blockchain

The Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Mike Selig, disclosed his remarks at the FIA Global Clearing Markets Conference, stating that the U.S. is undergoing a new technological revolution driven by AI, blockchain, and prediction markets. The CFTC needs to ensure that the regulatory framework adapts to this transformation.Selig outlined the focus areas for the coming years: achieving forward-looking derivatives market regulation through principle-based oversight with minimal effective intervention; addressing the legacy issues of the Dodd-Frank Act; ending the regulatory turf battles and enforcement-style regulation between the CFTC and SEC; ensuring that the U.S. maintains its status as a global crypto hub by clarifying classification rules for real crypto perpetual contracts; establishing a gold standard regulatory framework for prediction markets; making the U.S. a leading market for AI computing; refocusing the Commission on its core responsibilities, moving away from non-core areas like climate policy; prioritizing the needs of the agricultural and energy communities; and bringing markets for critical minerals back to the U.S.

According to PR Newswire, the private market blockchain infrastructure Corastone announced that it has received investments from Fidelity, Future Standard, and Hamilton Lane, with the specific amount undisclosed.The new funding will support its development of a proprietary licensed blockchain network to provide a unified infrastructure and data standards for the private market to support higher transaction volumes and more complex transaction structures.

The People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has officially approved a project to establish a large new venture capital fund. This venture capital fund plans to raise 50 trillion VND (approximately 190 million USD) by 2035 to promote the development of the city's technology ecosystem. Priority investment areas include artificial intelligence and blockchain digital technology, semiconductors, biotechnology, and renewable energy. Several enterprises and investment funds, including Vingroup, Sovico Group, VinaCapital, FPT Corporation, and Lotte Ventures Vietnam, have formed a consortium to participate in this fund.

According to Startupresearcher, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam has approved the establishment of a large new venture capital fund, which plans to raise 50 trillion Vietnamese dong (approximately 190 million USD) by 2035 to promote the development of the technology ecosystem in Ho Chi Minh City.Priority investment areas include artificial intelligence and blockchain digital technology, semiconductors, renewable energy, etc. Currently, several companies and investment funds, including Vingroup, Sovico Group, VinaCapital, FPT Corporation, and Lotte Ventures Vietnam, have formed a consortium to participate in the fund.

The White House released the "America's Cyber Strategy under President Trump," which explicitly mentions the support for the security of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in U.S. cybersecurity strategy documents for the first time: "The United States will build secure technologies and supply chains that protect user privacy throughout the entire process from design to deployment, including the security of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies."

Galaxy Research's research director Alex Thorn posted on the X platform that the White House has released the U.S. cyber strategy document titled "President Trump's Cyber Strategy for America." This strategy consists of 7 pages and 6 main pillars, emphasizing cyber offense and deterrence, but it is relatively limited in specific implementation details. For the first time, the document explicitly mentions cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in the U.S. cybersecurity strategy, proposing the need for "protection and security assurance" for these technologies, which were not mentioned in the national cybersecurity strategy released by Joe Biden in 2023.However, the strategy also proposes to "eradicate criminal infrastructure and cut off financial exit routes," along with a new executive order to combat transnational cybercrime. Analysts believe this statement may provide a policy basis for regulators to strengthen their crackdown on mixers, privacy coins, and unregulated deposit and withdrawal channels. Additionally, the strategy suggests expanding the authority for offensive cyber operations and plans to mobilize the private sector to combat hostile networks while promoting AI-driven automated cyber defense systems. The accompanying executive order will also establish new operational units within the national coordination center to coordinate law enforcement against transnational cybercrime groups.

Blockchain payment infrastructure company Utexo announced the completion of a $7.5 million seed round financing, led by Tether, Big Brain Holdings, and Portal Ventures, with over a dozen institutions including Franklin Templeton, Maven11 Capital, and Flow Traders participating.Utexo integrates Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, and the RGB protocol to provide payment operators with a single API access, enabling instant settlement of USDT on the Bitcoin native network, with fixed and predictable transaction fees, settlement times of less than 1 second, and fully encrypted private execution throughout the process. This move marks the official "return" of USDT to the Bitcoin network after more than a decade, and is expected to promote Bitcoin as the core settlement track for global dollar payments.

Bank of Canada completed a pilot project called Project Samara with several major Canadian banks, testing the feasibility of issuing, trading, and settling bonds on a distributed ledger.In this experiment, Export Development Canada, the official export credit agency of Canada, issued a bond worth 100 million Canadian dollars (approximately 73 million US dollars) with a maturity of less than three months, selling it to a small group of institutional investors. Participants in the project also included RBC Dominion Securities, RBC Investor Services Trust, and TD Securities under Toronto-Dominion Bank. The results of the experiment showed that a single blockchain-based platform could support the entire lifecycle of a bond, including issuance, bidding, coupon payments, secondary market trading, and maturity redemption processes. Additionally, the project tested on-chain settlement using a wholesale digital Canadian dollar issued by the Bank of Canada, allowing funds and bonds to be settled on the same ledger. This pilot comes at a time when Canada is strengthening its regulation of digital assets. The government plans to introduce regulatory legislation for Canadian dollar stablecoins and has passed a new framework for crypto asset custody to enhance asset security and risk management on trading platforms.

Bitcoin mining company DMG Blockchain Solutions released its operational performance report, disclosing that it mined 23 BTC last month. However, due to the sale of some of its Bitcoin holdings, its current holdings have decreased to 410 BTC, and the overall platform hash rate has increased to 1.78 EH/s. Additionally, the company stated that it has been approved to increase its total available power capacity to 75 megawatts and plans to explore power financial hedging contracts to mitigate the impact of power outages on Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence data center operations.

According to market news, Bitcoin mining company DMG Blockchain Solutions announced that it has been approved to increase its total available power capacity to 75 megawatts, and it plans to explore power financial hedging contracts to avoid the impact of power restrictions on Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence data center operations.Additionally, according to its 2026 operational performance report, it mined 23 BTC last month, but due to the sale of some of its held Bitcoin, its current holdings have decreased to 410 BTC, and the overall platform hash rate has risen to 1.78 EH/s.

International remittance service company Western Union has announced a partnership with Crossmint to launch the USD stablecoin USDPT on the Solana blockchain, aimed at providing fast and low-cost global money transfer services.Western Union will integrate its digital asset network with Crossmint, allowing users to exchange digital dollars for local currency at over 360,000 locations worldwide, covering more than 200 countries and regions. Malcolm Clarke, Vice President of Digital Assets at Western Union, stated that this collaboration helps seamlessly connect global wallets and digital platforms with Western Union's payment infrastructure.

According to CCTV News, Dong Jin, a representative of the National People's Congress and the director of the Beijing Microchip Blockchain and Edge Computing Research Institute, stated that China's independently developed underlying blockchain technology has been applied in 16 central ministries and 27 central enterprises, achieving positive progress in areas such as taxation, cross-border trade, and global payments.Every year, hundreds of billions of invoices are "run" on the independent blockchain in our country, with over 300,000 enterprises in cross-border trade on the blockchain, and the trade amount reaching trillions of yuan.

According to Bloomberg, Standard Chartered has appointed the former co-head of JPMorgan's blockchain division to lead its global payments business, continuing the modernization of its cash management system.Naveen Mallela just stepped down as head of JPMorgan's Kinexys business last month. Standard Chartered stated in a statement on Wednesday that he will officially join on May 4 as the head of global payments.

According to The Block, transportation trade finance provider TCS Blockchain has announced the integration of PayPal USD (PYUSD) to provide same-day financing and on-chain settlement for freight invoices.Truck drivers can exchange invoices for TCS tokens, which can then be converted into PYUSD stablecoins, thereby avoiding the 30-180 day payment terms and over 30% revenue loss associated with traditional factoring companies. The company claims that this solution can reduce costs by 90%, with an expected annual processing volume exceeding $1 billion by 2026.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently posted on social media, introducing the concept of "sanctuary technologies" and urging the Ethereum community to rethink its mission. He stated that in the face of global issues such as government and corporate surveillance, war, and technological abuse, Ethereum's role in improving people's lives is limited.Vitalik believes that Ethereum should become part of an open-source technology ecosystem, creating a "leaderless shared digital space" to help people live, work, and collaborate safely under external pressures. He emphasized that the goal is not to reshape the world, but to prevent the excessive concentration of power, create digital stable islands, and called for collaboration with allies outside the crypto space to advance this vision.

The Bank of Japan will attempt to use blockchain technology to settle financial institutions' deposits at the central bank, achieving real-time settlement around the clock and reducing the risk of system failures during stress events.

According to Jinshi, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda stated that the Bank of Japan will conduct a technical experiment on settlement using central bank currency in the form of demand deposits based on a blockchain system.

According to Crypto Briefing, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently stated on CNBC that he supports the development of blockchain technology but emphasizes that stablecoin rewards should adhere to the same regulatory standards as traditional banking products. He believes that any company holding customer funds and paying interest is essentially engaged in banking and should be subject to appropriate regulation.Dimon suggested that rewards could be offered on transactions rather than balances as a compromise. Currently, the Senate Agriculture Committee has passed parts of the market structure bill, which aims to clarify the jurisdiction of the SEC and CFTC, requiring customer funds to be segregated and proof of reserves.