ban

According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve Governor Waller stated that compared to the shocks of the 1970s, central bank officials today have a better understanding of the importance of inflation expectations.

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.

The enterprise-focused digital banking platform Slash announced the completion of a $100 million Series C financing round, led by Ribbit Capital, with Goodwater Capital and Khosla Ventures co-leading. The post-money valuation is approximately $1.4 billion, with total financing reaching $160 million.Slash claims to serve over 5,000 corporate clients, offering features such as corporate accounts, virtual accounts, stablecoin payments, expense management, accounting automation, and real-time payments. The company stated it will use the new funds to accelerate product iteration and promote its strategy of "bank accounts as the financial command center for businesses."

Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) announced the launch of stablecoin minting and redemption services, allowing businesses and high-net-worth clients to directly convert between fiat currency and stablecoins through SGB accounts, achieving real-time settlement around the clock without relying on traditional intermediary banking processes.This service is integrated into SGB's proprietary clearing network SGB Net, supporting seamless flow of funds both on-chain and off-chain. The first supported stablecoin is USD Coin (USDC), with a minimum transaction amount of $100,000, and it will subsequently support USDT, USDe (Ethena), and Global Dollar (USDG).

According to a report by The Block, Mizuho Bank research analysts released a report on Thursday stating that the financial feature X Money launched by Elon Musk's X platform has the potential to disrupt the U.S. payment industry, but the cryptocurrency integration plan may face regulatory obstacles.Mizuho analysts Dan Dolev and Andrew Jenkins wrote in a client report that X Money is positioned as the financial infrastructure layer of the X platform, aiming to integrate instant messaging, bank deposits, and commercial transaction functions, similar to the "super app" model of WeChat Pay or Alipay. With 500 to 600 million monthly active users on the X platform and Musk's background as a co-founder of PayPal in the payment industry, X Money has the potential to disrupt the U.S. payment industry.On the regulatory front, the analysts pointed out two major potential obstacles: first, the recent "CRYPTO Act" proposed in New York aims to criminalize unlicensed virtual currency operations in the state, which will raise the compliance threshold for X's future cryptocurrency integration plans; second, the "Clarity Act" may restrict non-bank financial platforms from offering yields to users, potentially hindering X Money's plan to provide users with an annualized yield of 6% on cash balances, with analysts stating that the timing for the launch of this yield product is "particularly sensitive."Mizuho also downgraded PayPal (PYPL) stock rating to "neutral," noting that PayPal and its Venmo app face the most direct substitution risk, as X is targeting the same peer-to-peer transfer and digital wallet entry points.This week, the X platform also launched a new feature called "Cashtags," allowing users to view financial data for stocks and cryptocurrencies directly in their timeline.

U.S. President Trump said: I just had a great conversation with the President of Lebanon and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Both leaders agreed that in order to achieve peace between the two countries, they will officially begin a 10-day ceasefire at 5 PM Eastern Time.

According to Jinshi reports, senior officials of the International Monetary Fund stated that our advice to the Bank of Japan is to rely on data and gradually begin to raise interest rates.

According to Jinshi reports, the European Central Bank's meeting minutes show that all members believe the risks to the inflation outlook are tilted to the upside.

Cuy Sheffield, the head of Visa's crypto business, stated that two American banks, Lead Bank and Cross River, have settled transactions using USDC on Solana.

Digital art platform Blackdove announced the abandonment of its acquisition of the NFT platform Foundation. It stated that the purpose of acquiring Foundation was to improve Blackdove's software infrastructure. Due to the rapid progress of the acquisition, Blackdove conducted due diligence only after the operational handover was completed, but later realized that developing its own platform was the best direction, leading to the decision to abandon the acquisition. Foundation has now been returned to its founder Kayvon Tehranian and the foundation team.Previously, Blackdove announced the acquisition of Foundation on January 28, 2026. Foundation was established in February 2021 and is an NFT platform focused on high-quality digital art, known for its curatorial model that emphasizes exclusivity, artistic quality, and creator empowerment, primarily serving digital artists and professional collectors. It has received investments from a16z, 1kx, and Coinbase Ventures.

According to market news, Anthropic plans to provide access to "Mythos" to UK banks within the next week.

According to Decrypt, U.S. Senator Warren recently expressed concerns about Musk's planned payment platform X Money, stating that it could pose risks to consumer protection, national security, and the stability of the financial system.Warren pointed out that after acquiring and reshaping X, Musk is pushing it to become a "super app" that covers "all aspects of users' financial lives," potentially even replacing the traditional banking system. She questioned the performance of the X platform in terms of security and content governance, believing that this undermines its credibility in entering the consumer finance sector.Additionally, Warren criticized the current regulatory environment for becoming more lenient, including the "GENIUS Act" promoted by the Trump administration, which provides a "special pathway" for private companies to issue stablecoins, potentially weakening necessary regulatory constraints.

According to a report by CryptoSlate, the White House Economic Advisory Council recently released a research report indicating that banning the yield on stablecoins has very limited protective effects on bank loans, yet it significantly reduces consumers' ability to earn returns through digital cash. This conclusion directly challenges the core argument of the banking industry supporting the yield ban and provides new policy backing for the advancement of the CLARITY Act.Currently, Treasury Secretary Bessent and SEC Chair Atkins have both publicly expressed support for the bill, indicating a convergence of positions between the executive branch and regulatory agencies. However, the Senate Banking Committee has yet to announce a timeline for the bill's review, and political maneuvering remains the biggest variable.Analysts point out that if the committee can complete its review before the summer recess, the probability of the bill passing will significantly increase; otherwise, it will face the dual risks of election pressure and legislative delays.

Binance will delist the following spot trading pairs on April 17, 2026, at 11:00: ARB/EUR, BANANA/FDUSD, BTC/TUSD, CYBER/BTC, ETH/TUSD, ICP/FDUSD, RLC/ETH, TIA/BTC, TRUMP/EUR, and WIF/EUR. Users can still trade the related underlying assets and quoted assets on other trading pairs.

The National Bank of Pakistan has officially lifted its ban on virtual assets that has been in place since 2018, allowing banks to open independent interest-free rupee accounts for virtual asset service providers (VASP) licensed by the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), and banks must conduct due diligence on the relevant institutions.

The People's Bank of China Shaoguan Branch, in conjunction with the Shaoguan Municipal Government Office, issued a virtual currency risk warning on the occasion of "4·15" National Security Education Day, and announced four typical cases: "High Salary for U Part-time" money laundering, "Guaranteed Principal High Interest Cryptocurrency Trading" illegal fundraising, "RWA Digital Cultural Tourism Fund" pyramid scheme fraud, and offline "Coin Exchange" disguised foreign exchange trading.Regulators have made it clear that virtual currency exchange, trading, and RWA tokenization activities are illegal financial behaviors. Projects claiming "high returns, low risk, guaranteed profits" are mostly scams. The public should abandon the fantasy of getting rich quickly, stay away from virtual currency-related investments, choose legal financial channels, and report any abnormalities to the police in a timely manner to reduce losses.

The Central Bank of Russia stated that it plans to require its citizens to declare their cryptocurrency assets held overseas after the new round of cryptocurrency regulatory rules comes into effect.Vladimir Chistyukhin, the First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, pointed out that the new regulations will strengthen KYC requirements for exchanges to enhance transaction transparency. He also emphasized that regulation does not prohibit individuals or institutions from holding cryptocurrency assets in overseas wallets, but they must declare them to the federal tax authority. This measure is expected to come into effect in July along with the relevant regulatory framework.

According to Jinshi reports, ECB Governing Council member Lane stated that if the impact of inflation lasts for a longer period, the European Central Bank will consider raising interest rates.

JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum stated during the earnings call that if regulatory rules are not aligned with traditional bank deposits, stablecoins may evolve into a "regulatory arbitrage" tool. He pointed out that some stablecoin models already exhibit deposit-like characteristics, such as providing incentives similar to yields, but are not subject to banking regulatory requirements like capital, liquidity, and consumer protection, which could create an unfair competitive environment. "If the same products are not regulated equally, it will open up arbitrage opportunities," Barnum said.Currently, U.S. legislation is pushing for a cryptocurrency regulatory framework, including the Clarity Act, to clarify the regulatory division of labor between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and to regulate the development of the stablecoin market. Additionally, whether to allow stablecoins to distribute reserve earnings to users has become a point of contention. Cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase, support "interest-bearing stablecoins," while banks believe this would bring them closer to deposit products but lack corresponding regulatory constraints. JPMorgan expressed support for regulatory clarity but emphasized that "regulatory consistency" takes precedence over speed. At the same time, the bank is advancing product layouts, including JPM Coin and tokenized deposits, through its blockchain division Kinexys to modernize the payment system.