Author: NBTC

Real World Assets that are actively deployed inside DeFi protocols are on the verge of reaching $4 billion. As of August 18, DefiLlama shows this number is at $3.98 billion. This same number stood at $650.88 million just a year ago and around $12 million three years ago. That is a 6x in twelve months and a staggering over 300x in three years. Source: DefiLlama What makes this number useful is actually what it excludes. DefiLlama only counts a tokenized asset here when it is put to use onchain. Collateral posted in a lending market qualifies. So does liquidity in…

The US GDP and inflation data releasing Thursday carry more weight than usual. With the Federal Reserve locked in a tense standoff over rates, three dissenting members calling for hikes, and the Middle East crisis pushing oil prices higher, the numbers landing at 13:30 GMT could either validate the Fed’s cautious stance or crack it open entirely. Key takeaways The US Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its preliminary Q2 GDP estimate Thursday at 13:30 GMT, with analysts expecting 2.1% annualized growth. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), and the GDP Price Index will be published…

The Cardano Foundation has joined the newly launched x402 Foundation as an Associate Member, strengthening Cardano’s position in the next generation of internet-native digital payments. The announcement places the Cardano ecosystem alongside some of the world’s largest technology, payment, and blockchain organizations as they collaborate to develop an open standard for machine-to-machine and AI-powered transactions across the internet. Cardano Foundation Becomes Part of the x402 Ecosystem According to the Linux Foundation, the Cardano Foundation is now an Associate Member of the x402 Foundation. It joins an expanding group of industry leaders that includes Ripple, the Solana Foundation, Coinbase, American Express,…

Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis has sued the United States government over an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) decision to award a sole-source contract to competitor TRM Labs. On July 27, Chainalysis Government Solutions filed the challenge in the US Court of Federal Claims. The relevant motion became publicly accessible through CourtListener’s RECAP archive on Sunday. A federal award notice values the contract at about $94.6 million and says it covers forensic software and support services for Homeland Security Task Force investigations. The one-year award runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Chainalysis alleged that ICE’s decision was “arbitrary,…

Uniswap, one of the largest decentralized exchanges, is set to broaden its liquidity provision to Circle’s Layer 1 blockchain, Arc. The move signals deeper integration between major DeFi protocols and stablecoin infrastructure, potentially reshaping how liquidity flows across chains. What Does This Expansion Mean for Uniswap and Arc? Uniswap’s expansion to Arc, a blockchain developed by Circle—the company behind $USDC—will allow users to trade and provide liquidity on a network designed for high-throughput and low-cost transactions. Arc aims to offer a more efficient environment for decentralized applications, and Uniswap’s presence is expected to attract significant liquidity to the network. This…

Casper, a blockchain network for decentralized applications, and Sarson Funds, an investment company focused on digital assets, announced a major upgrade of the csprUSD stablecoin. After the update, it will become the standard dollar-pegged stablecoin in the Casper ecosystem and support payments between AI agents through the x402 protocol. The launch follows the creation of the x402 Foundation under the Linux Foundation, which brings together companies including Visa, Mastercard, Google, Coinbase, Circle, Stripe, AWS, and Cloudflare. The protocol is designed to let AI agents make automatic online payments directly through standard HTTP requests without relying on traditional payment methods. The…

Austria’s financial regulator has fined crypto platform Bitpanda 70,000 euros ($82,000) for violating the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, in the watchdog’s first published final penalty under MiCA. The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) said Friday that Bitpanda failed to submit a crypto-asset white paper to the regulator at least 20 working days before its publication, as required under MiCA. Bitpanda also distributed a marketing communication before publishing the required white paper, according to the regulator. The FMA said another marketing communication omitted mandatory disclosures stating that it had not been reviewed or approved by a competent authority and…

Less than 2% of the roughly $100 billion in total value locked (TVL) across decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols is currently covered by insurance-like protection, according to Conor Sullivan, Chief Strategy Officer at Firelight. The revelation underscores a persistent vulnerability in the DeFi ecosystem, where users often face significant financial losses from hacks, exploits, and technical failures without adequate safeguards. The Core Problem: Lack of Verifiable Insurance Sullivan pointed out that the issue is not merely the absence of coverage, but the lack of verifiable insurance. Traditional insurance policies rarely disclose policy limits, terms, premiums, or the capital backing them. This…

$BNB Plus, formerly known as Applied DNA Sciences, now pairs a $BNB treasury strategy with its LineaRx biotechnology business. The company agreed to pay $1 million in cash and issue 200,000 preferred shares to end its relationships with Cypress, which had held discretionary authority over company-designated crypto accounts and wallets. The July 23 deal followed Nasdaq’s suspension of BNBX trading, and subsequent filings name no replacement for departed chief investment officer Patrick Horsman. The settlement ended a digital-asset management agreement with Cypress LLC, a strategic-adviser agreement with Cypress Management LLC and an October 2025 consulting agreement with Horsman, according to…

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has expressed strong confidence in the network’s RealFi initiative, arguing that it could significantly expand Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem. His remarks come shortly after the launch of RealFi’s Phase 1 testnet, which has already attracted strong early participation and fueled community growth. Hoskinson Explains How RealFi Can Increase Cardano’s TVL In a statement today, Hoskinson highlighted RealFi’s ability to increase Cardano’s total value locked (TVL), one of the most important metrics for measuring capital deposited across DeFi protocols. According to him, users who participate in RealFi must deposit assets into the protocol’s smart contracts. Those funds remain…