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Circle’s USDC Flips Tether as Companies Replace Bank Wires With Stablecoins

Data: Base and Solana account for 97% of AI agent-to-agent transaction share.

According to data compiled by Lisk's chief researcher Leon Waidmann on March 16, AI agent on-chain payment settlements are mainly concentrated on Base and Solana, with these two networks accounting for 97% of all agent-to-agent transactions. Specifically, Base accounts for 59% with 70.9 million transactions; Solana accounts for 38% with 45.3 million transactions; and all other networks account for only 3%, with 3.9 million transactions.

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Circle and Nomura Plan to Launch Stablecoin Settlement Service in Japan, Earliest Launch as Early as 2027

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, /PRNewswire/ -- The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, reminds investors of a class action lawsuit against Zoetis Inc. ("Zoetis" or "the Company") (NYSE: ZTS) for violations of §§10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investors who purchased the Company's securities between January 14, 2025 and May 6, 2026, inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the firm before July 27, 2026.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall of the Schall Law Firm, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2460, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 310-301-3335, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at [email protected].

The class, in this case, has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member.

According to the Complaint, the Company made false and misleading statements to the market. Zoetis suffered from weakening veterinarian prescription growth for its Librela medication after the FDA issued safety warnings about neurological complications in dogs. The Company's Trio product lost market share to competitors. The Company's Apoquel and Cytopoint dermatology products lost market share to newly launched competing treatments for dogs. Based on these facts, the Company's public statements were false and materially misleading throughout the class period. When the market learned the truth about Zoetis, investors suffered damages.

Join the case to recover your losses

The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.             

CONTACT:

The Schall Law Firm
Brian Schall, Esq.,
www.schallfirm.com
Office: 310-301-3335
[email protected]

SOURCE The Schall Law Firm

President Donald Trump has long sought a new person at the helm of the Federal Reserve. He got what he wanted -- and the person he wanted -- when Kevin Warsh was sworn in as the new Fed chair on May 22, 2026. But the president might not get the rate cuts that he wants from Warsh.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) met for the first time last week with Warsh as leader. Based on the results of this meeting, the Fed seems unlikely to cut rates anytime soon. What's more, Warsh is subtly putting the blame squarely on President Trump.

Image source: Official Federal Reserve Photo.

The FOMC's clear message President Trump told an audience only hours after Warsh's swearing-in ceremony that interest rates would be lower "very quickly." He said, "You watch what's going to happen. I had a rotten head of the Fed, and now I have a great head of the Fed." The president added later, "You get the interest rates down, everybody's going to be very, very happy."

However, Warsh and the FOMC didn't make Trump happy last week. Any expectations that the FOMC would lower rates in Warsh's first meeting quickly evaporated. The 12 members of the committee unanimously agreed to hold the federal funds rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75%.

The FOMC issued a press release saying, "Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee's 2 percent goal." This statement emphasized, "The Committee will deliver price stability." It also reaffirmed the policy of "maintaining ample reserves in the banking system."

Warsh didn't participate in the Summary of Economic Projections issued following the latest FOMC meeting. However, the responses from other FOMC members reflected a median estimate of the fed funds rate at 3.8% by year-end, higher than the 3.4% projection in March. Nine members of the committee expect at least one rate increase in 2026. Only one member predicted a rate cut this year.

Blaming without naming Neither Warsh nor the other FOMC members specifically named President Trump in their statements about the decision to maintain rates at current levels. But they didn't have to mention his name to make their point.

The committee acknowledged that economic activity continues to expand "at a solid pace." However, the FOMC's statement also noted that this growth has occurred "despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East."

More importantly, the FOMC said that one reason why inflation remains high is that it reflects "supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy." The specific references to "supply shocks" and the energy sector are unambiguously pointing to the Iran war, which President Trump initiated along with Israel.

In the press conference following the FOMC meeting, Warsh was asked directly if he had spoken with President Trump since the swearing-in ceremony. He replied, " So on the president, I don't have anything for you." He did say, though, that he has carried on a tradition by meeting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for breakfast three times. While Warsh didn't provide details about their conversations, he said that he's interested in "what's happening in the Middle East."

Rate cuts are dead. What does it mean for the stock market? Following the FOMC meeting and Warsh's press conference comments, CME Group's (CME 4.46%) FedWatch, which tracks futures prices of 30-day Fed funds, estimated a 36.3% chance of a rate hike at the next FOMC meeting and 0% chance of a rate cut. Furthermore, FedWatch predicts no rate cuts for the rest of the year, with the odds of a rate increase rising to 85.5% by the FOMC's last 2026 meeting in December.

The bottom line is that rate cuts appear to be dead, but the prospects of rate hikes are alive and kicking. What does this mean for the stock market?

Perhaps most importantly, investors should expect volatility. Even with the memorandum of understanding signed by the U.S. and Iran to establish a peace agreement, there's no guarantee that the Strait of Hormuz will remain fully open. Oil prices could remain elevated for a while compared to pre-war levels.

Buying assets that are resilient when rates increase could be the best bet. Big bank stocks and insurance stocks tend to hold up well during periods of climbing rates. Consumer staples stocks can also provide stability for portfolios when interest rates rise.

TLDR: Counterfeit Ledger Nano S Plus devices use ESP32 chips to steal seeds and PINs in plain text format. A fake Ledger Live app passed Mac App Store review and drained over $9.5 million from 50+ victims. The fraud spans five attack vectors including Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and physical hardware. Ledger’s genuine check feature fails when hardware is compromised at the supply chain source level. Counterfeit Ledger hardware wallets are at the center of a growing threat targeting cryptocurrency users worldwide.

A security researcher has documented a large-scale operation distributing fake Ledger Nano S Plus devices through multiple online marketplaces.

The compromised units appear identical to legitimate products but carry entirely different internal hardware. Seeds, PINs, and wallet data are being sent directly to attacker-controlled servers, draining any wallet initialized on the device.

Fake Hardware Hides Malicious Chips and Firmware The counterfeit devices replace Ledger’s secure element chip with an ESP32 microcontroller. This substitute chip runs modified firmware labeled “Nano S+ V2 1.”

Unlike the genuine secure element, this hardware stores sensitive data in plain text. That data is then transmitted to remote servers controlled by the attackers behind the operation.

Beyond the hardware, the campaign also distributes a fraudulent version of Ledger Live. This fake app is built with React Native and signed using a debug certificate.

It intercepts transactions and sends sensitive user data to multiple command-and-control servers. Users downloading this version have no visible indication that anything is wrong.

The attack spans five separate vectors: compromised hardware, Android APKs, Windows executables, macOS installers, and iOS apps.

A security researcher just documented a large-scale counterfeit Ledger Nano S Plus operation selling compromised devices across multiple online marketplaces.

The fake units look identical to the real thing but contain completely different hardware. Instead of Ledger's secure… pic.twitter.com/6ZfP9pJkUU

— TFTC (@TFTC21) April 16, 2026

The iOS distribution uses Apple’s TestFlight platform to bypass the standard App Store review process. This approach allows the fraudulent software to reach users without triggering typical security checks. Each channel serves as an independent entry point for the same underlying scam.

Ledger’s built-in genuine check feature is designed to verify device authenticity. However, that verification process can be bypassed when the hardware is tampered with at the source.

This makes the point of purchase a critical security variable. Buying from unauthorized sellers removes the only reliable layer of hardware-level verification.

Separate Mac App Store Fraud Drained Over $9.5 Million Separately, on-chain investigator ZachXBT documented another fake Ledger Live app that passed through Apple’s Mac App Store review. That operation alone drained more than $9.5 million from over 50 victims.

Among those affected was musician G. Love, who lost 5.92 BTC after entering his recovery phrase into the fraudulent application. The app presented itself as the legitimate Ledger companion software.

These two operations together show a clear pattern in how attackers are targeting hardware wallet users. Rather than exploiting firmware vulnerabilities, they are intercepting users before they reach a genuine device.

The fraud happens at the distribution level, not the protocol level. This shift makes user behavior and purchase source more important than ever.

Security best practices remain unchanged despite the evolving tactics. Hardware wallets should only be purchased directly from the manufacturer’s official website.

No legitimate wallet software will ever request a 24-word recovery phrase on screen. Any application asking for seed phrase input is running a scam, without exception.

The broader message from both incidents is straightforward. The hardware itself remains secure when obtained through proper channels.

The vulnerability now lives in the supply chain and software distribution ecosystem. Staying safe requires equal attention to both where a device is bought and how companion software is sourced.

Fake Ledger Device Bought on Chinese Marketplace Raises Fresh Hardware Wallet Alarm

Key Points Table of Contents

Key PointsNano Labs Ltd (NA) Strengthens Web3 Computing CapabilitiesALT5 Sigma Develops AI-Powered Financial InfrastructureCollaborative Assessment Emphasizes AI Computing and Autonomous Agent SystemsGet 3 Free Stock Ebooks NA stock decreases 3.22% amid ALT5 Sigma AI payment collaboration announcement

Partnership evaluation focuses on AI infrastructure and automated financial systems

Nano Labs faces selling pressure while ALT5 advances AI fintech initiatives

AI-powered payment framework discussions coincide with NA stock decline

NA shares retreat despite strategic AI data center partnership exploration

Shares of Nano Labs Ltd (NA) experienced downward movement on Friday, declining amid announcement of an exploratory AI partnership with ALT5 Sigma. The stock settled at $2.3323, representing a 3.22% decrease, as initial morning strength gave way to sustained selling pressure throughout the session. The two companies disclosed plans for a comprehensive assessment to merge AI computing capabilities with next-generation financial platforms.

Nano Labs Ltd, NA

Nano Labs Ltd (NA) Strengthens Web3 Computing Capabilities Nano Labs Ltd maintains its strategic focus on high-performance computing infrastructure and blockchain technology as artificial intelligence infrastructure requirements accelerate. The organization combines semiconductor engineering with data center operations to service evolving Web3 applications. Thus, the company seeks to broaden its influence beyond cryptocurrency asset management.

Nano Labs has prioritized developing enterprise-grade computing platforms that enable decentralized application deployment and digital financial instruments. Its technological foundation accommodates both blockchain transaction processing and sophisticated AI computational demands. Accordingly, this strategic direction corresponds with rising market demand for converged AI and Web3 infrastructure solutions.

The recently announced memorandum establishes a formal assessment framework for prospective partnership activities with ALT5 Sigma. The arrangement specifies a 90-day examination phase facilitated by a collaborative task force. Nano Labs will evaluate potential synergies spanning computational resources, payment mechanisms, and cloud-based platforms.

ALT5 Sigma Develops AI-Powered Financial Infrastructure ALT5 Sigma Corporation continues developing its AI-centric financial technology platform as it prepares to transition to its new identity as AI Financial Corporation. The organization manages international payment networks, trading platforms, and settlement infrastructure serving institutional participants. Its objective centers on embedding artificial intelligence automation throughout financial operations.

ALT5 delivers specialized knowledge in payment processing infrastructure and transaction execution, facilitating machine-initiated financial transactions. The firm intends to broaden its technological capabilities to accommodate both AI-to-AI and AI-to-human payment transactions. This strategic direction signals a fundamental evolution toward autonomous financial ecosystems.

The partnership structure encompasses investigation of AI-optimized payment solutions leveraging ALT5’s established infrastructure foundation. Both organizations will examine regulatory compliance frameworks, digital identity verification systems, and settlement mechanisms throughout the assessment window. Therefore, ALT5 aims to expand its operational reach into next-generation AI-enabled financial markets.

Collaborative Assessment Emphasizes AI Computing and Autonomous Agent Systems The partnership blueprint concentrates on three strategic domains: AI data centers, autonomous Agent Cloud infrastructure, and AI-optimized payment networks. The partners will evaluate deployment frameworks, cybersecurity protocols, and economic models for data center implementation. Their goal involves supporting computationally intensive artificial intelligence applications.

The Agent Cloud initiative centers on establishing infrastructure for independent software agents functioning throughout digital environments. The assessment encompasses coordination frameworks, authentication mechanisms, and cross-platform compatibility standards. This infrastructure could enable large-scale coordinated AI system deployments.

Both organizations will analyze supplementary infrastructure components, including digital asset tokenization systems and revenue generation frameworks. The collaborative task force will oversee technical feasibility studies and business case development during the evaluation timeline. Future definitive agreements will require demonstrated technical viability and commercial practicality.

NA stock demonstrated immediate market sensitivity as investors responded to prevailing trading dynamics. Nevertheless, the partnership disclosure underscores a strategic pivot toward converged artificial intelligence and financial technology infrastructure development.

Oliver Dale

Editor-in-Chief of Blockonomi and founder of Kooc Media, A UK-Based Online Media Company. Believer in Open-Source Software, Blockchain Technology & a Free and Fair Internet for all. His writing has been quoted by Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Investopedia, The New Yorker, Forbes, Techcrunch & More. Contact [email protected]

In brief GPT Image 2 launched in late April with native reasoning and extremely good text accuracy in any script. Nano Banana 2 wins on anime illustration, aerial spatial composition, and structured information design. GPT Image 2 dominates on photorealism, typography, and signature calligraphy. OpenAI recently launched GPT Image 2 with the kind of understatement reserved for people who know the results will speak for themselves. No keynote. No hype cycle. Just a model page, mostly a gallery, and an Image Arena score that put it 242 points ahead of every other model currently available—the largest lead ever recorded on the leaderboard.

The timing was pointed. When we last looked at the top end of AI image generation, Google's Nano Banana 2 had just claimed the crown, and we pitted it against ByteDance's Seedream 5 Lite in a seven-category shootout. Seedream held its own on price and spatial fidelity. Nano Banana 2 won on speed and text rendering. Then OpenAI walked in.

GPT Image 2—model identifier gpt-image-2, running on the GPT-5.4 backbone—is OpenAI's first image model with native reasoning built into the architecture. Before it draws anything, it researches, plans, and reasons through the image structure.

OpenAI also retired DALL-E 3 and GPT Image 1.5, which are both being shut down on May 12. This isn't an update—it's a replacement.

We ran the same seven-category framework we used in the Nano Banana vs. Seedream comparison to see what actually changed—and whether Google's current champion can hold the overall title.

What GPT Image 2 offersThe headline feature is text. OpenAI claims approximately 99% character-level accuracy across Latin, CJK, Hindi, and Bengali scripts. That's not a modest improvement over prior models—text rendering has historically been the thing that makes AI image generators look like toys, with garbled signs, nonsense fonts, and letters that bleed into each other.

GPT Image 2 appears to have largely solved it.

The model supports up to 4K resolution and generates up to eight coherent images from a single prompt with consistent characters and objects maintained across the batch. That last part—batch consistency—is a new primitive for production workflows. Children's book publishers and agencies running multi-format campaigns now have a tool that didn't exist before now.

Access is tiered. Instant Mode brings the core quality jump to all ChatGPT users, including those on the free tier. Thinking Mode—where the model reasons, web-searches, and self-checks before generating—is restricted to Plus, Pro, and Business subscribers. The official API opens to developers in early May.

Until then, direct access runs through ChatGPT or third-party proxies at roughly $0.01–$0.03 per image. OpenAI's token-based API pricing lands at $8 per million input tokens and $30 per million output image tokens—slightly cheaper than Nano Banana 2's $60 per million output tokens at equivalent resolution tiers.

Testing GPT Image 2 vs Nano Banana 2: Which one wins?Realism: The rooftop architect test

The prompt specified a cinematic portrait of a 32-year-old female architect at sunset, with constraints on coat color, glasses type, a roll of blueprint held in the right hand, golden hour lighting, a 50mm depth-of-field simulation, film grain, and a 4:5 vertical aspect ratio. Every element was an independent constraint that could fail.

GPT Image 2 produced an impressive result compared against its predecessor, however the stare from the subject has that typical AI mood that is sometimes easy to spot. The city skyline bokeh behaved like an actual 50mm f/1.8. The trench coat fabric had tactile weight. The skin showed natural freckled texture with real subsurface scattering rather than the smooth synthetic finish common in beauty-trained diffusion models. Blueprints held in the right hand as specified.

Nano Banana 2 produced a competent portrait that reads as composite. The sunset is a shade too saturated for the actual golden hour. The skin is also very natural for the resolution, but her stare looks more genuine and natural. There’s no film grain, however, and she is holding different blueprints instead of a single roll. The image is actually very similar as the one from previous tests, which shows the model lacks a bit of creativity when given different constraints.

Winner: Nano Banana 2

Art and painting: The Renaissance astronomer

This prompt demanded Rembrandt-adjacent art with three competing light sources—warm candle, cold moonlight, and a green bioluminescent jar—all mixing correctly across a cluttered stone observatory. It also required a specific list of desk objects, a cat with one white paw, and a visible oil brushstroke texture.

GPT Image 2 got the light physics right. Each source casts its own color temperature across surfaces. The velvet robe shows fraying at the cuffs, the skull is deployed as a bookend, the tome has what can be interpreted as handwritten text, and the black cat with a white paw is silhouetted against a comet sky. The whole thing reads like an actual oil painting, not a rendering.

However, GPT Image 2 showed one flaw that may be its curse until the next model comes out: When given too many parameters, the model oversharpens the image and generates a lot of artifacts that heavily decrease its quality. This is probably the equivalent to GPT Image 1’s derided “piss filter,” but for this new model generation.

Nano Banana 2 produced something beautiful—but in the wrong genre. It landed closer to high-end fantasy card illustration than oil painting. The painting is shallow, the tome text has actual letters but not legible script, and the cat has two white paws instead of one. The scene is overexposed, but the light sources are properly represented.

Winner: GPT Image 2

Illustration: The anime spirit medium

This is where Nano Banana 2 hits back hard. The prompt asked for an anime key visual in the style of Ufotable—the studio behind “Demon Slayer” and “Fate/Zero”—with specific technical requirements: cel shading with ink outline weight variation, a body slowly turning into energy, subsurface skin glow, a nine-tailed kitsune fox, ofuda talisman calligraphy in legible kanji, and a Makoto Shinkai painterly twilight background in violet, amber, and rose.

Nano Banana 2 delivered what might be the best single output of the entire seven-category evaluation. The cel shading has correct ink weight variation. The tails are luminous and clearly present. The ofuda kanji is recognizable. The twilight gradient is exact. The composition reads like a real theatrical poster.

GPT Image 2, by comparison, produced an anime pastiche. Clean outlines, correct energy dissolution effect, good cherry blossom bokeh—but the Ufotable subsurface skin glow is absent, and the nine-tailed kitsune is reduced to a single physical tail companion with other tails looking differently.

Again, in this art, the oversharpening and artifacts are apparent, and the image is not visually pleasing.

Winner: Nano Banana 2

Lettering and style understanding: The signature design test

Both models were shown reference examples from a professional lettering service—an ornate cursive signature style with controlled complexity—and asked to design a signature for "José Lanz" in that aesthetic: abstract but legible.

GPT Image 2 produced clean, fluid cursive with correct loop ascenders, rendered on textured paper with an embossed letterpress effect. It’s plenty legible as "José Lanz," but stylized. The critique: It played it safe. The reference material is more energetically entangled than what GPT produced. But it's a usable deliverable that properly emulates the reference.

Nano Banana 2 attempted to match the ornate complexity and produced illegible scrawl. The reference's appeal is controlled chaos—loops that look wild but resolve into readable letterforms. Gemini got wild and lost legible. It also reproduced the service's watermark, an IP concern in any professional context.

Winner: GPT Image 2, by a large margin

Spatial awareness: The steampunk aerial

This is a demanding composition prompt with instructions for different objects at specific locations: a vast steampunk clock tower city from a three-quarter aerial perspective, with five depth planes, an atmospheric haze gradient, and six specific readable text elements distributed across the scene—including four clock faces each showing different times in Roman numerals.

Nano Banana 2 edges this one. Its aerial geometry is more convincing—the three-quarter view actually reads as three-quarter rather than a tilted front view. The five depth planes are distinctly separated, atmospheric haze increases correctly with distance, and the wet cobblestone newspaper texture is excellent. The elements are properly represented and the text is readable but not all the lines appeared in the scene

GPT Image 2 got all six text elements right and all clock faces correct, but the depth planes partially collapse in the mid-ground, and the clock tower showed four clocks with different times. It also represented the text more accurately—for example, the gargoyle showed the document that reads “Sector 7: Condemned,” which Nano Banana Pro didn’t represent.

Again, the large number of parameters to take into consideration seems to have degraded the image quality, triggering the oversharpening effect, similar to using a LoRA in Stable Diffusion with too much presence.

Winner: Nano Banana 2

Lettering density: The Kellerman's Hardware scene

The most punishing text-recall test: a gritty urban intersection at 2 a.m. where every surface carries readable copy—a ghost sign, graffiti in chrome bubble letters, vinyl storefront lettering, a concert poster with a barcode, a torn reveal underneath, embossed metal awning letters, cardboard handwriting, stenciled curb text, and a sticker-bombed payphone with specific copy including "ANSWERS TO MOCHI."

GPT Image 2 delivered near-perfect element recall. Every specified text element was present and readable. The ghost sign drop-shadow fade and peel texture was exceptional. The sodium vapor color cast was accurate—that specific green-amber of actual sodium vapor streetlights, not generic amber. Wet asphalt reflections were convincing.

Nano Banana 2 also performed strongly, but lost some specificity. The "STILL HERE" graffiti used outline bubble letters instead of chrome-fill. The torn poster reveal was partial. The sodium vapor cast was more generic. Several elements from the prompt didn't survive the render. Still, visually it was a more pleasing image than what GPT Image 2 produced because of its oversharpening flaw.

Winner: GPT Image 2, because of the prompt adherence

Agentic research: The Bitcoin timeline

This category tests something different—not rendering quality, but editorial judgment and information architecture. Both models have the capability to activate an agent for research and investigation before rendering an image, so we compared both models.

The prompt asked for a widescreen Bitcoin history timeline in kids-drawing style, with a strict quality bar on information accuracy.

GPT Image 2 treated it like an infographic commission. The output uses a horizontal timeline with color-coded year markers, illustration slots above, and explanatory text below each event. Dates are specific: October 31, 2008 for the white paper; January 3, 2009 for the genesis block; May 22, 2010 for Pizza Day. The Mt. Gox entry correctly cites 850,000 BTC lost. Events are evenly distributed from 2008 to 2024.

Nano Banana 2’s output is more charming—a winding road metaphor for Bitcoin's volatile journey is genuinely clever—but the first-person title "My Bitcoin Timeline" is odd for an informational piece. The 2020–2024 section is visually congested, and information density is uneven across eras.

Verdict: It’s a tie. Nano Banana is more visually pleasing, but GPT Image 2 has more information in the output

Image editing: Living room redesign

This test measures something distinct from pure generation: how well a model reads an existing space and transforms it while staying anchored to that specific room. It's closer to what a staging app or an interior architect tool needs to do.

Prompt: Here is a photo of my living room. Make it more modern and minimalistic. change the floor for a marble white one, use mirrors in a cohesive style to decorate the front wall, and make the overall aesthetic modern and more pleasing to the eyes:

GPT Image 2's output is immediately recognizable as the room. The door is in the same position. The smart lock is there. The wall art arrangement, the hanging plant, the shelf—all preserved.

The model's redesign choices are also genuinely good for what it was prompted: It replaced the mixed mirror arrangement with a lit triptych that creates a focal wall, and the warm LED halo behind the panels is a real interior design technique. The reflections on the mirror actually match the references, which is an interesting implementation.

However, it didn’t implement changes on the floor.

Gemini's output looks more realistic due to the lighting, but has a more chaotic relationship with the source. It took the “use mirrors” instruction way too literally, and put mirrors on mirrors, for example. The mixed frame styles (some gold, some brass, different shapes) also contradict the "cohesive style" instruction specifically.

It seems as if the model applied an inpainting layer on the specific areas that it marked as editable. The perspective is also slightly off.

Winner: GPT Image 2 because of the choices. It’s easier to change individual things iteratively than instructing Gemini to change all the elements it created

VerdictGPT Image 2 wins in most categories: realism, classical art, signature calligraphy, image editing, and lettering density. Nano Banana 2 wins in anime illustration, spatial composition, and structured information design. However, it is the most consistent model when it comes to longer prompts.

Overall, as long as you give ChatGPT enough creative freedom to avoid triggering the sharpening effect, the results will be aesthetically pleasing, realistic, and strong with text. However, the models are so close in quality that a good prompting strategy may change the outcomes in favor of each one.

GPT Image 2 may be the easiest model to approach from scratch, but Nano Banana 2, with a proper prompting technique and iterations, will produce outstanding results that may look more professional and polished depending on the use case.

Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

In brief Chrome silently downloads a ~4GB Gemini Nano file called weights.bin to eligible devices with no opt-in prompt, and automatically re-downloads it if deleted. Chrome's "AI Mode" button in the address bar routes queries to Google's cloud servers—the local 4GB model doesn't power it. Privacy researcher Alexander Hanff argues the behavior violates the EU ePrivacy Directive. Check your Chrome user data folder. There's a decent chance a 4GB AI model is sitting there—one you never agreed to install. The file is called weights.bin, buried in a folder named OptGuideOnDeviceModel. It's the weight file for Gemini Nano, Google's on-device language model.

Delete it and Chrome downloads it again.

Privacy researcher Alexander Hanff uncovered the behavior while running an automated audit on a fresh Chrome profile. Using macOS kernel filesystem logs, he traced Chrome creating a temp directory, pulling down model components, and placing the finished file on disk. The whole process took roughly 15 minutes. No notification. No prompt. The profile had received zero human input at any point.

The same pattern has been confirmed on Windows 11, Apple Silicon Macs, and Ubuntu. Users who've been finding unexplained storage spikes for over a year now have a name for the culprit.

What it actually doesGemini Nano powers Chrome's on-device AI features: Things like "Help me write an email," scam detection, smart paste, page summarization, and AI-assisted tab grouping. On Windows, the file lands at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\OptGuideOnDeviceModel\weights.bin. On Mac and Linux, it's the equivalent Chrome profile directory.

Deleting the folder provides no permanent relief. Chrome restores it on the next restart unless you disable the feature—via chrome://flags, the On-device AI toggle in Settings > System, or on Windows, a registry edit setting OptimizationGuideModelDownloading to disabled.

Chrome recently added a prominent "AI Mode" pill in the address bar. A reasonable user seeing that button—with a 4GB local model already on their disk—would assume their queries stay on-device. They don't. AI Mode routes every query to Google's cloud servers. The local Gemini Nano model doesn't power it at all.

You're paying the storage and bandwidth cost for a feature you're not actually using privately.

Is it legal or “legal”?Hanff argues Google is violating EU privacy law. His case centers on Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive—the same clause behind cookie consent banners—which requires "prior, freely-given, specific, informed, and unambiguous consent" before storing anything on a user's device. He also cites GDPR Articles 5(1) and 25, covering transparency and privacy by design.

He also drew a direct line to a case he published two weeks earlier: Anthropic's Claude Desktop silently pre-authorized browser automation across roughly three million user machines without explicit consent. It’s the same pattern, he argued, but at a much smaller scale.

However, Google has been sneaking Gemini Nano in Chrome for a while. People just didn’t notice. “To provide an enhanced browser experience, Chrome uses on-device AI models to help power web and browser features,” Google says in its Support Site. “Chrome may download on-device Generative AI models in the background, so features that rely on these on-device models stay ready for use. If you delete on-device AI models, only features that rely on them will be unavailable.”

“In February, we began rolling out the ability for users to easily turn off and remove the model directly in Chrome settings. Once disabled the model will no longer download or update.” the company told Android Authority.

The company noted the model auto-deletes if storage runs low. What Google didn't address is why users weren't asked first.

Google’s own Chrome developer documentation tells third-party developers it's "best practice to alert the user to the time required to perform these downloads." Google didn't follow its own advice this time.

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DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating

U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).

14 minutes ago

Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.

Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.

14 minutes ago

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.

14 minutes ago

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.

14 minutes ago

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)

14 minutes ago

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%.

14 minutes ago

DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating

U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).

14 minutes ago

Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.

Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.

14 minutes ago

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.

14 minutes ago

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.

14 minutes ago

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)

14 minutes ago

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%.

14 minutes ago

PANews, June 11th - According to Cailian Press, the market experienced volatile adjustments, with all three major indices closing in the red, and the ChiNext index falling by over 1%. The combined turnover of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges was 2.55 trillion yuan, a decrease of 67.2 billion yuan compared to the previous trading day. Market hotspots were scattered, with over 4,000 stocks declining. In terms of sectors, the semiconductor materials sector bucked the trend, with target materials, photoresist, and electronic specialty gases all performing strongly. Heyuan Gas achieved four limit-up days in six trading days, Kangqiang Electronics and Haohua Technology achieved two consecutive limit-up days, and Xingfu Electronics and Huatai Gas both hit the 20cm limit-up. The semiconductor equipment sector also rose against the trend, with cleanroom and packaging/testing equipment leading the gains. Helin Micro-Nano hit the 20cm limit-up, and Shengjian Technology also hit the limit-up. The non-ferrous metals sector was active, with Xianglu Tungsten, Guizhou Platinum, and Zhangyuan Tungsten all hitting the limit-up. The chemical sector rose during the session, with Liuguo Chemical and Jinniu Chemical hitting the limit-up. On the downside, the physics AI concept stocks fluctuated and declined, with Tianyu Digital Technology, Nengke Technology, and Dashen Intelligent hitting the limit-down. Film and cinema chain stocks collectively declined, with Hengdian Film & Television and Beijing Culture both hitting their daily limit down. At the close, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.16%, the Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.68%, and the ChiNext Index fell 1.13%.

Posted: March 31, 2020

The altcoin market has been following Bitcoin’s lead and has suffered immensely. The coins have failed to recover completely and have been undergoing a sideways movement.

Huobi Token [HT]

Source: HT/USD on Trading View

Houbi Token [HT] continued to rise up till March, however, it succumbed to the 12 March attack. The price of the asset was pushed as low as $1.7482, after which it has been trying to resurface. At press time, the value of the coin had reached $3.2535, but a bearish presence was still around as per Awesome Oscillator.

Resistance: $3.5417

Support: $2.3117

At press time 

Price: $3.21

Market Cap: $727.45 million

24-hour Trading Volume: $159.34 million

Augur [REP]

Unlike other tokens, REP noticed a sudden spring in its price in January. As correction set in, its value got slashed by more than half but it is still reporting a YTD return of 2.35%. At press time, REP was being traded at $10.13 with its immediate resistance and support marked closely.

According to Bollinger Bands indicators, the market of REP appeared to be volatile as the bands diverged. The trend has switched to a bearish trend as the signal line crept under the candlesticks.

Resistance: $10.84

Support: $8.35

At press time 

Price: $9.92

Market Cap: $109.16 million

24-hour Trading Volume: $23.04 million

Verge [XVG]

Unlike the ups and downs in other cryptos, the chart of Verge [XVG] appeared to be pretty simple. The year 2020 started with an upwards stride, but the price has been on a downward spiral since the fall on 15 February. At press time, the coin has been valued at $0.00247 and it reported a negative return of -39.99% in 2020.

Resistance: $0.0027

Support: $0.0021

At press time 

Price: $0.0025

Market Cap: $41.44 million

24-hour Trading Volume: $4.55 million

Posted: April 2, 2020

April has begun on a positive note for most altcoins. In less than 48 hours, altcoins across the spectrum have registered gains in their prices. The examples of Tezos, Augur, and Enjin coin are cases in point. Since yesterday, these alts have surged in value, registering price rises up of up to 10 percent.

Tezos [XTZ]

Tezos was in the headlines recently after Coinbase reported that it had migrated its Tezos staking bakery from the United States to Ireland.

At the time of press, Tezos continued to be one of the best performing altcoins, with its trading value increasing to $1.68 while registering an over 10 percent rise in less than two days. If the bullish momentum were to sustain, Tezos will be on track to breach the resistance at $1.79. However, if things take a turn for the worse, Tezos’ supports at $1.5 and $1.4 are likely to come to the rescue of the coin.

At the time of writing, the CMF indicator was just above the neutral zone, indicating relatively high buying pressure. The Stochastic indicator also echoed a similar sentiment as it was firmly placed in the overbought zone.

Augur [REP]

After its massive price drop, Augur was on its way to recover most of its losses. The recent surge saw Augur’s price rise by 4 percent, pushing its price to $10.14. For Augur, if the price were to endure bearish pressure, then there are two supports at $9.8 and $9.5. However, if its upward price action were to continue, Augur would soon be testing the resistance at $11.18.

According to the MACD indicator, the coin underwent a bearish crossover; however, there is the possibility of a reversal since the MACD line was, at press time, heading upwards towards the signal line and may soon go above it. The RSI indicator showed bullish sentiment, as it was moving towards the overbought zone.

Enjin Coin [ENJ]

Enjin Coin, an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency, has had quite an impressive run over the past 24-hours. At press time, ENJ was being traded at $0.092 and it had a market cap of $75 million. In less than 48 hours. the coin managed to increase its price by over 11 percent. For ENJ, there were two strong points of support at $0.084 and $0.080, if the price were to fall. However, if it keeps up the momentum, the resistance at $0.095 would soon be in striking distance.

The MACD indicator for ENJ had undergone a bearish crossover yesterday; however, the MACD line and the signal line looked like they will soon converge. The CMF indicator was showing high buying pressure, generally a bullish sign.

Posted: April 3, 2020

As seen in the chart below, Dash, Tezos, and Augur have all performed relatively well, with their RoIs over the last 90 days up by 51%, 36, and 11%, respectively. Unlike, most altcoins, however, these three coins have managed to push higher, even after the crash on 13 March.

Source: TradingView

Dash Dash had been in the news recently due to its performance over the last two months, with the altcoin performing consistently better than other coins. Further, Dash also migrated to Hive after the Steemit fiasco. Additionally, the price was forming a bearish descending triangle, with the CMF heading lower, at the time of writing.

The VPVR indicator showed the formation of a PoC at the press time price level of $70. The future for the 20th largest crypto seemed slightly bearish, with there being a possibility that Dash’s market cap [$646 million] would fall following a 9% drop in price.

Augur Augur, the 45th ranked cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap, was about to face off with both the 200 DMA [purple] and 50 DMA [yellow], levels which will act as resistance, preventing the price from trending higher.

The price level [$10.13] was also a confluence of resistance, with the VPVR also highlighting a major level of resistance. Further, a drop from here would take the price of Augur aka Rep token to its PoC at $7.85.

Tezos Tezos’ price has been trending higher since mid-March, with its price going from a low of $6 to $10 and above. At press time, however, the price stood at $10.05, with the token ranked as the 10th largest crypto on CoinMarketCap.

The 24-hour trading volume for XTZ was recorded to be $134 million, with the token recording a 24-hour price change of 3.28%.

After the price breakout, a bearish trend should be expected and the same was highlighted by the MACD indicator which was heading towards the zero-line. This trend might push the price down by a minimum of 9%.

Posted: April 5, 2020

While most altcoins are trying to cope after the March 13 plunge, LEO is ahead in the market cycle, as it has already formed a golden cross. Among LEO, Bitcoin gold, and Augur, LEO shows the most profitable future while the rest, not so much.

LEO The Bitfinex token LEO is trading at $1.04 and has a market cap of $1.03 billion making it the 11th largest crypto. With a minuscule 0.06% surge in the last 24 hours, the coin showed a bearish scenario with the formation of a bearish parallel channel. The price may drop to the immediate support at $0.998.

However, due to the formation of a golden cross, the coin’s future looks bullish in the medium term.

Bitcoin Gold Bitcoin Gold, a fork of Bitcoin, was priced at $7.28 and has a market cap of $127 million making it the 40th largest cryptocurrency. The coin has undergone a -2.42% drop in the last day.

It is stuck between resistance [$7.8] and support [$6.5], with Stochastic RSI already in the oversold zone.

Augur The symmetrical triangle formed by Augur aka REP showed chances of a bearish breakout with MACD indicating a bearish crossover. Further, the coin, like BTG is stuck between support at $9.24 and resistance at $10.58.

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It’s not uncommon for Non-Profit organizations to accept donations, but it’s not very common for these donations to come in the form of cryptocurrencies. Stellar is one blockchain/crypto project that is now making the big step towards donating to non-profits.

As a matter of fact, the foundation has already announced that it will be giving out a total of 1.9 million Stellar Lumens (XLM) to a select 6 organizations that have had its back for some time. The lucky non-profits include Heifer International (a global organization fighting hunger by helping agricultural producers), Women Who Code (encourages women to take up positions in the tech industry), Watsi (creates new technologies to improve financing models in the healthcare sector), Freedom of the Press, Unicef France, and the Tor Project (the creator of the anonymizing browser called The Onion Router).

Crypto Donations In the case of Tor, the project has been receiving crypto donations (Bitcoin) since 2013. Tor started accepting other cryptos in March 2019. These include Dash (DASH), Litecoin (LTC), Zcash (ZEC), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Augur (REP), and Monero (XMR). In fact, according to the project’s fundraising director, Sarah Stevenson, about 20% of the donations received by Tor come in form of cryptocurrencies.

Stellar’s new move in giving out crypto donations highlights the increasing exposure of cryptos to possible mass adoption in the future. Also, Stellar wants to support the non-profits as they have been using its technology and supporting its project, and it’s only right for the company to return the favor.

Crypto Against Coronavirus Granted, Stellar isn’t the only crypto-oriented donor in the industry. Various entities have moved to send their donations in cryptos during hard economic times and unrest in countries like Venezuela. Now, even more, entities are stepping up to help in the fight against the current Coronavirus pandemic.

 

In late March, Binance Exchange made a huge move by starting an initiative dubbed #CryptoAgainstCOVID. The initiative is focused on buying and distributing much-needed medical supplies to the regions hit by the pandemic. For a start, Binance donated $1 million towards the cause and pledged to match any public donation to a tune of another $1 million.

Another week, another round of Crypto Tidbits. Bitcoin has effectively been flat on the week, recently returning to around where it started the week after briefly interacting with the ever-important $7,400 resistance. Altcoins, interestingly, came into their own this week, with Ethereum, Link, Tezos, EOS, among other top altcoins posting double-digit percentage gains in the past seven days.

Bitcoin’s stagnation over the past week comes as the stock market has mounted a strong comeback, with the S&P 500 rallying 12% from last Friday’s close to Thursday’s close despite 6.6 million new unemployment claims in the U.S. and the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Despite the non-action, analysts are still bullish on BTC and the rest of the cryptocurrency market. In fact, as reported by NewsBTC previously, BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes said that while he could see Bitcoin revisiting $3,000, his year-end price target “remains $20,000,” which is 180% above the current price.

As to why he thinks this is the case, he cited that the monetary and fiscal solutions that governments and central banks are enlisting to stave off precision:

“Everyone knows the shift is upon us, that is why central bankers and politicians will throw all of their tools at this problem. And I will reiterate, that is inflationary because more fiat money will chase a flat to declining supply of real goods and labour. There are only two things to own during the transition to whatever the new system is and that is gold and bitcoin.”

Related Reading: Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin At $7,000, FATF Regulation, Coinbase Backs Ethereum DeFi Bitcoin & Crypto Tidbits Crypto Industry Sees Layoffs: The Bitcoin community and broader crypto space have not been spared in the recent economic carnage. According to a “100% user-generated” list of companies on recruiting/job site Candor, Bitcoin.com, crypto mining firm Bitfarms, and mining hardware manufacturer Bitfury are among the firms in this industry that have begun to lay off staff over the past few weeks. Outside of this, one of the original crypto companies, Factom, has purportedly gone into liquidation, despite securing millions of dollars worth of funding over the past five years and garnering a grant from the U.S. Energy Department. Ethereum DeFi Has Seen Stellar Growth: In a report published April 9th, blockchain analytics site DappReview revealed that transaction volume across Ethereum-based DeFi projects has increased by nearly 800% when comparing Q1 2020’s metrics to that of Q1 2019. Much of this growth was attributed to projects like Maker and Compound — which offer decentralized loans and stablecoin solutions — and derivatives providers like Synthetix and Augur. This growth comes as crypto upstart Thesis and other partners are soon to release tBTC — a project that will act as a decentralized representation of Bitcoin on the Ethereum blockchain. Analysts expect for the launch of this project to boost DeFi adoption, with both ETH  and BTC holders Bitcoin Cash & Bitcoin SV See Block Reward Halvings: Both Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV have seen their block reward halvings pass in the past 72 hours. As a result, both networks saw their hash rates and difficulty drop. The halving resulted in an instant 50% reduction in mining revenues for those operating on the BCH and BSV chain, forcing operators running on tight margins to turn off their machines or mine on other networks. Fewer machines mean fewer computers processing blocks, resulting in slower transactions. South Korea Launches Digital Currency Project: On Monday, South Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea, revealed that it has launched a pilot program for testing a digital won, which is slated to run to December 2021.  A release outlining this move said the program will determine if there are a legal case and ample technical capability to launch a digital currency in South Korea. This comes just six weeks after the South Korean National Assembly passed legislation that will provide a comprehensive framework for the regulation and legalization of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin exchanges. Twitter CEO & Bitcoin Bull Jack Dorsey Pledges $1 Billion to COVID-19 Relief: Jack Dorsey announced in a Twitter thread this week that Yesterday, Dorsey announced in a Twitter thread — it’s quite fitting, I must say — that he will be “moving $1 billion of my Square equity,” which purportedly corresponds with around 28% of his total wealth, to a LLC called “Start Small” to “fund global COVID-19 relief.” Start Small existed prior to this outbreak, but this is the first time it has seen mainstream attention. The Bitcoin bull intends to allocate the rest of the donation to the promotion of Universal Basic Income and girl’s health and education, calling both issues critical. Fidelity Sees Growth In Crypto Demand: Fidelity Digital Assets — the crypto services division of Wall Street giant Fidelity Investments, a firm with trillions under management — has confirmed it has seen an uptick in interest. Speaking to Frank Chaparro of The Block, a spokeswoman for the firm said that:
“From a trading perspective, we continue to onboard new clients every month and are seeing significant pipeline growth. […] And in recent weeks, we’ve seen more momentum across our business.”

Photo by Sandro Katalina on Unsplash

Table of contents

Altcoins have been on the receiving end of a massive wave on March 31 2025, with most of them experiencing impressive gains. Data from Phoenix Group and Cryptorank revealed ten projects with the highest price surge, with Augur ($REP), Unilend ($UFT), and Linear ($LINA) leading. These assets’ value doubled in a single day through trading volumes across major exchanges.

Augur saw the largest gain of the day, with its price rising by 48.1%. The stock is currently priced at $0.91 and has a market capitalization of $7.5 million. The token’s daily growth was significantly higher than that of all the other listed assets. Coinbase was the dominant trading platform used for REP.

Following closely, Unilend surged by 40.9% to $0.09 per token and reached $9.4 million in market capitalization. Most of the trading was done by UFT was in Binance. Linear, also listed on Binance, surged by 39.4% to $0.0003 with a total market cap value of $3.2 million.

AKI Network and Eigenpie Post Double-Digit Gains AKI Network ($AKI) increased by 28.6% and closed at a price of $0.01 for the day. Currently, the token’s market cap is $17.5 million. The majority of its trading activity also occurred on Bybit.

Eigenpie ($EGP), also listed on Bybit, saw its price increase by 19.1% to $1.70. EGP currently has a $16.9 million market cap token ranking among the day’s top performers.

Heroes of Mavia ($MAVIA) followed, rising by 18.4% to $0.43 and a market cap of $22.4 million. Similar to EGP and AKI, MAVIA was also an actively traded token on Bybit.

RATS, KLV, CLV, and Broccoli Show Modest Strength RATS rose by 16.0%. However, its price is still exceptionally low at $0.000003. It has a market capitalization of $30.7 million and is listed on Bitget. KLV ($Klever), also trading on Bitget, rose by 14.9% and is now $0.003 with a market cap of $28.7 million. Both tokens are traded on Gate.io.

CLV rose by 11.0% to $ 0.06 with a total market capitalization of $ 37.5 million. It was listed on KuCoin. Rounding the list, Broccoli (CZ’s Dog) gained 10.7% to $0.05 with a total market capitalization of $51,732,600.Binance was the primary exchange for the token.

AUTHOR

Dan is a seasoned wordsmith known for his sharp editorial insight, meticulous attention to detail, and passion for compelling storytelling.

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The Komodo platform is many things – a unique blockchain, a coin that pays interest, a decentralized exchange, a development blockchain with many additional features being planned for the future.

The Komodo blockchain is a fork of the ZCash blockchain, which itself was forked from the Bitcoin blockchain, making Komodo a descendent of Bitcoin. It includes the zk-snark technology that Zcash was built upon, and adds a delayed proof of work consensus algorithm to make Komodo more robust and secure.

The ultimate goal of Komodo is to create an entire ecosystem comprised of diverse partnerships that will send the platform forward into the future. Because it was designed to be used by developers of any level and in any industry it is extremely versatile.

In this comprehensive review, I will give you everything that you need to know about the Komodo platform.

How Komodo WorksThose doing development on the Komodo platform are not building onto the blockchain, but are instead building their own standalone blockchains. It’s not a fork or sidechain, and the Komodo platform doesn’t act as a parent to the new blockchain.

Each project is an independent blockchain that becomes connected to the Komodo ecosystem. This is crucial because the fact that each blockchain is independent means that future development won’t be limited by Komodo in any way.

Benefits of the Komodo Platform

Komodo was also designed from the ground up as a modular ecosystem. This allows developers to choose which technologies they wish to use in their own projects.

Perhaps most importantly, Komodo was developed with security as a top priority. In addition to using the Zcash zk-snark protocols for anonymity and privacy, Komodo uses a delayed proof of work (PoW) protocol to provide Bitcoin level security to even the smallest blockchains and projects. As stated on the Komodo website itself:

Komodo’s innovative dPOW (delayed proof of work) provides a security layer that creates backups of your blockchain’s data and notarizes it to Bitcoin’s blockchain, providing even the smallest of blockchains with Bitcoin-level security.

In essence, Komodo is using Bitcoin’s hashrate to ensure immutability for the Komodo blockchain.

Komodo PrivacyKomodo was created as a form of the Zcash blockchain, using their technology known as ‘Zero Knowledge Proofs’. This technology allows each transaction on the blockchain to be 100% anonymous or as transparent as necessary given the requirements of each situation.

Anonymous transactions are important to many users because they hide the amount, sender and recipient of the transaction, but still make it possible for miners to verify that the transaction is valid and without any double-spending. Alternatively transactions can be left transparent, in which case information shows just as it would for a Bitcoin transaction.

Anonymous transactions help protect user privacy, but they provide a more important function, and that is to preserve fungibility, which is a basic requirement for any currency.

Komodo SecurityAfter including privacy by forming from Zcash, the developers of Komodo provided for enhanced security of the blockchain in a unique manner. They created a proof of work token, but modified it to be Delayed Proof of Work, allowing it to recycle Bitcoin’s hashrate to ensure immutability of Komodo’s blockchain.

Komodo does this by using 64 “notary nodes” that work to notarize blocks in the Bitcoin blockchain. This provides protection for Komodo because an attacker would have to alter both the block in the Komodo blockchain and the block in the Bitcoin blockchain.

Steps in the Komodo Delayed Proof of Work

As long as the Bitcoin blockchain is secure, so too will Komodo – and all the other blockchains built using Komodo – remain secure.

This mechanism can now be used by any cryptocurrency that wishes enhanced security. By using Komodo the new blockchains are connected to Bitcoin, benefiting from the security of the Bitcoin blockchain, while also saving on transaction costs.

Komodo TeamThe Komodo project is based on anonymity, so it comes as no surprise that many of the Komodo team members initially chose not to reveal their identity. The founder and one core developer of Komodo went by the moniker JL777, but is now known as James ‘JL777’ Lee.

The CTO of the project was known as CA333, but we now know him as Kadan Stadelmann. This increased transparency has come about as Komodo grows in size and scope and is attracting more investors.

The full team is now nearly 30 members spanning leadership, development, marketing, and community development. And speaking of community, there are numerous contributors from the community, both developers and community outreach ambassadors.

Some of the Komodo Team Members

Currently, the general manager of Komodo is Ben Fairbanks, who is also the founder and CEO of RedFOX Labs, an incubator that is helping to launch Komodo based companies in emerging markets. Prior to joining Komodo and launching RedFOX, he served as COO at the ride-hailing service Grab. He brings extensive business and marketing experience to the project.

The CTO of the Komodo project, almost since the very beginning, has been Kaden Stadelmann. He also serves as CTO of RedFOX Labs. He previously worked as an IT security analyst and software developer, and founded the company satoshihack back in 2011, making him a pioneer in the blockchain space.

Core development is led by founder James Lee, and he is joined by Adam Bullock and Mihailo Milenkovic as well as roughly a dozen full-time developers and another dozen community volunteer developers.

KMD CoinThe Komodo native currency (KMD) was launched in an ICO in February 2017 at a price of $0.10. Since then the price of the coin has risen and fallen with the fortunes of the project and the markets. As of mid-March 2018 it was trading at $2.73 and was ranked the #48 coin by market cap on Coinmarketcap.com.

Even though 2018 saw many coins losing 90% or more of their value, KMD held up fairly well in the face of the bear market. It rallied in April, topping $4 and slowly sank from that level, finally dipping under $1 in November 2018 and hitting a low of $0.492329 on November 25, 2018.

It slowly recovered from that low and by February 2019 had doubled in price as it traded back above $1. It remained above $1 for nearly all of 2019, and nearly hit $2 in July 2019, but the price has recently dropped and as of August 9, 2019 stands at $0.863399.

KMD Price Performance. Image via CMC

The fundamentals for the coin continue to look solid thanks to the 5% annual interest rate paid to KMD holders, and the current low price is more a reflection of broad-based weakness in the cryptocurrency markets.

There are currently 115,389,114KMD in circulation, with a planned total supply of 200 million coins, which is projected to be reached in 2031. Until that time, KMD holders will continue to receive a 5.1% annual interest payment (called Active User Rewards) on their KMD holdings, so long as they keep more than 10 KMD in a wallet where they control the private keys. The KMD had an all-time high of $12.54 on December 21, 2017.

Buying & Storing KMDKMD can be purchased on a good number of exchanges, with the largest volume on CoinBene. There is also good volume at Binance, CoinEx, and HitBTC. Other good choices for buying KMD include CoinEx and Bittrex.

Given that there is strong volume across a number of exhanges, it bodes well for the liquidity of KMD. Improved liquidity means that you can execute large block orders on these books without much slippage in the price of the coin.

Register at Binance and Buy KMD Coin

In order to earn the 5.1% annual interest users must hold their KMD in a supported wallet. The top two based on the Komodo website are the Verus Agama wallet, which is a multi-coin wallet from the Verus Coin project, or the native Komodo OceanQT wallet. Other options include the Guarda Wallet and the ZelCore wallet.

Development & RoadmapWhen it comes to determining the amount of work that has been done by a project, there are a number of metrics one can look at.

However, one of the most effective that I have found is to take a look at the coding activity in the project's public repositories.

Therefore, I decided to jump into the Komodo GitHub to get a better sense of what the developers have been pushing over the past year. Below is the total code commits to two of their development repos.

Commits for Select Repos over past 12 months

As you can see from the above, the team has been quite active pushing code to their core repository over the past year. It is also worth pointing out that there are a further 56 other repositories with varying degrees of activity.

This is more development activity than we have seen at most other projects. In fact, if we were to compare Komodo to its peers, it is ranked 30th in terms of commits and 12th for overall coding activity on coincodecap.

This perhaps makes sense when viewed in the context of the numerous projects being built on the Komodo platform (more below). 

In terms of the upcoming roadmap, the two most important remaining milestones for 2019 are the release of the developer portal as well as the GUI for the fully mobile-ready wallet/DEX hybrid.

If you want to keep up to date with development on the project then I suggest you jump into their discord and meet the team. They also encourage community developer contributions to the core.

Komodo Platform ProjectsThere are a number of standalone projects that were developed for the Komodo platform. Those that are farthest along in development and have been released as at least betas include Decentralized ICOs, BarterDEX along with a built-in “tumbler” service called Jumblr.

However, as of July 2019 Komodo has launched its Antara Framework, which is the basis for nearly all current services on Komodo.

Decentralized Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)The Decentralised ICO concept was meant to be an exciting option for startups as it would mean that they could launch their process much easier. It would also have given them access to the Komodo technology, marketing channels, and consultants.

However, given the regulatory pressure that has been placed on ICOs recently, this initiative seems to have fallen by the wayside. Of course, the lackluster performance of most recent ICOs has not helped the process.

The Komodo team had plans to launch a number of Decentralised ICOs. In May of last year they planned to release their first with the BlocNation dICO. However, this did not seem to materialize and the Blocnation project seems to have gone dead (with the site down).

The dICO that never materialized... Image via Komodo Blog

Despite this though, Komodo will accept pre-existing blockchain projects on other platforms that would like to migrate to Komodo to receive your own fully customizable, high performing independent blockchain.

As of August 2019 there are a number of projects that have launched on Komodo.

JumblrJumblr is a cryptocurrency anonymizer developed by Komodo which is decentralized and open-source. It can be used to increase privacy when using the Komodo platform.

Anonymizing funds is actually a fairly straightforward and simple practice. The Jumblr will take KMD tokens from a non-private address and send them through a number of zk-snark addresses.

Once these untraceable addresses have processed the coins they are sent to a new address where they are completely anonymous. The fee for using the Jumblr service is 0.3%, which is payable in KMD tokens.

BarterDEX Rebranded to AtomicDEXBarterDEX was previously called EasyDEX but was rebranded in July 2017. It is a decentralized exchange utilizing atomic swaps, and more recently etomic swaps, which bridge the gap between Bitcoin and Ethereum based blockchains.

The use of atomic swaps and etomic swaps lower counterparty risk, transaction fees and speeds the transfer of assets. BarterDEX can support trading of any cryptocurrency, and will also support fiat in the future. Already the decentralized exchange is capable of performing swaps for 95% of the cryptocurrencies in existence.

BarterDEX also solves the liquidity problem encountered by most decentralized exchanges by producing Liquidity Nodes that stabilizes prices by buying and selling assets in the order books.

Screenshots from the AtomicDex App. Image via atomicdex.io

In July 2019 the BarterDEX platform got another upgrade and rebrand and has been re-launched as AtomicDEX in a closed public beta. AtomicDEX provides a secure, reliable, and completely decentralized method for trading digital assets.

Trades no longer have to pass through an intermediary but are done from wallet to wallet. AtomicDEX will act as a multi-currency wallet and as a fully decentralized trading platform. At its beta release, AtomicDEX has support for 13 different coins, but can technically support 99% of all existing cryptocurrencies. New coins will be added with each update to the DEX.

The Antara FrameworkThe Antara Framework was launched on the Komodo mainnet on July 15, 2019, completing a rebrand that stretched out for nearly a full year. This relaunch has included several new developments, such as the beta release of the Antara Smart Chain Composer, which allows anyone to launch their own SmartChain blockchain in just minutes, including full seed nodes and mining nodes.

The Antara Framework is an adaptable framework for simple, end-to-end blockchain development. Antara makes it easier than ever before to launch a chain, activate modules, and start building blockchain-based applications.

Antara has maintained the independence and privacy of building with Komodo. Each independent chain has its own consensus rules, hashing algorithm, decentralized network, and coin. Blockchains launched with Komodo’s technology never depend on the KMD chain, network, or platform.

Antara Network Recently Going live. Image via Komodo Blog

It’s an open ecosystem so there is no vendor lock-in. Creating a chain from the CLI is permissionless and free. The Komodo team is not informed when a chain is created so there's no way to track a chain after launch.

The framework also comes with built-in modules, making development speedy and easier. This allows developers to natively support any software, dApp or blockchain-based games.

With 18 different customizable Smart Chain parameters, any blockchain can be built to serve any business need. The Antara Integration Layer also offers several white label products such as a multi-coin wallet, block explorers, full seed nodes, a branded DEX, a crowdfunding app and integration with SPV Electrum servers.

CompetitionBecause Komodo is involved in so many aspects of the blockchain it is facing competition from many different directions.

Decentralized exchanges are becoming increasingly popular, and the AtomicDEX exchange is in competition with BitShares, EtherDelta, and Waves, as well as many other smaller players.

As a privacy coin, KMD competes against the larger Dash and Monero coins, and of course against the Zcash that it was forked from.

Komodo faces stiff competition from Ethereum as it is the leader in the ICO and smart contracts field, but other established blockchains such as NEO, NXT and Waves are also competing for ICO traction.

And now we also have initial exchange offerings (IEOs) from the likes of Binance and other exchanges growing in popularity. Smart contracts have also found their way into most projects. One strength for Komodo is that it is the first to offer a fully decentralized exchange with atomic swap capabilities.

ConclusionThe Komodo project is an extensive and ambitious large-scale project that aims to solve many issues that centralization of cryptocurrencies and blockchains face.

In addition to being its own blockchain and coin, it is also tackling the decentralized exchange, atomic swap, and decentralized ICO space. It includes options for anonymity and has a unique proof of work consensus algorithm that promises enhanced security, even for new blockchains based off Komodo.

Needless to say, that’s a lot to bite off, but the Komodo team has shown itself to be up to the challenge time and again. In a world where deadlines are often missed by months, the Komodo team has not only delivered but also delivered early and with few bugs. The team also takes user feedback into consideration and has been known to pivot quickly based on the needs of the community.

If the Komodo team continues to deliver it could make a long-term lasting impact on the cryptocurrency space, but it is too early to tell if this will be the case. In any event, it is certainly a project worth watching.

In the roughly 18 months since this review was first prepared the Komodo team has continued to deliver an exceptional product, and with the July 2019 release of the Antara Framework, it has advanced to the first composable SmartChain platform in the industry. This first-mover advantage keeps Komodo on the cutting edge of blockchain development.

Disclaimer: These are the writer's opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.

EOS Block Producer, Explained

In case you missed you can check out the first part of this series here.

Is Bitcoin Mining Legal in the United States?As implied by the FinCEN regulations, there’s no obligation on keeping virtual currencies. While spending, trading and exchanging crypto for fiat currency are considered money transmitters and should be reported. 

In June 2019, Squire Mining (SQRMF), a Canadian mining mogul with the most hashpower, signed a letter of intent to host blockchain cloud computing units - over 41,000 Bitcoin - to the United States. As mining migrates from China to the US, the latter is changing priorities from application and protocol development to focusing on infrastructure.

How to Buy, Store and Spend Crypto in the USAIf you’re wondering how interested Americans really are in the cryptosphere, here’s a fun fact: Bitcoin has become so popular that as a term it has outrun Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump in search requests by three times. 

Source: Consensys

Bitcoin is going mainstream in the States. It is already accepted as a payment by retailers and services like Overstock and NewsEgg and some major tech companies like Microsoft. The United States has over 3500 cryptocurrency ATMs and tellers – that’s 64% of all the crypto ATMs in the world. There is even a list of major cities in the US with ATM installations. Unsurprisingly, the top-5 cities are Los Angeles (372), Chicago (250), Miami (199), Atlanta (171) and Detroit (149).  Despite the huge amount of tellers where you can buy BTC, XRP, ETH, etc. a majority of people prefer to buy crypto via the various exchanges and crypto services online. 

Cryptocurrency has become an important aspect of local economies. California, New Jersey, Washington, New York, Colorado, Utah, Florida, Alaska, Nevada, and Massachusetts are the states with the largest amount of citizens who have cryptocurrency. 

In 2018, Finder surveyed 2000 US citizens to get an approximate idea of what coins Americans prefer to store. It comes as no surprise that Bitcoin is the number one cryptocurrency in the US.

Source: finder.com

Is Trading Bitcoin legal in America?The question was raised on the federal level by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but the focus was on the use of blockchain assets as securities, such as whether or not certain Bitcoin investment funds should be sold to the public, and whether or not a certain offering is fraudulent. However, the SEC’s report focused entirely on Initial Coin Offerings, so the results don’t apply to BTC. To trade securities on the Blockchain, a company must register as an exchange, Alternative Trading System (ATS) or a broker/dealer.

Top cryptocurrency businesses in the USAIn addition to the wide user base of cryptocurrencies in the US, the country is also home to some of the most influential crypto projects in the industry.  American crypto projects range from powerful exchanges to headline grabbing social media experiments. Here are some of the most notable. 

LedgerX is a New-York based Bitcoin trading platform. As a start-up, LedgerX was actively lobbying for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and after a few years got a derivatives clearing organization license from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That opened the door for the platform to bring classical financial tools to the cryptosphere. In November 2017, LedgerX launched the first long-term BTC options.

Ripple constantly finds itself the subject of debate in the crypto community regarding its centralised nature. Despite the mixed feelings, Ripple is already working with hundreds of financial institutions to drive crypto adoption and has launched the University Blockchain Research Initiative to support the research and development of blockchain technology. 

Gemini is a crypto exchange based in NYC that was created by the Winklevoss brothers. In 2016, Gemini became the world’s first licensed cryptocurrency exchange. Also, Gemini holds the distinction of being the first institution to launch Bitcoin futures contracts. 

Stellar was co-founded by Jed McCaleb, who was also among Ripple’s founders. The company strives to provide banking services for unbanked people. Their team is working to improve cross-border transactions and reduce fees and transfer times.

Steem is the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain-based social platform Steemit where users are rewarded for writing posts, commenting, reading and curating content. The NY-based company was founded by Ned Scott and Dan Larimer, who is also known as the CTO of EOS and creator of BitShares. 

Libra CoinLibra deserves its own section as it is one of the most controversial crypto projects that are sure to change the cryptocurrency market and the entire financial sector. The project initiated by Facebook, with Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal among its 27 charter members, is set to join the pantheon of premier US cryptocurrency projects. Facebook decided to launch the project to give financial freedom to 2,000,000,000 adults around the world who are outside the financial system. Of course, the guys from Facebook believe that people will trust decentralized management systems more now, when trade wars build barriers for money, when the trade is limited to the borders of the countries in dispute. Yet, the troubling issue is that Facebook management has been repeatedly accused of centralization and cooperating with authorities. On the other hand, the positive impact of mass adoption Libra can bring, will strengthen the cryptocurrency industry. However, much to my regret, Libra contradicts the basic ideas of blockchain - privacy and decentralization, the core values that Freewallet and many crypto companies fight for. 

The third and final instalment of these articles will be released tomorrow at 12:30pm BST.