Author: NBTC

Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson has accused Flare founder Hugo Phillin of leveraging Cardano’s name for cheap media attention. Philion recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to argue that Flare has surpassed Cardano in fundamental DeFi metrics despite Cardano’s massive six-year head start. Philion pointed out that Cardano, which launched in 2017, has been “trying and miserably failing” to copy Flare’s strategy. He specifically expects Cardano to fall short when it comes to Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). “Cardano has far lower stats across the board in DeFi than Flare despite having a massive head start and at least at some point…

Hong Kong is taking a major step toward becoming a regulated hub for digital assets. The government’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) announced plans to introduce a comprehensive regulatory framework covering the entire cryptocurrency industry, including trading, custody, investment advisory, and asset management services. Expanding Beyond Trading Platform Licenses The proposed rules build on Hong Kong’s existing licensing scheme for crypto trading platforms and the regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers. Under the new system, any institution providing crypto-related services in Hong Kong will need to obtain a license or registration from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), based…

DraftKings is moving deeper into federally regulated event contracts, expanding a strategy that increasingly blurs the line between sportsbook products and financial trading infrastructure. Through its DKeX exchange entity, the company filed its first event contract templates with the CFTC on May 22, 2026. The filings cover two classes of contracts, “GAMEPROPERTY” and “GAMEWIN,” with official listing scheduled after the close of business on May 27. The DCM Structure DKeX is registered as a Designated Contract Market, a CFTC-regulated board of trade authorised to list futures, options, and event contracts under a single federal framework. Under the DCM framework, operators…

Jim Ferraioli said Charles Schwab’s Bitcoin framework centers on miner production costs, especially energy and infrastructure expenses. The most efficient miners produce Bitcoin at about $60,000, while the average miner’s cost is around $95,000, creating a broad stress zone. Schwab has begun rolling out retail spot crypto trading and targets mid-2027 crypto trading, asset transfer and custody capabilities for its advisor platform, managing approximately $5.3 trillion in client assets today. Jim Ferraioli, Director of Digital Currencies Research at Charles Schwab, has put a surprisingly physical frame around Bitcoin’s market value: energy. In comments to Bloomberg, he said Schwab’s crypto investment…

Shinhan Financial Group is moving to join the Canton Network’s governance structure as South Korea’s tokenized finance market grows. Local reports said Shinhan Asset Management and Shinhan Investment & Securities signed separate MOUs with the Canton Foundation. The agreements aim to build a cooperation framework for policy discussions and technical development on Canton Network. Shinhan wants to use the network to study how Korean digital financial products can reach overseas investors. Shinhan Financial Pushes to Join @CantonNetwork to Globalize South Korean Tokenized AssetsShinhan Financial Group is accelerating its expansion into the global tokenized asset market by pursuing governance participation in…

Moody’s Ratings assigned its highest money market fund assessment to Fidelity International’s new tokenized liquidity fund on May 13, 2026, placing a top-tier Aaa-mf grade on the USD Digital Liquidity Fund SP, a digitally native vehicle designed for institutional investors. Key Takeaways: Moody’s assigned an Aaa-mf assessment to Fidelity International’s USD Digital Liquidity Fund on May 13, 2026. The fund, managed by $FIL Investments International, targets institutional investors with $34.5B in MMF AUM. The Ethereum-based tokenized fund plans to expand to ZKsync, with 24/7 redemptions subject to liquidity. Fidelity’s Tokenized Money Market Fund Earns Top Moody’s Grade The fund is…

In a reply to an X user, Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz reiterated his outlook for $XRP’s future prices and other digital assets, maintaining that he has been clear all along. An X user had indirectly claimed that Schwartz, one of $XRP’s co-creators, privately doubted its long-term price potential. Schwartz pushed back on this speculation, saying he has been consistently very clear about what his beliefs are for the future prices of $XRP and other digital assets. I’ve been consistently very clear about what my beliefs are for the future prices of $XRP and other digital assets. — David ‘JoelKatz’…

According to the Central Bank of Russia, domestic assets related to cryptocurrency instruments remained nearly unchanged for the last six months, remaining close to 3.8 billion rubles ($44 million), per the agency’s Financial Stability Review released on June 1. For a country that legalized crypto mining in 2024 and is now building a full regulatory framework, the stagnation points for muted retail appetite could limit Russia’s role as a demand driver in global crypto markets. This number holds significance even outside of Russia since the Russian government has used cryptocurrencies to facilitate circumvention of sanctions and engaged the State Duma…

US users of PayPal can now make purchases across China using the QR-code merchant network of WeChat Pay, according to an announcement made by Tencent Financial Technology on Wednesday. The company said the service will initially be available for US PayPal users and will later be rolled out in phases to PayPal users in other markets. Tencent links TenPay Global with PayPal World According to a social media post cited by Tencent Financial Technology, vice president Daniel Hong said Tencent’s cross-border payment platform, TenPay Global, has now been connected to PayPal World. The integration is expected to allow PayPal users…

When Zero Network announced it was shutting down last month, the reaction across crypto was weary: Another Ethereum layer-2 just bit the dust. The closure joined a growing list of struggling rollups and came amid renewed debate about whether Ethereum’s sprawling layer-2 ecosystem has become too crowded. At the same time, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has urged developers to rethink the network’s long-term scaling roadmap, while several major projects have shifted away from marketing themselves as general-purpose blockchains and toward more focused applications in payments, stablecoins and tokenized assets. To many observers, the developments have revived a familiar question: Has…