Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Physical gold prices climbed to their highest level in a month as safe-haven demand spiked amid escalating geopolitical tensions.

At the same time, the move into bullion is spilling into digital markets. On-chain data shows a surge in the accumulation of tokenized gold assets.

Gold Prices Advance as Investors Seek SafetyGold rose 2% on March 2, reaching an intraday high of $5,394 per ounce, its highest level since January 30. At press time, the price had adjusted to $5,363.7.

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Gold Price on March 2. Source: TradingViewThe catalyst was direct: US and Israeli strikes on Iran sparked safe-haven flows into precious metals across global markets. Monday’s flare-up injected additional momentum into the precious metal’s broader rally. Gold has delivered notable returns, rising approximately 65% in 2025 alone.

For crypto participants, the timing mattered. With digital asset markets simultaneously experiencing renewed volatility, tokenized gold offered a path to preserve gold exposure without relying on traditional finance rails.

Major Purchases Highlight Tokenized Gold DemandOn-chain analytics firm Lookonchain identified an inactive wallet that spent $1 million USDC to buy PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) tokens. The address, labeled 0x1C70, performed multiple swaps over several hours and still holds $4 million USDC.

“The wallet still holds 4M USDC and may buy more,” Lookonchain said.

Additionally, an Ethereum whale rotated holdings from ETH into XAUT while accepting a realized loss. OnchainLens reported that the wallet (0x744b) swapped 1,000 ETH, valued at $1.94 million, for 358.49 XAUT at $5,413, incurring a loss of over $60,000.

“Over the past 2 years, the whale received 1,645 ETH for $3.26 million and still holds 645 ETH ($1.25 million),” the post read.

Meanwhile, London-based asset manager Abraxas Capital Management’s gold holdings also rose. An on-chain analyst, citing data from blockchain intelligence platform Arkham Intelligence, reported that the firm received 28,723 XAUT tokens, valued at $151 million, from Tether’s treasury. The transfer marked the largest XAUT transaction recorded in the past three weeks.

“Interesting fact: Heka Funds (Abraxas Capital) is one of Tether’s largest and most important institutional clients. At one point, it held 1.5% of the total USDT supply. Among Tether’s publicly disclosed on-chain address clusters, it currently ranks as the second-largest entity by interaction volume,” the analyst added.

The increase in tokenized gold accumulation corresponds with greater interest in alternative stores of value within crypto. Investors may favor gold-backed tokens for price stability and potential gains linked to metals markets, while risking less from the volatility typical of many digital assets.

BeInCrypto recently reported that the tokenized gold sector has recorded significant expansion, with its market capitalization now exceeding $6 billion. Furthermore, according to CoinGecko, daily trading volumes for both XAUT and PAXG surpassed $1 billion yesterday, signaling strong investor demand.

Whether this is a temporary flight to safety or marks a sustained move toward commodity-backed digital tokens remains a question as March 2026 progresses and more on-chain data emerges.

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US officials: Israel has withdrawn troops from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

A U.S. State Department official said Israel has withdrawn from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, describing the move as a "goodwill gesture" toward the Lebanese government.

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CBRS trades below IPO price post-earnings: Erases all gains six weeks after listing, two smart money firms net $5.8 million from first-day IPO shorts.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, Cerebras (CBRS), the AI chip firm previously dubbed "Nvidia’s strongest challenger", saw its stock price fall in stages after reporting its first quarterly results since going public, as negative guidance overshadowed better-than-expected performance. The stock has dropped roughly 22% since the earnings release and officially broke below its IPO price today. On-chain whales are overall bearish. CBRS trades at $184 on the Hyperliquid platform, down 7.7% in 24 hours. Large-scale short positions (million-dollar level) total around $11.62 million, 2.39 times the long positions ($4.87 million). Two major short positions were placed precisely at high levels as early as the IPO day or even before the IPO: - Whale 0xe0ff: Shorted at $284.51 on May 14 with a 3x leveraged position of $6.13 million, generating an unrealized profit of $3.24 million (+104%); - Whale 0x9996: Shorted at $275.92 on May 11 with a 5x leveraged position of $5.48 million, generating an unrealized profit of $2.64 million (+162%). It is learned that both addresses currently hold short positions in both CBRS and SPCX, and have recorded substantial unrealized profits, preferring to place short positions at high levels before or on the day of major stock listings. With the realization of negative earnings news in this round, the combined unrealized profit of the two positions is around $5.88 million. Currently, the average entry price of CBRS short whales is around $275, and the current price is over 30% lower than that. The nearest short liquidation line is at $200.13, about 7% away from the current price.

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Multiple high-performing domestic public mutual fund products have tightened their purchase restrictions.

E Fund Management announced in its latest filing that the E Fund Information Industry Select Fund, managed by Zheng Xi, has cut its purchase limit to 10,000 yuan. The same purchase limit reduction to 10,000 yuan applies to another fund under his management, E Fund Information Industry Fund, while E Fund Global Growth Select Hybrid Fund (QDII) has lowered its purchase limit to 10 yuan. In addition, Guolianan Preferred Industry Fund, Harvest Tech Innovation Fund, and Principal Performance-Driven Fund have also announced purchase limits or adjustments to their limits recently. Jin Zicai, a fund manager closely watched by the market, imposed additional purchase limits on multiple public offering funds under his management, with the four funds involved cutting their purchase limits to 500 yuan starting June 23. Purchase limits on high-performing funds likely stem from multiple considerations: they can avoid return dilution caused by short-term concentrated subscriptions, and proactive limits during overheated market conditions also send risk warning signals to the market. As the first half of the year draws to a close, such moves have become increasingly frequent. Overall, Wind data shows that since June alone, 19 funds with year-to-date net asset value returns exceeding 90% have suspended large subscriptions or adjusted their purchase caps. (Source: Cailian Press)

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The US stock market's optical communication sector rises across the board in pre-market trading, with Corning up 9.28%.

According to Bitget market data, the U.S. stock market's optical communication sector saw broad pre-market gains, with MRVL rising 4.99%, LITE up 3.24%, Nokia up 3.11%, Corning up 9.28%, and AXTI up 6.69%.

5 minutes ago

US-listed AI chip stocks saw mixed pre-market performance, with Qualcomm surging 13%.

According to Bitget market data, U.S. AI chip stocks posted mixed pre-market performance: Qualcomm (QCOM.O) surged 13%, Intel (INTC.O) rose nearly 6%, AMD (AMD.O) gained nearly 4%, and Google (GOOG.O) declined 1.4%.

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Micron Technology surges 18% in pre-market trading on US stocks

According to Bitget market data, the US stock storage sector is seeing broad pre-market gains. Micron Technology (MU.O) jumps 18% in pre-market trading, as its strong earnings significantly exceeded expectations, with multiple major banks raising the stock’s target price. SanDisk (SNDK) rises 12.25%, Western Digital (WDC) gains 12.05%, and Seagate Technology (STX) climbs 8.63%.

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2026.06.14 10:47:19

On June 14, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings show the regulator has formally approved a rule change proposed by NYSE Arca that enables the listing and trading of the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF. An actively managed cryptocurrency ETF, the fund will invest in a basket of digital assets meeting SEC-defined "eligible asset" criteria. While it uses a cryptocurrency index as its benchmark, it will not track that index passively. The filing notes the fund is projected to hold roughly 5 to 15 distinct cryptocurrencies, including major tokens like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP, Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), Litecoin (LTC), Polkadot (DOT), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Chainlink (LINK). The SEC filing also reveals the fund may hold stablecoins—primarily USDC—as "tokenized cash" during normal operations to cover expenses and rebalance assets, though these will not count toward its core investment portfolio. The approval notice stresses the product must adhere to NYSE Arca’s rules around anti-manipulation, disclosure, liquidity, and risk management. It also requires the fund to have information barriers (often called "firewalls") and position transparency mechanisms in place to uphold market fairness and prevent insider trading. Analysts say this ETF’s approval further expands cryptocurrency’s footprint within the traditional financial sector, marking the arrival of actively managed multi-crypto ETFs as tradable products under mainstream regulatory oversight.

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The US stock market's optical communication sector rises across the board in pre-market trading, with Corning up 9.28%.

According to Bitget market data, the U.S. stock market's optical communication sector saw broad pre-market gains, with MRVL rising 4.99%, LITE up 3.24%, Nokia up 3.11%, Corning up 9.28%, and AXTI up 6.69%.

3 minutes ago

US-listed AI chip stocks saw mixed pre-market performance, with Qualcomm surging 13%.

According to Bitget market data, U.S. AI chip stocks posted mixed pre-market performance: Qualcomm (QCOM.O) surged 13%, Intel (INTC.O) rose nearly 6%, AMD (AMD.O) gained nearly 4%, and Google (GOOG.O) declined 1.4%.

3 minutes ago

Micron Technology surges 18% in pre-market trading on US stocks

According to Bitget market data, the US stock storage sector is seeing broad pre-market gains. Micron Technology (MU.O) jumps 18% in pre-market trading, as its strong earnings significantly exceeded expectations, with multiple major banks raising the stock’s target price. SanDisk (SNDK) rises 12.25%, Western Digital (WDC) gains 12.05%, and Seagate Technology (STX) climbs 8.63%.

3 minutes ago

SBI announced it will acquire cryptocurrency trading platform Bitbank for 46.7 billion yen.

According to Nikkei News, Japanese financial group SBI Holdings announced on the 25th that it will acquire cryptocurrency exchange platform bitbank for 46.7 billion yen (approximately $288 million). Upon completion of the transaction, SBI Group’s crypto asset custody scale is expected to exceed 1 trillion yen, making it one of the largest operators in Japan’s crypto industry. Per the plan, a subsidiary under SBI Holdings will acquire Bitbank shares from individual shareholders including its founders as early as August this year. Bitbank will then repurchase shares held by existing shareholders MIXI and Ceres by the end of October. If combining data from SBI’s own crypto exchange SBI VC Trade and Bitbank, as of April this year, the two firms had a total of around 2.92 million accounts and total custody assets of approximately 1.1 trillion yen. While different crypto exchanges disclose custody assets at varying time points, among Japan’s major industry competitors, bitFlyer held about 960 billion yen in custody assets as of the end of December 2025, and Coincheck had around 800 billion yen as of the end of March 2025.

3 minutes ago

US Secretary of State: Will not accept the claim that the Strait of Hormuz belongs to any country.

US Secretary of State Rubio stated, "We will not accept the assertion that the Strait of Hormuz belongs to any country." (Jinshi)

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Iraqi government spokesperson: Efforts are underway to restore full oil export capacity.

A spokesperson for the Iraqi government stated that Iraq is working to restore its full oil export capacity and plans to increase its oil production to 7 million barrels per day in the coming years. (Jinshi)

3 minutes ago

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Volo Protocol Loses $3.5 Million in Sui Vault Exploit Amid DeFi Hack Streak

Crypto Lending Firm BlockFi Raising Interest Rates on BTC and ETH

PANews reported on September 2nd that official data indicates that Gate Launchpool launched 10 projects in August, distributing millions of dollars in airdrop rewards with an annualized yield of 1,363.1%. The total value of staked tokens reached approximately $1.148 billion. Furthermore, Launchpool has opened Gemini Dollar (GUSD) staking, allowing users to mint GUSD at a 1:1 ratio with USDT or USDC, with a current reference annualized yield of 84.04%. During the same period, Gate's HODLer Airdrop launched eight projects. These two flagship products attracted over 100,000 participants, allowing users to easily capitalize on early-stage opportunities.

Gate Launchpool, an innovative staking airdrop platform, supports staking a variety of tokens, including GT, BTC, ETH, USDT, and GUSD. It distributes new coin airdrops every hour, offering a low barrier to entry and high annualized returns, helping users easily capture market opportunities. Furthermore, after staking and redeeming, users can transfer their assets to the Yubibao [7-Day] fixed-term product to receive an additional airdrop reward of up to 116.6% on top of their original staking returns. Gate HODLer Airdrop is dedicated to discovering high-quality, high-potential projects and, through this airdrop mechanism, reduces investment risk to zero. Users only need to hold 1 GT to easily participate in the free airdrop.

PancakeSwap is deepening its footprint on Monad with the addition of a new MUSD-USDC stablecoin pool, bringing the total number of incentivized liquidity pools on the chain to 17. The move pairs MetaMask’s wallet-native stablecoin with USDC, offering liquidity providers boosted annual percentage rates distributed through the Merkl incentive platform.

What’s in the pool MUSD, or mUSD, is MetaMask’s stablecoin that launched in September 2025. It’s backed 1:1 by short-term US Treasury bills, which makes it structurally similar to competitors in the treasury-backed stablecoin space.

The boosted APRs for this pool and the other 16 incentivized pools on Monad are facilitated through Merkl, a platform that handles reward distribution for DeFi protocols. Rather than PancakeSwap manually distributing incentives, Merkl automates the process, letting liquidity providers claim rewards based on their contribution to the pool.

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PancakeSwap supports both its v2 and v3 concentrated liquidity models on Monad. The v3 model lets users specify price ranges for their liquidity, which can dramatically improve capital efficiency on stable pairs where the price barely moves.

Monad’s growing DeFi stack PancakeSwap’s initial liquidity incentives on Monad kicked off around November 2025, and the protocol has been steadily adding pools since then. Previous boosted pairs included MON-USDC, AUSD-USDC, and wrapped synthetic MON variants, covering both volatile and stable trading pairs.

The addition of MUSD-USDC on June 15, 2026 brings the total to 17 incentivized pools. MetaMask’s involvement adds another layer: by pushing mUSD into PancakeSwap’s incentivized pools, the wallet provider is creating familiar on-ramps for its user base.

What this means for liquidity providers and investors The specific APR figures were not disclosed with this announcement, which means investors will need to check the Merkl platform directly for current rates. APRs on incentivized pools tend to be highest in the early days when liquidity is still building, then compress as more capital flows in.

One risk worth flagging: incentivized APRs are temporary by nature. When the rewards dry up, liquidity tends to migrate to wherever the next boost appears. The real test is whether the pool generates enough organic trading volume to sustain competitive returns after incentives taper off.

The treasury-bill backing of mUSD provides a degree of structural safety that purely algorithmic stablecoins can’t match. But investors should still evaluate smart contract risk on both PancakeSwap’s Monad deployment and the Merkl distribution layer, as multi-protocol interactions create additional attack surface.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

MyTonWallet Rebrands to My Wallet After Expanding to 11 Blockchains

Polymarket paid mostly college-age creators to stage fake winning bets on copycat versions of its website. A Wall Street Journal investigation found none of the roughly $1.9 million in bets shown across 1,105 videos were real.

The findings run counter to the company’s core pitch. Polymarket settles every real trade on a public blockchain that anyone can audit. Its growth campaign relied on the opposite, staged trades on fake sites that no ledger could verify.

How Polymarket’s Alleged Fake Bets WorkedReal Polymarket trades run on the Polygon blockchain and settle in USDC. Markets resolve through UMA’s permissionless oracle, where anyone can propose or dispute an outcome by posting a $750 bond. Every position is public.

The marketing operation lived entirely off that ledger. The Journal reportedly reviewed 1,105 videos from 10 promoted creators between December and mid-May. Around 70% showed a bet, and none were genuine.

One video showed a creator winning $100,000 after Trump appeared to say the word McDonald’s in January. Trump never said it publicly that month, and the clip was older.

NEW investigation for @WSJ:

– Polymarket is paying scores of offshore clippers to quietly promote its international exchange in the U.S. (though it’s banned from letting Americans trade on the platform)
– Polymarket made dummy websites mirroring its real site, then paid creators… pic.twitter.com/vHU62JdoIH

— Neil Mehta (@neilmhta) June 21, 2026 On the real market, public data shows more than 50 accounts made that bet, and all lost.

Many clips were filmed on dummy sites such as poiymarket.com, built to mirror the real platform. Across 118 videos, creators celebrated roughly $900,000 in fabricated wins. The same bets would have lost more than $166,000.

Creators earned about $2,000 to $3,000 a month and were told not to disclose the payments. A hired marketing firm then pushed the clips past 140 million views. The pattern echoes an earlier market resolution dispute that dented user trust.

Scandal Hits During Polymarket’s US ComebackThe timing is awkward. US regulators fined Polymarket $1.4 million in 2022 for running an unregistered market and ordered the winding down of non-compliant trades.

The company later reincorporated in Panama, with its headquarters reportedly a shared law office that also worked with FTX.

We looked into Polymarket's presence in Panama, obtained its government paperwork and visited its headquarters in Panama City.

There was no sign of Polymarket. Nobody had heard of Polymarket there.

After more digging, we found that more than a dozen other crypto companies…

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) May 5, 2026 Polymarket has since won a regulated US market entry and now wants to bring its exchange onshore.

The fake campaign specifically targeted American users, who can still reach the offshore site through a VPN.

Trust questions are not new. A separate Journal analysis found most users lose money, even as the videos sold easy profit.

Now competing with regulated rival Kalshi, Polymarket said it will audit its promotional content.

That review, which is changing how regulators view its onshore push, may shape the next phase of the prediction market race.

BTC above $7K, BCH surges over 20%, market cap grows by $10B in less than 24h

TLDR: Binance Bitcoin reserves grew 5.1%, rising from 617,000 BTC to 648,600 BTC between April 25 and June 1, 2026. Ethereum holdings on Binance climbed 10.4%, adding 350,000 ETH during the same five-week observation period. Combined USDT and USDC reserves on Binance dropped $3.87 billion, reducing available spot market buying power significantly. Bitcoin fell below $71,000 amid rising crypto supply and shrinking stablecoin liquidity, reflecting a structural shift inside Binance. Binance Bitcoin reserves recorded a notable increase between late April and early June 2026, rising by 31,600 BTC. At the same time, combined stablecoin reserves on the exchange fell by $3.87 billion.

This shift in reserve composition came as Bitcoin dropped below $71,000 for the first time since April. The data points to a broader liquidity change inside the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Rising Crypto Reserves Paint a Complex Market Picture Binance’s Bitcoin reserve climbed from 617,000 BTC to 648,600 BTC between April 25 and June 1. That represents a 5.1% increase over roughly five weeks.

Meanwhile, Ethereum reserves also moved higher during the same window. Holdings grew from 3.35 million ETH to approximately 3.7 million ETH, an increase of about 350,000 ETH, or 10.4%.

Source: Cryptoquant

Higher exchange reserves can suggest that more crypto supply is available for trading on the platform. When coins accumulate on exchanges, it often indicates that holders have moved assets closer to potential selling points. However, reserve movements alone do not confirm that selling is occurring or imminent.

The simultaneous rise in both Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings is worth noting. It suggests the trend was not isolated to a single asset. Instead, it reflected a broader movement of crypto into Binance’s custodial reserves across the period.

What makes this development more pointed is that it occurred alongside a drop in Bitcoin’s price. The timing of rising supply and declining stablecoin buffers raises questions about the balance of buying and selling pressure on the exchange.

Falling Stablecoin Reserves Reduce Immediate Buying Power While crypto reserves increased, stablecoin balances moved in the opposite direction. Binance’s USDC holdings declined from $7.67 billion to $6 billion, a drop of $1.67 billion. USDT reserves also fell, moving from $40.3 billion to $38.1 billion, a reduction of $2.2 billion.

Together, the two stablecoin declines total approximately $3.87 billion. Stablecoins on exchanges generally represent available capital ready to purchase crypto in spot markets. When those balances shrink, the pool of immediate buying power contracts accordingly.

This matters because the spot market relies on stablecoin liquidity to absorb available supply. Fewer stablecoins on a platform means less firepower for buyers to bid up prices or defend key support levels. That dynamic can contribute to downside price pressure when supply is simultaneously increasing.

The combined effect, more crypto supply alongside reduced stablecoin liquidity, created a less supportive environment for Bitcoin’s price.

Bitcoin’s move below $71,000 occurred within this framework, suggesting the decline reflected structural conditions inside the exchange, not just broader market sentiment.

PANews, June 21 – According to PeckShieldAlert monitoring, the attacker of the MEV bot JaredFromSubway stole 1,474.58 WETH, 2.87 million USDC, and 2 million USDT. The attacker swapped the stolen funds for 4,400 ETH and has deposited 1,000 ETH into TornadoCash.

Earlier news reported that the MEV bot JaredFromSubway was attacked, with approximately $7.5 million in assets stolen.

Ethereum’s well-known MEV bot JaredFromSubway was drained after an attacker used contracts that made its automated trading system grant token approvals, according to Blockaid.

Summary

Blockaid says attacker-controlled contracts tricked JaredFromSubway’s automated system into granting approvals later used for draining. Jared publicly claimed a $15 million loss, while Blockaid’s public estimate stood near $7.5 million. Crypto.news previously tied JaredFromSubway to Vitalik Buterin’s swap and heavy Ethereum gas use in 2023. The security firm said the incident was not a normal phishing case and not a direct bug in the victim contract. 

“This is not a classic phishing attack and not a traditional smart-contract vulnerability in the victim contract,” Blockaid said. 

The firm said the bot approved attacker-controlled contracts during routes that appeared to be profitable MEV trades.

https://twitter.com/blockaid_/status/2068433798757577198

Blockaid says approvals stayed open Blockaid said the attacker first tested routes where approvals were used at once, leaving no open allowance. Later, the attacker changed the route design so the bot gave approvals that were not spent or revoked.

One example cited by Blockaid involved an approval of about 92.16 WETH to an attacker helper contract. Etherscan data for the transaction showed jaredfromsubway.eth interacting with its MEV Bot 2 contract before the later sweep. The transaction record also showed ERC-20 movements tied to the same automated route.

Final sweep hit WETH, USDC and USDT The final transaction used the open approvals to pull WETH, USDC and USDT from the JaredFromSubway MEV bot contract through transferFrom. Etherscan showed transfers from “jaredfromsubway: MEV Bot 2” to the attacker wallet beginning with 0x3e37.

Blockaid put the drained amount at about $7.5 million. The JaredFromSubway account later claimed the loss was $15 million and offered a $1 million bounty for the full return of the funds. That difference has not been fully explained in the public posts reviewed.

https://twitter.com/jaredsmev/status/2068481862499237929

How the attacker turned the bot’s logic against it The attack appears to have targeted the bot’s own trading workflow. MEV bots watch Ethereum activity and act on transactions that look profitable. In this case, attacker-controlled contracts made the route look useful enough for the bot to approve spending rights.

The attacker used 66 fake token contracts that copied the look and function of WETH, USDC and USDT. These contracts were paired with fake liquidity pools. The setup pushed the bot toward approvals that later became the path for the drain.

JaredFromSubway’s record is back in focus JaredFromSubway is one of Ethereum’s most watched sandwich bots. In a sandwich attack, a bot places trades before and after a user’s swap. This can give the user a worse price while the bot captures the spread.

As previously reported by crypto.news, JaredFromSubway targeted a small swap by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in April, using about $1.14 million in WETH volume across SushiSwap and Uniswap V2. Crypto.news also reported in 2023 that the bot used 455 ETH in gas within 24 hours and accounted for about 7% of Ethereum gas use during that period.

The exploit now puts attention on token approvals used by automated systems. The case shows how a system built to act quickly on open market data can be steered into unsafe permissions when controls around approvals are weak. It also adds a new chapter to the wider debate over MEV, sandwich trades and user protection on Ethereum.

For now, the key public details remain split between Blockaid’s technical thread, the on-chain records and posts from the JaredFromSubway account. No recovery had been confirmed in the reviewed updates.

Ethereum’s Most Notorious MEV Bot Loses $7.5 Million in On-Chain Honeypot Trap

Stablecoin adoption grows with new US bills, Japan’s open approach

Jefferies: Samsung is likely to follow SK Hynix’s example to list in the US via ADRs.

Jeff Kim, Head of Research at Jefferies, said Samsung is likely to follow SK Hynix in listing on the U.S. market via American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), which will boost the share price of the South Korean chipmaker whose valuation lags behind Micron. "Chip stocks are at a turning point. ADRs will serve as an important catalyst to drive their valuations," he added.

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UBS and TD Cowen sharply raise Arm’s target price, betting on a revaluation of Arm’s AI data center CPU value.

Arm’s stock price pulled back this week alongside the high-valuation AI sector, though some Wall Street analysts say the correction does not alter the company’s long-term standing in AI data centers. UBS sharply raised Arm’s price target from $260 to $470, retaining its Buy rating; TD Cowen lifted its target from $265 to $475, also keeping a Buy recommendation. Both firms share the view that as agentic AI evolves, CPUs could gain greater importance in data center architectures, rather than GPUs continuing to monopolize the investment narrative. TD Cowen believes that over the long term, CPUs could hold a more strategic position in certain AI workloads. UBS, meanwhile, emphasizes that the real debate in the market centers on the revenue potential of Arm’s self-developed or independent CPU business. The bank projects Arm’s CPU-related revenue could reach around $14 billion by 2030, though the company itself has stated this business will not have a material impact on its finances until fiscal 2028. Arm’s strengths lie in low latency and energy efficiency—metrics that major cloud providers are increasingly prioritizing as they expand AI infrastructure. Even with its stock pulling back from recent highs in the short term, analysts still view Arm as one of the key beneficiaries of the server CPU upgrade cycle.

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Crypto whale who profited over $23.77 million from BAT ICO liquidates 27,586 ETH

According to monitoring by Yu Jing, a whale that earned $23.77 million from participating in the BAT ICO sold 15,000 ETH (valued at roughly $24.29 million) two hours ago. The whale has now fully liquidated all 27,586 ETH it received from selling 35 million BAT on-chain over the past day and a half, converting the proceeds into 44.836 million USDS at an average selling price of $1,625.

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Sources: Iraqi officials once considered withdrawing from OPEC, but current plans are to remain a member and pursue a higher quota.

A senior Iraqi oil ministry official said that if OPEC quotas are not significantly increased, Iraq will be forced to consider all available options. Sources said Iraqi officials had considered withdrawing from OPEC, but the current plan is to remain a member and push for higher quotas. (Jinshi)

6 minutes ago

Kepler Cheuvreux raises ASML’s European share price target from €1,460 to €1,830.

Kepler Cheuvreux has raised the target price for ASML’s European shares from €1,460 to €1,830.

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Stifel: U.S. economy in "overheated expansion" as AI investment cycle outweighs consumer pressure

U.S. large diversified financial services holding company Stifel has raised its year-end S&P 500 target and rolled out a stock allocation framework for a "high-growth, high-inflation" environment. The firm lifted its year-end S&P 500 target to 7,800 points, noting the U.S. economy is entering a "running hot" state—where economic growth is strengthening alongside mounting inflationary pressure. Stifel’s models show U.S. growth momentum is picking up while inflation momentum is clearly overheating, a trend that will reshape the market’s leading sector structure in the second half of the year. Instead of traditional consumer sectors, Stifel’s top picks are investment-led cyclical industries, including banks, transportation, materials, energy, semiconductors, software and equipment. The firm adds that fixed-asset investment in AI remains on the rise: large tech firms including Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Google are projected to combine for roughly $725 billion in total capital expenditures in 2026, some $100 billion higher than prior estimates. This means the AI investment chain is likely to continue outperforming the consumption chain squeezed by inflation. Stifel advises investors to reduce exposure to discretionary consumer, consumer staples, communication services and some financial services sectors, as these areas see weaker earnings revisions. Conversely, the firm favors cyclical value stocks and hedges with defensive value sectors such as insurance, autos, energy and banks.

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PANews reported on February 22 that the IoTeX team announced it has contained the recent security incident and has strengthened the IoTeX blockchain. Preliminary data indicates the attack caused approximately $2 million in damages, including USDC, USDT, IOTX, and WBTC.

Investigations reveal that this incident was a sophisticated, long-planned attack by professional hackers targeting multiple blockchains. The team is collaborating with exchanges and law enforcement to freeze the stolen funds and conduct investigations and fund recovery efforts. On-chain operations and deposit functionality are expected to be restored within 24-48 hours, and the team will continue to provide transparent updates.

According to previous reports, IoTex hackers have begun converting stolen funds into ETH and then swapping them for BTC via Thorchain .

PANews reported on February 23 that the IoTeX team tweeted that on February 21, they discovered an attack on the Ethereum side of their multi-chain bridge ioTube. The attackers stole 410 million CIOTX tokens and approximately $4.4 million in assets through four steps. Currently, over 86% of the CIOTX has been locked or frozen, 12.8% (52.4 million CIOTX) is being frozen in cooperation with Binance and other platforms, and only 0.4% (1.7 million CIOTX) remains at risk after being exchanged on DEXs. Regarding the bridge's reserve funds, the attackers exchanged the stolen reserve tokens (including USDC, USDT, WBTC, WETH, and other assets) for approximately 2,183 ETH . Of this, 1,572 ETH has been transferred to the Bitcoin network via THORChain.

The IoTeX team has taken emergency measures, including distributing patch fixes, freezing related addresses, and working with exchanges to freeze funds. The ioTube bridge service will be restored after an independent security audit, along with a compensation plan and security upgrades. The team is committed to ensuring the safety of community assets and will release a more detailed compensation plan and hold a community AMA within the next 48 hours.

Previously reported, IoTeX suffered a loss of approximately $2 million in assets and is expected to be operational within 48 hours . Upbit has added IoTeX (IOTX) to its transaction alert list .

Crypto exploits declined by more than 90% in February, with digital asset thieves siphoning just $35.7 million across the ecosystem.

The sharp decline marks the quietest month for crypto security since March 2025, providing a brief reprieve for a sector routinely battered by nine-figure hacks.

Phishing and Oracle Attacks Linger Despite the Sharp Fall in Crypto TheftData compiled by blockchain security firm CertiK revealed a drastic month-over-month drop from January’s staggering losses.

Meanwhile, the figures also represent a massive year-over-year contraction. Last year’s February was dominated by a historic $1.5 billion exploit on the Bybit exchange, an anomaly that heavily skewed annual security metrics.

#CertiKStatsAlert 🚨

Combining all the incidents in February we’ve confirmed ~$35.7M lost to exploits with ~$8.5M of the total attributed to phishing.

This figure is the lowest monthly loss since March 2025.

More details below 👇 pic.twitter.com/7McXeoH3BR

— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) February 28, 2026 Despite the broader market slowdown in illicit activity, targeted attacks still drained millions from decentralized finance protocols.

The single largest crypto exploit incident occurred on February 22 on the Stellar network.

According to Quill Audits, a hacker exploited the community-managed YieldBlox Blend pool. The attacker stole more than $10 million through a classic thin-liquidity oracle manipulation attack.

By executing a single abnormal trade in the highly illiquid USTRY/USDC market, the attacker artificially inflated the token’s price by a factor of 100.

This tricked the protocol’s valuation system, allowing the attacker to execute massive undercollateralized borrowing.

A day earlier, on February 21, the Internet-of-Things blockchain project IoTeX suffered a major breach after a private key was compromised.

While CertiK estimated the losses at nearly $9 million, the IoTeX team claimed the stolen amount was closer to $2 million.

Security researchers noted the attacker used the compromised key to access the token safe, quickly swapped the stolen assets for ETH and routed them to Bitcoin using cross-chain bridges.

Rounding out the top three was a $2.2 million exploit of Foom.Cash, a privacy protocol.

In this attack, the hacker reportedly exploited a cryptographic flaw to forge zkSNARK proofs. This allowed them to create fake digital credentials that the protocol accepted, enabling the withdrawal of large volumes of tokens.

Crypto Phishing Attacks Remain a ConcernBeyond smart contract vulnerabilities, phishing remains a persistent threat, accounting for exactly $8.5 million of February’s total losses.

The crypto phishing sector has flourished recently, driven by the rise of professionalized “drainer-as-a-service” providers like Angel Drainer and Inferno Drainer.

These platforms allow scammers to execute large-scale malicious operations with minimal technical expertise. They provide fraudsters with a complete toolkit, including cloned websites, deceptive social media accounts, and automated smart contract scripts.

In exchange for providing this illicit infrastructure, the operators take a percentage of all stolen funds.

Injective USDC is set to be the primary stablecoin standard across the Cosmos ecosystem and dYdX. This automatically sets Injective up to be one of the largest blockchains in history for onchain stablecoin issuance and payments.

Skip:Go, the dominant routing layer in Cosmos, will also make Injective USDC the default denomination across its integrations. 

A four-year minimum commitment will ensure that this integration is carried forward for years to come with a unified stablecoin issuance source. One canonical USDC for the interchain led by Injective.

A Canonical Stablecoin Standard, ExplainedCanonical has a specific meaning here. When a chain designates a canonical version of USDC, every wallet, exchange, lending market, and DEX in that ecosystem treats it as the single source of truth. New issuance flows through one route. Liquidity does not fragment across wrapped or bridged variants. Default integrations point to one place.

A canonical standard extends that across sovereign ecosystems. Multiple chains and applications draw their USDC from a shared issuance source, settle in a common denomination, and route transfers through native infrastructure. With this announcement, Cosmos chains and applications have standardized on Injective USDC.

This is the model that has made USDC durable elsewhere. It is also the model Circle has framed as the foundation of an internet financial system, where regulated digital dollars move with the same openness and reliability as information. A canonical standard reduces the cost of moving capital across chains. It is the reason banks settle in shared currencies, and it is increasingly the reason chains do.

USDC Across the Interchain EcosystemCosmos Hub and Cosmos Labs confirmed that USDC issued through Injective will route across the Cosmos ecosystem via IBC. The announcement carries a four-year minimum commitment to long-term USDC support through Injective, which provides the runway that builders, institutions, and applications need to deploy real capital without renegotiating their stablecoin layer every cycle.

Skip Protocol’s Skip:Go, which handles the bulk of interchain transfers in Cosmos today, is adopting Injective USDC as its default USDC denomination. Migration tooling will be released through Cosmos Labs for chains and applications moving from prior USDC sources.

USDC has anchored payments, swaps, and treasury flows across Cosmos since 2023. What this standardization adds is permanence: a known issuer, native infrastructure, and a single denomination that does not need to be re-bridged for every counterparty.

Filling the Gap Noble LeftEarlier this year, Noble announced its migration away from Cosmos. Noble had been the longtime native USDC issuer in IBC. The move left Cosmos chains and applications without a long-term issuance source. Injective now fills this gap directly and takes over $100 Million in issuance.

The selection of Injective is the result of a deliberate process by Cosmos Hub, Cosmos Labs, and Skip Protocol to find a blockchain that is here long-term and is proven to succeed for years to come. The four-year minimum commitment gives Cosmos chains a stable counterparty to build against and removes the cost of another issuer migration in the next cycle.

For applications already running USDC in Cosmos, the question is no longer which stablecoin comes next. Injective USDC is the only final answer.

dYdX, First in Line alongside Cosmos HubdYdX, one of the largest perpetuals DEXes ever built, is the first chain to migrate. The sovereign Cosmos appchain processes over $4 billion in monthly volume across derivatives markets where USDC is the collateral and the settlement asset.

Every perpetual position, every margin deposit, and every PnL settlement on dYdX will trace back to Injective USDC. Funding rate payments and liquidation flows will settle in Injective USDC. The trader experience does not change. Deposits, fills, and withdrawals look the same on the frontend. Underneath, the dollars come from Injective.

dYdX is one of the most demanding consumers of USDC liquidity in the industry. Choosing Injective as the issuance source for that collateral is a direct statement about which chain dYdX considers the most credible long-term anchor for derivatives in Cosmos.

Skip:Go and CCTP. One-Signature Onchain UX.Skip:Go, Skip Protocol’s interchain routing layer, makes Injective USDC the recommended default USDC denomination across Cosmos. Users moving USDC into and across Cosmos will see Injective USDC as the standard route.

CCTP support on Injective enables one-signature transfers between Injective and the broader CCTP network of supported chains. As of December 2025, USDC was natively available on 30 blockchains, with CCTP connecting 19 of them and processing $126 billion in cumulative crosschain volume. The Skip:Go user experience does not change. A single signature settles a route that increasingly crosses ecosystems.

For builders integrating USDC for the first time, the recommendation is direct: default to Injective. Long-term onboarding support, canonical denomination, and ecosystem alignment all point to one place.

The Numbers Behind This DecisionUSDC entered 2026 with roughly $79 billion in circulation and processed $11.9 trillion in onchain transaction volume in Q4 2025 alone, with 108% year-over-year circulation growth as of 2025. USDC’s lifetime trading volume crossed $55 trillion in January 2026.

The broader stablecoin market is moving with it. Total stablecoin market capitalization closed Q1 2026 above $315 billion, up roughly 55% year-over-year, and stablecoin transaction volume across all networks exceeded $33 trillion in 2025. Visa Onchain Analytics reported $1.23 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume in December 2025 alone.

Payments adoption is where the trendline gets sharper. BCG’s January 2026 white paper, Stablecoin Payments: The Truth Behind the Numbers, tracked B2B stablecoin payments growing from under $100 million in monthly volume in early 2023 to over $6 billion by mid-2025. Total stablecoin payments volume hit a $122 billion annualized run rate in 2025. Visa’s stablecoin-linked card spend reached a $3.5 billion annualized run rate in Q4 FY2025, growing 460% year-over-year. Fireblocks reported a 3x year-over-year increase in institutional stablecoin payment flows across its enterprise client base in the same year.

The regulatory perimeter has caught up. The GENIUS Act, enacted in 2025, gave US payment stablecoins a federal framework with full reserve backing requirements, monthly disclosure obligations, and holder priority in insolvency. The EU’s MiCA regulation gave issuers a passportable license across the European market. The dollar stablecoin is no longer a parallel system. It is part of the financial system.

The chain that becomes the canonical issuance layer for that dollar inside one of the largest sovereign ecosystems in crypto sits at a different tier from the chain that does not.

Why InjectiveThe architectural reasons are direct. Injective runs an onchain order book with 0.64-second block times and transaction fees as low as $0.00008. Native IBC, Ethereum, and Solana connectivity make it a natural home for an issuer that already lives on 30 chains. The native EVM mainnet that launched in November 2025 added a MultiVM environment supporting Cosmos-native applications and the existing EVM stablecoin tooling stack inside the same execution layer.

The institutional posture is the other half. Google Cloud and Binance’s YZI Labs sit on the Injective Council and operate validators on the network. CFTC-regulated INJ futures began trading on Bitnomial Exchange in April of 2026. Canary Capital has an active staked-INJ ETF filing with the SEC. Paxos has brought yield-bearing stablecoin issuance to the network. USD-denominated stablecoin volume on Injective has exceeded $40 billion since launch.

The combination of payments-grade performance, MultiVM execution, regulated derivatives infrastructure, and an institutional stablecoin footprint is what brought Cosmos Hub, dYdX, and Skip Protocol to Injective rather than another chain.

Migration in MotionThe migration rolls out over the coming months. dYdX is first. Cosmos Labs is coordinating the rollout for additional chains and applications across the ecosystem.

Live integration details will continue to be published at injective.com/usdc. There you will find faucets, simple swaps into USDC and ecosystem projects that support Injective’s native USDC standard.

dYdX leads the migration, with the remainder of the Cosmos ecosystem to follow over the coming months. Cosmos Labs is the operational point of contact for any chain or application ready to move.

About InjectiveInjective is a lightning fast interoperable layer one blockchain optimized for building premier Web3 finance applications. Injective provides developers with powerful plug-and-play modules for creating unmatched dApps. INJ is the native asset that powers Injective and its rapidly growing ecosystem. Injective is incubated by Binance and is backed by prominent investors such as Jump Crypto, Pantera and Mark Cuban.

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Top Crypto News This Week: Solana ETF Deadline, Bitcoin Strategy Summit, MOVE Mainnet Launch, and More

Source: Binance EN

This is a general announcement and marketing communication. Products and services referred to here may not be available in your region. Fellow Binancians, Binance is thrilled to launch a Gala (GALA) Trading Tournament where eligible users will have a chance to share a total prize pool of 150,000 USDC in token vouchers! In addition, Binance is introducing an “Early Bird Boost” multiplier, which aims to reward users for trading earlier. Promotion Period: 2026-05-08 10:00 (UTC) to 2026-05-15 10:00 (UTC) Join Now Eligibility: All verified new, regular users and all Binance VIP users can participate.Liquidity providers in the Binance Spot Liquidity Provider Program and Binance Brokers are not eligible to participate. Eligible Altcoin Trading Pairs Trading pairs: GALA/USDT, GALA/USDC Early Bird Boost Multiplier: During the Promotion Period, users will be assigned different multipliers based on the time they complete their trades. The multiplier decreases over time — the earlier you trade, the higher the multiplier and the higher your effective trading volume. Daily Effective Trading Volume = Actual Daily Trading Volume * Early Bird Boost Multiplier Note: Total trading volume for the competition is the sum of the Daily Effective Trading Volume during the Promotion Period. The leaderboard on the landing page will display the Total Effective Trading Volume. The daily Early Bird Boost multipliers during the Promotion Period are as follows: Date (UTC）Multiplier2026-05-08 10:00 to 2026-05-09 10:002x2026-05-09 10:01 to 2026-05-10 10:001.8x2026-05-10 10:01 to 2026-05-11 10:001.6x2026-05-11 10:01 to 2026-05-12 10:001.4x2026-05-12 10:01 to 2026-05-13 10:001.2x2026-05-13 10:01 to 2026-05-15 10:001x How to Participate: Click the [Join Now] button on the landing page to register.Total Effective Trading Volume reaches at least 500 USD equivalent in any of the aforementioned eligible pairs on Binance Spot during the Promotion Period. Users who do not meet this threshold will not qualify for any reward under this Trading Volume Tournament. Reward Structure: Rankings Based on the Cumulative Trading Volume During the Promotion PeriodReward per Eligible Participant (in USDC Token Vouchers)1st Place7,500 USDC2nd Place6,000 USDC3rd Place4,500 USDC4th Place3,000 USDC5th Place1,500 USDC6th - 20th PlacesAn equal split of 13,500 USDC21st - 50th PlacesAn equal split of 12,000 USDC51st - 200th PlacesAn equal split of 21,000 USDC201st - 1,000th PlacesAn equal split of 21,000 USDCAll Remaining Eligible ParticipantsAn equal split of 60,000 USDC, capped at 5 USDC per user Promotion Rules: Trading volume of any zero-fee trading pairs is excluded from the final trading volume calculation.Transaction or gas fees will be excluded from the final trading volume calculation for the tournament.All eligible buy and sell orders will be counted towards the cumulative total trading volume.Token vouchers will be distributed to winners by 2026-05-29, and will expire within 21 days after distribution. Users will be able to login and redeem their token voucher rewards via Profile > Rewards Hub.The Spot Trading Volume leaderboard is updated at least once every 24 hours. The leaderboard will be displayed on the Spot landing page. Data sync times vary daily but will always be completed by the end of the day.Only users who have met the minimum qualifying trading volume threshold will be displayed on the leaderboard along with their trading volume. Don’t miss out on this opportunity and share in the rewards now! To view more promotions for new listings on Binance, stay tuned to this page for the latest updates and exclusive opportunities. Guides & Related Materials: How to Spot Trade (App / Web) Terms & Conditions: These terms and conditions (“Activity Terms”) govern users’ participation in the activity above (“Activity”). By participating in this Activity, users agree to these Activity Terms, and the following additional terms: (a) Binance Terms and Conditions for Prize Promotions; (b) Binance Terms of Use; and (c) Binance Privacy Notice; all of which are incorporated by reference into these terms and conditions. In the case of any inconsistency or conflict between these Activity Terms, and any other incorporated terms, the provisions of these Activity Terms shall prevail, followed by the following in this order of precedence, and to the extent of such conflict: (a) Binance Terms and Conditions for Prize Promotions; (b) Binance Terms of Use; and (c) Binance Privacy Notice.Only verified users who complete the aforementioned criteria for the tournament by the end of the Promotion Period may receive rewards.This Trading Volume Tournament is available to verified new, regular and VIP users enabled for Binance Spot Trading, subject to product (and where relevant, deposit methods’) availability in users’ regions, and may be restricted in certain jurisdictions or regions, or to certain users, due to legal and regulatory requirements.Reward Distribution:All token voucher rewards will be distributed to eligible, winning users by 2026-05-29.Users will be able to login and redeem their token voucher rewards via Profile > Rewards Hub. All token voucher rewards will expire within 21 days after distribution. Winning users should claim their vouchers before the expiration date, and no replacement reward will be provided. Learn how to redeem a Binance voucher.Please note that the actual value of rewards received by a user is subject to change due to market fluctuation.Token voucher rewards are subject to additional terms and conditions.Rewards are not negotiable nor transferable.Once the available rewards have been allocated to users, no further rewards will be provided notwithstanding that an eligible user may have completed the missions.A user’s trading volume in this Trading Volume Tournament will be calculated after the user has opted-in and will be based on the trading volume (i) in their master and sub-accounts, and (ii) on all Spot products, including Spot Trading, Spot Copy Trading and Trading Bots. API trades are allowed. Binance’s calculation of a user’s trading volume is final.Binance reserves the right to disqualify a user’s reward eligibility if the account is involved in any dishonest behavior (e.g., wash trading, illegally bulk account registrations/logins, self dealing, or market manipulation). Binance further reserves the right to disqualify any participants who tamper with Binance program code, or interfere with the operation of Binance program code with other software.Binance reserves the right at any time in its sole and absolute discretion to determine and/or amend or vary these terms and conditions without prior notice, including but not limited to canceling, extending, terminating, or suspending these activities, the eligibility terms and criteria, the selection and number of reward recipients, and the timing of any act to be done, and all participants shall be bound by these amendments.The commencement and operation of the campaign (including the commencement of the Promotion Period) are subject to the successful listing of the relevant token on Binance Spot. If the listing is postponed or cancelled for any reason, the campaign (including the Promotion Period and reward distribution) may be delayed, amended or withdrawn at Binance’s discretion. Binance will not be liable for any loss or inconvenience caused by such changes.There may be discrepancies between this original content in English and any translated versions. Please refer to the original English version for the most accurate information, in case any discrepancies arise. Thank you for your support! Binance Team 2026-05-08 Disclaimer: USDC is an e-money token issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS (https://www.circle.com/). USDC’s whitepaper is available here. You may contact Circle using the following contact information: +33(1)59000130 and [email protected]. Holders of USDC have a legal claim against Circle SAS as the EU issuer of USDC. These holders are entitled to request redemption of their USDC from Circle SAS. Such redemption will be made at any time and at par value.

TLDR: BitGo Bank & Trust now provides regulated MPC custody for XDC tokens and USDC on XDC Network platform.  Integration removes custody barriers preventing corporates and exchanges from deploying capital on blockchain.  XDC Network gains competitive advantage in trade finance and cross-border payments through BitGo partnership.  Institutional asset managers can custody XDC using same security standards required for traditional assets. XDC Network has finalized a custody partnership with BitGo, enabling regulated storage solutions for XDC tokens and USDC.

The integration addresses a critical infrastructure gap that has prevented institutional participants from deploying capital on the network.

BitGo’s Multi-Party Computation wallet technology, delivered through BitGo Bank & Trust, now provides enterprises with the security and compliance frameworks required for blockchain operations.

Regulated Custody Infrastructure Enables Enterprise Deployment The partnership resolves a fundamental barrier facing corporate blockchain adoption. Financial institutions and payment platforms require regulated custody before committing resources to distributed ledger systems.

BitGo Bank & Trust, National Association, operates as the regulated custodian entity supporting XDC chain operations.

According to Amitava Mandal, Director of XDC Tech US, Inc., “BitGo’s custody is infrastructure that unlocks real enterprise deployment.”

He emphasized that trade finance and payment platforms cannot operate on blockchain without regulated custody.

The integration eliminates this obstacle and creates pathways for institutional capital that were previously unavailable.

XDC Network announced the development through its official channels, confirming the custody support would unlock regulated access for tokens on the platform.

XDC Network has secured institutional custody support with @BitGo , unlocking regulated custody for XDC tokens and @USDC on the network, a major step toward enabling enterprises, exchanges, and financial institutions to deploy real capital on-chain.

With BitGo’s regulated MPC… pic.twitter.com/7vLshjl29z

— XDC Network (@XDCNetwork) February 3, 2026

Exchanges and institutional asset managers can now onboard XDC using custody standards equivalent to traditional financial assets. The integration applies the same security protocols that institutions employ for conventional holdings.

BitGo’s MPC wallet technology distributes cryptographic keys across multiple parties, enhancing security while maintaining accessibility.

The architecture prevents single points of failure that have historically concerned institutional participants. Financial service providers can now custody XDC assets within their existing regulatory frameworks.

Trade Finance and Cross-Border Payment Applications Gain Infrastructure Support XDC Network’s technical architecture targets trade finance, tokenized assets, and cross-border payment systems. The BitGo integration strengthens the network’s position in these sectors by providing the custody layer that enterprise applications require.

Legacy payment infrastructure faces challenges including slow settlement times, elevated costs, and limited transparency.

Mandal stated that the integration “removes that blocker and positions XDC Network for institutional capital flows that weren’t previously possible.”

The custody solution enables corporates to evaluate XDC Network as an alternative to traditional payment rails. Enterprises can now deploy blockchain-based payment systems with the same custodial protections they expect from conventional financial infrastructure.

Tokenized real-world assets represent another application area gaining infrastructure support. Asset managers and financial institutions can custody tokenized securities, trade finance instruments, and other digital representations of physical assets. The regulated framework addresses compliance requirements that govern institutional asset management.

Cross-border payment providers can leverage the custody integration to build settlement systems on XDC Network. The combination of fast settlement times and regulated custody creates conditions for institutional payment flows.

Payment platforms can now construct blockchain-based solutions without sacrificing regulatory compliance or security standards that their operations demand.

TRON DAO announced it has joined the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) as a Gold Member. The blockchain network will serve on the Foundation’s Governing Board.

The move positions TRON’s stablecoin settlement infrastructure within the emerging ecosystem for autonomous AI systems. TRON is betting that AI agents will need fast, cheap, high-volume payment rails — exactly the niche the network already dominates.

What Is the Agentic AI Foundation?The AAIF launched in December 2025 under the Linux Foundation. Anthropic, Block, and OpenAI co-founded the initiative, contributing three core open-source projects: Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), Block’s Goose Agent Framework, and OpenAI’s AGENTS.md.

The Foundation now counts 146 members, including AWS, Google, Microsoft, Circle, and JPMorgan Chase. TRON’s Gold membership places it alongside Cisco, IBM, Oracle, and Circle — the USDC issuer whose CTO called stablecoins foundational to the agentic economy.

TRON’s Bet: Stablecoin Rails for AI AgentsThe logic behind TRON’s AAIF membership is simple: AI agents that execute real-world tasks will eventually need to move money. If those transactions are frequent, small, and automated, the chain that wins is the one with negligible fees and near-instant settlement.

Third-party data supports at least part of that case. Arkham Research reported in January that TRON settles over $20 billion in stablecoins daily. Messari’s State of TRON Q4 2025 report put circulating USDT supply at $82.2 billion, with an average daily transfer volume of $23.86 billion. Whether that payment dominance translates to AI agent use cases — where transaction patterns may differ from human remittance flows — remains untested.

“Autonomous AI systems will depend on open, reliable, and globally accessible infrastructure to operate securely at scale,” TRON founder Justin Sun said.

The Bigger Picture: Crypto Meets Agentic AIAI agents handling procurement, subscription management, or cross-border payments could generate transaction volumes that dwarf current DeFi activity. The question is which chains capture this flow.

TRON’s advantage is its existing infrastructure. Arkham Research has described the network as a cost-efficient rail for mid- to large-value transfers, particularly in emerging markets. Stablecoin activity on TRON is concentrated in Asia, with the region accounting for nearly $341 billion annually.

What TRON Still Needs to ProveThe announcement is primarily a governance-and-standards play. TRON will contribute to AAIF working groups on open frameworks for AI-agent interactions with decentralized networks. Concrete technical integrations with MCP or other AAIF projects have not been detailed.

There are also questions about the credibility of TRON’s broader AI ecosystem. Justin Sun has promoted AINFT (formerly APENFT) as the network’s flagship AI project. The platform gives NFTs conversational and decision-making capabilities. But AINFT marketplace data shows just three active collections and a combined seven-day volume of roughly 1,255 TRX — about $358 total.

Sun said at Consensus Hong Kong in February that he is working on Web 4.0, fusing AI with the TRON blockchain. Whether this vision translates into developer adoption or remains aspirational will shape how the market evaluates TRON’s AAIF membership.

Bottom LineTRON’s stablecoin dominance gives it a credible claim to a role in the agentic AI payment stack. But converting governance participation into technical integration remains the harder task. The AAIF’s MCP Dev Summit in New York on April 2-3 will be an early test of whether TRON brings concrete proposals to the table.

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