AI
SEC Chair Paul Atkins, speaking at SCSP AI+ Expo on May 8, framed crypto and AI as one regulatory challenge — the first time a sitting Chair has proposed unified rulemaking for onchain exchanges, AI-driven settlement, broker definitions, and crypto vaults in a single agenda.
Stablecoins
Tetra Trust launched CADD — Canada's first CAD-backed stablecoin issued by a financial institution — on Base, Ethereum, and Tempo, backed by Shopify, National Bank of Canada, Wealthsimple, ATB Financial, and Shakepay. The token targets 24/7 institutional settlement replacing legacy batch clearing.
Ethereum
Dunamu, operator of South Korea's largest crypto exchange Upbit, launched GIWA Chain — an OP Stack Ethereum L2 with 1-second block times — as the first deployment on Optimism Foundation's Self-Managed tier, giving Upbit full sequencer control with institutional failover support.
Ethereum
Coinbase's Base L2 will integrate Succinct's SP1 zero-knowledge virtual machine under its Azul upgrade, replacing multi-day challenge periods with cryptographic finality for $7.4B in bridged assets while keeping its existing optimistic rollup structure.
Tokenization
Securitize Markets received expanded FINRA permissions enabling it to custody tokenized securities inside a regulated broker-dealer, underwrite on-chain IPOs, and facilitate atomic settlement between tokenized stocks and stablecoins — the first approval of its kind.
Stablecoins
Western Union launched USDPT, a USD-backed payment stablecoin on Solana issued by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A., targeting cross-border payments in 40+ countries. The company also plans to launch Stable by Western Union, a consumer-facing product, later in 2026.
Onchain Data
DTCC confirmed a July 2026 limited production pilot and October full rollout for its tokenized securities platform, covering Russell 1000 constituents, major index ETFs, and US Treasuries, with BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Circle, and 50+ firms in the working group.
Web3 Security
An attacker drained roughly 13.71 billion SWEAT tokens (~65% of total supply, ~$3.5M) from top holder accounts on Near in a 30-second window. Blockaid flagged it; the SWEAT team paused the contract; MEXC and Rhea Finance froze attacker liquidity. All external account balances were fully restored.
RWA
Computershare — transfer agent for over half the S&P 500 — has partnered with BlackRock-backed Securitize to enable US-listed companies to issue tokenized equity via Issuer-Sponsored Tokens (ISTs). Pitched as the on-ramp for the $70T US public equity market.
Stablecoins
Meta has rolled out USDC stablecoin payouts to creators in Colombia and the Philippines via Stripe, with on-chain delivery on Solana and Polygon. Four years after shelving Libra under regulatory pressure, Meta is back in stablecoins — through the safest possible wrapper.
Stablecoins
Visa expanded its stablecoin settlement pilot to nine blockchains by adding Base, Polygon, Canton Network, Arc and Tempo, joining existing support for Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche and Stellar. Annualized stablecoin settlement volume hit $7 billion — up 50% quarter-over-quarter.
Bitcoin
BIP-361, drafted by Jameson Lopp and other core devs, would phase out Bitcoin's current cryptographic signatures and freeze ~5.6M dormant BTC (~$440B, 28% of supply) to protect them from quantum attacks. Critics say it would shatter Bitcoin's core value prop in a single day.