Tag: Adoption & Partnerships

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, widely known as CZ in cryptocurrency circles, believes that artificial intelligence agents could become a significant catalyst for the industry’s next wave of adoption.

According to Zhao, this is because autonomous AI systems are likely to adopt blockchain-based payment solutions long before traditional financial institutions can adapt to their needs.

Speaking in a comprehensive interview with Alex Thorn of Galaxy Research, Zhao articulated a logical argument for his assertion. He noted that while current AI can identify the cheapest flights, it cannot yet complete the purchase. This limitation stems from payment methods like credit cards, which typically require human intervention for swiping or authentication. The moment two-factor authentication or Know Your Customer (KYC) checks are introduced, AI agents encounter an insurmountable barrier.

In contrast, blockchain technology is inherently built with APIs, enabling autonomous systems to interact with it seamlessly, much like they would with any other software.

“Agentic trading and payments will come in a matter of months, not years, I think. And they will use crypto,” Zhao told Thorn.

He framed this not as a speculative prediction but as an inevitable outcome, given the fundamental architecture of AI agents requiring programmable infrastructure for transactions. He pointed out that much of the legacy financial system lacks this programmability.

CZ also countered the notion that AI is siphoning capital and attention away from the crypto market. He highlighted that investors are already utilizing crypto networks to trade AI-related stocks, suggesting that the AI hype is actually boosting trading volumes on blockchains rather than detracting from them.

“Even the money that went there still flows on the blockchain,” he stated.

Zhao’s core argument is that blockchain, AI, and the internet are distinct technologies that will evolve in parallel, complementing rather than competing with each other, much like the internet’s emergence did not diminish the importance of existing technologies.

The former CEO further linked this to financial inclusion, explaining to Thorn that with billions of adults still excluded from traditional banking, permissionless payment infrastructure could foster greater participation than legacy banking systems have achieved.

Zhao’s perspective is not entirely novel. In a December 2025 report, venture capital firm a16z crypto made a similar argument, positing that AI agents will necessitate payment systems capable of facilitating value transfer at internet speeds. At the time, the firm suggested that stablecoins and blockchain networks could emerge as the preferred settlement layer for machine-to-machine transactions.

However, early attempts to integrate these AI agents have not been without challenges. For instance, in April, a company named PocketOS lost its entire production database, including all backups, after an AI coding agent inadvertently deleted it through a single API call. In another incident, an AI agent known as Lobstar Wilde mistakenly transferred $450,000 worth of tokens to an individual who had requested 4 SOL, reportedly to fund a relative’s medical treatment.

Charles Schwab Eyes Prediction Markets with S&P 500 Wagers

Financial services behemoth Charles Schwab is preparing to enter the rapidly growing prediction markets sector, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The discount brokerage had signaled its intentions earlier this year during its first-quarter earnings call, with CEO Rick Wurster stating the company would “likely have prediction markets.” Wurster, however, differentiated these offerings from those focused on sports, politics, and entertainment, emphasizing a focus on financial market outcomes.

Sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Schwab will facilitate contracts through Cboe Global Markets, enabling users to place wagers on the performance of the S&P 500, the widely followed index representing the largest publicly traded U.S. companies.

These new markets are expected to function similarly to asset price markets offered by existing prediction platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. In these models, participants are presented with a binary choice: whether an asset will finish above or below a specified price. For instance, on Myriad, a product from Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, users can bet on whether Bitcoin will trade above or below a certain price on a given day and time.

Schwab is also reportedly planning a feature called the “Plus Zone.” This would reward users based on how closely the S&P 500’s closing price aligns with the market’s target number, offering a discounted payout even for predictions that are only partially correct.

The new prediction markets are slated for launch in the coming months. The report suggests that Schwab may eventually expand these offerings to include other indexes and key financial benchmarks.

This move follows Schwab’s recent expansion into cryptocurrency. Last month, the firm launched spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum for a select group of its retail customers, a rollout that began after a successful internal pilot program. Further expansion to more customers is anticipated in the coming months.

With $11.8 trillion in total customer assets, Charles Schwab has also expressed interest in the stablecoin market. CEO Rick Wurster indicated last July that offering stablecoins is “something we do want to be able to offer.”

Shares of Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) closed down nearly 3% on Thursday, trading around $91.70. U.S. markets will be closed on Friday in observance of the Juneteenth holiday.

HIVE Digital Technologies stock surged more than 7% on Thursday following the announcement of a $220 million GPU cloud contract with Bell Canada and the Toronto-based AI firm Cohere. This marks the company’s largest deal to date and signals a definitive shift for the Bitcoin miner into the AI infrastructure sector.

A Landmark Deal for AI Infrastructure

The three-year contract, to be executed through HIVE’s subsidiary BUZZ High Performance Computing, involves the deployment of 2,304 NVIDIA Grace Blackwell GPUs. These advanced chips, designed for cutting-edge AI model training and inference, will be installed at Bell’s purpose-built data center in Merritt, British Columbia.

Cohere, a prominent large language model company that develops AI systems for enterprises and governments, will leverage this compute power to operate its platform for Canadian clients.

The Rise of Sovereign AI

The concept of “sovereign AI”—AI operating on domestic infrastructure with locally controlled data—is gaining significant traction, particularly for government clients. Canada has been a strong proponent of this strategy, with Ottawa committing over $2 billion to domestic AI compute as part of its Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, including a direct $240 million investment in Cohere. This new contract represents the tangible realization of that national investment.

Cohere is a fitting partner for this initiative. The Toronto-based company is among a select group globally developing foundation models, the underlying AI technology powering enterprise chatbots, government document processing, and a wide array of other applications. Cohere recently announced a merger with Germany’s Aleph Alpha, valuing the combined entity at approximately $20 billion. The current contract builds upon an existing partnership between Bell and Cohere, which dates back to July 2025, by providing the essential compute infrastructure.

“Canada helped pioneer modern artificial intelligence. What we have lacked is not talent, it is industrial infrastructure to commercialize that talent at scale before others do it for us,” stated Frank Holmes, executive chairman at HIVE Digital Technologies. “This partnership with Bell and Cohere is a defining moment. BUZZ HPC is the GPU factory layer that transforms Canada’s AI ambitions from political promises into productive national assets.”

HIVE’s Strategic Pivot

For HIVE, which reported $278.3 million in Bitcoin mining revenue last quarter, this deal is a significant milestone in its strategic pivot that began in 2022. The company initiated its transition into AI by reallocating GPU capacity from crypto mining. This move was further bolstered by a deal with Dell for new GPUs last November and a $115 million convertible note offering in April to finance hardware acquisitions. HIVE is not alone in this transition; Keel Infrastructure, formerly Bitfarms, sold its last Paraguay mining facility in April and is pursuing a similar strategy.

The volatile nature of cryptocurrency mining returns, exacerbated by increasing competition and market downturns, contrasts sharply with the burgeoning demand for AI compute. Clients, especially government agencies, are increasingly opting for multi-year contracts with fixed rates. This shift represents a move from one potentially volatile market to another, but one that is underpinned by a clear government mandate.

Future Growth and Expansion

Upon deployment, expected between late 2026 and early 2027, HIVE anticipates generating approximately $70 million in new annual recurring revenue, in addition to the $35 million already secured from existing GPU operations. The company’s contracted HPC revenue target now surpasses $100 million.

Furthermore, HIVE is developing a larger project: a 320-megawatt AI data center in the Greater Toronto Area. This facility is designed to accommodate over 100,000 Nvidia GPUs at its full build-out. HIVE projects this facility will generate roughly $360 million in annualized recurring revenue once fully operational, with a broader target of $660 million in annualized HPC revenue by the end of 2028.

Ripple Swell 2026 to Integrate Developer Summit, Aiming for Unified Infrastructure

Ripple Swell 2026, slated for October 27–29 at The Shed in New York City’s Hudson Yards, will for the first time incorporate XRPL Apex, Ripple’s developer summit, into a single, three-day event. This consolidation marks the largest Swell conference to date, expecting over 1,500 attendees, more than 75 speakers, and over 50 sessions across three simultaneous stages tailored for institutions, ecosystem builders, and emerging technologies.

Strategic Merger Signals Shift in Focus

The merger of Swell and Apex extends beyond attendee numbers. Historically, Swell attracted banking and fintech leaders, while Apex focused on XRPL developers. This combined event signals Ripple’s strategic intent to bridge the gap between institutional adoption and on-chain development, positioning the XRP Ledger as a unified infrastructure rather than solely a payments corridor with a supplementary developer layer.

David Schwartz, Ripple CTO Emeritus, emphasized the event’s focus on utility over spectacle in a June 17 post on X. His highlighted themes of payments, tokenization, DeFi, interoperability, and AI, coupled with an explicit invitation to builders, indicate Ripple’s desired narrative for the fourth quarter.

New Structure, Expanded Scope

Ripple has previously hosted Swell and XRPL Apex as separate events, catering to institutional audiences and XRP Ledger developers, respectively. The decision to merge them for the 2026 New York event represents the most significant structural evolution since the conference’s inception in 2017.

The conference will now feature three parallel tracks:

• Institution: Focusing on banking and fintech integration.
• Ecosystem: Dedicated to XRPL developer tooling and infrastructure.
• Innovation: Exploring emerging applications, including AI and quantum-resistant security.

The event’s content scope reflects this ambition, with session topics including real-world asset tokenization, global regulatory frameworks, institutional custody, stablecoins, capital markets and settlement, crypto ETFs, DeFi, financial inclusion, and treasury cash management. This approach aims to cover the entire institutional-to-developer spectrum within a single venue, moving beyond a purely payments-focused agenda with tokenization as a secondary theme.

Ripple’s call for speakers specifically requests case studies demonstrating measurable outcomes, such as reduced settlement times, lower FX costs, and the establishment of new tokenization business lines. This emphasis is expected to attract practitioners and foster content focused on practical applications across all three stages. Further speaker and agenda details are anticipated in mid-2026 as partner applications conclude.

Leadership and External Perspectives

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and President Monica Long will anchor the institutional track. Garlinghouse is expected to reiterate XRP’s core payment proposition, highlighting its three-to-five-second settlement times, minimal transaction costs, and extensive transaction history, updated with current partnership contexts. Schwartz’s role as CTO Emeritus will maintain the focus on developer and protocol credibility.

Notable external speakers include Tom Farley, chairman and CEO of Bullish, who will offer a regulated exchange perspective amid ongoing scrutiny of institutional-grade crypto infrastructure. Billy Hult, CEO of Tradeweb, will connect the XRP narrative to fixed-income and capital markets, signaling that the tokenized asset conversation has progressed beyond proof-of-concept for institutional audiences. Matt Damon, co-founder of Water.org, will reinforce Ripple’s commitment to financial inclusion and cross-border remittances, distinguishing XRP’s use case from Bitcoin’s store-of-value positioning.

Swell 2025 in New York was already considered a pivotal event for Ripple, featuring significant institutional engagement in stablecoins and tokenized assets. Swell 2026 expands upon this format by integrating the full developer summit.

Market Implications and Future Outlook

Historically, Swell events have acted as catalysts for XRP price volatility. The “largest ever” framing is expected to concentrate media attention and liquidity within the three-day window. Ripple’s current institutional standing, bolstered by an OCC conditional approval for a crypto trust bank charter, the multichain expansion of RLUSD, and Mastercard’s AI payments initiative naming Ripple as a partner, suggests the potential for multiple substantive announcements.

However, the market may preemptively price in strong announcements, potentially leading to a “sell the news” scenario regardless of the event’s content. Analyst price targets for XRP already reflect considerable optimism, which could limit reactive upside if Swell announcements meet rather than exceed expectations.

The more enduring indicator to monitor will be verifiable institutional commitments, including named banks integrating XRPL infrastructure, tokenization pilots with disclosed volumes, and new regulated entity partnerships, rather than statements of intent. Schwartz’s emphasis on builders and community participation suggests Ripple is positioning Swell 2026 as a deployment-focused event rather than a roadmap presentation, a distinction that could influence XRP’s price action in the subsequent weeks.

Trace Finance Secures $32 Million Series A to Bridge Digital and Traditional Finance

Trace Finance, a financial infrastructure company facilitating stablecoin settlements between banks in Brazil and the United States, announced Wednesday it has raised $32 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by CoinFund and included investments from Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, Jump Capital, and other crypto-focused investors.

This funding comes at a pivotal moment as Brazilian regulators begin to classify cross-border cryptocurrency transfers as foreign-exchange operations. This regulatory shift is prompting institutional capital to move away from unregulated crypto platforms and toward licensed, bank-grade intermediaries—precisely the market niche Trace Finance has cultivated.

The New York-based company reports having processed over $10 billion in cross-border transaction volume. It has established itself as a key settlement partner for several major global payment firms operating in Latin America, including the Uruguay-based payments company dLocal.

Bernardo Brites, co-founder and CEO of Trace, emphasized the company’s strategy of integrating stablecoins with traditional banking compliance, rather than positioning digital currency as a replacement for existing regulated financial systems.

“Stablecoins alone do not solve cross-border payments. Stablecoins plus regulated local bank infrastructure does,” Brites stated. “This round allows us to enhance the banking, payments, and compliance infrastructure that global fintechs, exchanges, international banks, and enterprises depend on to connect digital settlement with trusted local financial systems.”

The new capital will support Trace Finance’s expansion beyond its initial U.S.-Brazil corridor into other Latin American markets, as well as the United States and the Asia-Pacific region.

The funding round also saw participation from strategic investors such as Chainlink Labs and prominent individual backers with significant ties to the crypto industry, including Circle co-founder Sean Neville and Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko. Ricardo Villela Marino, vice chairman of Itaú Unibanco, Latin America’s largest bank, also participated.

“The next era of global money movement will be dominated by companies that can bridge on-chain settlement with trusted local banking systems,” said Einar Braathen, Partner at CoinFund. “Brazil represents one of the world’s largest and most operationally complex payment environments, and Trace has successfully built the regulated infrastructure that global blue-chip businesses are leveraging for scale, while simultaneously reducing time and costs compared to legacy alternatives.”

Trace Finance’s previous funding, a seed round in 2022, was led by HOF Capital. The company indicated it is currently developing additional settlement products aimed at strengthening its banking relationships across Brazil and the wider region.

Coinbase to Offer Tokenized Stocks to International Customers

Coinbase announced Tuesday its plans to launch tokenized stock trading for customers outside the United States in August.

These tokenized stocks will be backed 1:1 by their underlying assets, representing “true equity ownership,” according to the company. This includes dividend payouts and full shareholder rights, in addition to the “programmatic utility of the onchain economy.”

The new product aims to blend traditional equities with the flexibility of cryptocurrency. Traders will be able to access stock markets outside of regular trading hours. Furthermore, tokenized stocks can be lent out to earn yields, used as collateral for loans, or transferred between users.

“Our product will give all the benefits of true ownership, with all the benefits of tokenized assets,” said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. “This is a great step towards unlocking global access to US markets.”

In parallel, Coinbase revealed it will be introducing options trading for both cryptocurrencies and stocks directly on its exchange. Options are derivative contracts that provide the holder with the “option” to sell at a specified strike price, distinguishing them from futures contracts, which are binding.

The company is also set to introduce perpetual futures for real-world assets (RWAs), offering targeted exposure to equity indices such as AI, China, defense, and technology.

Coinbase’s recently launched pre-IPO perpetuals provide early access to high-interest companies before their public market debut. The offering initially includes SpaceX and is expected to expand to include Anthropic and OpenAI.

Pre-IPO perpetual futures have seen a significant surge in popularity in recent months, particularly leading up to SpaceX’s IPO last week. Data from CryptoQuant indicates that trading volumes across major exchanges have jumped 1,100% since early May, reaching approximately $12 billion, with Binance holding the dominant market share.

Pre-IPO perpetual volume has surged from $2 million in March to $12 billion as of June. Binance alone now controls approximately 83% of this market.

Tokenized stocks currently represent only 5% of the total onchain value of tokenized RWAs, according to RWA.xyz, amounting to around $1.5 billion. Ondo leads the market for tokenized stocks by market share, holding 59%, followed by xStocks with 32%.

In separate remarks made to Fox News on Tuesday, Brian Armstrong alleged that major banks are attempting to undermine the President’s crypto agenda.

“They’re [banks] are trying to protect their profit margins, taking money out of the pockets of hardworking Americans,” Armstrong stated.

Banks are reportedly lobbying against cryptocurrency legislation, particularly concerning stablecoin yields, which significantly surpass the interest rates offered by traditional banks. This opposition stems from concerns about a potential deposit flight, as savers may seek higher returns on their capital rather than leaving it to depreciate in conventional bank accounts.

Ripple Invests in Flutterwave to Expand Stablecoin Payments in Africa

Ripple, the blockchain payment company, has announced a strategic investment in Flutterwave, a prominent African payments firm. The partnership is designed to broaden the reach of stablecoin-powered payments across the continent, with plans to integrate Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, Ripple Payments, and the XRP Ledger into Flutterwave’s existing infrastructure.

The funding round values Flutterwave, which provides payment infrastructure in Africa, at $3.2 billion. The company also disclosed that it has raised over $500 million and processed more than 1 billion transactions totaling over $50 billion.

According to an official statement, the collaboration will leverage RLUSD as a settlement asset across Flutterwave’s payment networks and its Send App remittance service. The XRP Ledger (XRPL) will be utilized to expedite transaction clearing. The initiative aims for practical settlement by combining Flutterwave’s diverse local payment methods—including bank transfers, mobile wallets, and cards—with Ripple’s established blockchain technology.

Reece Merrick, Managing Director, MEA at Ripple, commented on the investment: “Our investment will establish RLUSD within that infrastructure, with Flutterwave driving stablecoin flows over the XRPL and deepening its role as a settlement layer for real-world payments across the continent. Together we also plan to bring Ripple Payments’ speed and efficiency to cross-border transactions in the region, opening up faster, lower-cost financial services to businesses and consumers at scale.”

This move aligns with Ripple’s broader strategy to promote RLUSD as an enterprise-grade stablecoin, moving beyond its perception as solely a retail trading asset.

Ripple has also been exploring new applications for XRP and RLUSD in payment solutions linked to autonomous AI agents, as previously reported. Furthermore, RLUSD’s prominence is growing amidst a wider institutional interest in stablecoins. Mastercard, for instance, recently expanded its stablecoin strategy through collaborations with Ripple and other cryptocurrency-focused companies.

Bybit Pioneers Tokenized Gold Options, First Crypto Exchange to Offer RWA Derivatives

Bybit has announced the launch of XAUT options, marking a significant first for the cryptocurrency exchange industry by becoming the initial platform to offer options on a tokenized real-world asset (RWA).

This development represents a new chapter in the burgeoning market for tokenized assets, extending one of the most actively traded derivative instruments to tokenized gold. XAUT, which is backed by physical gold, provides traders with digital access to a historically stable store of value. The introduction of XAUT options allows traders to manage risk, articulate market perspectives, and capitalize on volatility opportunities within a crypto-native trading environment.

To facilitate this launch, Bybit has joined forces with Orbit Markets, a prominent provider of options liquidity and a long-standing partner on the platform. Orbit Markets brings extensive experience from both the digital asset and traditional finance derivatives sectors, ensuring robust liquidity and efficient execution for XAUT options trading.

In addition to the exchange-listed options, Bybit and Orbit Markets are also introducing Request for Quote (RFQ) functionality for XAUT options. This feature is designed to provide institutional and professional clients with access to customized over-the-counter (OTC) options trading. The RFQ system allows traders to solicit firm quotes for non-standard strike prices, bespoke expiry dates, and multi-leg strategies, offering enhanced flexibility for larger or more intricate trading requirements.

The integration of RFQ capabilities complements the existing exchange-listed XAUT options and further enhances Bybit’s capacity to meet both on-screen and institutional liquidity demands as the market for tokenized asset products continues its expansion.

“Bybit is proud to be the first crypto exchange to launch options on real-world assets,” stated Yoyee Wang, Head of Institutional and Enterprise Business at Bybit. “As tokenization accelerates, we believe the distinction between crypto and TradFi will continue to narrow.”

Caroline Mauron, CEO at Orbit Markets, commented, “We are pleased to deepen our partnership with Bybit through the launch of XAUT options. Gold options are a cornerstone of traditional derivatives markets, and we are excited to see growing interest in TradFi products within crypto.”

This launch underscores Bybit’s dedication to broadening access to tokenized real-world assets and fostering a more interconnected financial ecosystem. By bridging exposure to traditional assets with crypto-native infrastructure, Bybit continues to expand the array of trading tools available to participants across both digital and traditional markets.