Author: NBTC

In brief Bitcoin miner MARA cut 15% of its workforce amid the firm’s shifting focus to AI. The layoffs, reportedly not due to financial constraints, follow its recent $1.1 billion Bitcoin sale. Shares in MARA finished Thursday up more than 8%, but are down 53% in the last six months. Publicly traded Bitcoin miner MARA has cut its workforce by 15% shortly after it sold $1.1 billion worth of the top crypto asset, the company confirmed to Decrypt following an initial report from Blockspace Media. Citing sources close to the matter, the publication reported that the cuts impact full-time employees…

Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, acknowledged that his company mishandled the rollout of its newly announced agreement with the US Department of War, calling the announcement “opportunistic and sloppy” after a sharp user backlash. In a series of posts on X Monday, Altman said the artificial intelligence developer moved too quickly in formalizing the deal and failed to adequately explain the complexity of the issues involved. “One thing I think I did wrong: we shouldn’t have rushed to get this out on Friday,” he wrote. The contract, disclosed Friday, permits deployment of the company’s technology on classified military…

The ongoing war between the US and Iran has reignited inflation concerns in the US. While inflation is still far from the Fed’s 2% target, it had seen a significant decline last year. However, the war increased the risk of inflation rising again, while expectations of a Fed interest rate cut decreased. However, a Reuters poll revealed that expectations for a Fed interest rate cut remain. Economists surveyed by Reuters said that despite concerns that the war in the Middle East will lead to inflation, they expect the Fed to keep interest rates steady until September and to implement at…

America’s top financial regulator has made a bold statement about traditional money. CFTC Chair Michael Selig says current financial systems are outdated and that blockchain networks are exactly what we need to bring finance into the 21st century.Let’s see why he says so. Why Selig Believes the Current System Is Outdated CFTC Chair Michael Selig says blockchain is not just a tech trend, but a necessary upgrade to old finance systems, one he believes can rebuild the trust that has been lost in America’s financial and information systems. He argues that banks and markets built decades ago cannot match the…

Polymarket has expanded beyond crypto and event-based contracts into traditional financial assets, integrating oracle provider Pyth Network as the resolution source for a new suite of equity, index, and commodity markets. The collaboration, announced on Wednesday, launches with daily up/down and daily close markets for major equity indices, commodities including gold, silver, WTI crude, and natural gas, and more than a dozen U.S. equities such as TSLA, COIN, PLTR, NVDA, and AAPL. Alongside the integration, Pyth unveiled Pyth Terminal, a live data interface that allows traders to explore and verify price feeds in real time. The tool includes benchmark comparisons…

Bitcoin is often celebrated as a decentralized network, with mining power distributed globally to ensure security and neutrality. However, a closer look at mining activity suggests that this decentralization may not be as evenly distributed as it appears. While individual theories can participate in mining, the majority of the network’s hash power is concentrated among a relatively small number of large mining pools and geographic regions. Why Bitcoin’s Mining Distribution Deserves A Closer Look Bitcoin mining is not as globally decentralized as many assume. Analyst Lucky revealed on X that while the network is technically permissionless, a significant share of…

Bitcoin BTC$68,845.75 slipped below $69,000 on Thursday as a broader pullback in risk assets gathered pace, with early optimism around Iran-U.S. peace and easing Middle East tensions fading. The largest crypto lost more than 3% from its overnight high above $71,000, while major altcoins ether (ETH), $XRP ($XRP), Solana’s $SOL ($SOL) and Cardano’s $ADA ($ADA) plunged 4%-5% during the same period. Oil prices remain the barometer for the broader market. Crude oil futures rose about 4%, reversing earlier declines and reinforcing concerns about inflation and supply disruptions tied to the Iran conflict. U.S. stocks were at session lows just after…

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Illinois and various state officials on Thursday over the state’s efforts to shutter prediction market providers. Illinois sent cease-and-desist letters to some prediction market providers, arguing that the companies were offering sports gambling products that should be regulated under state law. The CFTC has argued that prediction markets are offering swaps products, which are regulated under the federal Commodity Exchange Act and therefore are under the “exclusive jurisdiction” of that regulator. In the lawsuit, the CFTC continued this argument, saying Illinois’s efforts “intrudes on” the CFTC’s…

Over the last year, Aster has transformed from a single-product derivatives venue into a broader trading platform, with aster chain at the core of its new infrastructure strategy. From Perp DEX challenger to ecosystem builder Over the past year, Aster has shifted from a standalone perpetual trading product into a dual-focus project centered on trading and infrastructure. Moreover, this evolution has been defined by three clear turning points that reshaped its trajectory. First, during the rapid rise of the Perp DEX sector, Aster identified the right niche and captured structural opportunities. Trading volume continued to grow, repeatedly posting new highs…

China has been sparing no effort in dealing with users involved in illegal Bitcoin mining activities. It recently hit two men in the Heilongjiang Province with heavy prison sentences, a few weeks after a prominent industrial operator was hit with millions in liability. Amid all that drama, $BTC mining difficulty has stayed around all-time high levels, and the industry has responded with sharp pivots, while corner-cutting stunts are being punished harshly by authorities in China and areas under embargo in Russia. Heilongjiang Province sentences duo to 14 years China’s officials have been cracking down hard on underground Bitcoin miners in…