Category: Bitcoin News

ZKsync Centers Privacy and Control in 2026 Institutional Roadmap

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Layer-2 network ZKsync released a 2026 roadmap that puts privacy, deterministic control and native interoperability at the center of its strategy for institutional digital asset adoption. Its plan, published by Matter Labs co-founder and CEO Alex Gluchowski, frames zero-knowledge technology as a foundational infrastructure for regulated finance.  The roadmap follows a year of infrastructure delivery. In 2025, the network rolled out core components including Atlas, Prividium and Airbender. According to Gluchowski, these systems were designed to meet operational realities faced by banks, enterprises and governments, where confidentiality and performance are…

BNB Chain’s Fermi Upgrade Brings 0.45-Second Blocks and Faster Finality

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BNB Chain’s Fermi upgrade, which goes live Wednesday, will cut BNB Smart Chain (BSC) block times from 0.75 seconds to 0.45 seconds and push transaction finality to “around one second,” positioning the network as one of the fastest major Ethereum Virtual Machine chains.  The hard fork completes the final phase of BNB Chain’s “short block interval” roadmap and is framed as a performance and reliability upgrade rather than a cosmetic tweak. With Fermi, BSC validators will produce blocks every 0.45 seconds, nearly halving the time it takes for transactions to…

$26M Truebit Hack Was Smart Contract Exploit: Analysis

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A $26 million exploit of the offline computation protocol Truebit stemmed from a smart-contract flaw that allowed an attacker to mint tokens at near-zero cost, highlighting persistent security risks even in long-running blockchain projects. Truebit suffered the $26 million exploit that resulted in a 99% crash for the Truebit (TRU) token, Cointelegraph reported on Friday. The attacker abused a loophole in the protocol’s smart-contract logic, which enabled them to mint “massive amounts of tokens without paying any ETH,” according to blockchain security company SlowMist, which published a post-mortem analysis on…

Kraken Backs SPAC Filing For US Crypto Infrastructure IPO

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Major US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is backing a new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that plans to go public through a Kraken-affiliated sponsor. KrakAcquisition, a new blank check company backed by Kraken, Tribe Capital and Natural Capital, on Monday filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $250 million in an initial public offering (IPO). Incorporated in July 2025 as a Cayman Islands exempted company, KrakAcquisition plans to offer 25 million units at $10 each and expects to apply to list the units on the Nasdaq…

Nigeria Uses Tax IDs to Trace Crypto Activity Without Onchain Monitoring

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Nigeria is rolling out a new approach to cryptocurrency oversight that relies on tax and identity systems rather than blockchain surveillance, as part of a sweeping reform of its tax regime. Under its newly implemented tax reforms, crypto service providers are required to link transactions to the Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) and, where applicable, National Identification Numbers (NINs).  The framework, which took effect on Jan. 1, is embedded in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025 and marked one of the country’s most sweeping tax overhauls.  By requiring identity disclosure…

New Senate Crypto Draft Allows Activity-Based Stablecoin Rewards

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A new US Senate CLARITY Act draft allows crypto companies to offer activity-based rewards to stablecoin users. The proposal, titled the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, reveals that certain rewards and incentives tied to the use of stablecoins would be permitted. Still, the provision notes that offering rewards does not cause a stablecoin to be treated as a security or a bank-like product. “Families and small businesses benefit from clear rules of the road,” Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott, who released the amended draft, said in a statement shared with…

SEC Leadership Bullish That Key Crypto Bill Will Reach Trump’s desk In 2026

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US Securities and Exchange Commission chair Paul Atkins says he is confident that the crypto market structure bill will make it onto US President Donald Trump’s desk this year.  In an interview with Fox Business on Monday, Atkins discussed the regulatory outlook for crypto this year. Atkins praised the passing of the GENIUS act in 2025, noting that the bill provides an important part of regulatory clarity in the US. Moving forward, he highlighted the bipartisan crypto market structure bill as the next key boost to the domestic crypto sector. …

Bitwise CIO Argues for Bitcoin in 401(k)s, as Senator Warren Questions SEC

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Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan has slammed the idea that Bitcoin shouldn’t be used for investment and 401(k)s because of its volatility — arguing that some stocks are also prone to even larger price swings. Hougan made the comments on the same day US Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for answers on how it would mitigate risks involved in allowing crypto in retirement funds.  In August last year, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Labor Department to reevaluate restrictions…

Five Stablecoin Myths Debunked By Columbia Professor

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The US banking industry has been pushing “myths” about stablecoin yields to protect itself, and Congress should prioritize consumers rather than highly profitable banks, argues crypto lecturer and author Omid Malekan.  “I am disappointed that market structure legislation seems to be held up by the stablecoin yield issue. Most of the concerns bouncing around Washington are based on unsubstantiated myths,” Malekan, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, posted to X on Monday.  He stated that the passage of crypto market structure legislation in Washington “now seems to partially depend…

Ex-NYC Mayor Eric Adams Launches Controversial Token

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Eric Adams has made his first major public move since leaving the New York City Mayor’s Office, launching a New York City–themed crypto token aimed at addressing anti-semitism and “anti-Americanism.” In a post to X on Monday, Adams announced the launch of the “NYC Token, with a link to a website that says it also aims to inspire the next wave of innovation in NYC. “I always say there are two types of Americans, those who live in New York and those who wish they could,” Adams said in a…