Author: NBTC

Hong Kong, May 2025 – In a landmark move for digital asset integration, the HashKey Exchange has announced a pioneering partnership with Shanghai Commercial Bank (SCB) to launch a Visa credit card. This initiative marks the first instance globally where a fully licensed digital asset exchange collaborates directly with a traditional bank to issue a mainstream payment card. The announcement, made by HashKey Exchange CEO Livio Weng at the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival, signals a significant step toward normalizing cryptocurrency in everyday finance. Registrations for this groundbreaking financial product will commence on May 11, 2025. HashKey Visa Credit Card: A…

KelpDAO’s $292 million rsETH exploit landed at the wrong moment for DeFi. Roughly $10 billion left the sector over the weekend, after confidence had already been shaken by Drift Protocol’s April 1 breach and Venus’s March post-mortem. That combination makes DeFi’s problem harder to ignore. Open DeFi is still alive, but it is losing the case for being the default gateway to on-chain finance. Stablecoins, tokenized Treasuries, and regulated settlement rails continue to scale, while permissionless protocols continue to absorb the trust discount. A hack scoreboard circulating on X captures the mood. Hack scoreboard 2026 (source: Our Crypto Talk) Some…

$ETH trades at $2,305 on April 20, up 1.84%, holding inside the 3H ascending channel that analyst Elja flagged as the short-term decision point, while weekly ETF inflows hit $276M and spot netflow turns positive for the first time in two weeks. $ETH Daily Chart: Supertrend Holds As Support But SAR At $2,462 Has Not Flipped $ETH Daily Price Action (Source: TradingView) The descending channel from the October peak near $4,800 remains the dominant structure. Since the February low near $1,800, $ETH has been recovering with the Supertrend at $2,048 flipped bullish and sitting as the daily floor. The SAR…

The SEC is positioning its first year under Paul Atkins as a turning point toward clearer regulation and stronger markets. The SEC Chair described it as a historic year, stating the agency delivered on its promises. Key Takeaways: SEC emphasized regulatory clarity as key to stronger U.S. capital markets. Paul Atkins framed his first year as historic, with a focus on innovation and growth. NYSE event reinforced policy shift supporting crypto and market competitiveness. ‘It’s Been a Historic First Year as SEC Chairman’ A first anniversary appearance at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) highlighted the market impact of U.S.…

Lydian has launched the Lydian Card, a co-branded Visa Platinum card issued by Rain that allows users to spend more than 300 supported digital assets, including stablecoins and major cryptocurrencies, across Visa’s global merchant network. The card is available in both physical and instant-issue virtual formats and can be used wherever Visa is accepted, giving cardholders access to more than 150 million merchants worldwide, according to a release seen by Bitcoin Magazine. Users will be able to fund, manage, and track transactions through an app or online dashboard, aiming to streamline the conversion of digital assets into everyday purchasing power.…

$XRP Ledger validator Vet has argued that $XRP is set to lead the next phase of decentralized finance (DeFi). In a post on X, Vet stated that traditional DeFi still has “a long way to go” before replacing traditional finance. Meanwhile, he believes $XRP is built to drive a more sustainable transition. According to him, the $XRP protocol’s design is better suited for high-value financial use cases, particularly those aiming to replicate or replace core TradFi systems. He pointed to deliberate design choices within the $XRP Ledger that prioritize stability over aggressive yield opportunities. In his view, these trade-offs make…

Ethereum price fell to an intraday low of nearly $2,250 on Monday as hopes for a peace deal in the U.S.–Iran conflict faded. According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price fell over 3% to $2,258 on Monday before settling around $2,300 at press time. The token has fallen over 6% from its Friday high after tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated over the Strait of Hormuz, driving oil prices higher again and deteriorating investor appetite for risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. With recent reports confirming that Iran will not be attending the peace negotiations with the U.S. in Islamabad…

U.S. crypto legislation faces rising pressure as Senate leaders are urged to move market structure rules forward. The Digital Chamber argued further delay could stall momentum and weaken Washington’s push for clearer digital asset oversight. Key Takeaways: The Digital Chamber increased pressure on Senate leaders to move the bill to markup. Senate Banking faces mounting urgency as the CLARITY Act remains stalled after House approval. Industry groups expect the next phase to accelerate digital asset oversight efforts. Senate Leaders Face Growing Pressure U.S. digital asset legislation faced renewed pressure on April 20 as blockchain trade association The Digital Chamber urged…

Aster, the $BNB Chain-aligned perpetuals exchange, has crossed 15 million registered users. The platform confirmed the milestone in a post on April 19, with its live counter ticking higher almost immediately after the announcement. The number puts Aster firmly in second place among perp DEXs, trailing only Hyperliquid on most volume metrics while pulling ahead of rivals like edgeX, Lighter, and ApeX. How big is 15 million in perp DEX terms? In its official post, Aster said 15,050,000 traders had signed up. The figure on asterdex.com has since moved to 15.14 million. For context, the user count sat near 9.5…

Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of Wintermute, has given a frank evaluation of decentralized finance’s current situation, highlighting structural risks that still impede innovation. DeFi not doing well Gaevoy expressed concerns about composability and how interconnected protocols increase risk rather than distribute it, saying that things appear pretty bleak for DeFi innovation at this stage, in response to recent developments. His argument is based on a fundamental tenet of DeFi. Protocols can build upon one another thanks to composability, which is frequently touted as one of the industry’s greatest advantages. In reality, the same characteristic produces tightly coupled systems in which a…