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According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve's Daly stated that the impact of oil shocks on inflation may be greater than on economic growth.

Bank of AI and the Peking University Blockchain Association PKUBlockchain have officially released their first research report titled "Web4.0: When AI Agents Become Economic Entities------Infrastructure, Track Patterns, and Investment Outlook." The report systematically outlines the three-layer infrastructure gaps of the x402 payment protocol, ERC-8004 identity standard, and MCP tool invocation protocol, and focuses on how Bank of AI can package five core components into a one-stop Agent financial operating system, becoming a typical case of a closed-loop from protocol to product. The research report points out that the daily average transaction volume on the TRON chain exceeds $22 billion, with a circulation of $86 billion USDT, providing a scalable foundation for high-frequency micro-settlement for Agents. Both parties will continue to promote the coordinated development of Web4.0 infrastructure and the agent economy.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken's parent company Payward announced that it will acquire 100% of the digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for up to $550 million (cash + stock). The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approval.Bitnomial is the first crypto-native platform to obtain all three U.S. derivatives licenses (designated contract market, derivatives clearing organization, and futures commission merchant). This acquisition will help Payward quickly gain a complete compliant derivatives infrastructure, significantly accelerating its expansion in the U.S. market. After the transaction is completed, Bitnomial's clearing and trading capabilities will be integrated with platforms such as Kraken and NinjaTrader, offering products like spot margin, perpetual contracts, and options to U.S. customers, and will be regulated by the CFTC.This acquisition will also expand Payward Services, allowing banks, fintech companies, and brokerages to access the U.S. compliant derivatives market through a single API. Industry insiders believe that with the market warming up and valuations recovering, merger and acquisition activities in the crypto industry are on the rise, as leading institutions are accelerating their transformation into comprehensive trading platforms for institutional clients by acquiring key capabilities such as compliance, custody, and derivatives.

Product leader Jerry from Mentis confirmed attendance at the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" themed forum to be held on April 19 in Hong Kong, and will participate in a roundtable discussion. This event is co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData, and is one of the important peripheral activities of the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival.Mentis is an on-chain AI assistant designed to combine artificial intelligence and blockchain data to help users better understand the market, discover signals, and take action more quickly. This forum will focus on the paradigm shift under the deep integration of AI technology and cryptocurrency networks, engaging in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge tracks such as the AI Agent economy, smart payments, RWA, and cryptocurrency infrastructure. At the intersection of technological leap and economic restructuring, this themed forum not only provides insights into the current state of the industry but also offers a forward-looking reflection on the future smart economic system.Event registration: https://luma.com/18v6vwpf

The decentralized AI economic protocol Mindra AI announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing, with participation from LandScape Capital, Harbor Digital Ventures, and Candaq Fintech Group.Mindra AI stated that the funds from this round will primarily be used to accelerate the development of its full-stack four-layer protocol, advancing the construction of the dynamic reasoning routing layer, Agent collaboration ecosystem, AI-Fi (computing power financialization), and the economic value flywheel, creating a decentralized "Intelligence Grid" to fundamentally address issues such as the centralized monopoly of AI reasoning infrastructure, algorithmic black boxes, and ecological fragility.It is reported that Mindra AI is a full-stack decentralized AI economic protocol that breaks the smart hegemony and reshapes AI production relations through dynamic reasoning routing, Agent cross-chain collaboration, and AI-Fi (computing power financialization).

Global mobile charging solution provider and RWA entity asset network explorer Electric Soul announced that it will attend the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" forum as a co-supporter, co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData.It is reported that the forum will be held on the afternoon of April 19 in Hong Kong, focusing on the paradigm shift driven by the integration of AI technology and cryptocurrency networks. At that time, Electric Soul will share on-site how to leverage shared charging devices and real-world revenue scenarios to map onto the revenue rights chain, bringing physical energy assets into a more transparent and efficient global value network.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted on the X platform: "The agent business has not yet been fully priced by the market. Machine-to-machine payments will drive demand for digital dollars beyond current expectations. The scale of the agent economy may surpass that of the human economy, and Coinbase is building infrastructure for both."

According to Jinshi reports, New York Fed President Williams reiterated that monetary policy remains in a favorable position to address the threat of long-term supply shocks caused by the Middle East war. He stated that the current monetary policy stance can balance the risks to employment and inflation targets. Williams expects U.S. economic growth this year to be between 2% and 2.5%, with an unemployment rate of about 4.25% to 4.5%, and an inflation rate between 2.75% and 3%.

OmenX CMO Gisele confirmed her attendance at the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" themed forum to be held on April 19 in Hong Kong, and will participate in a roundtable discussion. This event is co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData, and is one of the important peripheral activities of the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival Conference.OmenX is a decentralized prediction market platform that supports leveraged trading, allowing users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events in crypto, sports, finance, and more by buying and selling long and short positions. This forum will focus on the paradigm shift under the deep integration of AI technology and crypto networks, engaging in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge tracks such as AI Agent economy, smart payments, RWA, and crypto infrastructure. At the intersection of technological leaps and economic restructuring, this themed forum not only provides insights into the current state of the industry but also offers a forward-looking reflection on the future smart economic system.Event registration: https://luma.com/18v6vwpf

The "2026 Digital Asset Institutional Investor Survey" released by financial giant Nomura Securities shows that nearly 80% of institutional investors plan to allocate 2% - 5% of their total managed assets to the cryptocurrency sector. 65% of the surveyed institutions view cryptocurrencies as a diversification tool on par with stocks, bonds, and commodities.The survey covered institutional investors and family offices managing over $60 billion in assets. In terms of investment direction, more than two-thirds of respondents hope to earn returns through DeFi mechanisms such as staking, 65% are focused on lending and tokenized assets, and 63% are exploring derivatives and stablecoins. Additionally, 63% of respondents believe that stablecoins have practical uses for managing cash, cross-border payments, and investing in tokenized assets, with stablecoins issued by major financial institutions being the most trusted.Nomura Securities stated that regulatory clarity, increased awareness, and improved risk control frameworks are key to expanding investments. Although challenges such as the lack of clear methods for asset valuation and regulatory uncertainties still exist, the development of diversified investment products and improvements in risk management practices are accelerating institutional adoption.

Brevis co-founder and CEO Michael confirmed attendance at the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" themed forum to be held in Hong Kong on April 19, and will participate in a roundtable discussion. This event is co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData, and is one of the important peripheral activities of the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival.Brevis is a zero-knowledge verifiable computing platform for Web3, allowing applications to move complex and expensive computations off-chain while providing trustworthy proofs on-chain. Its core components include Pico zkVM, ZK data co-processor, and the decentralized proof market ProverNet, which has generated hundreds of millions of proofs for over 40 protocols, covering 6 mainstream blockchains. This forum will focus on the paradigm shift under the deep integration of AI technology and crypto networks, engaging in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge tracks such as AI Agent economy, smart payments, RWA, and crypto infrastructure. At the intersection of technological leaps and economic restructuring, this themed forum not only provides insights into the current state of the industry but also offers a forward-looking reflection on the future smart economic system.Event registration: https://luma.com/18v6vwpf

Sport315 announced that it has officially become a co-organizer of the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" forum, jointly hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData.It is reported that the forum will be held on April 19, 2026, from 14:00 to 18:00 at The Executive Centre in Hong Kong. At that time, Sport315 will share on-site practical experiences of the integration of SportFi and the smart economy in the era of AI Agents.It is reported that Sport315 is positioned as a blockchain-based SportFi infrastructure, aimed at putting sports predictions and value mechanisms on-chain, allowing users' every judgment of game results to be converted into recordable and settleable on-chain asset behaviors.

According to PaymentsJournal, stablecoin payment infrastructure provider PhotonPay announced a comprehensive upgrade to its payment capabilities, officially moving towards the new paradigm of Agentic Payments. At the core of this transformation is the shift in finance from "directive" to "intent-centric," enabling AI agents to autonomously plan and execute complex financial pathways.It is reported that PhotonPay has divided its system into three main modules: global network layer, core execution layer, and intelligent decision-making layer. AI agents can automatically complete the entire process of procurement triggers, payment path optimization, dynamic exchange rate optimization, and compliance review based on preset goals, achieving machine-to-machine (M2M) cross-border capital flow, covering over 200 countries and regions, and supporting real-time processing of financial decisions.In terms of market prospects, McKinsey predicts that by 2030, the global Agentic Commerce driven by AI agents will reach a scale of $3 trillion to $5 trillion, which also provides important market endorsement for PhotonPay's strategic layout.

According to Cointelegraph, Chicago-based cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitnomial has launched Injective monthly futures contracts, marking the first entry of the Injective token into the regulated derivatives market in the United States. The contract is settled in INJ, expires monthly, and allows traders to gain price exposure without holding the underlying asset, with all cryptocurrencies or USD available as collateral through Bitnomial.Institutional clients can trade the futures immediately, while retail trading is expected to open in the coming weeks through Bitnomial's Botanical platform. Bitnomial also plans to introduce INJ perpetual futures and options.Analysts state that the launch of the Injective futures contracts will begin a six-month trading record, which is expected to support the application for a spot ETF. Previously, Canary Capital submitted a staking-based INJ ETF application to the SEC.

The themed forum "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy", sponsored by Monera Digital and co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData, is now in the final 5-day countdown. This forum has received joint support from partners such as Tencent Cloud, HashKey Chain, Alchemy Pay, Kite AI, Sentient, Sign, Predict.fun, Monad, Brevis, UXLINK, OneBullEx, SVP Chain, OmenX, TurboFlow, LOTUS, Mentis, NeoSoul, Swap315, and is scheduled to be held on April 19 from 14:00 to 18:00 (GMT+8) in Hong Kong.As one of the important peripheral activities of the "Hong Kong Web3 Carnival", this forum will focus on the paradigm shift under the deep integration of AI technology and cryptocurrency networks, engaging in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge tracks such as AI Agent economy, smart payments, RWA, and cryptocurrency infrastructure. At the intersection of technological leap and economic form reconstruction, this themed forum is not only an insight into the current state of the industry but also a forward-looking reflection on the future intelligent economic system.Event registration: https://luma.com/18v6vwpf

According to Jinshi News, Joe Capros, head of the International Economics Department at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), stated that the dollar index remains stable above 98, and the dollar is expected to continue benefiting from the slowdown in global economic growth.He pointed out that the global economy needs to adapt to the reduction in energy supply, and interest rate hikes will help align demand with supply.

According to official social media news, Huobi HTX will hold a live broadcast today at 20:00 (UTC+8) on the theme "Collapse of US-Iran Negotiations, Return of Macroeconomic Uncertainty: Can Bitcoin Still Serve as a Safe Haven?" At that time, crypto KOLs such as Oxpink, Domingo, Michill, Amber, AlanSun, and Qie Ge will be invited to attend and discuss hot topics such as the impact of geopolitical conflicts, oil price fluctuations, and increased uncertainty in Federal Reserve policies on the crypto market, as well as whether the market has entered an "institution-led phase."

Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine, a company in the Ethereum treasury, stated in an interview with CNBC, "The reason the stock market remains resilient is that even in the face of war, the economy is actually performing better than expected." He pointed out that defense spending is currently about $30 billion per month and could rise to $60 billion per month in the future, which has a significant stimulating effect on the economy; meanwhile, the rise in oil prices by $20 per month only adds about $12 billion in burden to households, "Overall, the war is actually helping corporate profits right now."Tom Lee cited historical precedents, saying, "Looking back at World War II, the stock market bottomed out in May 1942, just five months after the U.S. entered the war, and at that time, no American troops had even set foot on the European or Pacific battlefields." He believes, "The market is very good at pricing in outcomes ahead of time; the current rise in the stock market means that the market is pricing in a favorable outcome, although I can't clearly articulate the specific reasons, but that's the signal conveyed by the market's performance."Regarding the three major variables in the current market— the Iran war, corporate earnings reports, and interest rates—Tom Lee stated, "Among the three, only war can create tail events in both directions, so this is the variable that deserves the closest attention." In terms of sector allocation, he remains bullish on the energy sector and pointed out that energy security is one of the most important structural themes in recent years.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that the financial disclosures of Federal Reserve Chair nominee Waller show that he holds early-stage investments through employment-related investment vehicles, covering a wide range of areas, including some crypto infrastructure projects. The projects involved include: Compound (decentralized lending protocol), Optimism and Blast (Ethereum Layer 2 network), as well as Solana, in addition to trading infrastructure, crypto investment firms, and platforms in various fields such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology. These holdings appear to be relatively small, with poor liquidity, and have not generated reportable income, indicating a preference for indirect venture capital-style exposure rather than direct, tradable liquid assets.