Author: NBTC

LayerZero introduced ATLAS on Tuesday, an exchange engine built on its Zero blockchain that provides matching, clearing, settlement and risk management to trading venues. The product has no frontend or consumer application of its own. The design moves LayerZero from carrying assets between chains to running the machinery underneath the venues where they trade, and ties $ZRO’s fee capture to volume the protocol does not itself distribute. Every user reaches ATLAS through a third-party application, which keeps between 20% and 65% of the trading fee depending on how much $ZRO it stakes and how much volume it routes. $ZRO traded…

Justin Sun escalated his public fight with Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial on Friday, accusing its $USD1 stablecoin of carrying administrative powers that allow privileged operators to move funds from frozen wallets without holder consent. On Aug. 21, the Tron founder alleged that World Liberty’s published source code does not match the contract currently running on-chain, arguing that the discrepancy amounts to evidence of deceptive deployment and comparing it with techniques used in rug pulls. Sun said the live $USD1 implementation can drain or reallocate balances after an address has been frozen, meaning cold storage or multisignature custody would not…

Kalshi, the federally regulated prediction market platform, has signed multiyear partnerships with five Major League Baseball teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants. The agreements, first reported by Crypto Briefing, include in-stadium LED billboard advertising, digital and radio promotions, fan events, and naming rights to the Gold Glove Bar at Dodger Stadium. Strategic Marketing Expansion These partnerships mark a significant escalation in Kalshi’s sports marketing strategy. By securing visibility at some of the most iconic ballparks in the country, Kalshi aims to build brand recognition among a broad sports audience.…

In brief IBM says it demonstrated “trusted quantum advantage” using 70 logical qubits and a new error-correction method. The experiment completed a computation beyond the reach of leading classical simulation methods while providing statistical evidence the result was accurate. The announcement marks another milestone in IBM’s quantum roadmap, though the hardware remains well below what’s believed necessary to threaten Bitcoin. IBM says it has demonstrated what it calls “trusted quantum advantage,” claiming a quantum computer completed a computation beyond the reach of leading classical simulation methods while also providing statistical evidence that the result was accurate. According to IBM, the…

Tokenization-linked stocks have fallen as much as 11.2% after legal and market concerns reportedly delayed the SEC’s planned innovation exemption for blockchain-based securities. According to fresh reports on Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission was preparing to delay its innovation exemption again after the White House and Wall Street firms raised concerns about its legal basis and possible effect on securities markets. The exemption was expected to reduce regulatory barriers for companies issuing and trading tokenized securities on blockchain networks. SEC officials were reportedly ready to disclose at least part of the plan alongside a separate meeting on Regulation Crypto…

Grayscale has taken another step toward launching the first U.S. spot exchange-traded fund tied directly to Zcash. The asset manager filed its fifth amendment with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. The filing brings its existing Zcash Trust closer to a conventional ETF structure. Consequently, investors could gain regulated market access to the privacy-focused cryptocurrency through traditional brokerage accounts. New Structure and Key Details Grayscale plans to rename the trust The Zcash ETF and list it on NYSE Arca. The proposed fund will trade under the ticker ZCH. Additionally, the ETF will charge investors an annual sponsor fee of…

As the BitMEX closure approaches, the derivatives exchange will enter reduce-only mode at 04:00 UTC on Aug. 26. Traders will lose the ability to place new positions, while the exchange may close existing positions during its wind-down. The BitMEX closure follows a strategic review by the board of HDR Global Trading Limited, BitMEX’s owner and operator, which decided to close the exchange. BitMEX said financial distress, a hack and immediate regulatory pressure were not the causes of the decision. Under the closure timetable and operational FAQ, traders will still be able to reduce existing exposure after the Aug. 26 cutoff.…

Bitcoin [BTC] was trading around the $64.6k mark on Thursday, July 30. The US Federal Reserve announced its decision to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.50%-3.75% on Wednesday, July 29. Energy-related supply disruptions have kept inflation rates elevated above the target 2%, but economic activity was expanding at a solid pace, and operational interest rates were left unchanged. Bitcoin did not see a big short-term reaction to the Fed’s hawkish stance. The short-term price structure remained bearish. The ETF flows gave their own signals, too. Fidelity Bitcoin ETF posts $43 million outflow Source: Farside Investors A 7-day streak of Bitcoin…

A federal bank regulator has granted World Liberty Trust Co. a conditional bank charter, it announced Friday. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. banking agency that grants federal charters, said in a letter posted to its website that World Liberty could operate fiduciary and other trust company-related activities as a national trust bank. “This preliminary conditional approval is granted based on a thorough evaluation of all information available to the OCC, including the representations and commitments made in the application and by the Bank’s representatives,” the letter said. Final approval won’t be granted until the company…

AI Agents Could Expand $XRP Commerce A new phase for $XRP could emerge as autonomous software advances from purchasing digital resources to completing real-world commercial tasks. Chandler Fang, co-founder of AI agent trust startup t54, outlined the potential transition on X on Aug. 21, describing an agent economy composed of markets with different payment values, frequencies and settlement requirements. Before co-founding t54, Fang served as product lead at Ripple after holding quantitative finance and blockchain positions at J.P. Morgan. Ripple has since backed his company, joining Franklin Templeton in a $5 million seed round. Machine-to-machine settlement is no longer the…