Yupp, officially known as Ber Sarai Labs Inc., launched with $33 million seed funding led by a16z crypto, the cryptocurrency-focused arm of Andreessen Horowitz, to build an AI model evaluation platform with crypto incentives. The core idea behind the platform is simple: Instead of having a single AI respond to a prompt, users will get two responses — or more. This can be good if they want to see more than one opinion or avoid bad answers. It can also allow users to build a consensus with multiple AI models. The company says that it has more than 500 models under the hood. This includes access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic PBC’s Claude, Google LLC’s Gemini and DeepSeek. It also features a wide range of open-source models, including Meta Platform Inc.’s Llama, as well as various text and image models from lesser-known research labs and small companies. As users browse answers from different AI models, feedback will allow users to share which one they liked and why. This feedback will help tailor future responses on Yupp to their needs. To provide an incentive for users to stay on the platform, the company will offer users a type of token called Yupp credits. These credits go toward using the AI models. Users are rewarded these credits for providing feedback: The higher the quality of the feedback, the more credits. The token can be exchanged for other cryptocurrency payouts. Yupp’s technology crowdsources assessment and uses the rewards to bring in users, but it also uses blockchain technology to provide transparency and an underlying immutable record of the evaluations that cannot be tampered with.
DTCC is mulling the potential of issuing a stablecoin; a fully-authorized bank subsidiary, limited purpose bank charter and access to central bank account to make execution hassle-free
The DTCC is exploring the potential of issuing a stablecoin. It is “monitoring policy developments in the U.S. Congress and regulatory agencies, and will continue to assess our options, including the potential of issuing a DTCC stablecoin, if needed.” For the DTCC specifically, implementation would be relatively straightforward from an infrastructure standpoint. It already has a bank subsidiary, which unlike Fnality Bank US, has full authorization. The Depository Trust Company (DTC), which is one of its main subsidiaries, operates as a limited purpose trust company under New York State banking law. It has access to a central bank account because it enables huge volumes of settlement using Federal Reserve money. Hypothetically, if the DTCC were to issue a stablecoin it could be a very high quality one, using a similar model to Fnality. In other words, perhaps backed by central bank money. Typically stablecoins are mainly backed by Treasury bills, which are usually very stable. But there have been volatile episodes in the money markets, and central bank reserves side steps this risk.
Ubyx aims to provide a clearing system enabling anyone to easily on and off-ramp between bank accounts and stablecoins supporting corporates that want to use stablecoins for cross border payments
Ubyx announced a $10 million seed funding round led by Galaxy Ventures. Other backers in the round include Founders Fund, stablecoin issuer Paxos, Payoneer and others. Ubyx aims to provide a clearing system enabling anyone to easily on and off-ramp between bank accounts and stablecoins. This is a particular issue for corporates that want to use stablecoins for cross border payments, but might find the accounting for holding them on their balance sheet tricky. This challenge has created opportunities for infrastructure providers to fill the gap. While the likes of stablecoin issuer Circle has the scale to build its own Circle Payments Network, not all stablecoin issuers have that luxury. Plus, numerous other stablecoin infrastructure startups are also duplicating effort in building their own distribution. Ubyx aims to provide this distribution and redemption service for numerous stablecoins. “Stablecoins become ubiquitous when there is a shared acceptance network, just like cards. Traditional banks and fintechs should provide wallets to accept a wide range of regulated stablecoins on many public-permissionless blockchains,” said Mike Giampapa, General Partner of Galaxy Ventures.
OpenPayd to integrate Circle’s stablecoin infrastructure with its financial platform to offer enterprises a unified layer for making seamless cross-border transfers using both traditional fiat rails and DLT-based networks
OpenPayd and Circle have partnered to offer global businesses a unified fiat and stablecoin infrastructure layer. This collaboration brings together OpenPayd’s financial infrastructure and Circle Wallets’ stablecoin infrastructure to enable OpenPayd’s enterprise clients to use both traditional banking rails and blockchain-based networks to move and manage money globally. By offering seamless conversion between fiat currencies and Circle’s regulated stablecoin, USDC, this solution will provide OpenPayd’s clients with faster access to liquidity, lower settlement costs, and the ability to develop new use cases across payments, treasury and digital asset services. This addition expands the capabilities of OpenPayd’s platform that enables businesses to embed payments, accounts and trading into their own products. The platform currently processes over 130 billion euros (about $150 billion) annually. “By expanding access to USDC across our platform, we’re extending our vision of becoming the universal financial infrastructure for a truly digital global economy,” OpenPayd CEO Iana Dimitrova said.
Fnality is partnering DTCC to simulate cash on-chain delivery versus payment (DvP) and payment versus payment (PvP) transaction with instant settlement using central bank reserves for institutional purposes
Fnality is partnering with the DTCC to potentially include its wholesale settlement system as a payment rail in the DTCC Digital Launchpad, the DTCC’s digital asset sandbox. The DTCC runs the world’s largest post trade settlement infrastructure processing $3 quadrillion in annual transactions. Fnality is backed by 20 global institutions, including the DTCC, and provides the Fnality wholesale payments system (FnPS), which facilitates the on-chain settlement of central bank reserves for institutional purposes. So far it is live in Sterling, with a US dollar version currently a work in progress. The availability of cash on chain is critical to enabling the full efficiencies of on-chain delivery versus payment (DvP) and payment versus payment (PvP). Institutions favor central bank money to minimize risk, which Fnality can provide. Fnality described the simulated transactions as involving, “earmarking funds in the Fnality testing environment, onboarding the investor’s account onto DTCC’s ledger, and executing a PvP test transaction that settled instantly.” It used Adhara’s DC Commander to integrate with the bank back office systems. Ownera’s FinP2P was used for routing transactions between separate DLT systems for DvP. Hypothetically, if Fnality adopted the Genius act model in the US, then $FnPS could be available to institutions that don’t have central bank access. Either way, within the next 18 months there’s a reasonable chance that tokenized central bank money will be available to institutions in the United States.
TikTok-alternative Own to enable creators to earn revenue without any minimum requirements for follower count and receive fully tradeable tokens in rewards based on engagement regardless of location
Own is the latest alternative to TikTok to emerge, featuring a swipeable feed for not just short videos but also text posts and images, as well as other features you’d expect, like direct messaging. However, the new app aims to disrupt the market by utilizing blockchain technology and a token economy. Most notably, content creators on the app can earn revenue without any minimum requirements for follower count or post count. Key highlights include the $OWN Token, which is rewarded to creators based on video engagement and is fully tradeable. Own operates on Base Layer 2 blockchain, ensuring secure transactions and content ownership. This will be a game-changer for creators, especially since they earn tokens regardless of their location. A portion of the platform’s cash revenue is used to buy $OWN Tokens from exchanges for distribution to creators. The app promises that creators can earn up to 50% more than on other platforms. Specifically, in the case of tipping, Own takes only 20% of the revenue, whereas TikTok takes 50%. For sponsorships, creators retain 90% of the earnings, with only 10% going to Own. Creators benefit most from Own Shops, keeping 95% of the revenue while Own takes just 5%. Viewers have the ability to interact with content by pressing the up or down arrows to cast their votes — upvoting or downvoting posts in a manner reminiscent of platforms like Reddit. Creators who receive a higher number of upvotes can climb the leaderboard, gaining greater exposure.
Card issuance platform Highnote partners BVNK to enable customers around the world make stablecoin-based funding for US-based card programmes in real-time and 24/7 basis
Card issuance and embedded finance platform Highnote has enlisted BVNK to launch real-time 24/7 stablecoin-based funding for card programmes. The partnership means that Highnote subscribers around the world can fund US-based programme accounts instantly in USD, without being constrained by standard banking hours. This, says the firm, streamlines a critical operational step for global fintechs and enterprises that need to move fast, letting them transfer programme funds using stablecoins, automatically converted to dollars, and deposited in sponsor bank accounts in real-time. “Our subscribers are building real-time financial products for a global user base, and until now, they have had to operate within the limits of U.S. banking hours,” says John Macilwaine, CEO, Highnote. “This new capability eliminates that barrier, giving them true around the clock control over how and when to move money.”
IBM offers unified security and governance risk solution for agentic AI use cases that validates compliance standards against 12 different frameworks and includes automated red teaming to help enterprises detect and fix vulnerabilities and misconfigurations
IBM is announcing the industry’s first software to bring AI security and AI governance teams together and provide a unified view of enterprises’ risk posture. The new capabilities enhance and integrate watsonx.governance and Guardium AI Security to help clients keep their AI systems, including agents, secured and responsible at scale. Watsonx.governance is IBM’s end-to-end AI governance tool and Guardium AI Security is IBM’s tool for securing AI models, data, and usage. IBM is enhancing the integration of IBM Guardium AI Security and watsonx.governance, providing enterprises with the first unified solution to manage security and governance risks associated with AI use cases. The integration supports users’ processes to validate compliance standards against 12 different frameworks. IBM is also introducing new capabilities to Guardium AI Security through a collaboration with AllTrue.ai, including the ability to detect new AI use cases in cloud environments, code repositories, and embedded systems –providing broad visibility and protection in an increasingly decentralized AI ecosystem. Once identified, IBM Guardium AI Security can automatically trigger appropriate governance workflows from watsonx.governance. IBM watsonx.governance can now monitor and manage AI agents across their entire lifecycle, from development to deployment. Evaluation nodes can be built directly into agents, allowing users to carefully monitor metrics like answer relevance, context relevance, and faithfulness – and help identify the root cause of poor performance. IBM watsonx.governance Compliance Accelerators provide select pre-loaded regulations, standards, and frameworks from around the globe, enabling users to identify relevant obligations and map them onto their own AI use cases. IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Services is introducing a new set of services that brings together data security platforms, like IBM Guardium AI Security, with deep AI technology and domain consulting.
Mantle launches UR, world’s first fully blockchain-based neobank- offering IBAN accounts, 1:1 backed deposits and spend through a Mastercard debit card
Mantle has launched UR, a neobank that runs entirely on the blockchain, allowing users to manage their daily finances securely and effortlessly across fiat and crypto finances. UR is part of Mantle’s modular finance products, blending traditional finance access with blockchain-native architecture. Users can open Swiss International Bank Account Number (IBAN) accounts supporting EUR, CHF, USD, and RMB, with 1:1 backed deposits and spend through a Mastercard debit card. UR is designed to become the everyday interface between traditional and decentralized finance, combining the intuitive simplicity of neobanking with the transformative power of decentralization. UR’s phased rollout will begin with an early contributors’ release in June, followed by full public access later this year in Q3. Mobile applications for iOS and Android are also in development. UR reflects Mantle’s broader vision to reshape the financial stack, from base-layer infrastructure to consumer-grade applications, creating a unified ecosystem where users and institutions can transact, save, invest, and build in ways that were not previously possible under siloed legacy systems.
Coinbase debuts Stablecoin payment stack following Shopify partnership supporting around-the-clock USDC transactions without requiring blockchain knowledge
Coinbase has launched Coinbase Payments, a service built on Ethereum layer-2 network Base, which is already live with ecommerce platform Shopify. The service aims to bring stablecoin payments to merchants, supporting around-the-clock USDC transactions without requiring blockchain knowledge. Coinbase shares rallied 16% following the announcement, while Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, surged 25%. The move aligns with the growing trend of stablecoins reshaping the global payments market, with companies like Stripe and PayPal introducing blockchain-based products. Coinbase said stablecoins facilitated $30 trillion in transactions last year, tripling the volume year-over-year. The service integrates three modular components: Stablecoin Checkout, Ecommerce Engine, and Commerce Payments Protocol.