Author: NBTC

Balancer Labs, the team behind the decentralized finance protocol Balancer, is shutting down after mounting financial pressure and a $116 million hack in November, with executives proposing continuation of the protocol under a leaner, more cost-effective structure. “After careful consideration, I have decided to wind down Balancer Labs. This is not a decision I take lightly,” one of Balancer Protocol’s founders, Fernando Martinelli, said on Monday, adding that Balancer Labs has become a “liability rather than an asset to the protocol,” as it has been operating without revenue. Balancer Labs CEO Marcus Hardt added that it was spending too much to…

Mantle has shot up 230% in total value locked over the past six months to hit $755 million, outpacing L1 rivals like Sui and Avalanche. It recently became the third-largest protocol on Aave for total lending and borrowing, with $1.34 billion secured in a month. Mantle has surpassed $755 million in DeFi total value locked (TVL), data from DeFiLlama shows, representing a 230% rise over the past six months. According to DeFiLlama, Mantle is available across 165 protocols with $753.65 in TVL at press time and $1.394 billion in bridged TVL. The network’s rapid surge in TVL has overtaken established…

The Fed implemented 25 basis point interest rate cuts at its final meetings in 2025. However, while the Fed paused interest rate cuts at its January 2026 meeting, there is no clear view on when rate cuts will resume. While some predictions suggest the Fed might not cut interest rates at all, UBS Global Wealth Management stated that a Fed rate cut is still possible, but there’s no need to rush. When Will the Fed Cut Interest Rates? According to Walter Bloomberg, UBS analysts predict that the Fed may cut interest rates if inflation falls despite stronger-than-expected non-farm payroll data…

Prediction market firms such as Polymarket and Kalshi have a new set of guidelines for U.S. operation, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission laying out initial guidance and a proposed permanent rule Thursday for what the agency called “a proven source of reliable information for news media, sports leagues, financial institutions, and everyday Americans.” The agency had once been a legal adversary of the prediction markets, warning that certain betting ran afoul of derivatives laws and that the CFTC couldn’t function as a global policy force combating fraud and manipulation in political markets all over the world. But under Chairman…

YieldNest, a DeFi infrastructure provider for yield strategies, has introduced ynRWAx, a vault designed to integrate real-world credit returns into decentralized finance. The product focuses on combining tokenized assets with lending mechanisms commonly used in DeFi, including leveraged looping strategies. The vault targets an annual yield of about 11%, based on mortgage-backed private credit linked to residential real estate in Australia. The credit operations are managed by Kimber Capital, a licensed Australian investment firm specializing in structured lending. YieldNest delivers the on-chain architecture and integrations. ynRWAx is structured as a yield-bearing asset that allows users to gain exposure to off-chain…

The crypto market is beginning to return to the green zone as leading cryptocurrencies are beginning to show decent increases after the recent market crash. While there are multiple indications that the market is seeing shifting sentiment and is about to see broad market resurgence, data from SosoValue shows that $XRP ETFs recorded zero daily net inflows during their last trading session on Feb. 11. This silent movement of $XRP funds reflects a pause in investor activity, possibly out of caution, even as market watchers pointed to potential recovery signals in $XRP’s price. $XRP ETFs maintain $1.23 billion milestone despite…

Crypto finance is only now beginning to provide an environment that matches traditional finance: ways to earn steadier, more predictable returns — similar to bonds or savings products, according to Aave Labs founder Stani Kulechov and Ethena CEO Guy Young. “Most fixed income is like the distribution of risk in different formats … basically just slicing and dicing and distributing risk,” Young said during a panel at Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in New York. “This piece of DeFi was probably the least featured two years ago.” Until recently, crypto users mostly traded tokens or borrowed against them, often chasing high,…

Wall Street’s confidence in Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) continued to crumble Analysts at Monness, Crespi, Hardt has slammed cryptocurrency giant Coinbase with a rather rare double downgrade. The stock of America’s leading cryptocurrency exchange has been slashed directly from “Buy” to “Sell.” The firm cited “prolonged crypto market weakness” as the key reason behind the downgrade. More pain? The downgrade is particularly stinging because it does not foresee a speedy recovery for the embattled market. Monness, Crespi, Hardt cut their forecasts for Coinbase’s revenue, EBITDA, and earnings per share (EPS). The firm expects the current market malaise to last for…

Victims of a Chinese investment fraud are challenging a United Kingdom proposal to compensate them through a Chinese redress scheme, arguing the plan could leave British authorities holding much of the upside from roughly 61,000 Bitcoin seized in a money-laundering investigation. According to the Financial Times, citing court documents, the dispute has moved into the UK High Court as groups representing victims seek to recover funds linked to the cryptocurrency seized by police in London. The Bitcoin ($BTC) haul is now worth about 3.2 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) after rising sharply in value since the assets were confiscated. Law firm…

The Amazing Life of Chun Wang: From OG Bitcoin Miner to Astronaut On March 31, 2025, Chun Wang, co-founder of the historic Bitcoin mining pool f2pool, launched as mission commander of Fram2—the first crewed spacecraft to enter a polar orbit. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket into a 90-degree retrograde inclination orbit passing directly over the North and South Poles. No prior crewed mission had achieved this trajectory; the previous highest inclination for humans in orbit was 65 degrees on the Soviet Vostok 6 flight in 1963. In an…