Author: NBTC

The Solana ecosystem suffers a liquidity crisis after the security breach at KelpDAO on April 20, draining $USDC reserves. Leading protocols such as Jupiter and Kamino report utilization levels near 100%, limiting access to capital for new loans. Stablecoin lending yields have climbed to 10.2%, marking record levels in the network’s credit infrastructure. Following the KelpDAO security incident that shook investor confidence, the DeFi sector on Solana is undergoing a systemic challenge. The massive outflow of capital has created a bottleneck in stablecoin availability, driving up operating costs. DeFi Funds Outflow Spreads to Solana Following the KelpDAO rsETH hack, the…

Cato Institute, a US-based think tank, has argued the government should remove capital gains taxes on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to open the door for more currency competition. Capital gains tax (CGT) is discouraging the use of alternative currencies like Bitcoin ($BTC) as it incentivizes long-term holding and adds extra burdens to reporting requirements, Nicholas Anthony, a policy scholar and research fellow at the Cato Institute, said in a report on Wednesday. He argued the simplest option is to end capital gains taxes completely; however, another option could be removing them on crypto and foreign currency use to “take the…

While quantum computing remains a largely theoretical threat to blockchain for now, some projects are already preparing for that eventuality. Fintech company Ripple has released a detailed four-phase roadmap to make the $XRP Ledger, a decentralized, layer-1 blockchain, quantum-resistant, aiming to reach full readiness by 2028. $XRP, the world’s fourth-largest digital asset by market capitalization, is the native token of the $XRP Ledger. Ripple’s solutions use $XRP Ledger, $XRP, and other digital assets. Ripple is also one of many developers building on and contributing to the $XRP Ledger (XRPL). Ripple’s announcement comes weeks after Google warned that a quantum computer…

The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is proposing crypto rules that could quietly expand the definition of custody, potentially sweeping in platforms and software providers that don’t consider themselves custodians. The FCA published its Cryptoasset Perimeter Guidance on Wednesday, which includes a few technical traps for firms handling clients’ crypto assets. The rules draw a red line at the 24-hour mark for custody. Any firm or crypto platform or app holding client assets for longer than a day during trade settlement will likely fall under the regulated custodian classification, which triggers a requirement for a full safeguarding-license. Validators and node…

While the quantum computing threat has long been considered a theoretical risk in the cryptocurrency sector, recent research has made it a more concrete issue, and Ripple has taken a significant step in this area. The company announced on Monday a multi-stage roadmap aiming to build a quantum-resistant structure for the $XRP Ledger (XRPL) by 2028. Ripple’s plan envisions a gradual transition rather than a sudden overhaul of existing systems. This involves first testing quantum-resistant cryptography solutions, then deploying a hybrid model to work alongside the existing infrastructure, and finally scaling these systems. The company is also collaborating with Project…

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is leaning into artificial intelligence and automation as it faces massive new oversight responsibilities, according to congressional testimony from Chairman Mike Selig, even as his agency’s workforce has declined significantly under the administration of President Donald Trump. About a quarter of the CFTC’s staff has left since 2025, under Trump’s demands that the federal workforce be cut significantly, according to agency records. But the CFTC is also being called upon to regulate new and rapidly growing arenas for cryptocurrency and the prediction markets. “Tools such as AI are going to be very helpful in…

The SEC moved the crypto market structure forward on Apr. 13 without waiting for Congress to act. The agency’s Division of Trading and Markets published a staff statement on Covered User Interfaces, such as websites, browser extensions, wallet-linked apps, and mobile applications that help users in self-custodial setups prepare transactions in crypto asset securities. Staff said it will not object to these providers operating without broker-dealer registration under Exchange Act Section 15, provided they stay inside a strict set of behavioral and disclosure guardrails. Why this matters For the first time, the SEC is telling wallet-linked crypto trading apps how…

The chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Michael Selig, said he would not wait for the appointment of additional commissioners to lead the regulatory agency before moving ahead on rulemaking potentially related to digital assets and prediction markets. In a Thursday hearing of the House Agriculture Committee, Selig responded to questions from ranking member Angie Craig, who called out the lack of leadership at the CFTC, which normally has a bipartisan panel of five commissioners. The Minnesota representative asked the chair to commit to not finalizing regulations while he is the only commissioner. “In the interim, we cannot,…

Publicly listed Bitcoin miners liquidated more than 32,000 Bitcoin during the first quarter of 2026, marking a record sell-off as the industry’s largest operators redirect billions in capital toward artificial intelligence. This historic shift is unfolding precisely as the economics of Bitcoin validation reach a critical pressure point. With mining profitability hovering near cyclical lows, weighted production costs surging, and network hashrate showing persistent signs of strain, the infrastructure giants that defined the last crypto boom are fundamentally reengineering their business models. Public $BTC miners turn to the balance sheet The sheer magnitude of the first-quarter liquidation reflects the severity…

The SEC CLARITY Act roundtable convened in Washington today, April 16, bringing regulators and industry together for a public discussion on digital asset market structure as the Senate Banking Committee targets a late-April markup of the most consequential crypto bill the US has ever seen. The SEC CLARITY Act roundtable opened in Washington today as the US Securities and Exchange Commission convened a public forum on digital asset market structure, placing the bill’s trajectory on full display for the first time since the Senate returned from Easter recess on April 13. Today’s session is not a vote or formal markup,…