Author: NBTC

China’s producer price index surged 2.8% year-on-year in April 2026, hitting its highest level since July 2022. It marks the definitive end of a 41-month deflationary period that had weighed on the world’s second-largest economy. The culprit is energy. Geopolitical turmoil, particularly the Iran conflict disrupting oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, has sent global energy prices climbing. The inflation picture in detail Consumer prices in China rose 1.2% in April, beating analyst expectations. The extraction industry was the hardest hit sector, with prices jumping 5.1% as the Iran conflict continued to choke global oil supply. Non-ferrous metals also…

On-chain data is suggesting that Bitcoin ($BTC) is likely to see more losses ahead before the asset finds a bottom. This outlook was shared by crypto analyst Willy Woo in an X post on March 30, where he noted that traditional on-chain valuation frameworks place Bitcoin’s likely bottom range between $46,000 and $54,000. Central to this view is the CVDD Floor Model, which currently sits near $45,500 and continues to trend upward over time, reflecting the asset’s long-term accumulation dynamics. The analysis shows Bitcoin has traded above both the realized price and the CVDD floor for most of the cycle,…

Major Wall Street operator Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) said Monday it will begin limited production trades of tokenized securities in July, with a broader launch of its platform set for October. The service, built within DTCC’s Depository Trust Company, will allow firms to issue digital versions of assets already held in custody, while keeping the same ownership rights and protections, according to the press release. The system is being shaped with input from more than 50 firms, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and crypto-native companies like Anchorage and Circle, the firm said. The effort marks one of the…

Backpack Exchange, a Solana-based cryptocurrency trading platform, launched on Monday its native token, BP, detailing a token generation event (TGE) that includes a mix of user distribution, lockups and a mechanism tied to company equity. At launch, 25% of the token’s 1 billion total supply—around 250 million BP—will be distributed, primarily through an airdrop to existing users. Most of that allocation is set aside for participants in Backpack’s points program, with a smaller portion reserved for holders of its “Mad Lads NFT collection.” The company said no tokens have been allocated to founders, team members or investors at inception, a…

Pennsylvania just drew a line in the sand for AI companies playing doctor. The state’s Department of State filed a lawsuit on May 5 against Character Technologies Inc., the company behind Character.AI, alleging its chatbots impersonated licensed medical professionals and handed out mental health advice without any credentials to back it up. The case represents the first time a US state has enforced medical practice laws against an AI entity. Pennsylvania is treating a chatbot pretending to be a psychiatrist the same way it would treat a human doing the same thing, which is to say, as a violation of…

Crypto-related stocks rallied Monday, led by Circle (CRCL) and Coinbase (COIN), as progress on U.S. digital asset legislation and bitcoin breaking above $80,000 lifted sentiment across the sector. Circle, issuer of the USDC stablecoin, surged 18%, extending recent gains, while U.S.-focused crypto exchange Coinbase rose about 7%. BitGo (BTGO), a digital asset infrastructure firm offering custody and stablecoin services, climbed roughly 10%. Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate bitcoin holder, crypto-friendly digital broker Robinhood (HOOD) and Ethereum (ETH) treasury firm Bitmine (BMNR) were also up 3%-4%, underscoring the broad-market advance. The move came as bitcoin pushed above $80,000 during the session,…

Aster DEX has launched its Stage 6 strategic buyback program to help stabilize the $ASTER token amid ongoing market ups and downs. The program executes token repurchases from a dedicated strategic wallet. 🚨JUST IN: $ASTER DEX ACTIVATES STAGE 6 BUYBACK RESERVE FOR $ASTERAster DEX (@Aster_DEX) has launched its Stage 6 strategic buyback program.The move aims to support $ASTER amid current market conditions. Repurchases are being executed from a designated strategic wallet.The… pic.twitter.com/gPaJcR5vV8 — BSCN (@BSCNews) March 23, 2026 Moreover, all transactions are fully on-chain and publicly visible, demonstrating Aster’s commitment to transparency. This approach allows the community to track the…

The Senate Banking Committee has scheduled a markup of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act for May 14, setting up the most consequential week for crypto regulation on Capitol Hill in months. The bill, commonly known as the CLARITY Act, would draw firm jurisdictional lines between the SEC and CFTC over digital assets. Getting here required clearing a sticking point that had stalled negotiations for weeks: whether stablecoins should be allowed to offer yield to holders. Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks hammered out a compromise on the issue, removing what had been the single biggest policy obstacle to bringing…

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at Harvard University this morning in what is officially a moderated discussion with an undergraduate economics class. Markets are not treating it that way. The discussion begins at 10:30 AM Eastern and can be watched live on the Federal Reserve’s official YouTube channel. There are no prepared remarks, but with Brent crude at $114, the US-Israel-Iran war entering its fifth week since the February 28 strikes, and Bitcoin down 46% from its all-time high, traders will be parsing every answer Powell gives for signals on where interest rates go next. The…

The alleged OpenAI information leaker Leopold Aschenbrenner has become an investing rising star since departing the company in 2024, as his Situational Awareness LP hedge fund has, in 2026, become a top-performer for its shareholders. Specifically, the investment vehicle saw a substantial 61% increase in asset value in just two months, according to the data shared by Autopilot – a trading bot platform responsible for numerous popular automatic and copy-trading strategies – on X on May 1. Update: Leopold is closing in on the big oneOne week ago: $5,000,000Today: $9,000,000The Leopold Aschenbrenner tracker in less than two months is already…