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Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) said it will introduce free conversions between PayPal’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, PYUSD, and the U.S. currency in a move aimed at accelerating the shift toward on-chain payments.The move, open to both retail and institutional customers, is part of a partnership aimed at promoting PYUSD as a payment currency. Coinbase also plans to use its platform to offer PYUSD to PayPal’s extensive network of merchant partners, which could ease the use of stablecoins in everyday transactions.Stablecoin rivalry heats upStablecoins — digital tokens pegged to traditional currencies, predominantly the dollar — are one of the fastest-growing sectors in crypto. They are marketed as a faster and cheaper alternative to legacy payment systems, and are increasingly popular for payments across borders. Standard Chartered projected the sector to grow to $2 trillion by 2028 from the current $220 billion.With regulation for stablecoins advancing in the U.S., the competition is heating up among issuers while banks and traditional payment firms are also eyeing the market. Binance, the largest crypto exchange, and Circle, issuer of the second largest dollar-backed stablecoin, have already linked up to use Circle's USDC as a trading pair and payment method. Circle introduced a remittances network this week.Market leader Tether, issuer of the $140 billion USDT, is mulling issuing a stablecoin designed for U.S. users.Meanwhile, PayPal, whose stablecoin debuted in 2023 and has grown to $860 million, recently introduced a 3.7% annual yield on PYUSD for U.S. token holders to attract more users.... Read more

Shaquille O’Neal has reached a settlement agreement with a group of FTX investors who accused him of enabling the failed crypto exchange’s fraud by acting as a celebrity promoter, according to a court filing.Details of the settlement agreement, including the amount O’Neal will pay, have not yet been disclosed. Plaintiffs in the case are seeking up to $21 billion in total damages from O’Neal and other promoters, former executives and other insiders.The former basketball star-turned-business mogul was just one of a host of celebrity promoters named in the class action suit. Other athletes, including tennis player Naomi Osaka, baseball player Shohei Otani, basketball player Steph Curry and retired football player Tom Brady were also named as defendants, along with comedian Larry David, Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, and model Gisele Bundchen.Though O’Neal is the first big-name defendant in the case to settle on Wednesday, seven other celebrity promoters and former executives reached a settlement agreement with the investors back in 2023, including Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and Youtubers Tom Nash, Graham Stephan and Andrei Jikh. The first tranche of settlements were relatively small, totalling a collective $1.4 million.O’Neal’s settlement with FTX investors is not his first tied to a promotion of a failed crypto project. Last year, O’Neal and several of his associates agreed to pay $11 million to Astral non-fungible token (NFT) holders who lost money in the Solana-based project he founded and promoted.... Read more

Both the U.S. Senate and House are considering bills creating a regulatory framework for stablecoins, and all of the usual crypto-skeptic refrains have been sung, including the hymn that crypto is for crime.For instance, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) warned that the Senate’s GENIUS Act “will supercharge the financing of terrorism.” During debate on the House’s STABLE Act, Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA) worried about the use of “unhosted wallets to evade” anti-money laundering provisions.Not surprisingly, both the GENIUS and STABLE Acts include significant sections on illicit finance, including subjecting stablecoin issuers to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). But lawmakers must ensure that the bills’ anti-money laundering measures don’t open the door to unfettered financial surveillance of stablecoin users.Stablecoins are crypto tokens that are pegged to the value of another asset, like the U.S. dollar. The general idea is that the stable value of these tokens will promote their use as a digital medium of exchange. Stablecoins can be thought of both as an improvement to existing payment rails and as a way to bring the U.S. dollar “on-chain.” In other words, stablecoins are a 21st-century upgrade to cash. The Senate and the House have both advanced bills that would create a regulatory regime for “permitted stablecoin issuers” aimed, in part, at ensuring that stablecoins are, in fact, stable.But these days, conversations about the dollar, financial services, and crypto seem to go hand-in-hand with conversations about preventing illicit finance. The BSA requires financial institutions to help federal agencies detect and prevent money laundering and other crimes by, among other things, keeping records of transactions and filing reports with the government. Both the GENIUS Act and the STABLE Act tackle illicit finance concerns by stating clearly that a permitted stablecoin issuer “shall be treated as a financial institution for the purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act.”Designating a permitted stablecoin issuer as a financial institution is comparatively non-controversial. Putting aside the question of whether the BSA is a good (or constitutional) way to manage illicit finance risks, permitted stablecoin issuers look a lot like other entities, like banks and trust companies, that are already BSA financial institutions. But it’s not quite so simple.The BSA’s surveillance framework requires financial institutions to “know their customers” and to monitor transactions taking place through the institution. However, such surveillance does not extend to transactions that take place between individuals without the involvement of an institution. For example, the BSA doesn’t apply when cash changes hands between two people, allowing individuals to transact privately.While it’s infeasible to track cash transactions in the manner prescribed by the BSA, stablecoins can be tracked across a blockchain as they move between holders, even when the transfers happen between wallets that are unhosted by intermediaries. This characteristic is tempting to those who may want to extend BSA surveillance beyond its already expansive (and constitutionally infirm) boundaries.Fundamentally, digital asset transactions that are genuinely peer-to-peer should not be subject to greater government surveillance than peer-to-peer transactions in cash. Applying anti-money laundering provisions to unhosted wallets — which more closely resemble physical wallets holding cash than bank accounts — would be a massive expansion of financial surveillance and an unwelcome intrusion into the abilities of Americans to order their financial lives outside the eyes of the government.Both the GENIUS and STABLE Acts make clear — to varying degrees — that stablecoin issuers must have customer identification programs only for customers who either hold accounts “with the permitted payment stablecoin issuer” (GENIUS) or who are “initial holders” of a payment stablecoin (STABLE).But the other BSA requirements the bills would impose on stablecoin issuers, including maintaining anti-money laundering compliance programs, retention of records of stablecoin transactions, monitoring and reporting suspicious activity, are not so clearly limited. This leaves the door open to the imposition of broader surveillance requirements on stablecoin transactions that take place away from the issuer, which would be a major encroachment on Americans’ rights to transact privately.Fortunately, the sponsors of both bills seem to read the surveillance obligations narrowly. Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI), one of the sponsors of the STABLE Act, explained during the bill’s markup that requiring BSA surveillance of “every single self-hosted wallet” would “be a dramatic invasion of personal liberty” and that “Americans should not be treated the same as financial institutions.” And Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), one of the sponsors of the GENIUS Act, said during that bill’s markup that “[r]equiring issuers to monitor transactions on various blockchains would be costly and . . . time-consuming.”This sentiment about the scope of the BSA obligations imposed must be clearly reflected in the text of both bills to definitively close the door to more expansive future interpretations.Despite the characterizations by some skeptical members of Congress, preserving financial privacy is not simply a gift to criminals. Easy government access to financial information poses risks to everyone, particularly those with unpopular political views or anyone otherwise in the minority. Such surveillance is at odds with the rights of free people (including rights recognized in the U.S. Constitution) to live without unwarranted governmental monitoring. One step to ensuring that those rights are not further infringed is to guarantee that the stablecoin legislation under consideration unequivocally protects from surveillance stablecoin transactions occurring without a financial intermediary.... Read more

In today’s crypto for advisors, Dovile Silenskyte from WisdomTree talks about the growth of crypto products and how they’ve evolved into a strategic investment allocation.Then, Kim Klemballa from CoinDesk Indices answers questions about digital asset benchmarks and trends in Ask an Expert.– Sarah MortonUnknown block type "divider", specify a component for it in the `components.types` optionYou’re reading Crypto for Advisors, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter that unpacks digital assets for financial advisors. Subscribe here to get it every Thursday.Unknown block type "divider", specify a component for it in the `components.types` optionThe Evolution of Crypto Products — From Speculative Bets to Strategic AssetsCrypto is no longer the “Wild West” of investing. Once dismissed as mere speculative bets, digital assets have matured into a credible and increasingly strategic component of institutional portfolios.Figure 1: Global assets under management (AUM) in physical crypto ETPsSource: Bloomberg, WisdomTree. 01 April 2025. Historical performance is not an indication of future performance and any investment may go down in value.As of the end of Q1 2025, global assets under management (AUM) in physical bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) was more than $100 billion. That figure signals deep, sustained conviction from institutional investors, meaning this is no longer just the realm of early adopters. Today, sovereign wealth funds, pension schemes and asset managers are allocating to crypto at scale.After more than 15 years of development, multiple boom-and-bust cycles and a global user base exceeding half a billion people, crypto has proven it is no passing trend. Bitcoin has emerged as a crypto macro asset — scarce, decentralized and increasingly positioned as a core holding within diversified multi-asset portfolios.But here’s the catch — crypto allocations are still under-diversified.Despite growing adoption, most crypto portfolios remain narrowly concentrated in bitcoin. That is a legacy mindset and one that is fundamentally flawed. Investors wouldn’t allocate their entire equity exposure to Apple, nor rely on a single bond to represent fixed income. Yet that is precisely how many still treat crypto.Diversification is foundational in traditional finance. It spreads risk, enhances resilience and unlocks access to broader opportunity sets. The same principle holds in digital assets.The cryptocurrency universe has expanded far beyond bitcoin, evolving into a dynamic ecosystem of distinct technologies, use cases and investment theses.Smart contract platforms like Ethereum, Solana and Cardano are building decentralized infrastructure for everything from decentralized finance (DeFi) to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), each with unique trade-offs in scalability, security and network design. Meanwhile, Polkadot is advancing interoperability, enabling seamless communication across chains — a key building block for a multi-chain future.Beyond these Layer 1 blockchains, we are seeing rapid innovation in:Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization where traditional finance meets blockchain railsDeFi protocols powering decentralized lending, trading and liquidity solutionsWeb3 infrastructure, from decentralized identity to storage, forming the backbone of a more open internetEach of these sectors carries its own risk-return profile, adoption curve and regulatory trajectory. Treating them as interchangeable, or worse, ignoring them altogether, is similar to reducing global equity investing to a single tech stock. It is not just outdated — it is strategically inefficient.Diversification in crypto is not about avoiding risk, but rather, capturing the full spectrum of innovation. In a multi-chain, multi-thesis world, failing to diversify means leaving opportunity on the table.The case for crypto indicesThe reality is that most investors do not have the time, tools or technical expertise to keep up with 24/7 crypto markets. Crypto indices offer a powerful solution for those seeking broad, systematic exposure without having to dive into tokenomics, validator uptime or network upgrades.Just as equity investors rely on benchmarks such as the S&P 500 or MSCI indices, diversified crypto indices allow investors to access the market passively — with scale, structure and simplicity. No guesswork, no token-picking, no need for constant rebalances. Just clean, rules-based exposure to the evolving crypto landscape.- Dovile Silenskyte, Director of Digital Assets Research, WisdomTreeUnknown block type "divider", specify a component for it in the `components.types` optionAsk an ExpertQ. Why is diversification important in crypto?A. Among over 20,000 listed cryptocurrencies, bitcoin now accounts for approximately 65% of total market capitalization. Diversification is key for institutional investors to manage volatility and capture broader opportunities. Indices can be an efficient way of tracking asset class performance, while products like exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and separately managed accounts (SMAs) can provide exposure to multiple cryptocurrencies at once, potentially helping to spread risk. Q. What trends are you seeing in digital assets?A. Institutional investors are entering the market, pushing digital assets from a niche investment into a key asset class. EY-Parthenon and Coinbase conducted a survey of more than 350 institutional investors around the world in January 2025. Of the investors surveyed, 87% plan to increase overall allocations to crypto in 2025, spanning a variety of options such as exchange-traded products (ETPs), investments in digital asset companies, stablecoins, futures and thematic mutual funds. Per the survey, 55% hold spot crypto through ETPs, with 69% of those who plan to own spot crypto planning to do so using registered vehicles.Q. Does a broad-based benchmark exist in crypto?A. There are broad benchmarks in digital assets. At CoinDesk Indices, we launched the CoinDesk 20 Index in January 2024, to capture the performance of top digital assets and act as a gateway to measure, trade and invest in the ever-expanding crypto asset class. Designed with liquidity and diversification in mind, the CoinDesk 20 has generated an unprecedented $14.5 billion in total trading volume and is available in twenty investment vehicles globally. CoinDesk Indices also has the CoinDesk 80 Index, CoinDesk 100 Index (CoinDesk 20 + CoinDesk 80) and CoinDesk Memecoin Index, amongst others.- Kim Klemballa, Head of Marketing, CoinDesk IndicesUnknown block type "divider", specify a component for it in the `components.types` optionKeep ReadingWhy a Diversified Approach to Crypto Investing Makes Sense, an interview with Dovile Silenskyte.International grocery giant SPAR begins accepting bitcoin payments in Switzerland.The new crypto-friendly U.S. SEC Chair, Paul S. Atkins, was sworn in Wednesday.... Read more

TON Foundation, the entity behind the Telegram-linked TON blockchain, has appointed Maximilian Crown, co-founder of MoonPay, as its CEO.Crown was the CFO and COO at the crypto infrastructure provider and has relationships with banks, payments companies, and regulatory bodies. He will remain on the board at MoonPay.The move comes one month after the TON Foundation announced that it had received $400 million worth of investment from venture capitalist firms that purchased the TON token.Active users on the TON blockchain jumped from 4 million to 41 million in the past year. However, the TON token, is down by 46% in the same period. It aims to onboard 30% of Telegram's active users to the blockchain by 2028. “TON’s speed, scalability, and exclusive integration with Telegram set it apart in the blockchain space,” said Maximilian Crown. “With access to over 1 billion Telegram users, TON has a unique opportunity to expand its ecosystem globally and redefine how blockchain technology is adopted at scale."... Read more

With Canada's federal election less than one week away, Canadians are closely watching how political leaders intend to address digital assets. Millions of Canadians hold, use, or work in crypto, making it a growing focal point for economic growth and innovation. This politically prominent and growing community is shaping conversations about the future of finance, with voters signaling cautious openness, not to ban or ignore crypto, but to responsibly integrate it into Canada’s financial system with clear protections, accountability, and forward-looking policy.Dean Skurka is a speaker at Consensus 2025, in Toronto May 15, appearing with Kevin O'Leary on Mainstage. Canada’s leadership in digital assets isn’t theoretical. It has evolved through first-of-its-kind milestones, homegrown innovation, and meaningful regulatory advancements, including:Canada installed the world’s first Bitcoin ATM in Toronto in 2013;Ethereum, co-founded by Canadian Vitalik Buterin, began in Canada in 2015;Vancouver’s Dapper Labs introduced groundbreaking NFT platforms like NBA Top Shot, which launched in 2020;The Ontario Securities Commission and Canadian Securities Administration introduced a novel regulatory framework for crypto trading platforms in 2021; andRegulatory initiatives such as Alberta's fintech sandbox and blockchain innovation hubs actively support industry growth, which launched around 2022.Voter Momentum and Public SentimentThe pro-crypto voter base is large, diverse, informed, and engaged. According to a survey bu Nanos Research for the Canadian Web3 Council:Younger Canadians and those with direct investment experience tend to view crypto favourably, indicating a generational and experiential shift in sentiment.60% of Canadians surveyed support the federal government working with industry experts to develop cryptocurrency regulations and protect public interest. Only about one in five surveyed were opposed.48% of Canadians say the government should implement a strategy for a “more accessible, inclusive, and effective financial ecosystem” that includes digital assets.This engaged voter base, the majority being under 50, represents a significant political force. The election and subsequent administration offer policymakers a chance to support voters’ eagerness for clarity around Canada's digital future.In 2022, the (pro-crypto) Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre made headlines for advocating financial freedom through Bitcoin and decentralized finance, calling for less control from politicians and bankers and more power in the hands of individuals. He said he wanted to make Canada “the blockchain capital of the world,” allowing people to “opt out” of inflation by using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.Read more: Nik De - Previewing the Canadian Election's Crypto AngleBy contrast, former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, representing the Liberal Party, while supportive of digital innovation, remains skeptical of the idea that cryptocurrencies like stablecoins will fundamentally reshape the monetary system. He has argued that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) would be a safer, more stable foundation for digital money."Stablecoins are ultimately only an appendage to the conventional monetary system and not a game changer. CBDCs would reduce the risks of digital money and form the foundation of a more stable, programmable financial future,” he wrote in 2021.Meanwhile, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has openly criticized crypto’s volatility, citing the financial losses suffered by Canadians who bought into digital assets as a hedge against inflation.“We have a leader of the opposition who thinks he can magically opt out of inflation by buying cryptocurrency, which ended up tanking and hurting people,” he said in 2022.The successful candidate from this upcoming election has a chance to translate these varied views into coherent platform frameworks and enhance Canada’s position as a forward-thinking and tech-driven economy.Global Signals: Local OpportunityThe European Union has implemented the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, offering clear crypto regulations.The U.S. is playing catchup following the election of Donald Trump last November. The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has advanced the "Stable Act of 2025," a significant step toward establishing a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. And bipartisan efforts like the Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act propose to exempt small crypto transactions under $200 from capital gains taxes. Congressional leaders are now working on a comprehensive “market structure” bill for crypto and regulators are open-minded about working with companies to adapt existing laws to modern needs.Canada is well-positioned to do the same. With the right policies, we can continue to attract leading talent, keep homegrown companies here, and strengthen our global voice in Web3.The choice is ours.Why Policy Clarity MattersClarity on digital asset policy will affect how Canadians save, invest, and transact; whether new jobs and industries are built here or abroad; and whether our country will lead or follow in a rapidly emerging digital sector.Digital assets offer tangible benefits like faster, cheaper remittances for newcomers supporting families overseas, more accessible financial tools for underserved communities, and diversified investment alternatives in times of economic uncertainty. Beyond personal finance, blockchain technology has real potential to modernize Canada’s financial infrastructure, enhance anti-fraud efforts, and improve transparency in sectors like supply chain management and government services.The Canadian Web3 Council has called for integrating blockchain into Canada’s broader innovation strategy, urging federal support for talent development, funding, and the creation of a national blockchain strategy. They advocate for clear frameworks around decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoin regulation, and for Canada to take a leadership role in global digital asset policy conversations.The Role of Industry & CommunityThe responsibility of highlighting crypto’s importance largely falls on the industry itself. Initiatives like Stand with Crypto Canada (a national advocacy campaign supported by WonderFi and nine other major companies) are actively educating voters and policymakers about the economic benefits of clear crypto regulation.Similarly, Blockchain North’s Voices for Canadian Crypto campaign, featuring prominent thought leaders, is helping unify industry voices, emphasizing the need for proactive policy conversations with leaders.We have talent. We have the infrastructure. And we have momentum.Now, we need leaders who see crypto not as a passing trend, but as a powerful opportunity to fuel Canada’s economy and empower a new generation of builders, investors, and innovators.The digital economy is here. The only question is: will Canada lead?... Read more

CME Group is rolling out XRP futures on May 19th as it continues to expand its suite of cryptocurrency products, the world’s largest derivatives exchange, said in a press release.Pending regulatory approval, traders will be able to trade two contract sizes: 2,500 XRP and 50,000 XRP. The contracts will be cash-settled and based on the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, which tracks XRP’s price daily at 4:00 p.m. London time.“As innovation in the digital asset landscape continues to evolve, market participants continue to look to regulated derivatives products to manage risks across a wider range of tokens,” Giovanni Vicioso, global head of cryptocurrency products at CME Group, said. “Interest in XRP and its underlying ledger (XRPL) has steadily increased as institutional and retail adoption for the network grows, and we are pleased to launch these new futures contracts to provide a capital-efficient toolset to support clients’ investment and hedging strategies.”The move comes after CME launched Solana (SOL) futures in March in addition to bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) futures and options which have been trading on the exchange for a while.... Read more

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, has raised its stake in the Juventus Football Club to over 10% after expanding its stake in the Italian giant earlier this month.This latest move gives Tether Investments S.A. de C.V., the firm’s investment arm, 6.18% of voting rights. That cements Tether as a significant shareholder and hints at deeper involvement in the governance and financial future of one of Europe’s most storied sports institutions.Juventus, founded in 1897 and with 36 league titles to its name, is a major club in Italian and European football. Tether originally acquired an 8.2% stake in the club back in February.Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino described the deal as more than a financial investment. “We believe Juventus is uniquely positioned to lead both on the field and in embracing technology that can elevate fan engagement, digital experiences, and financial resilience. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead,” Ardoino said.The company also expressed willingness to join future capital infusions to “help strengthen Juventus’s financial foundation and avoid dilution of its position. “The stablecoin giant, which reported $13 billion in profit last year, has been investing in a number of sectors. These include artificial intelligence, bitcoin mining, and agriculture.Shares of Juventus are up more than 2.7% to 3.2 euros ($3.65) as of the time of writing.... Read more

At a time when countless crypto projects are awkwardly pivoting toward artificial intelligence, Eric Winer has spent over a decade building bridges between cutting-edge technology and everyday users. Now, as CTO of NEAR AI, he's pursuing a vision where AI agents negotiate, communicate, and transact on our behalf — a vision that could fundamentally reshape how we interact with the digital world.Winer speaks with the measured enthusiasm of someone who has repeatedly been early to technological revolutions. Having joined the Winklevoss twins as Gemini's first engineer in 2013 and helped launch one of the earliest NFT marketplaces before the term "NFT" became commonplace, he now confronts what may be his most ambitious challenge: creating a decentralized ecosystem of AI agents that preserves user sovereignty in an increasingly AI-mediated future.Eric Winer is a speaker at Consensus 2025. This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.CoinDesk: You've been in crypto for over a decade now. How did that journey lead you to focusing on AI?Eric Winer: I've been in the crypto world for 11 years now. Eleven years ago I met the Winklevoss twins through mutual acquaintances. They hired me as the first engineer at Gemini, which was the first regulated Bitcoin exchange in America at the time. Our mission from the CEO was to take this fantastic blockchain technology (really just Bitcoin at the time) and apply some grown-up engineering around it so that it could be effectively adopted by institutions, governments, and people broadly.Back in 2013-2014, Coinbase was around, but it was kind of a rinky-dink Silicon Valley startup at a time before there was really much of a fintech culture even in California. So it wasn't particularly built well. We were building Gemini in New York City with people who knew how money worked and trying to build not just for cryptography enthusiasts, but for the masses.I've always been trying to get blockchain technology over the adoption barrier to reach a place where people would be using it, perhaps under the hood, to make the world more efficient and give people more sovereignty, even if they don't know it.CoinDesk: And that led you to NFTs before most people had even heard the term, right?Eric Winer: Within Gemini, we acquired a company called Nifty Gateway, which was basically the third NFT startup after OpenSea and CryptoKitties. We launched what was the first NFT marketplace targeted at "normies" in March 2020. It ended up growing by about 1000% month over month for a few months, going from selling a thousand dollars of NFTs to selling a hundred million dollars of NFTs in a day.This exposed a lot of people to the world of collectibles and art online, right in the middle of the pandemic. From there they got bit by the NFT bug and then by the crypto bug, bringing them into the blockchain ecosystem as a whole.Personally, I think the promise of NFTs got unfortunately co-opted by the crypto and speculation crowd. Nifty Gateway never used the term "NFT" on its website or in its materials when it launched. We fought against that even becoming what it was called. NFT is just a thing, but online. We were selling art, selling tickets. Having to assign a technical moniker and put that into the public, I think, was actually counterproductive at the end of the day.CoinDesk: Many crypto projects seem to be awkwardly pivoting toward AI without a clear vision. What makes NEAR AI's approach different?Eric Winer: Near AI is a fascinating company because the founders of Near actually started by building an AI company. They started as an AI company, trying to train models to write code around 2017-2018. It was a little early for that to be effective at the time.AGI has always been the vision here. Near AI is less a "crypto x AI" company than it is an AI company that's vision-aligned with the same purpose of Near. Near's vision is for users to own their own data, own their own decision making, not be beholden to corporate, financial, or governmental interests, and be able to decide where their money goes and how their decisions are made.Whether that's done via a blockchain or done via an AI model, you have to have both. If we don't have a user-owned AI effort going, then we'll lose the game because everybody will start using ChatGPT for everything in their world, and whatever ChatGPT uses for payments is whatever you'll use for payments. Then blockchain loses because you didn't win the AI battle – not the crypto x AI battle, but the real actual AI battle.Near AI does have interactions with blockchains, including Near, because we think that Near and other blockchains are a good way of doing things. But we're primarily an AI company that sees crypto as a technology; we are not a crypto company trying to shove in AI.CoinDesk: What exactly does NEAR AI offer as a platform right now?Eric Winer: Near AI as it exists right now is mostly an agent hosting platform. It's actually one of the easiest ways to get an AI agent running online. You upload some pretty simple Python code or TypeScript code, and boom, it's hosted online with a user interface, embeddable into any website.It can be backed by any open weights models, although by and large, we delegate the actual model operation to other providers like Fireworks and Anthropic that are out there. The special sauce of our framework is that it makes it easy for those AI agents to talk to other AI agents, whether on our platform or off.The other thing that isn't live yet, but will be by the time consensus rolls around, is that we are heavily invested in TEEs (Trusted Execution Environments). We think it's very important that you know where your data is going, that it's not being harvested by these models for training, that even us as operators of a cloud system are not able to look at your data, analyze it, or steal it if we wanted. So we're putting all those agents and all the underlying models into these trusted execution environments so that you can use them with confidence.CoinDesk: Your vision seems to center on AI agents communicating with each other. What does that future look like to you?Eric Winer: What we're trying to build within Near AI is an ecosystem of AI agents that talk to each other. "AI agent" is a very overloaded term at this point. Most of the time when you see something talking about itself as an AI agent, it's really a set of guidelines and tools for an AI model to act on your behalf. Like, "I've got Llama or Claude or GPT models, and I'm going to instruct it to post on Twitter on my behalf." To do that, it needs the ability to access Twitter and some general guidelines about how to read and post tweets.But that's not how I necessarily think about agents. I think about agents mostly in terms of how they interact with the rest of the world on your behalf. My AI agent is posting on Twitter, managing my calendar, looking at all my messages and emails, deciding which are spam, which to reply to, which to surface to me – just like an assistant in my life should be.The future that we envision, which I think is going to happen inevitably, is a world where most of our access to the internet and to the rest of the world is mediated by our personal AI assistants.CoinDesk: That's a remarkably different vision from most crypto projects. How does it reshape our financial systems?Eric Winer: If it's my AI agent talking to, say, Amazon's AI agent, and they're going to buy something and negotiate, they're more likely to rationally choose a crypto-based payment method and probably an AI-based dispute resolution method and AI-based credit. We reshape the financial system not by building a better one and trying to convince people to use it, but by building a better one and trying to convince AIs to use it that's easier for AIs and for the people operating them.I think that's the crypto adoption play now: we build a world of AIs talking to AIs on your behalf, and then we convince the AIs that blockchain and decentralization is a better world for them and for us than the one we've got.CoinDesk: So in your view, AI could actually be the catalyst that drives blockchain adoption, rather than the other way around?Eric Winer: I think in the future, and probably not too far in the future, you'll see that vision that everybody seems to want – the super app, the one place you go where everything you do online really becomes an AI assistant. It's giving you a content feed, it's taking action on your behalf, it's spending money on your behalf.And it's not just doing it alone. It's not just hitting APIs and browsing websites – it's talking... Read more

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2687.87, down 1.3% (-36.46) since 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.Two of 20 assets are trading higher.Leaders: POL (+9.1%) and SUI (+1.9%).Laggards: UNI (-3.8%) and BCH (-3.0%).The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.... Read more

Restaking protocol Ether.fi said it plans to add banking services that will see it become a decentralized finance (DeFi) neobank.The ether.fi app will give users the experience of a traditional fintech app, allowing them to spend, save and earn money through linked crypto features including restaking. The app will allow bill payments and payroll services using fiat money."With ether.fi we're bridging the gap between decentralized finance and everyday financial needs," CEO Mike Silagadze said in a statement. "Our goal is to provide users with a robust, user-friendly platform that offers the benefits of DeFi without the complexities, making financial freedom accessible to everyone."One of the features under the hood will be ether.fi's cornerstone restaking product, which gives investors the opportunity to secure an additional yield by staking ether (ETH) and receiving liquid staking tokens (LSTs) that can be staked across the DeFi ecosystem.Last month CoinDesk reported on how Ether.fi was one of few restaking protocols that managed to retain total value locked (TVL) despite the sector suffering a drawdown in hype of the past year.It currently has 2.7 million ETH ($4.4 billion) in TVL, a near record high in ETH terms, according to DefiLlama.Cash cards in the U.S.In September Ether.fi announced the release of its own Visa "Cash" card, which would allow cardholders to spend fiat currencies while using crypto as collateral. This product, as well as the staking service, is now available in the U.S. despite both being previously ring-fenced due to regulatory requirements.It will initially be available in select states following a number of partnerships with local entities to ensure regulatory compliance. ... Read more

Crypto trading infrastructure startup, Theo, has raised a $20 million round co-led by Hack VC and Anthos Capital. Other participants included crypto-native firms and individual investors affiliated with traditional trading companies such as Citadel, Jane Street, and JPMorgan.Theo is developing a system that allows retail users to deposit digital assets into strategy-specific vaults, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. These vaults are designed to provide access to advanced trading strategies—including arbitrage, hedging, and cross-chain funding rate optimization—that are typically used by institutional players.The platform operates on a custom validator network that facilitates trade execution across both centralized and decentralized exchanges. It also enforces margin requirements and system-wide overcollateralization.The startup was founded by ex-Optiver and IMC quant traders Abhi Pingle, Arijit Pingle, and TK Kwon. “Today’s crypto markets are fragmented and inefficient, preventing institutions and everyday users alike from accessing the full promise of global, permissionless finance,” Abhi Pingle said.The press release notes that trading firms can use Theo’s infrastructure to improve capital efficiency by interacting with user-deposited funds, potentially increasing returns while managing execution and risk.... Read more

Polygon has launched the Agglayer Breakout Program to support projects building on the Agglayer and Polygon proof-of-stake (PoS) ecosystems in a boost for POL token stakers.The program combines incubation and community-focused funding to help founders develop and launch projects, with successful “graduates” airdropping 5%-15% of their native token supply to POL stakers and integrating with the Agglayer network.It provides hands-on support from Polygon Labs, funding, and access to ecosystem resources to help projects grow quickly and connect to Agglayer’s unified user base and liquidity.Agglayer, short for aggregation layer, can be thought of as a web of networks that seem like a single chain to a user. It relies on zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, a type of cryptography that allows one party to prove a piece of information to another without sharing details.For example, one can prove to a blockchain that they have enough funds to pay another person without showing their wallet balance. The network verifies the payment, but financial details remain private. This is unlike regular blockchains or banking networks that reveal details.That makes it possible to build sophisticated financial and gaming applications, among others, that allow the building of a trustless ecosystem (as public details may attract threat actors).Among the first cohort of the breakout program is Privado ID, a ZK-based identity framework, which has fully graduated and plans to airdrop 5% of its token supply to POL stakers. Miden, a ZK-centric chain led by a former Facebook blockchain alum, is nearing graduation and will airdrop 10% of its tokens. A DeFi chain, still in stealth, is set to airdrop 15%.These Airdrops provide POL stakers with new tokens, increasing the utility of POL as more chains launch. Snapshots to determine airdrop eligibility will begin next week, and stakers can participate by staking POL as of Wednesday.... Read more

Digital bank Revolut's profits surpassed 1 billion pounds ($1.33 billion) in 2024, thanks in part to a big jump in revenue from cryptocurrency trading.The London-based fintech group's wealth revenue increased 298% from 127,139 pounds to just over 500 million pounds in the full year 2024. Revolut's wealth business includes cryptocurrency, commodities, trading, and savings products.Revolut also surpassed 50 million customers for the first time in 2024, with many of them possibly keen to dip their toe into cryptocurrency trading as the market boomed. Bitcoin (BTC) increased in price by over 120% during the calendar year, which was bookended by the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. in January and the election victory of the pro-crypto President Trump in November. The fintech firm wasn't the sole benefactor of the crypto trading surge. Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) and popular trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) also said they saw a boost from crypto trading activities last year. Both firms are set to report their earnings in the next few weeks. Across the business at large, Revolut's revenue also increased 72% from 1.8 billion pounds to over 3 billion. Profits before tax surpassed 1 billion pounds, following a nearly 150% increase compared to 2023. Cryptocurrency has a track record of bolstering Revolut's earnings. The fintech's first annual profit came in 2021, another time customers were looking to cash in on a crypto bull market.Read More: Revolut to Strengthen Crypto Fraud Protections With Added Security, Risk Scores... Read more

Shares of Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) surged 55% on Tuesday and are up an additional 15% in pre-market trading, trading below $19. The skyward movement was driven by investor optimism around its proposed merger with Twenty One Capital a bitcoin (BTC) native investment vehicle backed by Tether, Bitfinex, and SoftBank.Led by Strike CEO Jack Mallers and Brandon Lutnick, Twenty One Capital is being positioned as a public proxy for bitcoin, potentially holding over 42,000 BTC at launch and introducing metrics like Bitcoin Per Share (BPS) and Bitcoin Return Rate (BRR) to measure shareholder value in BTC terms.According to the latest pro forma ownership tables, Tether will control 42.8% of equity and 51.7% of voting power, while Bitfinex and SoftBank hold 16.0% and 24.0% of the company respectively, post-convert. Public SPAC shareholders will retain just 2.7% ownership, underscoring the extreme dilution but significant upside if BTC rises.With BTC trading near $94,000, and the entity holding nearly $4B in BTC exposure, investors are re-rating CEP as a high-leverage bet on institutional bitcoin adoption. The stock is set to re-list under ticker “XXI” once the merger is finalized.Disclaimer: This article, or parts of it, was generated with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.... Read more