blockchain

According to the tracking data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData X, in the past 7 days, the anti-witch blockchain network Humanity Protocol has been the project with the most new followers among X (Twitter) top personalities. New influential figures following this project include DeFi analyst Ignas (@DefiIgnas), cryptocurrency investor and analyst Miles Deutscher (@milesdeutscher), and cryptocurrency trader Ash Crypto (@AshCrypto).In addition, the projects with the most followers among X top personalities also include XBIT, Relay, and Venice.

Monad announced on the X platform that the Monad Foundation has acquired the open-source blockchain data indexing framework Ponder, with the specific acquisition amount not disclosed.The entire Ponder team will join the Monad Foundation and contribute to the protocol layer, open-source tools, and standards, while also providing support for applications leveraging Monad's performance and decentralized features.

Morgan Stanley is hiring software engineers in the blockchain and tokenization direction. The main responsibilities include developing the engineering roadmap for blockchain infrastructure, tokenization platforms, and digital asset services; evaluating and integrating blockchain protocols (such as Ethereum, Polygon, Hyperledger, Canton, etc.) based on product requirements; participating in the design, architecture, and implementation of blockchain-based solutions, ensuring security, scalability, and compliance with applicable regulations.

According to tracking data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData X, in the past 7 days, the AI blockchain data infrastructure SkyAI has been the project with the most unfollows from top figures on X (Twitter). The new influential figures on X who unfollowed this project include crypto KOL Shapolang (@wolfyxbt), crypto industry KOL Enheng (@enheng456), and Pump Man (@crypto_pumpman).In addition, the project with the most unfollows from top figures on X also includes Mask Network.

The General Office of the State Council issued implementation opinions on improving the national unified electricity market system, which pointed out the need to enhance various functions of the electricity market, accelerate the establishment of a green electricity consumption certification mechanism, comprehensively introduce technologies such as blockchain, and carry out full-chain certification for green electricity production, consumption, and other links.

According to Decrypt, the blockchain lending platform Figure has confirmed a customer data breach.Figure stated that the personal information of some customers was leaked after an employee fell victim to a social engineering attack. Figure is working with cybersecurity experts to investigate the scope of the incident and has taken measures to enhance system security.Figure advises affected customers to remain vigilant and monitor their accounts for any unusual activity. The hacker group ShinyHunters claims responsibility for the incident, stating that Figure refused to pay the ransom and has released 2.5 GB of stolen data.

The Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Michael S. Selig, announced the establishment of the Innovation Advisory Committee (IAC) and appointed 35 members to provide recommendations on the regulation of breakthrough technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.Committee members include representatives from blockchain projects such as Vivek Raman of Etherealize, Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana Labs, and Brad Garlinghouse of Ripple, as well as executives from major crypto trading platforms like Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Gemini. Founders of prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi, as well as representatives from well-known venture capital firms like a16z crypto and Framework Ventures, are also included. Selig stated that the committee will assist the CFTC in developing rules that adapt to market realities, paving the way for a "golden age of American financial markets."

According to The Block, Michael S. Selig, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced the establishment of an innovation advisory committee consisting of 35 members, with several executives from the cryptocurrency industry appointed.Selig stated that the committee will assist the CFTC in developing a regulatory framework regarding the role of "breakthrough technologies" such as artificial intelligence and blockchain in financial markets, ensuring that its decisions reflect market realities and establishing clear rules for "a golden age of American financial markets." The committee members include representatives from blockchain projects, such as Vivek Raman from Etherealize, Anatoly Yakovenko from Solana Labs, Brad Garlinghouse from Ripple, Sergey Nazarov, CEO of Chainlink Labs, and Hayden Adams, CEO of Uniswap Labs.In terms of centralized exchanges, executives from Bullish, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Gemini, Kraken, Bitnomial, and Robinhood are included. Shayne Coplan, founder of the prediction market platform Polymarket, and Tarek Mansour, founder of Kalshi, have also been appointed. Chris Dixon from a16z crypto, Vance Spencer from Framework Ventures, and Alana Palmedo from Paradigm are also on the list. The committee also includes representatives from traditional financial institutions such as Cboe, CME, DTCC, Nasdaq, and options clearing companies.

According to CoinDesk, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson announced at the Consensus Hong Kong conference that the long-developed privacy blockchain Midnight will officially launch in the last week of March, operating as a partner chain of Cardano.Midnight is based on zero-knowledge proof technology and employs a "selective disclosure" privacy model: user transaction data is kept private by default and only specific information is disclosed to authorized parties when necessary. This design aims to balance the privacy protection of the blockchain with compliance requirements, supporting different levels of data access views for public, audit, and regulatory purposes. Hoskinson revealed that Google and Telegram have already participated in the collaboration.The concurrently launched Midnight City Simulation testing platform will be open to the public on February 26, simulating a real trading environment through AI agents to validate the network's proof generation and processing capabilities in large-scale scenarios.

The UK Treasury has selected HSBC Holdings Plc's blockchain platform Orion for a pilot issuance of the country's digital debt instrument DIGIT. HSBC stated that issuing bonds on the blockchain can improve the structure of the UK debt capital market by accelerating settlement speeds.The UK Treasury plans to issue these digital instruments in a regulated testing environment managed by the Financial Conduct Authority. Previously, HSBC's Orion platform has been used globally to issue over $3.5 billion in digital native bonds, including the European Investment Bank's first digital pound bond and a $1.3 billion equivalent green bond issued by the Hong Kong government.

According to Bloomberg, Naveen Mallela, the global co-head of JPMorgan's blockchain division Kinexys, has left the company. Meanwhile, the bank is accelerating its expansion into digital asset payment services. Mallela took on the role in 2024 and had been with the bank for over ten years.A JPMorgan spokesperson confirmed that Mallela has left and stated that a successor will be appointed soon.

According to a report by Finextra, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) announced plans to connect private equity funds to its blockchain digital market infrastructure (DMI) to build an end-to-end digital distribution network for the private market, covering the entire lifecycle processes of asset issuance, tokenization, distribution, settlement, and ongoing management, enhancing fundraising efficiency and investor reach.It is reported that the related services are expected to officially launch in the first half of 2026.

XION recently published an article introducing its new infrastructure and application scenarios. XION announced the official launch of the DKIM module and the ZK module, becoming the first blockchain to directly store email authentication keys (DKIM) on-chain, as well as the first consumer-grade L1 public chain to implement zero-knowledge verification at the protocol level.XION pointed out that existing email verification solutions (including projects like zkEmail) rely on centralized DNS servers to obtain encryption keys. When email service providers rotate keys, the old verifications become invalid, and there are no historical records available. XION's DKIM module permanently stores these keys in the on-chain state, completely eliminating the reliance on centralized DNS infrastructure. Its ZK module implements zero-knowledge proof verification at the protocol level, achieving an efficiency that is 10 times that of smart contract solutions. The two work together, allowing users to prove any information in an email without exposing the email itself.XION stated that currently about 61% of employees who witness misconduct remain silent, as traditional options are often "anonymous but ignored" or "speak up but risk unemployment." With the above infrastructure, XION has realized various application scenarios, including:Anonymous reporting and workplace evaluations (proving employment status without exposing personal information)Wallet recovery without mnemonic phrases (using email as a backup key)Purchase behavior and certificate verification (without excessive sharing of personal information)Trust-based ticket resale and insurance claims, etc.It supports Gmail and Apple Mail from launch, covering approximately 3.8 billion email users globally (accounting for over 90% of the global email market). Currently, the XION platform has over 800,000 monthly active users, with more than 150 brands including Uber, Amazon, and BMW already onboarded. The official statement claims this is a verification infrastructure built for the existing internet, "capable of verifying anything while leaking zero information."

According to Nikkei News, Japan's Nomura Holdings and Daiwa Securities Group are collaborating with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, and Mizuho Financial Group to jointly promote a pilot project for securities trading based on stablecoins, aiming to achieve 24-hour real-time settlement on the blockchain.The project plans to convert assets such as stocks, government bonds, corporate bonds, investment trusts, and ETFs into digital securities. After investors place orders through brokers, transactions will be settled in real-time using yen stablecoins jointly issued by the three major banks, with asset rights simultaneously transferred to the buyer. The experiment is expected to start as early as this month after notifying financial regulatory authorities, and may attract more financial institutions in the future.The project aims to support round-the-clock trading through the tamper-proof characteristics of blockchain, extending trading hours and shortening settlement cycles to invigorate the markets for stocks, bonds, and investment trusts. However, implementation still faces compliance and practical challenges related to broker order verification and other operational processes, and the pilot will focus on identifying and addressing related obstacles.

According to Fortune magazine, the cross-chain protocol LayerZero, supported by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Sequoia Capital, announced the launch of a new blockchain called "Zero," specifically designed for traditional finance, and has received support from several mainstream Wall Street institutions.The newly launched Zero blockchain aims to achieve a performance of processing 2 million transactions per second with a cost of less than one cent per transaction through breakthroughs in zero-knowledge proof technology, addressing the traditional financial system's demand for high throughput and low costs. The company plans to officially launch the network in September.Citadel Securities, ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood, and the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), have participated in the project as investors, partners, or advisors. Stablecoin issuer Tether and ARK Invest have also confirmed their investment in LayerZero.LayerZero co-founder Bryan Pellegrino stated that the introduction of these institutions with deep market structure experience aims to drive Wall Street's large-scale adoption of blockchain technology.

According to official news, LayerZero has announced the launch of the Layer 1 blockchain network Zero. It is reported that LayerZero positions Zero as a ------ multi-core world computer, indicating that the network fundamentally changes the current blockchain paradigm limited by single-threaded, homogeneous architectures.By utilizing zero-knowledge proof technology, the Zero network can support two different categories of validators: lightweight block validators that can run on low-end consumer hardware, and optional high-performance block producers. The system achieves a practical scalability roadmap of 2 million transactions per second for each Zone by addressing four major bottlenecks. The solutions include QMDB for state storage, FAFO for parallel computing scheduling, Jolt Pro for real-time zero-knowledge proof generation, and SVID for high-throughput networks.

According to official news, Tether Investments announced a strategic investment in LayerZero Labs. LayerZero Labs is a developer of interoperability protocols, and its technology is widely used to support cross-chain value transfer in the global digital asset ecosystem. The investment aims to support LayerZero Labs in developing efficient and secure cross-chain technology.LayerZero Labs' technology has been used to support cross-chain transfers of assets such as USDt0 and XAUt0. Since its launch, USDt0 has achieved over $70 billion in cross-chain value transfer in less than 12 months, validating the global scale interoperability of its technology. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that LayerZero Labs' technology provides critical support for real-time cross-chain transfers of digital assets, particularly suitable for micropayment scenarios in the AI agent economy.

According to PRNewswire, Blockchain.com has officially obtained registration for cryptocurrency business from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As a company originating from York, UK, Blockchain.com has been deeply involved in the UK cryptocurrency ecosystem for over a decade. This registration enables the company to compliantly offer brokerage, custody, and institutional-grade cryptocurrency services within the UK.This milestone follows the company's acquisition of a license under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation last year, which allows it to provide cryptocurrency services in 30 European Economic Area countries. Blockchain.com plans to apply for full authorization later this year, aiming to obtain comprehensive authorization by the time the new permanent regulatory regime comes into effect in 2027.

According to market news, the cross-chain interoperability protocol LayerZero plans to launch its own blockchain "Zero," a piece of information that appeared in a now-deleted YouTube video.