Author: NBTC

South Korean payment gateway operator NHN KCP has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with LINE NEXT Inc., the Web3 subsidiary of the messaging giant LINE, to broaden the use of stablecoin-based payments, according to a report from Newsis. The partnership aims to integrate NHN KCP’s domestic merchant network with Unifi, LINE NEXT’s global digital asset wallet, and to lay the groundwork for a won-pegged stablecoin that NHN KCP helps distribute. Expanding Real-World Use Cases for Stablecoins The agreement signals a step toward mainstreaming stablecoin payments in South Korea, where regulatory clarity around digital assets is still evolving. By connecting…

Bank of America analysts recently warned that August could be a difficult month for US stocks, suggesting investors look at safer options like the US dollar and gold. They point to typical summer slowdowns and overall market conditions that might make people more cautious. The big question now for crypto investors is whether Bitcoin will track the performance of a tech stock or function similarly to digital gold. The answer will likely depend on what’s causing the market to drop in the first place. Risk-Off Environment (Short-Term Bearish for Bitcoin) Looking back, when markets turn cautious due to things like…

$XRP whales suddenly accumulated 190 million tokens within a single day amid the renewed bearish pressure that has kept $XRP below $1. The move comes as bears continue to gain ground around key price levels. Notably, sellers took control of $3 in October 2025, $2 in January 2026, and $1.50 in May 2026. Now, they appear to be trying to keep $XRP below the important $1 level. The selling pressure recently grew stronger after $XRP recorded its first weekly close below $1 since reclaiming the level in November 2024. $XRP remains below $1 and currently trades around $0.99. However, the…

Law360 reporter Bonnie Eslinger reported on the verdict Monday from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. The reporting notes that a 12-member jury found Dillman guilty of four wire fraud counts and one conspiracy count after roughly six hours of deliberations spread across two days. Jury Rips Apart Block Bits’ Automated Trading Pitch Dillman and co-founder David Mata pulled in about $960,000 from roughly 22 retail investors between June 2017 and August 2018. The sales pitch was specific: Block Bits Fund I supposedly ran a proprietary bot trading about 100 digital assets across…

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has decided to delist the ICON (ICX), Secret (SCRT), and Storj (STORJ) tokens from the spot market following recent asset reviews. According to the exchange’s statement, trading in all spot pairs for these assets will cease on September 3, 2026, at 06:00. Binance stated that it regularly reviews the digital assets listed on its platform and may delist projects that do not meet certain standards. The exchange said that the main purpose of these reviews is to protect user security and adapt to changing market conditions. The evaluation process considers the commitment of the project teams, the…

Investment bank TD Cowen has sharply reduced its price target for Nakamoto, a publicly traded company that holds Bitcoin as its primary treasury asset, by 58% to $17 from $40. The significant downgrade, first reported by The Block, reflects a weakening outlook for Bitcoin and growing concerns over Nakamoto’s leveraged capital structure. Behind the Downgrade TD Cowen’s revised valuation comes amid a period of sustained pressure on Bitcoin prices, which have struggled to regain momentum following recent macroeconomic headwinds. The bank’s analysts specifically cited Nakamoto’s use of debt to finance its Bitcoin acquisitions as a key risk factor. In a…

Pendle has launched its first yield-trading market on Robinhood Chain, giving sNET holders access to fixed and variable yield positions until the market matures on Sept. 17, 2026. Pendle opens its first Robinhood Chain market Pendle said in a Sep. 4 announcement that its protocol is now live on Robinhood Chain, adding fixed-yield products and yield trading to the network’s decentralized finance ecosystem. The deployment begins with one sNET market scheduled to mature on Sept. 17. Pendle did not identify the assets planned for subsequent markets or provide a timetable for adding them, saying only that more products would arrive…

The big picture: In an interview on CoinDesk’s Public Keys, Bitwise Head of Research Ryan Rasmussen said investors are underestimating Circle’s opportunity as stablecoins move toward a multi-trillion-dollar market. Rasmussen expects the stablecoin market to grow from roughly $300 billion to between $3 trillion and $5 trillion. He said Circle is particularly well positioned as U.S. stablecoin regulation takes shape, with its existing market share giving it a head start. “I think we’ll look back five years from now and Circle will be not only a stablecoin giant, but a payment giant,” Rasmussen said. Closer look: Rasmussen’s thesis isn’t just…

Anza is charging security researchers a non-refundable 0.5 $SOL to file each Alpenglow finding before the competition closes at 16:00 UTC on Aug. 19. The rules require every finding to pass through a designated portal, which burns the fee and creates one confidential GitHub Security Advisory. Reports sent through another channel are ineligible. The target is consequential. SIMD-0326 proposes Alpenglow as a backwards-incompatible replacement for Solana’s current Proof-of-History and TowerBFT consensus protocol. Anza has put the new consensus components, their validator integrations and the migration path inside the bounty’s temporary scope. Researchers pay the filing cost before Anza determines validity,…

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a soldier who allegedly made more than $400,000 using nonpublic information to trade event contracts on prediction market platform Polymarket, is pushing back against attempts by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to weigh in on his criminal case. In a Monday filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Van Dyke’s lawyers opposed the CFTC’s efforts to file an amicus brief relating to claims in his case. The letter referred to the commodities regulator’s counsel filing a notice requesting permission from the court to provide its views on many…