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The Federal Reserve Board has announced it will host a payments innovation conference on October 21 to discuss the future of the US payment system. The event will bring together regulators, academics, and industry experts to address key topics, including the convergence of traditional and decentralized finance (DeFi), emerging use cases for stablecoins, the role of artificial intelligence in payments, and the tokenization of financial products. This focus reflects a growing recognition by the Fed and other regulatory bodies that digital assets are becoming a core part of the financial landscape.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller stated that the conference will explore opportunities and challenges presented by these new technologies. The event comes amidst a broader push for regulatory clarity in the digital asset space, following recent statements and initiatives from other agencies like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Industry participants see the Fed's proactive engagement as a significant step towards developing clear, consistent rules that will allow on-chain financial solutions to scale effectively. Source
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has announced that over 40% of the code for the company's systems is currently being written by artificial intelligence, a figure that has more than doubled since April. He aims to increase this to over 50% by October, emphasizing the need for responsible and widespread use of AI-powered coding tools among engineers. This aggressive push, which included firing engineers who resisted the new mandate, is part of a broader company goal to transform its workforce into "AI-Natives."
Despite fears that AI will lead to widespread job displacement, Armstrong's approach aligns with the view that AI can boost employee productivity rather than replace them. The use of AI tools like Copilot, Claude Code, and Cursor has already allowed engineers to complete complex tasks, such as refactoring large codebases, in days instead of months. This focus on AI integration comes as Coinbase continues to actively hire for engineering roles, many of which specifically mention AI, suggesting a shift in skill requirements rather than a reduction in headcount. Source
Portage Biotech, a publicly traded firm, is rebranding as AlphaTON Capital and establishing a digital asset treasury centred on Toncoin, the cryptocurrency associated with the Telegram messaging app. The new company will focus on acquiring and managing a strategic reserve of Toncoin, starting with a $100 million investment. This move is intended to provide public market investors with exposure to the rapidly expanding Telegram ecosystem, which has over one billion monthly active users.
AlphaTON Capital's strategy goes beyond simply holding Toncoin. The company plans to actively deploy its assets through network validation, staking, and decentralized finance activities. Additionally, it aims to develop, incubate, and accelerate businesses within the Toncoin and Telegram ecosystems, including DeFi and gaming applications. This proactive approach, the company believes, will differentiate it from other digital asset treasuries and create multiple revenue streams for shareholders. Source
AI bots represent a new and advanced threat to cryptocurrency security. Unlike traditional hacking methods that are limited by human effort, AI bots are self-learning programs that can automate and continuously refine cyberattacks at a massive scale. These bots are dangerous because of their speed, scalability, and adaptability, allowing them to scan millions of transactions, send personalized phishing messages to countless users, and improve their tactics with every failed attempt, making them much harder to detect and stop. The article provides examples of various AI-powered scams, including deepfake impersonations, social media botnets, and fake trading bots, that are increasingly used to defraud crypto users.
To protect against these sophisticated attacks, the article recommends a multi-layered security approach. Key measures include using a hardware wallet to store private keys offline, enabling multi-factor authentication, and using strong, complex passwords. It also stresses the importance of being vigilant against AI-powered phishing scams by manually verifying website URLs and being cautious of unsolicited messages. The article concludes by emphasizing that while AI is a growing threat, it can also be a powerful tool for defence, and the future of crypto security will depend on the development of shared AI-driven defence systems to proactively counter these evolving threats. Source
A weaker U.S. dollar and a steepening bond yield curve are seen as potential catalysts for a renewed rally in Bitcoin. The U.S. dollar index has experienced its most significant decline since 1973, with an 11% drop this year. This decline, coupled with gold reaching record highs, suggests that institutions are hedging against inflation. Analysts believe that this institutional capital, initially flowing into gold, could eventually move into fixed-supply assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The bond market is also experiencing a sell-off, with rising long-term yields signalling higher inflation expectations and increased risks, which can be a favourable environment for risk assets like Bitcoin.
The gap between short- and long-term bond yields is widening, a phenomenon known as a steepening yield curve. This indicates that investors are demanding higher returns for lending money over longer periods. This trend, combined with concerns about the Federal Reserve's independence and political pressure to lower interest rates, further fuels the belief that premiums will remain higher at the long end of the curve. A steepening yield curve can signal both rising inflation expectations and a belief in future economic growth. Experts suggest that with rising inflation, assets like Bitcoin tend to outperform the market, potentially setting the stage for a "crypto supercycle." Source
Markethive's vision is a "Divine Vision" to create a sanctuary for entrepreneurs. It sees itself as a company with a strong culture and code of ethics focused on free expression, privacy, and autonomy. The platform, which has been in development for over two decades, aims to empower individuals and protect them from what it describes as "woke ideology" and forces that threaten entrepreneurship. At its core, it's not just a marketing and social media platform, but a community designed to provide a supportive and secure environment for like-minded individuals to achieve financial and personal freedom without the threat of censorship or being "cancelled."
Central to Markethive's model is its focus on financial sovereignty through a "cottage industry concept." The platform features its own cryptocurrency, Hivecoin (HVC), which is used for a variety of purposes including payments and e-commerce transactions within its ecosystem. Markethive also plans to build a decentralized network of cloud servers worldwide, fortified by blockchain technology, to create a secure and robust infrastructure. This system is designed to be an "impregnable decentralized empire" that will resist forces that seek to control and undermine free-market principles and individual self-determination. Source
Anchorage Digital, a US-chartered crypto bank, has begun offering custody and staking services for Starknet’s native token, STRK, catering to institutional investors looking for yield on their digital assets. This move expands Anchorage's existing STRK custody service, which it has provided since January. The staked STRK token currently offers a competitive annual percentage rate (APR) of 7.28%, a return that could become even more attractive to investors compared to traditional financial products like US Treasuries if the US Federal Reserve implements an expected rate cut.
The launch of institutional staking services for STRK is part of a broader trend where major institutions are entering the crypto staking market, which is the process of locking up crypto assets to help secure a blockchain network in exchange for rewards. While some traditional banks have focused on tokenization, staking has gained significant traction as a yield-bearing product. This is evidenced by the increasing popularity of Ether treasury funds and the fact that other regulated entities, such as Switzerland's Sygnum Bank and Nomura-backed Komainu, have already introduced similar services for Ethereum and Lido's staked Ether. Source
Ondo Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) firm, has launched tokenized versions of over 100 US stocks and ETFs on the Ethereum blockchain. This new offering, called Ondo Global Finance, is specifically for non-US investors due to regulatory restrictions. The company says the tokens are fully backed by real assets held at US-registered broker-dealers, and are designed to enable 24/7 trading and fractional ownership, which breaks down barriers that have historically limited international access to US securities.
This move by Ondo Finance positions it as a significant player in the tokenization space, a growing area of focus for many crypto companies seeking to bridge traditional finance with blockchain technology. Ondo has also announced plans to expand its tokenized asset offerings beyond Ethereum to other blockchains like Solana and BNB Chain. The initiative is supported by a number of major crypto wallets and exchanges, which will facilitate the trading and management of these new tokenized assets. Source
The United States Federal Reserve has announced a conference in October to discuss innovations in the payment system, with a specific focus on the tokenization of financial products and the convergence of traditional and decentralized finance (DeFi). This conference comes at a time when the market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) is experiencing significant growth, with its on-chain value reaching an all-time high of $27.8 billion, a 223% increase since the beginning of the year. The majority of these assets are tokenized private credit and US Treasury debt, and Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for this activity.
In another significant development for the RWA space, Ondo Finance launched its Ondo Global Markets platform, which tokenizes over 100 US stocks and ETFs on Ethereum. The platform is currently available to non-US investors and is described as "Wall Street 2.0." The launch is supported by Chainlink, which provides pricing data, and the platform plans to expand its offerings and support for other blockchains like Solana and BNB Chain in the future. These concurrent events highlight the increasing interest and momentum behind RWA tokenization from both the institutional finance world and the crypto industry. Source
Bitcoin's hash rate, which measures the total computing power dedicated to its network, has hit a new all-time high despite the cryptocurrency's price remaining relatively stable. The single-day hash rate reached 1.279 zettahashes per second, and the seven-day moving average also surpassed one zettahash per second for the first time. This surge in computing power indicates a more secure network, as a higher hash rate makes it more difficult for a single entity to gain control of over 50% of the network.
The increase in mining activity comes at a time when miners are facing challenges, including rising energy costs and reduced rewards following the last halving event, which cut the reward for mining a block from 6.250 to 3.125 bitcoin. Historically, miners have relied on rising Bitcoin prices to cover their operational costs. The article notes that while Bitcoin's price has been volatile, it has recently been trading at around $111,985, with little movement over the previous 24 hours. The relocation of mining operations from China to North America after the 2021 ban is also highlighted as a significant shift in the industry. Source
In a new and sophisticated cyberattack, hackers are using Ethereum smart contracts to hide malicious URLs and bypass traditional security measures. Cybersecurity researchers at ReversingLabs found two malicious packages, "colortoolsv2" and "mimelib2," on the Node Package Manager (NPM) repository that were part of a larger social engineering campaign. Instead of embedding malicious links directly, these packages would query the Ethereum blockchain to retrieve the addresses for a second-stage malware, making the network traffic appear legitimate and difficult to detect. This technique represents a new attack vector, as the URLs for malicious commands are hosted on the immutable blockchain, making them resilient to takedown attempts.
The malicious packages were part of a well-orchestrated deception campaign on GitHub, where threat actors created fake cryptocurrency trading bot repositories. They made the projects seem trustworthy by using fabricated commits, fake accounts to watch the repositories, and multiple maintainer accounts to simulate active development. This elaborate social engineering, combined with the novel use of blockchain technology to hide the malware's command and control server, highlights the evolving strategies of hackers targeting open-source software repositories and developers. While similar attacks have occurred on other platforms like Solana and Bitcoinlib, the use of smart contracts to host URLs is a unique and concerning development. Source
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
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