Author: NBTC

ampersend, a management platform for autonomous agent payments and operations developed by Edge & Node, has rolled out real-time sanctions screening and counterparty risk controls for autonomous AI payments. Created in partnership with blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs, the solution enables agents to assess compliance risks and validate counterparties before any transaction is completed, according to a Tuesday announcement. The launch addresses a major challenge facing enterprise adoption of agentic commerce. While emerging protocols from OpenAI, Stripe, Google, and Shopify establish frameworks for how AI agents conduct transactions, they do not provide integrated mechanisms for screening counterparties or enforcing compliance…

In early 2020, Michael Saylor had $500 million sitting in cash earning nothing. The Federal Reserve had cut interest rates to zero and signaled they would stay there. For Saylor, it wasn’t just policy. It was a constraint. “We were making $25 million a year and then all of a sudden we’re making zero,” Saylor said in a recent interview. “And they’re saying you’re going to make zero forever.” Saylor spoke to Kevin Follonier on the podcast When Shift Happens in a wide-ranging conversation shared exclusively with Forbes ahead of the episode’s release. The quotes throughout this piece are drawn…

Crypto wallet provider Ledger put its plans to go public in the U.S. on hold due to difficult market conditions, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Ledger has not filed any draft S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one of the people said. A confidential filing is typically the first formal step in the IPO process. The French cryptocurrency security firm has a number of options, and could decide to raise capital privately, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is not public. In January, reports emerged that…

Multicoin Capital has built a “significant position” in zcash ($ZEC), Co-Founder and Managing Partner Tushar Jain said at Consensus Miami, linking the purchase to a view that private stores of value will matter more as finance moves on-chain. Jain did not disclose the size of the position. He said bitcoin can withstand protocol-level freezes, but public ownership still leaves holders exposed if a government, creditor or other actor can connect coins to a person. By contrast, tokens with built-in privacy features, such as $ZEC, aim to mitigate that risk by obscuring transaction details and user identities. “Multicoin has bought a…

US Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said Sunday that the growing use of dollar-backed stablecoins could bolster the global influence of US monetary policy. Waller told participants at the 32nd Dubrovnik Economics Conference that countries that increasingly rely on stablecoins backed by the US dollar may effectively import US monetary conditions, Bloomberg News reported Sunday. “I’ve always just looked at ​stablecoins as a payment instrument; there’s nothing evil about it, nothing dangerous about it,” Waller said. “They ​are just bringing competition into the payments world,” Reuters reported. Source: The 32nd Dubrovnik Economic Conference A contrary view was presented by his…

Cardano (ADA) founder and cryptocurrency industry leader Charles Hoskinson made striking statements about the future of the crypto world and the new technologies that will transform the industry in his latest interview. Hoskinson argued that, in the long run, people will not use cryptocurrencies directly; instead, delegated artificial intelligence (AI) agents will manage this ecosystem. Referring to the crises the sector has experienced in recent years, Hoskinson argued that rules and regulations are essential in the market, saying, “The market has clearly proven that it cannot regulate itself; with the FTX, Terra (Luna), memecoin crazes, hacking incidents, and scams.” Hoskinson…

The cryptocurrency market witnessed a significant move this week as BitForex founder Garrett Jin opened a substantial leveraged long position on Bitcoin. According to on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, Jin opened a 5x long position worth 504.4 BTC, valued at approximately $59.11 million at the time of the trade. Details of the Trade Lookonchain reported the transaction via its monitoring platform, which tracks large wallet movements and exchange activities. The position, executed with 5x leverage, amplifies both potential gains and risks. In addition to the Bitcoin trade, Jin also purchased 42,524 $HYPE tokens, valued at roughly $2.33 million. $HYPE is the…

Bearish bets on a token that institutional investors were quietly accumulating turned sour on Tuesday. Zcash ($ZEC) ripped nearly 30% over 24 hours to $543 in Asian hours Tuesday, taking its weekly gain to 60% and its 30-day return to over 110%, per CoinGecko data. Volume crossed $1.3 billion in the past day and the rally triggered nearly $62 million in total liquidations across roughly 5,000 traders. Of that, almost $60 million was shorts while longs lost just over $3 million, making $ZEC-tracked futures the second highest liquidations behind bitcoin in an unusual move. The price surge came as prominent…

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins, speaking at the Reagan National Economic Forum, outlined a significant shift in the agency’s approach to digital assets, criticizing past regulatory hostility and pledging to make the United States a global hub for cryptocurrency innovation. Atkins stated that the SEC’s previous stance forced many crypto projects and companies to relocate overseas, harming American competitiveness. A New Era of Crypto Regulation Atkins emphasized that the SEC is now pursuing a comprehensive reform agenda focused on modernizing crypto rules and providing legal clarity for digital asset markets. He highlighted the agency’s collaboration with…

Mastercard is expanding its settlement network to support regulated stablecoins, a move that could help bring blockchain-based payments deeper into the plumbing of the global financial system. The company said Wednesday it plans to offer issuers and acquirers additional settlement options, including intraday, weekend and holiday settlement as well as on-chain settlement using regulated stablecoins. The new capabilities will operate alongside existing fiat settlement processes and are designed to give financial institutions more flexibility in managing liquidity. Mastercard will initially support settlement using Circle’s USDC, Paxos-issued PYUSD, USDG and USDP, Ripple’s RLUSD and SoFiUSD. The stablecoins will be available across…