News linked to both this project and an event.
According to an official announcement, the blockchain infrastructure protocol project IOTA has named Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria as the first countries to implement the ADAPT initiative. These three countries were selected through a rigorous evaluation process assessing their political commitment, regulatory readiness, maturity of digital infrastructure, and private-sector engagement. Launched in November 2025, the African Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) initiative is spearheaded by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and co-developed with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the World Economic Forum, and the IOTA Foundation. ADAPT aims to build shared digital infrastructure for intra-African trade, covering digital identity, cross-border data exchange, and payment interoperability.
According to The Block, the Ethereum Foundation has recently experienced another wave of talent attrition: researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma announced their departures this Monday. Beek had worked at the Foundation for seven years and led the development of Ethereum’s Beacon Chain, making significant contributions to Ethereum’s transition to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism; Ma had been with the Foundation for approximately four years, contributing to mechanism design, cryptoeconomics, and protocol scalability, and co-authored EIP-7805—a proposal aimed at enhancing Ethereum’s censorship resistance. Earlier this year, in February, Co-Executive Director Tomasz K. Stańczak resigned; multiple other senior figures—including Josh Stark, Barnabé Monnot, and Tim Beiko—have also departed in succession.
Odaily Odaily, the Stellar Development Foundation and the Government of Bermuda have jointly announced that Bermuda will migrate key payment and financial services to the Stellar network, officially advancing the construction of a "fully on-chain national economy." The initiative is based on Bermuda's 2018 Digital Asset Business Act regulatory framework and aims to significantly reduce the 3%-5% (or even higher) payment processing costs currently borne by local merchants.According to the plan, Bermuda residents will soon be able to receive wages, pay for goods and services, settle government fees, and hold digital assets through digital wallets on the Stellar network. The government will pilot stablecoin payments, financial institutions will be able to access tokenized instruments, and related assets will also be used for government disbursements such as social service payments.
According to The Block, the Ethereum Foundation is restructuring its Protocol team, appointing Will Corcoran, Kev Wedderburn, and Fredrik as the new co-leads of the Protocol cluster. This reorganization comes as Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko plan to depart the organization, and Alex Stokes begins a sabbatical. The Protocol team is the Ethereum Foundation’s core team responsible for the design, research, development, and coordination of Ethereum’s base layer, covering areas such as security, cryptography, zkEVM, and peer-to-peer networking. The team is currently advancing Ethereum’s next major scalability upgrade, Glamsterdam, which aims to raise the gas limit ceiling and floor to 200 million and introduce ePBS. Subsequently, the team will shift its R&D focus toward the Hegotá upgrade and the FOCIL prototype to enhance Ethereum’s censorship resistance.
Odaily News Executives from PayPal and Google Cloud stated that in the future, commerce driven by AI Agents will operate on crypto payment rails, as AI Agents cannot use traditional bank accounts like humans.Richard Widmann, Head of Web3 Strategy at Google Cloud, stated that AI Agents are unable to open bank accounts from both a technical and regulatory standpoint, while cryptocurrencies offer an "excellent machine-readable payment interface." He revealed that Google has launched the open-source Agentic Payments Protocol (AP2) and donated it to the FIDO Foundation, with over 120 partners, including PayPal, already joining.May Zabaneh, Senior Vice President of Crypto at PayPal, indicated that the company views AI Agents as the next generation of commerce entry point following offline, online, and mobile payments. She noted that PYUSD, as PayPal's stablecoin, provides a naturally programmable payment layer for AI-native payments and global transactions.A PayPal survey shows that 95% of merchant websites currently see traffic from AI Agents, but only about 20% of merchants have machine-readable product catalogs. Zabaneh believes that merchants need to adapt to the AI Agent era as quickly as possible, or they will miss out on the next wave of commercial infrastructure upgrades.Additionally, the two also discussed the security and responsibility issues of AI Agents. Widmann stated that multi-party custody will become an important solution for Agent fund management. AI Agents should not have full control over private keys but should only hold a portion of the key fragments to reduce financial risk. (CoinDesk)
Odaily, Aptos Foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NETSTARS, a Japanese QR code payment service provider, to jointly explore multi-chain payment solutions. The two parties plan to integrate the high-performance Aptos L1 blockchain into NETSTARS' existing cashless payment system, introducing stablecoin payments to its merchant network, with a focus on instant settlement, low costs, and a compliant embedded transaction experience.
According to The Block, BNY announced the expansion of its crypto custody business into the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in the UAE through partnerships with Finstreet and the ADI Foundation, offering institutional clients crypto-asset custody services. Initially, the service will support custody for BTC and ETH. The three parties will subsequently explore extending these services to the ADI Foundation’s underlying blockchain infrastructure and gradually expand to stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and other regulated digital instruments.
According to CoinDesk, BNY Mellon—the world’s largest custodian bank, with $59 trillion in assets under custody—has announced a partnership with Finstreet and the ADI Foundation to launch digital asset custody services in the UAE, operating under the regulatory framework of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Initially, the service will focus on custody for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), with plans to later expand to stablecoins and tokenized assets.
: According to official sources, the Jito Foundation is partnering with Solana Company (NASDAQ: HSDT) to provide institutional-grade Solana infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. The two parties will operate BAM validators using Pacific Backbone in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. This low-latency infrastructure network supports staking, validation, and trading services in the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, they will jointly develop an institutional-grade JitoSOL staking product, delivered through Solana Company's consulting service model, to meet the compliance requirements of large capital allocators. The head of the Jito Foundation for the Asia-Pacific region stated that this collaboration aims to combine Jito's market layer technology with Solana Company's regional experience and institutional network, laying the foundation for scalable and compliant participation within the Solana ecosystem.
According to The Block, South Korean credit card company Shinhan Card has announced a partnership with the Solana Foundation to jointly advance a proof-of-concept project testing a real-world stablecoin-based payment system. The project aims to explore the feasibility of stablecoins in actual payment environments, leveraging the Solana network as the underlying infrastructure for transaction processing. Meanwhile, South Korea is actively advancing the legislative process for its Digital Asset Basic Act, a bill designed to establish a comprehensive and unified regulatory framework for the digital asset industry.
, RWA tokenization protocol KAIO announced on X platform the launch of its native token KAIO, and simultaneously established the KAIO Foundation as the governance and operational body under the ecosystem chain, responsible for protocol governance, treasury management, and ecosystem development, working alongside KAIO Labs to advance core infrastructure and product innovation. KAIO is positioned as an open infrastructure protocol for institutional-grade Real World Assets (RWA), dedicated to bridging traditional finance and DeFi to build a compliant, auditable, cross-chain tokenized asset network. The platform has currently listed 5 tier-1 institutional funds, covering managers such as BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane, with approximately $100 million in TVL deployed across 10+ blockchain networks.In terms of tokenomics, KAIO has a total supply of 10 billion tokens, with community and liquidity incentives accounting for 37.5%, making it the largest allocation portion; team and early investor tokens are subject to locking and staggered release mechanisms, with zero initial release at TGE, and the foundation allocation accounts for 17%, designated for long-term ecosystem development.
Odaily Planet Daily reported that Jason Karsh, the new Chief Marketing Officer of the Stellar Development Foundation, stated that for the crypto industry to achieve mainstream adoption, it must shift from short-term speculation and "hype cycles" to long-term value creation, emphasizing that "get rich slow" is the key path to building trust.Karsh pointed out that the industry's long-standing reliance on obscure jargon and technical terminology has actually widened the cognitive gap with average users. He believes that crypto "peaked too early in the public eye" due to the speculative frenzy, distorting its true value potential. He emphasized that the real opportunity lies in rebuilding the global financial infrastructure to enable more efficient value transfer and storage. Meanwhile, the Stellar Development Foundation, which has consistently focused on payment and cross-border financial applications since 2014, is now benefiting from the gradual regulatory recognition of stablecoins and tokenized assets.Karsh called stablecoins "the first killer app," but also noted that there is still a barrier to public understanding, suggesting they be redefined as "programmable dollars." He stated that the industry's future goal is to drive trillions of dollars in assets onto the blockchain, but the key lies in rebuilding trust at both the product and narrative levels, rather than relying on token issuance to drive growth. He concluded that the next wave of crypto growth will come from replacing traditional financial infrastructure, not just speculative cycles, but in the short term, the industry must first prioritize the foundational adoption phase of "attracting 100 million real users." (CoinDesk)
According to the Ethereum Foundation’s official website, its Ecosystem Support Program (ESP) allocated a total of $9.856 million in Q1 2026, with funding concentrated on core infrastructure areas including cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs, security audits, and protocol research. Key funded projects this quarter include: - In the ZK domain: formal verification of zkVMs, GPU-accelerated R1CS witness generation, and intermediate representation optimization for LLZK; - In security: cryptanalysis of Poseidon, cross-platform canonical signing libraries for ERC-7730, and specification-compliance testing for ePBS; - In node and client development: Erigon zkEVM extensions, Besu HSM compliance integration, and the multi-node validator Vero; - Additionally, privacy tools (Kohaku SDK, Tor bridge extensions), continued operations of the Layer 2 transparency platform L2BEAT, and R&D for the Lighthouse client’s transition to the Fusaka fork. On ecosystem development, ESP simultaneously supported Ethereum developer events in Seoul, Hong Kong, Vancouver, and Buenos Aires, advanced updates to the Ethereum climate impact assessment, and backed policy research initiatives by the European Decentralization Institute (EDI).
the Avalanche Foundation has announced the launch of its Research Grant Program (Call For Research Proposals), open to academic researchers worldwide with individual grants of up to $50,000. The program focuses on research related to Avalanche network economics, with emphasis on two core areas: first, crypto asset pricing and valuation, concentrating on how native assets of PoS public chains accrue value, including token issuance mechanisms, monetary policy, network adoption rates, and their relationship with long-term value; second, validator economics and network security, with key topics including optimal staking ratios, validator reward models, validator set health, and non-inflationary reward mechanisms.
Odaily News Aurise Foundation announced the launch of the yield-bearing gold token XAUE on Ethereum, designed to serve as a yield-bearing treasury for Tether Gold (XAU₮). XAUE targets compliant institutional participants, introducing crypto-native yield to traditional non-yielding gold through quantitative strategies and institutional lending, transforming it into a programmable and capital-efficient on-chain asset.Current ecosystem partners Aurelion and Antalpha have jointly contributed 16,052 XAU₮ (approximately $76 million) to XAUE. The protocol employs an exchange rate growth model, where the gold value pegged to each XAUE increases as yields accumulate, and it will integrate with more decentralized finance protocols such as DEXs in the future.
According to official news, Hyperliquid has established the Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) in the United States. Funded by the Hyper Foundation, this institution aims to advocate for legal clarity and protection for US users and developers. HPC will primarily focus on the on-chain perpetual contracts sector, advocating for the development of a regulatory framework that reflects the advantages of decentralized markets. It seeks to address the current issue within the US legal framework, where reliance on centralized intermediaries prevents retail investors from legally participating in decentralized derivatives trading. HPC is committed to establishing legal domestic participation pathways for a full range of financial instruments, including on-chain perpetual contracts, spot digital assets, prediction markets, and tokenized securities.
According to an official announcement by Volo, a security vulnerability occurred today on the Sui network involving Volo—a BTCFi and LST protocol—resulting in the theft of approximately $3.5 million in assets (including WBTC, XAUm, and USDC) from three specific vaults. Immediately after the incident, the team notified the Sui Foundation and ecosystem partners and froze all vaults to prevent further losses. Volo stated that the vulnerability affected only these three vaults; the remaining vaults are not exposed to the same attack vector, and the other ~$28 million in TVL remains secure. The official announcement emphasized that Volo will bear the loss entirely and will not pass it on to users. A comprehensive post-mortem report and remediation plan will be released upon completion of the investigation.
Cryptocurrency investment firm Unicoin Inc. has announced the establishment of the independent Unicoin Foundation, a mission-driven organization prioritizing education to advance the responsible adoption of blockchain technology and expand access to the digital economy. The Foundation will focus on financial literacy education, entrepreneurship training, and ecosystem support under the banner of “Crypto for Good,” with particular emphasis on women and underserved communities. In terms of governance, Robert Newman serves as Chair of the Foundation’s Board, which comprises 27 directors—all Unicoin investors elected by shareholder vote. Over 4,000 shareholders participated in the vote, with nearly 99% approving the transition to an independent foundation structure. Unicoin stated that this restructuring aligns with the “token taxonomy” framework proposed by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins.
According to the official announcement, Layer 1 public blockchain Pharos has unveiled the tokenomics for its native token PROS, with a total supply of 1 billion tokens. The initial supply allocation is as follows: Foundation Treasury (16%), Lab Co. Treasury (9%), Team (20%), Investors (20%), Ecosystem & Community (21%—including 6% for community airdrops: 1% unlocked at TGE and 5% reserved for future community growth and airdrop incentives), and Node & Liquidity Incentives (14%). Core team members and private-sale investors are subject to a 12-month lock-up period followed by a 36-month linear vesting schedule. Certain treasury and incentive allocations extend vesting periods to 48–60 months. PROS serves multiple functions: transaction fees, PoS staking, validator participation, governance, ecosystem incentives, and potential RWA-specific use cases. The staking issuance policy adopts a phased approach: zero inflation during the first six months following mainnet launch; starting in Month 7, annual inflation is set at 5%, subject to dynamic adjustment by the Foundation based on network operational conditions.
According to The Defiant, the NFT marketplace Foundation has permanently shut down following the failed sale to digital art display company BlackDove. Its platform infrastructure has been taken offline, and there are currently no plans to relaunch it. Foundation’s founder, Kayvon Tehranian, stated that the company had originally hoped to extend its operations through the sale, but the deal fell through—and the team concluded there was no need to continue seeking a buyer. Foundation previously facilitated approximately $230 million in primary sales. The report notes that BlackDove, after conducting comprehensive due diligence following operational handover, decided instead to build its own proprietary marketplace. Foundation also announced it will continue providing a fixed one-year service for media and metadata hosted on IPFS; users must manually cancel their listings and withdraw their NFT assets.