Author: NBTC

The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has been hit by recent criticism and negative commentary following a $20 billion drop in total value locked (TVL) and $1.1 billion lost to hacks like the $292 million Kelp DAO bridge exploit. DeFi isn’t safe anymore because AI is becoming ‘superhuman’ at hacking, former OpenZeppelin CTO and co-founder Manuel Aráoz said this week. “DeFi is dead,” said one commentator on X recently. Andrew Forson, president of DeFi Technologies, has an entirely opposite view and a bit of criticism of his own: “DeFi is way more than those protocols that have been hacked,” Forson said…

Mastercard (MA) abandoned plans to invest in crypto infrastructure firm Zerohash following the payments giant’s $1.8 billion acquisition of BVNK, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. In January, Mastercard was reported to be considering a strategic investment in the Chicago-based company even after it opted to stay independent. At the time, Zerohash was said to be in talks to raise $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. Now, Zerohash is said to be raising a new funding round at an even higher valuation, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition…

The highly anticipated V11 “Van Rossem” hard fork update in the Cardano ecosystem has been officially launched on the Preview testnet. While the approval process continues on the PreProd testnet, the next phase of the network, the mainnet governance vote is targeted for May 29th. According to information shared by Cardano developers, the V11 update enables smart contracts to run faster and at lower costs, while also bringing enhanced cryptography features and improvements to staking pool security. The update is expected to particularly improve performance on the Plutus smart contract infrastructure. Related News Detailed Technical Report Published Following Bitcoin’s Latest…

The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 on May 14, 2026, but the biggest threat to its passage was never the crypto skeptics or the SEC holdouts. It was the American Bankers Association. The ABA spent April and May running an emergency lobbying campaign to close what it calls the “stablecoin yield loophole” in the bill, a provision that lets crypto exchanges pay activity-based rewards on stablecoin balances. The ABA’s own research estimates that yield-bearing stablecoins could grow the market from $300 billion to $2 trillion at the direct expense of bank deposits, reducing lending capacity by 20…

Block’s Cash App has quietly begun rolling out its highly anticipated stablecoin payment feature, a source familiar with the matter told CoinDesk Wednesday. According to this individual, the feature is now active for 25% of Cash App’s nearly 60 million users, with plans to scale to 100% by the end of the week. A spokesperson at Block confirmed the roll-out in response to a request for comment. The launch marks an unprecedented ideological shift for Block’s leadership and changes how the platform handles digital fiat currency. The source familiar with the matter said that integrating alternative blockchain rails indicates Block…

Bitcoin is exhibiting a diverging market trend that bulls would not want to see, with prices relying heavily on bullish derivatives momentum. Bitcoin ($BTC) dropped below $75,000 today, building on the bearish momentum from the previous day. Amid this, a report has highlighted a concerning mismatch between demand and derivatives sentiment, adding to the current market uncertainty. Key Points Bitcoin’s latest market structure shows a growing disconnect between sentiment and actual demand. Binance funding rates have moved back into positive territory, signaling that leveraged long positioning is increasing. However, the Binance taker buy volume has trended lower for several months…

Trezor stablecoin yield is now live inside Trezor Suite, marking a notable shift for hardware wallet users who want access to DeFi-style returns without leaving the wallet’s own interface. From 28 May 2026, users can earn yield on $USDC and $USDT on Ethereum, with the new feature built to work inside the Trezor environment rather than through a separate wallet connection or external dApp. That matters because one of crypto’s longest-running frictions has been the split between security and usability. Hardware wallets are built for custody, while DeFi has often pushed users toward browser wallets, app connections, and unfamiliar interfaces.…

The structural composition of private stablecoins is facing heightened institutional scrutiny as regulators in European bloc countries clamp down on unauthorized digital assets, digital asset experts suggested Tuesday at the Digital Money Summit 2026 in London. Christoph Hock, head of Tokenization and Digital Assets at Union Investment, one of Germany’s largest institutional asset managers with nearly $620 billion in assets under management, highlighted that the reserve backing commonly used by Tether and Circle for their dollar-backed stablecoins behaves structurally more like a speculative fund than a true fiat peg. “To be honest, a stablecoin, from my perspective, is not a…

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has spotlighted a major teaser from web3 wallet Lace, hinting at an upcoming major upgrade focused on performance and usability. Following the launch of Laver 2.0, the team behind Cardano’s official light wallet said it is entering a new development phase centered on faster innovation, improved usability, and deeper community-driven enhancements. Hoskinson later reposted the update on X, amplifying its significance across the wider Cardano ecosystem. Key Points The Lace team revealed that Lace 2.0 represented far more than a standard software update, but a foundation for the wallet’s long-term evolution and future scalability. According to…

Kenya’s Finance Bill 2026 has proposed new reporting obligations for crypto platforms and fresh taxes on digital payments as authorities move to expand tax collection powers across the financial sector. According to an analysis published by KPMG Kenya, the bill introduces measures requiring Virtual Asset Service Providers to file annual returns with the Kenya Revenue Authority containing details on reportable users and controlling persons. The proposal would also allow Kenya to exchange virtual asset transaction information with foreign tax authorities under international reporting frameworks. At the same time, the bill expands oversight of digital financial activity through new taxes targeting…