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The SEC released a document (34-105260) disclosing the rule change application submitted by the NYSE, intending to formally introduce a framework for trading tokenized securities.According to the proposal, the NYSE plans to add Rule 7.5, allowing eligible securities to be traded and settled in a blockchain-based tokenized form in addition to traditional forms. The relevant arrangements will operate under the DTC pilot program. The core mechanisms include: tokenized securities and traditional stocks will share the same trading code (CUSIP) and rights structure, and will be fully interchangeable; in the matching system, tokenized and traditional securities will have the same execution priority, and the order of transactions will not be affected by the different forms; trading participants can choose to settle and clear in an on-chain form through a tokenization flag, with specific processing carried out by custodians. Additionally, the NYSE also plans to simultaneously modify order sorting, routing, and clearing rules to accommodate the trading process of tokenized securities, ensuring seamless integration with the existing market structure.From a market perspective, this proposal signifies that traditional U.S. securities exchanges are officially exploring the introduction of blockchain technology into the core trading and settlement systems. If approved, it could become an important milestone for on-chain securities entering mainstream financial infrastructure.

The UK-listed company Quantum Blockchain announced a placement of 142,857,142 new shares at a price of 0.35 pence per share to raise £500,000. In addition, the company announced the establishment of a new Bitcoin mining subsidiary, BlocKeeper, and the new funds will be used to accelerate its AI-driven Bitcoin mining research and development.

According to GMGN data, the market value of the ETH chain meme coin ASTEROID has risen to over 30 million USD, reaching a new high of 33.74 million USD, currently reported at 32.28 million USD.Meme coin prices are highly volatile, and investors should be aware of the risks. Meme coins generally lack practical application scenarios and rely more on emotional speculation, so caution is advised when entering the market.

According to official news, on April 18 at 20:00, AINFT under Bai B.AI will jointly hold a special cooperation seminar on "Payment Systems under the AI Economy" with the PKUBlockchain Association of Peking University. This seminar is based on the emerging context of Web 4.0 and aims to explore in depth how payment, as a key infrastructure, drives the paradigm shift of AI from "content generation" to "transaction decision-making." Both parties will collaboratively delve into the innovative practices in the AI economic ecosystem and financial transaction system through a deep dissection of the intersectional narrative of AI and PayFi, reshaping the boundaries of future intelligent finance.

According to Decrypt, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins launched the first episode of the official podcast "Material Matters," collaborating with commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda to publicly express a pro-innovation regulatory stance.Atkins stated that the U.S. should become the global destination for innovation and characterized the current situation as "a significant turning point for the U.S. market." Uyeda criticized the Gensler era SEC for deviating from its core responsibilities, while Peirce emphasized that regulation should be open to innovators.

Nasdaq-listed company Intchains Group Limited announced its latest business developments, disclosing its Ethereum (ETH) staking scale and AI-driven operational transformation plan. The company stated that as of now, it has staked a total of 8,040 ETH, of which 1,000 ETH were completed through the FalconX platform, and 7,040 ETH were deployed on its own Goldshell Stake platform; additionally, third parties have staked 1,363 ETH on this platform. The company claims to achieve maximized returns and risk diversification through a multi-platform strategy.On a strategic level, Intchains is advancing its AI-enabled operational model transformation, focusing on chip and product research and development, market sales, and overall business operations, restructuring processes and enhancing decision-making efficiency through automation and intelligent tools. In terms of cost control, the company has reduced its workforce by about 20% based on early 2026 levels and plans to further compress it to a total of about 35%, which is expected to bring annual savings of approximately 20 million RMB in labor costs. This adjustment mainly stems from organizational streamlining and replacing repetitive manual processes with technology. The company's management stated that it will focus on core mining machine technology and Ethereum asset strategy, combining AI to enhance research and development and operational efficiency, and plans to launch a new generation of mining machine products in the second half of 2026 (depending on market conditions).

The Web3 asset data platform RootData has outlined 78 business partners of Anchorage, including over 30 DeFi protocols, more than 20 blockchain infrastructure projects, as well as various stablecoins and payment settlement networks, covering the complete path from asset issuance to on-chain operations.Represented by institutions like BlackRock, products such as ETFs bring funds into the crypto market, after which Anchorage assumes custody and compliance responsibilities. These assets are then deployed on-chain, participating in liquidity operations and yield generation through DeFi protocols, stablecoin systems, and infrastructure networks. Ultimately, they flow back into the traditional financial system through OTC, trading, and clearing paths.In this process, Anchorage's role is not just "custody," but a key node throughout the entire lifecycle of funds, with its upstream and downstream including crypto-native institutions such as A16z, Blockchain Capital, Electric Capital, and Defiance, as well as DeFi protocols, L1/L2 networks, stablecoins, and clearing and settlement systems, along with fintech companies like AngelList and Series Financial, as well as payment companies and core banking systems.Anchorage's partner strategy emphasizes "key path coverage," ensuring that funds have corresponding infrastructure at every stage. As compliant entry points like ETFs gradually open up, the crypto market shifts towards asset allocation-driven strategies, and bridge-type institutions like Anchorage are moving from the background to the core. Related compilation: Anchorage Web3 Partner Network Compilation (continuously updated)Crypto projects actively showcasing their partner networks have become a key way to enhance transparency and market trust. It is reported that RootData welcomes Web3 project parties to claim data and continues to track and open more project business relationship disclosure channels. The platform has continuously released multiple editions of crypto project ecological maps, nominating Web3 ecological partners for upstream clients such as Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase.If you wish to nominate your project in future ecological maps, please fill out the RootData 2026 Industry Ecosystem Mapping form to supplement your important clients and partners.

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

According to GMGN monitoring, the market capitalization of the Ethereum chain meme coin ASTEROID has surpassed 20 million USD, currently reported at 21.84 million USD, setting a new historical high, with a 24-hour trading volume of 14.7 million USD.ChainCatcher reminds users that meme coin trading is highly volatile, largely relying on market sentiment and speculative concepts, with no actual value or use cases; investors should be aware of the risks.

Claw Wallet, a Web3 wallet infrastructure designed for AI Agents, announced a strategic partnership with TagAI and TagClaw. By deeply integrating Claw Wallet's secure AI-native infrastructure with TagAI's AI and socially predictive community layer, as well as TagClaw's on-chain social collaborative network, the three parties are jointly defining a new standard for the AI Agent ecosystem.The focus of this collaboration is to introduce TagClaw's Skill into Claw Wallet, empowering AI Agents with stronger intelligent coordination capabilities, making on-chain AI interactions more seamless, secure, and socially oriented. Currently, the three parties are fully committed to building a decentralized AI Agent infrastructure based on the BNB Chain, promoting the leap from independent tools to a collaborative social network for AI Agents.

According to GMGN data, the market value of the ETH chain meme coin ASTEROID has risen to over 8 million USD, currently reported at 8.16 million USD.Meme coin prices are highly volatile, and investors should be aware of the risks. Meme coins generally lack practical application scenarios and rely more on emotional speculation, so caution is advised when entering the market.

The DoubleZero Foundation has announced that its Edge platform has officially entered the public testing phase. Edge is a permissionless platform running on DoubleZero's DePIN infrastructure, designed to provide ultra-low latency real-time data delivery services for on-chain markets.DoubleZero is committed to building a decentralized global fiber network to optimize low-latency distributed systems for blockchain. DoubleZero co-founder Andrew McConnell stated, "Traditional finance has gained a competitive advantage through decades of building infrastructure for speed and certainty, while on-chain markets have previously lacked a similar foundation. Edge aims to provide on-chain traders with a comparable level of certainty infrastructure, enabling tighter spreads and better execution."It is reported that Edge currently has about 350 data providers, with major Solana infrastructure providers such as Jito, Temporal, Staking Facilities, and Triton also joining.

According to official news, the NFT public chain Mint Blockchain announced that the blockchain network officially ceased operations on April 17, 2026. To ensure the safety of user assets, the project team reminds all users to transfer their on-chain assets to the Ethereum mainnet as soon as possible, including assets such as ETH, WBTC, USDC, and USDT.The announcement states that users need to complete the asset migration through the extraction channel provided by the official team, with a deadline of October 20, 2026. Before this deadline, users can still perform asset extraction operations normally to ensure the safe transfer of funds to external networks. If users do not complete the extraction before the deadline, the related assets will no longer be processed or recoverable.

According to Bloomberg, Flow Capital Partners plans to launch its $150 million private credit fund on a blockchain platform based in Singapore by the end of this month, becoming one of the first asset management firms in Asia to leverage the growing liquidity of stablecoins.The alternative asset management company headquartered in Hong Kong will provide its master fund through DigiFT Tech Pte. and plans to raise an additional $30 million through tokenized shares by the end of this year. The company's Chief Investment Officer Jacky Tian stated that the goal is to expand the fund, which was launched in June, to $250 million by the end of the year.

According to DefiLlama data, the total locked value (TVL) of Plasma, a Layer 1 blockchain designed for global stablecoin payments, has reached $2 billion, with a weekly increase of 27% and a monthly increase of over 80%, rising to become the seventh largest blockchain. One of the key driving factors for this growth is that Plasma was selected as one of the first supported networks for Tether's self-custody wallet launched on April 14, alongside Ethereum and Arbitrum.This wallet supports USD₮, XAU₮, USA₮, and Bitcoin, allowing users to trade without holding a separate Gas token. According to CoinDesk, the driving factors behind the expansion of Plasma's TVL are not yet clear, but may be related to optimistic expectations regarding the potential approval of the U.S. CLARITY Act.

According to The Block, Yuga Labs announced a management adjustment, with co-founder and CEO Greg Solano transitioning to the role of chairman of the board, and current Chief Product Officer Michael Figge taking over as CEO; Figge joined the company in 2021 and began his duties a few weeks ago. This adjustment comes as the company continues to advance its metaverse project, Otherside.

The Layer 1 blockchain Tempo, developed jointly by Stripe and Paradigm, has launched a privacy feature called Zones. This is a solution for running permissioned parallel blockchains, specifically designed for enterprise-level use cases that require higher confidentiality, such as payroll, fund management, and payment settlement.It is reported that Zones, as a parallel blockchain connected to the Tempo mainnet, provides a private execution environment where internal transactions remain confidential, but assets and funds are fully interoperable with Tempo L1, other Zones, deposit channels, and liquidity pools. Each Zone is managed by trusted entities such as financial institutions or infrastructure providers, allowing operators to view all activities within their environment and implement access controls, but they do not control the underlying assets.

According to Cointelegraph, Michael Selig, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that the agency is working to provide clarity for the crypto space, including tokenized collateral and stablecoins, while also developing clear guidelines for prediction markets.

The South Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance has selected a new pilot project for the use of blockchain digital currency under the regulatory sandbox framework in 2026. This project will explore the use of deposit tokens to execute business promotion expenses, aiming to test the application of blockchain technology in national financial operations.Currently, business promotion expenses in South Korea are mainly executed through government procurement cards, and additional explanations are required for use during restricted periods such as late at night or on weekends. Previously, payment methods were relatively singular due to the National Finance Management Act. The approval of this regulatory sandbox creates an exception for the use of deposit tokens. The ministry stated that by setting conditions such as predetermined spending times and industry categories, deposit tokens are expected to enhance execution transparency and alleviate the cost burden on small business owners by removing intermediaries in the payment flow.The Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to officially launch the pilot in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the first implementation site being Sejong City. In addition, South Korean regulators are simultaneously strengthening oversight of stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and automated trading.

According to Whale Alert monitoring, Circle has issued an additional 250 million USDC on the Solana chain.