Author: NBTC

Fortitude Mining, Digital Currency Group’s Zcash-focused miner, bought a 9.4% stake in Nasdaq-listed HeartSciences for about $1 million, giving its proposed merger partner cash for operating expenses while shareholder approval remains pending. The Aug. 12 private placement covered 411,522 HeartSciences common shares at $2.43 each. A beneficial ownership filing put Fortitude’s exact cash outlay at $999,998.46 and its post-purchase stake at approximately 9.4%. HeartSciences said the price represented a 22% premium to its closing share price on the purchase date. The target said it would use the net proceeds for operating expenses before the proposed combination closes, making the transaction…

Cryptocurrency asset management company Hashdex announced its decision to close and liquidate the Hashdex Bitcoin ETF (NYSE Arca: DEFI), which was traded in the US. With the completion of this decision, DEFI will be the first spot Bitcoin ETF to be shut down in the US. According to documents the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the value of assets under management by the fund was approximately $14.7 million as of July 30, 2026. Hashdex’s total assets managed in other products offered to U.S. investors exceed $200 million. Hashdex announced that the decision to liquidate was…

The digital assets sector isn’t receiving much interest from wealthy asset holders across Asia. While high-net-worth clients in Malaysia and Singapore are still holding onto crypto assets in their portfolios, they are directing new funds towards gold, bank deposits, or alternative financial investments. Cryptocurrency investment funds have suffered their highest outflows of 2026 at the same time when gold registered its best quarter ever, which could point to investors behaving much more defensively than before. Instead of selling digital assets completely, they seem to be opting for postponing purchasing cryptocurrencies in favor of more traditional safe havens. Where the fresh…

R3E Network released v2.1.0 of NeoRust, a production-hardening update to the Rust SDK for Neo N3 and Neo X that focuses on making failures explicit and recoverable. The update, published on July 10, arrives less than a month after the breaking v2.0.0 release on June 17, which introduced unified error types and builder patterns. NeoRust is maintained by Jimmy Liao, Neo core developer and R3E Network founder. The SDK, distributed as the neo3 crate on crates.io, provides a high-level API for building applications on Neo N3 and Neo X, covering wallet management, smart contract interaction, NEP-17 token operations, and transaction…

Most European stablecoin issuers were not prepared for the MiCA regulation, severely limiting their commercial capabilities. According to ESMA’s interim register, out of approximately 23 authorized issuers of electronic money tokens (EMTs), only nine companies have obtained full authorization covering both EMT issuance and CASP services. The remaining 14 players have found themselves caught in a regulatory trap. “Most stablecoin issuers in the EU cannot provide custody of their own tokens on behalf of clients. This severely limits the range of services they can offer,” said Circle’s Head of EU Strategy and Policy, Patrick Hansen, expressing surprise at the passivity…

Dutch prosecutors have sold the remaining cryptocurrency recovered from failed crypto platform Knaken for €2.2 million. The proceeds are expected to be used in the bankruptcy process and ultimately toward claims from creditors. Knaken’s downfall As reported by U.Today, Knaken’s downfall became public in early June 2026. Customers were locked out of their accounts and could no longer access their balances. The shutdown came after Knaken failed to obtain the regulatory authorization required to continue serving Dutch customers under the European Union’s new crypto rules. The company had argued that it was preparing an orderly wind-down, but prosecutors became concerned…

The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has shown renewed upward momentum in recent days. At this point, with $BTC once again surpassing $65,000, new assessments for $BTC have come from Jiang Zhuoer, the founder of the China-based mining pool $BTC.top. Accordingly, Chinese founder Jiang Zhuoer argued, based on Bitcoin’s historical four-year cycle, that the current correction has not yet reached the level of previous bear markets in terms of duration or depth. At this point, Zhuoer argues that if past cycles repeat themselves, $BTC could fall to $44,016 by the end of October. Jiang noted that the previous three major bear markets…

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has warned that some wallets, indexers and gas estimators may break because of gas-model changes in the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade. On Monday, the EF’s Protocol DevOps team said any tool relying on a hardcoded maximum gas limit “will break” and must be updated. It urged developers to test their systems on Plataberget, a public testnet intended to operate for several months. According to upgrade tracker Forkcast, Plataberget launched on Aug. 13. Meanwhile, the Glamsterdam fork is scheduled to activate on the network on Thursday, before its deployment on the Sepolia and Hoodi testnets. The EF’s Protocol…

Dow Protocol, a platform focused on tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs), has announced the completion of a $9 million seed funding round. The investment, which closed recently, signals continued institutional interest in bringing traditional assets like real estate, commodities, and private credit onto blockchain networks. Investor Lineup and Market Signal The seed round saw participation from a mix of prominent venture capital firms and blockchain-focused funds. Investors included MH Ventures, OKX Ventures, Animoca Brands, Arcane Group, Essentia Partners, and Quartet Group. The diversity of backers — spanning dedicated crypto funds, exchange-affiliated venture arms, and gaming-focused investors — suggests broad appeal for…

Ripple’s highly regulated $RLUSD stablecoin is seeing some adoption beyond payments. Recently, it helped to fund an initiative that it meant to support US businesses that are owned by military veterans and their spouses. On Monday, nonprofit organization Hire Heroes USA announced the first 25 recipients of the grants that are part of Ripple’s nationwide initiative. The program has awarded $10,000 grants to each of 25 businesses. Recipients will also receive Hire Heroes USA’s Certified Veteran Employer training, access to employer resources, and assistance with expanding operations. According to Hire Heroes USA, the initiative is intended to bolster veteran- and…