Author: NBTC

Solana developer Anza said Monday that Alpenglow, the network’s biggest proposed consensus overhaul to date, is live on a community test cluster, marking a major step toward a potential mainnet rollout. The update means validator operators can now test software designed to move Solana from its current consensus system, which combines Proof-of-Stake with TowerBFT and Proof-of-History, toward a new architecture intended to dramatically reduce finality times and improve network responsiveness. “Alpenglow is live on the community test cluster,” Anza wrote on X. “The biggest consensus change in Solana’s history, now running on validator infrastructure ahead of mainnet.” Today, Solana relies…

Alchemy Pay has continued its aggressive expansion across the United States after securing a Rhode Island Currency Transmitter License. The latest approval pushed the company’s regulatory coverage to 16 US states. This move strengthened the company’s position in the growing digital payments sector. It also highlighted Alchemy Pay’s long-term commitment to compliant crypto operations in America. The new approval arrived during a crucial period for the crypto industry. Regulators across the United States continue tightening oversight around digital assets and payment platforms. Many crypto companies still struggle with licensing requirements and compliance standards. However, Alchemy Pay continues moving in the…

Deloitte has acquired Web3 infrastructure company Blocknative in a talent-focused deal that will see the startup wind down its APIs and gas oracle network next month, even as the Big Four firm deepens its push into crypto consulting. According to The Block, Deloitte announced on Tuesday that it had acquired Blocknative via what it described as a “talent acquisition-focused merger.” The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Deloitte said the Blocknative team will now “focus on driving Web3 innovation within Deloitte’s client ecosystem,” plugging its engineers and product staff into the firm’s existing blockchain and digital-assets practice. At…

Apple’s leadership change is drawing attention across the tech world. But beyond AI and products, the crypto industry sees something else taking shape. As Tim Cook steps down and John Ternus takes over as CEO, Apple’s ties to crypto could grow, whether the company admits it or not. Ternus Inherits a Cautious Crypto Approach For years, Apple has taken a careful stance toward digital assets. The company holds no cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet and has avoided any formal involvement in the sector. While Cook has personally owned Bitcoin and Ethereum, he kept those investments separate from Apple’s corporate strategy.…

General Updates Kraken added $NEO and $GAS to its exchange listings roadmap, with spot trading for both tokens now live on the major exchange. The listing will mark Kraken’s first spot trading offering for both tokens. R3E Network published two experimental repositories on May 4 exploring what Neo’s next generation could look like. The larger of the two, neo-n4, prototypes a multi-L2 elastic network architecture built on Neo 4 core. neo-n4 is envisioned as a three-tier design where Neo N3 or Neo 4 serves as the L1 settlement layer, an optional gateway aggregates proofs from multiple L2 chains, and individual…

Lighter, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange (Perp DEX), has announced that its forced withdrawal feature has successfully passed independent verification. The platform confirmed on X that users can now generate zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to withdraw their funds directly from the Ethereum network, even if Lighter’s sequencer becomes unavailable. How the Forced Withdrawal Mechanism Works Lighter’s forced withdrawal feature is designed as a safety mechanism for users in the event of a sequencer failure. A sequencer is a critical component in many layer-2 and rollup-based systems that orders transactions before they are batched and settled on the main Ethereum chain. If…

$XRP gained renewed attention after Evernorth highlighted how the crypto asset facilitated a tokenized Treasury redemption across Ripple, Mastercard, J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys, and Ondo Finance. Key Takeaways: J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys infrastructure interacted with the $XRP Ledger during a coordinated institutional settlement workflow. Ripple received U.S. dollar proceeds in Singapore outside normal banking operating hours. Blockchain coordination reduced reliance on multiple ledgers, reconciliations, and correspondent banking intermediaries. Ripple, Mastercard, and JPMorgan’s Kinexys Linked Through $XRP Settlement Flow $XRP treasury company Evernorth shared on May 18 that the “actual story” behind a recent cross-institutional blockchain transaction was the $XRP Ledger (XRPL) coordinating…

Key takeaways Bitcoin is expected to become a significant collateral instrument in DeFi by 2026. The introduction of Bitcoin ETFs in 2024 did not generate yield due to custodial lock-in. Bitcoin serves as a strong store of value but is less effective for payment systems. Hashi protocol enables native Bitcoin lending without the need for wrappers or triggering tax events. Direct borrowing using Bitcoin can be achieved without creating derivative assets. A trust-minimized approach to decentralized lending avoids tax implications. The Sway network enhances security with multisig accounts requiring majority approval for transactions. Institutional clients face challenges with DeFi due…

In a new tweet, Intersect, a member-based organization in the Cardano ecosystem, shared a recent upgrade status about the Van Rossem hard fork. Intersect noted that momentum toward the intra-era Van Rossem hard fork continues across node, infrastructure, and ecosystem coordination, with the Preview now moved into the first live governance-driven activation stage. A highlight of the report is the Node 11 release, with the preview environment forked early on May 8. Intersect stated that Node v11.0.1 is now fully released and mainnet hard fork-ready. Upgrade alert issued With the Node v11.0.1 now fully released and mainnet hard fork ready,…

Digital assets platform Fireblocks has deepened its push into AI agent infrastructure by launching Agentic Payments Suite, a framework purpose-built to support the x402 protocol, as it also joined the x402 Foundation. Fireblocks said Wednesday that its full-stack solution would cover “the full lifecycle” of AI agent payments, including wallet infrastructure for agents to send funds and an acceptance layer for merchants to receive them. Agentic Payments Suite also includes several compliance and settlement features for regulated financial institutions. A key area of focus for Fireblocks with Agentic Payments Suite is to scale stablecoin adoption through the use of AI…