New research from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) reveals striking statistics about stablecoin market influence. While stablecoin issuers have been noted as major holders of short term Treasuries, surpassing the holdings of countries such as China, the BIS highlights that during 2024, they were the third largest purchasers of Treasuries bills*. That figure is based on the net increase in stablecoin reserves. Regarding the impact on Treasury rates, the BIS study notes that a naive analysis of a $3.5 billion change in stablecoin holdings of Treasury bills implies a 25 basis point (0.25%) change in short term Treasury yields. However, it says this significantly overstates the impact, because many factors will simultaneously influence both stablecoin demand and Treasury rates. To try to isolate the impact of stablecoins, it explored major crypto events unrelated to movements in interest rates. Based on its research, the BIS concludes that the impact of sales of $3.5 billion of Treasuries by stablecoin issuers causes an increase in Treasury bill yields of six to eight basis points (0.06% – 0.08%). This is a much bigger effect than purchases, because sales are frequently more urgent given they may involve a mini crisis. A similarly sized purchase of Treasuries would result in a decline in Treasury rates of three basis points (-0.03%). The paper also noted that stablecoins are still comparatively small and the research is based on current volume levels. As stablecoins grow, the relative impact will increase. This will also create financial stability risks because of their effect on Treasury rates if there’s a run on a stablecoin. Additionally, with larger volumes of stablecoins, it will reduce the ability of the Federal Reserve to influence interest rates.
Mass adoption of DeFi requires a requires a shift away from liquidity pools, offering a model where individuals negotiate fixed terms, choose their collateral, and eliminate reliance on centrally controlled oracle pricing
Decentralized finance (DeFi) aimed to create a global, permissionless financial system based on peer-to-peer transactions, free from the constraints of traditional finance. However, over time, DeFi protocols have drifted away from this vision, relying on liquidity pools, external price oracles, and heavily automated market makers (AMMs). These structures have unlocked liquidity but at the cost of user control, transparency, and exposure to centrally overridden “oracles.” Today’s users are boxed into preexisting liquidity pools, often with little say over collateral assets or risk profiles. Even DeFi leaders don’t follow the most basic principles of decentralization, as demonstrated by the recent Hyperliquid exchange exploit. DeFi’s promise of a genuinely independent P2P system has been strayed from its roots, and newer DeFi protocols are abandoning many of the golden rules of decentralization. The Hyperliquid incident shattered the decentralization illusion, as a decentralized platform that retroactively rewrites rules and dictates prices cannot be considered truly decentralized. Mass adoption of DeFi requires a user-centric shift, offering a model where individuals negotiate fixed terms, choose their collateral, and eliminate reliance on centrally controlled oracle pricing. This model will appeal to crypto-native users and newcomers alike, and the demand for DeFi hasn’t gone anywhere despite the rocky market.
Clearstream partners Azimut to develop DLT-based private funds solution – providing broader access to private market strategies, along with a liquidity option that will allow investors to unlock the illiquidity premium embedded in private asset portfolios
Stablecoins are gaining traction in B2B payments, offering speed, cost-efficiency and U.S. dollar stability. They represent an emerging reality across emerging markets. Annualized at $36 billion as of February, B2B transactions are no longer just theoretical experiments but are serving as critical plumbing for modern financial flows. The total stablecoin volume over that same period was $94 billion, meaning that B2B transactions now make up the largest segment of stablecoin payment volumes, surpassing even peer-to-peer transfers and card-linked spending. where stablecoin B2B payments are thriving is where banking can often fail. Latin America and Africa, in particular, are hubs of real-world adoption. In Brazil and Colombia, platforms like Bitso and Conduit have enabled faster euro and U.S. dollar settlement, replacing clunky wire networks. In Kenya and Ghana, businesses use stablecoins to sidestep currency devaluation and cross-border delays. “Stablecoins are a great way to transfer value,” Conduit CEO Kirill Gertman told. BVNK and LianLian Global partnered to enable merchants to use major stablecoins to fund cross-border transactions illustrates, crypto continues pushing forward with innovations designed to streamline corporate spending. PayPal used its own native stablecoin to pay EY, while the President Donald Trump family’s new stablecoin was reportedly used for a $2 billion investment into Binance by Abu Dhabi’s MGX.
DMind.ai’s open-source Web3-native expert AI model excels at complex crypto topics such as DeFi protocols, tokenomics and smart contracts, and outperforms general-purpose at just 10-30% of their token cost
DMind.ai is an open-source AGI research lab aiming to create a robust, transparent AI infrastructure for digital finance, starting with Web3, which includes cryptocurrency, DeFi, and real-world asset tokenization. The goal is to create open AI models, benchmarks, and datasets rooted in deep, expert-curated knowledge, supported by a global open-source community. The goal is to empower developers, builders, and researchers across the digital financial ecosystem by sharing tools and research. DMind-1. Fully open-source and built on the robust Qwen3-32B model, DMind-1 is fine-tuned specifically for the nuanced world of Web3: Expert-Level Understanding: DMind-1 excels at complex crypto topics such as DeFi protocols, tokenomics, smart contracts, and strategic investment planning. Enhanced Accuracy and Reasoning: It demonstrates significant improvements in Web3 task accuracy, expert-level reasoning, and provides reliable, precise interactions. Cost-Effective Excellence: Impressively, DMind-1 outperforms larger, general-purpose, general-purpose models on Web3-specific tasks—all at just 10-30% of their token cost. DMind.ai also launched the “DMind Web3 Benchmark,” the first comprehensive evaluation standard designed exclusively for Web3-specific reasoning and domain expertise. The benchmark quickly made waves, skyrocketing to the #1 spot on Huggingface’s dataset rankings shortly after release. This open-source evaluation suite contains thousands of expert-reviewed questions spanning nine core areas – from blockchain fundamentals and infrastructure to DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, token economics, security, and more. The benchmark provides precise domain-level scoring, empowering precise model comparisons and fostering deeper community insights.
Endless’s on-chain AI platform combines Stability’s image generation tech that lets users transform simple sketches into high-quality, stylistically consistent images for building Web3 apps
Endless Web3 Genesis Cloud aims to accelerate the adoption of decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) by integrating Stability AI’s image generation capabilities with its robust Web3 infrastructure. Supported by academic resources from the University of Surrey, Endless bridges Web2 and Web3 ecosystems, offering a one-stop platform for building Web3 applications with a Web2-level user experience. Its modular framework enables efficient AI application development, facilitating the rise of hyper-intelligent AI agent systems. Endless’s custom Sketch-to-Image workflow enhances its product offering. Utilizing Stability AI’s technology will initially target high-demand, pain-point-intensive use cases, showcasing the enhanced user experiences enabled by technical synergies. Key applications include: Streamlined Content Creation: By integrating Stability AI’s “sketch-to-image” functionality with Endless’ on-chain AI infrastructure, users can transform simple sketches into high-quality, stylistically consistent images. This lowers the creative barrier, encouraging broader participation while boosting efficiency for professional creators through AI-driven style learning and automated complex draft generation. On-Chain Assetization and Trading: Creators can leverage Stability AI’s AI-generated content (AIGC) tools to produce works efficiently, then use Endless’ to mint these creations as on-chain assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), ensuring verifiable ownership and seamless trading. Endless’ community-driven token incentives further motivate creators to contribute high-value content to the platform.
KILT’s decentralized document signing solution lets users create verifiable, privacy-preserving signatures using credentials stored on their own devices without compromising control over data
KILT Protocol is launching a suite of next-generation products to bring decentralized identity (DeID) into mainstream use. The company will bring its core identity infrastructure to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) world in 2025, allowing developers to integrate KILT credentials into smart contracts and applications with minimal overhead. KILT’s consumer products include Clans, Sporran 2.0, DIDsign 2.0, KILT Pay, and DID-as-a-Service. Clans is a mobile-first platform that rewards users for engaging with content and social campaigns, while Sporran 2.0 enables users to manage credentials, sign documents, and access services using decentralized sign-on. DIDsign 2.0 introduces decentralized document signing, while KILT Pay bridges the gap between credentials and financial transactions. The KILT Foundation will support these developments, focusing on growing the ecosystem and expanding partnerships.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins wants to let DeFi thrive with fewer rules and a potential “innovation exemption” aimed at protecting developers
The U.S. SEC may soon ease the regulatory burden on decentralized finance platforms as Chairman Paul Atkins outlines a potential “innovation exemption” aimed at protecting developers and enabling new blockchain-based systems to thrive. In the final session of a five-part crypto roundtable series, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins signaled a notable shift in regulatory tone, especially regarding decentralized finance (DeFi). Atkins said he has directed SEC staff to explore exemptions or guidance that would let DeFi platforms operate with fewer barriers. The proposal seeks to support on-chain financial systems and reflect the technological shift toward decentralized models. He emphasized that this principle should not vanish online, especially in a financial ecosystem increasingly powered by decentralized technologies. The comments mark a stark contrast with previous SEC leadership, which leaned heavily on enforcement and broad interpretations of securities laws. He rejected the notion that writing code constitutes a regulated activity if that code enables financial transactions. Commissioner Hester Peirce echoed this view, warning against infringing on First Amendment rights. Atkins called for reevaluating legacy frameworks and asked staff to assess whether new guidance or rulemaking would help entities interact with DeFi tools while remaining compliant.
Fresh institutional inflows and rising demand for tokenization driving Ether’s outperformance vis-à-vis Bitcoin; likely to reach and/or surpass its all-time high price by the end of the year
Ether outpaces bitcoin on fresh institutional inflows and rising demand for tokenization, signaling a potential push towards its all-time high. ETH zoomed 5% in the past 24 hours, leading gains among majors. Ether ETFs have attracted more than $800 million in the past two weeks alone, outpacing bitcoin’s sub-$400 million, according to SoSoValue data. That’s helped the spread between ether’s implied volatility and bitcoin’s reach its highest level since late 2022 — a sign traders expect bigger price swings ahead. “Investors are finally recognizing the compelling investment opportunity that Ethereum presents. It’s still trading well below its all-time highs, while bitcoin is already near its ATH levels,” said Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE. He pointed to Ethereum’s growing role in tokenizing real-world assets like stocks, money-market funds, and U.S. Treasuries, adding that it was “very likely that Ethereum will reach and/or surpass its all-time high price by the end of the year.” Open interest in ether perpetuals on Kraken hit an all-time high of 30,000 ETH this week, said Alexia Theodorou, Head of Derivatives at Kraken. “This signals a notable uptick in speculative activity around the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap,” she noted. However, she cautioned that the market “has yet to form a clear directional consensus,” with the long/short ratio still well below January levels.
RISE leverages Ethereum’s network and Shreds transaction architecture to enable real-time transactions on standard hardware with ultra-low latency of 5-milliseconds and throughput of over 50,000 TPS
RISE, a real-time blockchain scaling Ethereum with record throughput and ultra-low latency, has secured a $4 million investment from Galaxy Ventures, raising its total funds to $8 million. RISE’s breakthrough transaction architecture, powered by Shreds, enables record-breaking latency as low as 5-milliseconds, making it ideal for advanced DeFi use cases like orderbook strategies, options, high-frequency trading, and market making. The blockchain addresses the tradeoff between low latency and high throughput, ensuring real-time transactions on standard hardware. RISE will also implement performance-compatible sequencing to leverage Ethereum’s network of validators and unlock synchronous composability between Ethereum and RISE. Key Differentiators of RISE: Shreds: Sub-blocktime transaction confirmations enabling as low as 5ms round-trip latency; Scalable Throughput: Currently benchmarked at over 50,000 TPS, with plans to exceed 100,000 TPS; Based Sequencing (Coming Soon): Unlocking a true extension of Ethereum and solving liquidity fragmentation for users; Secured Shreds (Coming Soon): Preconfirmations economically secured by Ethereum Validators, significantly improving the security profile.
BIS-led bank consortium Project Agora to create a unified, programmable financial ledger combining tokenized commercial bank deposits with wholesale central bank money as a regulated alternative to private stablecoins for cross-border and institutional payments
Project Agora, led by the BIS and seven central banks, aims to create a unified, programmable financial ledger combining tokenized commercial bank deposits with wholesale central bank money — challenging the role of stablecoins in regulated finance. The initiative provides a credible, regulated alternative to private stablecoins for cross-border and institutional payments, potentially redefining how programmable money is used without relying on crypto-native infrastructure. The interplay between Project Agora’s outcomes and the potentially broader integration of stablecoins across the U.S. market could represent a potential inflection point in the evolution of digital money. While stablecoins offer speed and global reach, their lack of regulation and transparency invites scrutiny, and Project Agora raises the bar by embedding compliance and trust into digital money systems, pressuring stablecoins to evolve or risk obsolescence in institutional finance. Project Agora is seeking to address the wholesale heart of cross-border systems. By offering tokenized central bank money alongside commercial tokens on a shared digital infrastructure, banks may be able to crowd out private stablecoins for interbank and institutional transfers, without ceding oversight or public trust. Agora doesn’t kill stablecoins. But by offering a credible, supervised alternative, it raises the bar, forcing private issuance to compete on compliance, resilience and institutional usability rather than just speed.