Author: NBTC

Firmus, a former Bitcoin mining company that has repositioned itself as an AI infrastructure provider, has secured $2 billion in new equity funding, lifting its post-money valuation above $10.5 billion as it expands AI factory projects across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. According to Firmus, the strategic equity round received full investment commitments from existing backers Coatue and Nvidia, alongside new funding from funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and other Blackstone vehicles, with additional participation from global trading and technology firm Jane Street. The latest raise nearly doubles Firmus’ valuation from the $5.5 billion level recorded during its April…

Eigenlayer’s on-chain footprint printed its busiest day in months on Wednesday—60 whale transactions—yet $EIGEN’s price barely stirred. The token sits at $0.23, flat even as new wallet creation jumped to 219, the highest since June 10, according to the Santiment update. The data suggests early positioning, not a sudden retail chase. Whale Moves and New Wallets Resurface The 60 large transactions represent a four-month high, matching levels last seen on March 16. Similarly, 219 fresh $EIGEN wallets popped up, a spike that hadn’t been observed since early June. Sudden bursts in on-chain activity when price stays neutral often carry a…

South Korea is set to eliminate the monetary threshold for its crypto travel rule, requiring virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to submit transaction information for every digital asset transfer, regardless of amount. The revised enforcement will take effect on Aug. 20, following a Cabinet meeting review on Aug. 11, as reported by Digital Asset. What the travel rule change means Under the current framework, VASPs only needed to provide sender and recipient information for transfers exceeding 1 million won (approximately $730). The amendment to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information removes this threshold, meaning even small-value…

The company’s deteriorating financial performance compounded these concerns. BitMEX continued to lose market share throughout the sale process as trading activity migrated to larger centralized exchanges and decentralized perpetual futures platforms. This made potential acquirers reluctant to pay the revenue multiple typically reserved for growing businesses, the person said. Both and BitMEX and Exodus did not respond to requests for comment by publication time. The exchange was reportedly seeking a valuation of around $1 billion during the process, although it is unclear whether formal bids were ever submitted. BitMEX was one of crypto’s most influential exchanges, pioneering the perpetual futures…

Bitcoin ($BTC) price could reach $256,000 within 12 months, according to Adam Livingston, an advisor to Saturn Credit, who argues the flagship coin is now historically cheap relative to gold (XAUT). In an X post on June 11, Livingston stated that the gold-to-Bitcoin ratio is now about 76% below its long-term power-law fair value. As such, he noted that if $BTC price returns to that fair value, it would roughly quadruple against gold, thus a target of $256,000. Gold priced in $BTC. Source: Adam Livingston However, this Bitcoin price target holds only if Gold continues to consolidate during this period.…

Global gold exchange-traded funds returned to net buying in July after investors withdrew money broadly during May and June. The funds attracted $3 billion globally, marking their strongest monthly intake since April and reversing the recent selling cycle. Their physical holdings increased by 23 tonnes in one month, while total assets under management rose 1% to $530 billion. The July rebound arrived as gold ended four straight monthly declines and recovered from prices near $4,000 per ounce. European funds accounted for most July buying by dollar value, while Asian and North American products also recorded positive flows. The move contrasted…

Fintech firm Ripple made two moves on Thursday aimed at growing its dollar-backed stablecoin, $RLUSD, in a month when transfer volume across the token has dropped by 25%. The first is Ripple Mint, a platform that lets institutional customers create, redeem, bridge and track $RLUSD through a web dashboard or direct integration. Until now, minting $RLUSD — the process of issuing new tokens when a customer deposits dollars — generally meant arranging it directly with Ripple and waiting on a manual issuance process. The APIs let a firm trigger minting and redemption automatically from its own systems and track each…

The U.S. Senate’s decision to postpone a vote on the Clarity Act until September has drawn a measured response from the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI), with CEO Ji Kim emphasizing that the setback will not derail the industry’s push for clearer regulations. The delay, first reported by The Block, marks a procedural hurdle but not a change in the broader legislative trajectory, according to Kim. Context: What the Clarity Act Aims to Address The Clarity Act, formally known as the Clarity for Digital Assets Act, seeks to define which federal agency—the SEC or the CFTC—has jurisdiction over digital assets,…

Additionally, the OFAC also sanctioned a network of foreign exchange houses, shell companies and individuals on Friday that it said helped Iran’s shadow banking system move hundreds of millions of dollars, including funds tied to overseas oil sales. “The Iranian regime’s reliance on digital assets and shadow banking networks is further evidence that Economic Fury is working,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Whether in dollars, rials, or crypto, Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat.” The designations came as the U.S.-Iran war has raised the stakes of Washington’s push…

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, ticker IBIT, is a spot Bitcoin ETF that lets investors gain direct exposure to Bitcoin’s price through a standard brokerage account, without holding cryptocurrency themselves. Approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2024 as part of a simultaneous approval of ten spot Bitcoin ETFs, IBIT has since become the largest Bitcoin ETF in the world by assets under management, surpassing $70 billion in AUM at its peak during 2025 when Bitcoin traded above $100,000. What Is IBIT And How Does It Actually Work? IBIT holds actual Bitcoin, not futures contracts or derivatives. Each…