behind US President Donald Trump’s memecoin whether the president intends to “dangle access” to himself at a luncheon event, given he is already planning to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner the same day. According to a Thursday Politico report, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Adam Schiff sent a letter to Bill Zanker, the individual behind the launch of the memecoin Official Trump ($TRUMP). The lawmakers questioned whether Trump had been leveraging his appearance at a luncheon event scheduled for April 25, which the memecoin project announced in…

The DeFi ecosystem is undergoing a remarkable transformation, evolving from basic swap functionalities to the creation of advanced financial products and services tailored for institutional clients. MixMax and iFlux Global have partnered to create a joint venture that accomplishes both the advantages of centralized and decentralized exchanges; thus, enhancing efficiency within the two systems, whilst not compromising any level of transparency. Both MixMax and iFlux Global are committed to mitigating one of the greatest obstacles faced by investors with large funds, namely the risk of having their investment liquidated when they carry out significant block trades. Redefining Large-Scale Transactions with…

Rising rates and deficits could push U.S. debt beyond $50T within years. Persistent PPI growth signals producer costs may fuel prolonged inflation. Hidden liabilities could lift real U.S. debt near 300% of GDP levels. Economist Peter Schiff has raised concerns about the U.S. national debt, which now stands above $39 trillion. He warns that rising interest rates, increasing defense spending, and persistent inflation could push the debt even higher. Schiff predicts that the national debt could surpass $50 trillion if current trends continue before the end of President Trump’s term. The combination of higher borrowing costs and budget deficits threatens…

The crypto regulation standoff between Coinbase and the US Senate intensified this month when the exchange formally told Senate offices it cannot support the latest CLARITY Act draft, marking its second withdrawal from legislation that could define US digital asset law for a generation. As TheStreet reported, Coinbase representatives told Senate offices the exchange could not yet support the latest version, citing significant concerns about the stablecoin yield language. Armstrong confirmed talks are ongoing. The Tillis-Alsobrooks draft goes beyond the base bill’s existing yield limitations by also restricting exchange access to transaction size data, which is the calculation layer that…

Venus has launched a new way for $BNB Chain users to access fixed-rate yield, unveiling the Pendle Fixed Rate Vault on Venus Core in a move that aims to make one of DeFi’s most attractive ideas far easier to use. The new vault is designed to remove the complexity that has long stood between users and fixed income-style returns, turning what was once a multi-step process into a single deposit. For years, fixed-rate yield has been one of DeFi’s biggest promises. The appeal is obvious. Lock in a return, hold until maturity, and collect your yield without worrying about market…

A survey of more than 1,000 global finance executives has found that digital assets are no longer a speculative interest for the financial industry but an operational imperative, with nearly three quarters of respondents saying institutions that fail to offer digital asset solutions risk losing their competitive position entirely. The survey, conducted by Ripple at the start of 2026, covered banks, asset managers, fintechs, and corporate finance departments across multiple geographies. The results paint a picture of an industry that has moved past the question of whether to adopt digital assets and is now focused on how to do so…

OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital are backing a new Vietnam-based crypto exchange as Hanoi accelerates efforts to bring one of the world’s most active retail crypto markets under formal regulation. Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange (CAEX) said Friday that the two firms have agreed to invest and become strategic partners alongside founding shareholders VPBank Securities and digital-identity firm LynkiD. The funding will bring CAEX’s capital base to VND 10 trillion — roughly $380 million — the minimum needed to enter a government pilot program for regulated crypto trading under Resolution 05/2025. The deal lands as Vietnam’s Digital Technology Industry Law,…

Polygon Labs, Frax, Curve Finance and DFB Network have launched a suite of foreign exchange liquidity pools on the Polygon blockchain, enabling onchain swaps between fiat-pegged stablecoins using Frax’s frxUSD as the base dollar pairing. The pools are live on Curve’s Polygon deployment and pair frxUSD against BRZ (Brazilian real), IDRX (Indonesian rupiah), tGBP (British pound), AUDF (Australian dollar), KRWQ (Korean won) and USDT, with additional currency pairs in development. The four partners have also collaborated on an incentive program to bootstrap liquidity across the pools, with gauges live for reward distribution. $6 Trillion Market The launch targets the $6.6…

When the net present value of Stretch (STRC), the dividend-yielding preferred share issued by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), is calculated, it makes disappointing reading for MSTR shareholders. Michael Saylor hopes that STRC will somehow fund trillions of dollars worth of bitcoin ($BTC) purchases for shareholders of his common stock. However, while STRC raises capital that will mathematically create a positive $BTC yield for MSTR, it’s actually extraordinarily expensive over the long term. Strategy advertises these immediate $BTC purchases as the up-front benefit of STRC to its MSTR common stockholders. It happily praises $BTC Yield, the extra quantity of $BTC that MSTR…