Author: NBTC

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Bitcoin industry’s first major business, the Silk Road, is now free. Donald Trump called his mother Lyn Ulbricht last night to deliver the news that he had signed a full and unconditional presidential pardon of her son who had been in federal prison since summer 2015. Trump promised to pardon Ulbricht on “day one” in office. However, as January 20 passed and January 21 drew to a close, doubt began to creep into the #FreeRoss community. Impatience grew as Trump spent time signing dozens of non-crypto executive orders and then went off to attend…

The developers of virtual horse racing game Photo Finish Live have teamed up with crypto casino and sportsbook BlockBet, enabling users of the site to wager with the game’s CROWN token. CROWN, a token on the Solana blockchain, joins Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bonk, and others as supported assets for wagering. The partnership includes BlockBet becoming the first official simulcast partner of Photo Finish from developer Third Time Games, allowing users to watch and wager on the outcome of the platform’s virtual horse races that will be hosted around the clock on BlockBet.gg. Additionally, the partnership calls for BlockBet to become…

In 1997, James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg introduced the world to “mega-politics” in The Sovereign Individual, a book that remains eerily prescient decades later. The authors argued that certain forces – topography, climate, microbes, and technology – shape power dynamics by altering the costs and rewards of projecting power. Among key technologies, they identified cryptography as a revolutionary tool poised to usher in a new era of sovereignty through “cybermoney.” Today, their predictions have materialized in the form of bitcoin, a mega-political force that empowers individuals and nations to reclaim sovereignty from centralized institutions. Whether through El Salvador’s…

Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helium Labs, a group that describes itself as Solana’s top RPCs, APIs, data, nodes, and developer support, called out Coinbase executives on the social media platform, X. Mumtaz criticized them for statements that he perceived to be attempts to position Base as a superior network to Solana. The past weekend has been one of the busiest for crypto this year. The launch of the TRUMP and MELANIA tokens sparked a frenzy among users as the memecoins quickly amassed historic market cap valuations in record time. The values of the tokens have fallen by 50% since then.…

Yesterday, President Trump signed a full pardon for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. This was a tremendous victory for the Bitcoin (and Libertarian) movement. It proved with some time, effort and political coordination, the Bitcoin network state, to borrow a term from Balaji Srinivasan, can facilitate real and important change via the highest levels of power at the nation-state level. While we should surely take a moment to celebrate, we should also keep in mind others in the Bitcoin and broader crypto space are currently facing unfair sentencing and we should be acting on their behalf. These others include the…

Ethereum layer-2 network Abstract is building out its ecosystem with a growing list of consumer applications—including a major focus on gaming. The chain’s most recent update indicates that at least 33 games or gaming-related projects will have some connection to the ecosystem after the Abstract mainnet launches this January. To prepare you, we’ve highlighted 9 of the most anticipated games set to launch on Abstract. Pudgy World Pudgy World is the official gaming world of Pudgy Penguins, the NFT project whose parent company is building Abstract. Inside, users are able to build their own “forever Penguin” and explore mini-games, go…

In a recent conversation with Fundstrat’s head of digital asset strategy, Sean Farrell, it was posited that bitcoin could climb to $175,000 within the year. This statement came shortly after the firm’s co-founder, Tom Lee, asserted on CNBC that bitcoin is poised to be the top-performing asset of the year. Farrell’s Forecast: Bitcoin to Breach $175,000 Sean Farrell, the lead for digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, contends that bitcoin (BTC) could achieve a valuation of $175,000. He shared this insight in an interview with Zack Guzman of Coinage. “I do think that bitcoin gets to $175,000 this year and the…

The NFT sector continues to grow as the blockchains are making record gains with non-fungible tokens (NFTs). As per data shared by Phoenix, a prominent crypto analytical platform, Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Solana have emerged as the top blockchains based on their sales of NFTs during this week. TOP BLOCKCHAINS BY WEEKLY #NFT SALES VOLUME #Ethereum #Bitcoin #Solana #Mythos #Immutable #Base #Polygon #BNBChain #Blast #Flow #Panini #Cardano pic.twitter.com/MYB79wsFfx — PHOENIX – Crypto News & Analytics (@pnxgrp) January 24, 2025 The other top chains in this respect include Mythos, Immutable, Base, Polygon, BNB Chain, Blast, Flow, Panini, and Cardano. The remarkable volumes…

President Donald Trump’s memecoin, $TRUMP, has reached a market value of over $7 billion. While several prominent figures in the crypto industry have criticized President Trump’s memecoin launch, Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, has come forward to defend $TRUMP memecoin. Cathie Wood Defends $TRUMP .@ARKInvest CEO and CIO Cathie Wood says we don’t know if President Trump’s memecoin holds much utility, but Trump is “ushering in the next phase of the crypto revolution.” She speaks with @scarletfu, @kgreifeld and @EricBalchunas on “ETF IQ” https://t.co/YbD2ANk8TA pic.twitter.com/pxlEjL3ZUA — Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) January 22, 2025 In a recent interview, Wood stated that…

Stars cannot align more positively for crypto in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, if the latest media reports are anything to go by. Still, one key indicator shows a lack of excitement among U.S. investors. Late Thursday, Bloomberg reported that President-elect Donald Trump will likely issue an executive order announcing crypto as a national imperative or priority with a voice in his administration. Trump could also announce the creation of a crypto advisory that will advocate the digital asset industry’s policy goals. The report comes amid heightened expectations that Trump will announce an executive order supporting the creation of…