Author: NBTC

Liquid staking app Lido has started moving the bulk of its staked $ETH onto Ethereum’s larger post-Pectra validators, and the operators running them are now putting up their own capital for the first time. The main idea is that Lido’s curated node operators stop running thousands of identical 32 $ETH validators and collapse them into far fewer, much larger ones. $16B in $ETH Moved Moreover, Ethereum’s Pectra hardfork, activated in May 2025, raised the maximum effective balance per validator to 2,048 tokens through what are known as 0x02 credentials. Curated Module v2 is the piece of Lido Core that now…

In a recent podcast appearance on the Alt Funds Network, Krista Lynch, SVP of ETF Capital Markets at Grayscale, discussed the advantages of Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs). She noted that while gold ETPs have been a staple for over 20 years, Bitcoin ETPs are a more recent innovation, having only existed for around three years. This comparison underscores the rapidly evolving landscape of digital assets and their growing acceptance among investors. Inside the Move The cryptocurrency market is currently experiencing mixed signals, with Bitcoin’s position as a digital asset gaining traction. Grayscale’s emphasis on Bitcoin ETPs reflects a broader trend…

Arthur Hayes’ family investment firm, Maelstrom, has published an optimistic review of Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project focused on artificial intelligence. The company argues that $WLD’s current market value represents significant growth potential compared to other investment opportunities in the AI sector, setting a price target of $5 for August. According to Maelstrom’s analysis, global capital flows have recently focused on the artificial intelligence sector. Companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, in particular, are attracting investor interest with valuations reaching hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars. However, Worldcoin’s circulating market capitalization of approximately $2 billion positions the project among small-scale…

It has been suggested that the long-awaited new altcoin season in the cryptocurrency market, unlike past cycles, may only benefit a limited number of projects. Wintermute, one of the world’s leading crypto market makers, stated in its latest assessment that institutional investor behavior is beginning to shift and capital is increasingly concentrated in a smaller number of tokens. Wintermute announced that in the first half of 2026, institutional clients accounted for 72% of the company’s over-the-counter (OTC) spot trading volume. This is the highest level recorded in the company’s history. According to the data, institutional investors’ trading activity decreased significantly…

Bitcoin was rejected from the $67,000 to $77,000 resistance zone this week, and the way that rejection happened is telling analysts something important. The bear market that began earlier this year is might still be in control. After bottoming in early June, Bitcoin rallied higher, but only in what technical analysts call a three-wave move, a weaker corrective pattern rather than a genuine trending rally. That distinction matters. In bull markets, rallies tend to unfold in five clean waves, signalling real buying conviction. In bear markets, bounces typically form in three weaker waves before rolling over again, exactly the pattern…

The number of wallets holding Ethereum ($ETH) has surpassed 200 million, according to data reported by Cointelegraph. This milestone reflects a steady increase in user engagement with the Ethereum network, driven by decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and growing institutional interest. Network Growth in Context Ethereum’s wallet count has more than doubled since early 2021, when it first crossed 100 million wallets. The latest figure of 200 million includes both active and dormant addresses that hold a non-zero balance of $ETH. While not every wallet represents a unique individual — some users control multiple addresses — the metric is…

When the Open Standard alliance unveiled its Open USD stablecoin, backed by more than 140 institutions including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock, the market didn’t celebrate — it went straight for Circle’s jugular. Shares in Circle fell between 15% and 18% at one point following the announcement, a reaction that tells you everything about what investors really fear: not that $USDC will lose users overnight, but that its entire revenue model is about to face structural pressure it wasn’t built to handle. Key takeaways The Open Standard alliance launched the Open USD (OUSD) stablecoin with more than 140 institutional…

A cryptocurrency wallet linked to venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has continued its aggressive accumulation of Hyperliquid’s native token, $HYPE, purchasing an additional 687,000 tokens worth approximately $48.09 million over the past four days, according to on-chain analytics platform HyperInsight. Institutional Accumulation Accelerates The address, which on-chain sleuths have identified as connected to a16z, has now amassed a total of 6,617,000 $HYPE tokens valued at roughly $464 million since late May. The buying activity has been distributed across multiple platforms, including major centralized exchanges, suggesting a deliberate and methodical accumulation strategy. This latest tranche of purchases represents a notable…

Users of MOACT, the rewards app run by a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power, can now convert their loyalty points into JPYC, the yen stablecoin, on Polygon, wallet developer HashPort said in a press release published Thursday. The feature, live as of July 30, lets users swap NORM points — earned by completing social-impact “missions” in the app, such as engaging with companies and municipalities working on social causes — into JPYC issued on Polygon. The stablecoin sits in users’ own HashPort Wallets and can be connected to DeFi platforms, turning a closed-loop Web2 rewards balance…

Billionaire investor Ricardo Salinas has shared a bullish outlook on Bitcoin. He argued that the world’s financial system is built on weakening fiat currencies. Additionally, he stated that Bitcoin remains one of the best ways to preserve wealth. During a recent interview, Salinas explained why he avoids the AI investment boom. He also explained why he continuously converts cash into Bitcoin. Furthermore, he described why he said that the cryptocurrency could eventually reach $1 million. “Bitcoin Has More Advantages Compared To Fiat” One of the key moments in the interview came when Salinas revealed how reading The Bitcoin Standard changed…