News linked to both this project and an event.
According to official announcements, the blockchain infrastructure protocol project IOTA has completed a major consensus upgrade, migrating the IOTA mainnet from Mysticeti to Starfish. Cross-border trade systems operate across multiple jurisdictions and regulatory regimes; thus, the infrastructure underpinning trade, logistics, and regulatory environments must remain reliable even under unpredictable real-world conditions. As an evolutionary iteration of the consensus engine Mysticeti, Starfish represents a novel prototype of distributed ledger technology that decouples the consensus process from validator synchronization. This design ensures network reliability and stability—even if certain validator nodes experience latency or disconnection—much like a starfish, which can regenerate lost limbs without dying. Starfish’s design goals extend beyond performance enhancement: it aims to reinforce IOTA’s position as a foundational platform for global trade and regulated systems. Starfish recognizes that global trade systems must remain available despite latency, volatility, and partial failures—and with Starfish, IOTA can continue advancing and recovering even amid unstable participation.
According to official announcements, B.AI achieved multiple advancements this week in product iteration and ecosystem development: The BAIclaw landing page underwent a comprehensive visual and interactive redesign; the website’s multilingual support expanded to 10 languages, further strengthening its global accessibility. On the infrastructure front, strategic partnerships with Biconomy, MoonPay, and Pundi X significantly optimized the Web3 payment flow, substantially lowering the barrier to entry for users. Meanwhile, B.AI’s multi-chain LLM service continues to evolve—featuring intelligent search, Boundless Mode, and memory capabilities—resulting in markedly enhanced user interaction. Looking ahead, with the upcoming launch of subscription systems, point-based incentive mechanisms, and core Skills such as the “Sun Yuchen Brain,” B.AI is accelerating the construction of a fully functional intelligent ecosystem matrix, powered by the deep integration of AI Agents and Web3.
According to an official announcement, Robinhood has received in-principle approval (IPA) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to launch brokerage services in Singapore, covering securities trading, exchange-traded derivatives, custody, product financing, and collective investment schemes. Robinhood stated that Singapore will serve as its Asia-Pacific headquarters to support its international expansion. Its subsidiary, Bitstamp Asia Pte. Ltd., already holds a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license issued by the MAS. Note that in-principle approval is not equivalent to a formal license; Robinhood Singapore Pte. Ltd. must still meet relevant conditions before receiving final approval to commence operations.
According to The Block, Jaret Seiberg, Managing Director of the Washington Research Group at investment bank TD Cowen, stated that stablecoin yield issues are not the sole obstacle to the passage of the Clarity Act—and cited the following five additional hurdles: 1. A severe shortage of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioners: only Chairman Michael Selig remains in office, and the process to appoint new commissioners could take several months, while the bill must complete its review by the end of July; 2. Complex regulatory questions surrounding prediction markets—including concerns about insider trading and potential conflicts of interest involving the Trump family—which may prompt Democratic lawmakers to withdraw their support via related amendments; 3. Ongoing controversy surrounding World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project affiliated with the Trump family, increasing political resistance from Democrats toward supporting the bill; 4. Reports indicating Iran is discussing requiring vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to pay tolls in cryptocurrency—a development that could trigger contentious anti-money laundering (AML) amendments, potentially serving as a “poison pill” for the bill; 5. Risk that the Credit Card Competition Act could be attached to the Clarity Act, jeopardizing the entire bill’s progress. Regarding stablecoin yield issues, Senator Thom Tillis indicated that the Senate Banking Committee will not vote on the bill until as early as May. TD Cowen maintains its assessment that the bill has approximately a one-in-three chance of passing this year, while Galaxy Digital estimates the probability at roughly 50%.
Odaily News World has launched the most significant upgrade to its World ID protocol to date, covering approximately 18 million Orb-verified users and expanding into multiple application scenarios including social networking, conferencing, and ticketing.This upgrade introduces several new features, including multi-key support, key rotation, account recovery, and session management. It also launches the standalone World ID app, serving as the entry point for user identity authentication and authorization management.On the application front, Tinder has integrated a "Verified Human Badge" to identify real users; Zoom has rolled out a "Deep Face" feature to detect AI-generated deepfakes in video calls; and a ticketing tool called Concert Kit has also been introduced.Furthermore, platforms such as Reddit, Razer, and Mythical Games are also exploring or integrating this system.World has proposed the concept of "human continuity," emphasizing not only the verification of user identity but also ensuring the consistency of the same real individual across different scenarios. Industry observers believe this direction could become crucial infrastructure for combating AI-generated deepfakes.
According to CoinDesk, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure publicly stated on April 17 that Europe needs more euro-denominated stablecoins and strongly encouraged EU banks to explore launching tokenized deposits. Lescure explicitly backed the Qivalis consortium—a group of 12 European banks including BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas—that plans to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026, aiming to counter U.S. dominance in digital payments. He also noted that the current scale of euro-pegged stablecoins remains far smaller than that of dollar-pegged stablecoins—a situation he described as “unsatisfactory.” This statement marks a clear departure from France’s previous hardline regulatory stance: former Finance Minister Le Maire had declared that private stablecoins “have no place in Europe,” while Bank of France Governor Villeroy de Galhau has repeatedly warned that stablecoins pose risks of monetary privatization.
According to CoinDesk, researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of California, San Diego; blockchain security firm Fuzzland; and World Liberty Financial jointly published a paper warning that “LLM routers”—intermediary services positioned between users and AI models—have become a major threat to cryptocurrency asset security. The researchers discovered that 26 LLM routers are secretly injecting malicious tool calls and stealing user credentials, with one incident resulting in the complete draining of a customer’s cryptocurrency wallet worth $500,000. Additionally, by “poisoning” the router ecosystem, the researchers were able to gain control of approximately 400 downstream hosts within hours. Since sensitive data—including private keys and API credentials—is frequently transmitted in plaintext through these routers, users unknowingly expose their assets to risk. The researchers note that as McKinsey forecasts AI agents will mediate $3–5 trillion in global consumer commerce by 2030—and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao predicts AI agents’ payment volume will be one million times greater than that of humans—the current infrastructure’s security lags far behind the pace of industry development. The “weakest link” risk could thus trigger systemic, cascading crises.
According to on-chain analyst Ai Aunt (@ai_9684xtpa), renowned trader “Set 10 Big Goals First” (@Jason60704294) has updated his latest positions: his BTC short position has not only avoided triggering its stop-loss but has been increased to 2,567.49 BTC, with an average entry price of $71,554.61—currently showing a floating loss of $1.374 million. His ETH short position stands at 38,465.22 ETH, with an average entry price of $2,248.74, currently generating a floating profit of $2.018 million. The net floating profit across both positions is approximately $644,000.