Payward, the parent company of U.S. centralized exchange Kraken, announced today, April 17, that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Bitnomial, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated crypto derivatives exchange.

Bitnomial was founded in 2014 and over more than a decade of operations has acquired the full set of CFTC licenses — exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage — becoming what Kraken says is the first crypto company in the United States to do so.

The deal brings Bitnomial’s regulatory infrastructure together with Payward’s global distribution across Kraken, NinjaTrader, and its other projects.

In December 2025, Bitnomial had already received CFTC approval to clear fully-collateralized swaps, letting the CEX offer prediction markets, alongside its spot and derivatives offerings, under one regulatory framework and unified liquidity pool.

The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending CFTC notice filings and customary closing conditions, per Kraken’s announcement.

Payward is set to pay up to $550 million, payable in cash and stock, for Bitnomial. The transaction values Payward at $20 billion, per Kraken’s blog post today, and comes just days after the CEX confirmed its plans to go public. The valuation matches Payward’s November 2025 announcement, when the firm raised $800 million in two rounds.

The move is the latest in a string of expansions and partnerships by Payward and Kraken. As The Defiant previously covered, Kraken acquired xStocks creator Backed Finance to deepen its tokenized equities push.

Also this week, Germany’s largest stock exchange operator, Deutsche Börse, announced it had invested $200 million in Payward, for a roughly 1.5% fully diluted stake. That deal implied Payward’s valuation at $13.3 billion, a 33% haircut from the $20 billion valuation.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

Key Highlights

• Intel shares climbed 5.5% to reach $68.50, marking the highest closing price since early September 2000
• The chipmaker is experiencing its strongest monthly performance in five decades
• Growing agentic AI adoption is fueling server processor demand, with ASPs projected to increase 10–15% throughout 2025
• Wall Street firms have increased their price targets, yet less than 25% maintain Buy recommendations
• The company’s first-quarter 2026 results are scheduled for release next Thursday

Intel shares reached their loftiest closing level in more than a quarter century on Thursday, finishing the session at $68.50 following a robust 5.5% advance. This surge marked the ninth consecutive day of gains and positioned the semiconductor giant for its most impressive monthly showing since the mid-1970s.

Intel Corporation, INTC

Friday’s premarket activity saw the stock begin at $68.50 before adding another 1.4% in early trading. The shares have traveled between $18.25 and $68.61 over the trailing twelve months.

The primary catalyst behind this remarkable ascent centers on accelerating server processor demand tied to agentic AI deployment. Mizuho’s analysis suggests this trend could elevate average selling prices by 10% to 15% during the current year, with favorable market conditions potentially persisting through 2026 and possibly extending to 2030.

While Intel’s personal computer chip segment continues facing headwinds, Mizuho identifies a potential silver lining. The research firm posits that Intel could redirect manufacturing resources from PC processors to data center chips, enabling near-term production enhancement without substantial capital investment requirements.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s robust quarterly results and reassurances regarding supply chain stability provided additional market confidence. Industry observers suggest the current processor demand environment may be substantial enough to benefit multiple competitors simultaneously.

Price Targets Rise While Ratings Stay Neutral

Mizuho maintained its Neutral stance while increasing its price objective to $59 from the previous $48. Bernstein preserved its Market Perform designation and elevated its target to $60 from $36. Both institutions also revised upward their 2026 and 2027 profit projections for the company.

Cantor Fitzgerald established a $60 target alongside a Neutral rating. Wells Fargo adjusted its forecast to $55 while keeping an Equal Weight perspective. The Street’s consensus recommendation remains at Hold, with the average price target settling at $51.25 — notably beneath current trading levels.

Bullish recommendations account for less than one-quarter of analyst coverage. Key concerns encompass execution risks surrounding foundry expansion initiatives, intensifying rivalry from AMD and Nvidia, plus a valuation hovering around 95 times forward earnings projections.

“We continue to struggle with both fundamentals and valuation especially after the recent run,” wrote Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon, who also called Q1 likely to be “a messy quarter.”

Portfolio Adjustments and Executive Transactions

KBC Group NV reduced its Intel holdings by 31.7% during the fourth quarter, divesting 428,210 shares. The firm’s remaining position of 920,502 shares carried an approximate value of $33.97 million at the filing date.

Conversely, Van ECK Associates expanded its stake by 18.3% in Q3 to exceed 55.5 million shares. Patton Fund Management dramatically increased its position by 973% during the identical period.

Executive activity presented a mixed picture. EVP David Zinsner acquired 5,882 shares at $42.50 during January. EVP April Miller disposed of 20,000 shares at $49.05 in February.

Intel currently commands a market capitalization of $342.16 billion. The stock’s 50-day moving average stands at $48.60, while its 200-day average sits at $42.93.

The semiconductor manufacturer will unveil Q1 2026 financial results next Thursday. The previous quarter saw the company deliver earnings per share of $0.15, surpassing the consensus forecast of $0.08. Revenue totaled $13.67 billion compared to analyst expectations of $13.37 billion, representing a 4.2% year-over-year decline.

Bank of AI and PKUBlockchain map Web4.0’s “agent economy,” pitching x402, ERC‑8004 and MCP while casting Tron and USDT as the default settlement rail for AI agents.

Bank of AI and Peking University’s PKUBlockchain association have released what they call the first comprehensive research report on Web4.0’s “agent economy,” titled “Web4.0: When AI Agents Become Economic Entities — Infrastructure, Market Landscape, and Investment Outlook.” The report argues that as AI systems evolve from “assistive tools” into autonomous entities that can hold assets, generate income and transact, crypto rails need to adapt around them.

Web4.0 report puts AI agents on-chain

In their framework, AI agents are treated as on‑chain economic actors that must be able to send and receive payments, prove identity, call off‑chain tools and build verifiable track records much like human‑run wallets or companies. To close that gap, the authors identify three infrastructural layers they say are still missing or immature: the x402 payment protocol for stablecoin transfers, ERC‑8004 as an on‑chain “ID card” for agents, and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) standard for tool invocation.

Bank of AI uses the report to present its own stack as a reference implementation, claiming to integrate “five core components into a unified Agent financial operating system” that links those protocols from spec to live product. In parallel, outside research on agentic markets — including an “Agentic RWA Stack” proposed by FinChain — similarly forecasts AI agents managing “tens of trillions of US dollars” in assets and commercial flows by 2030, underscoring why payments and identity rails are attracting attention now.

The report leans heavily on Tron as the current settlement backbone for an agent‑driven Web4.0. It notes that Tron processes more than $22 billion in daily stablecoin volume and hosts around $86 billion of USDT, giving it the scale and fee profile needed for “high‑frequency micro‑settlements by AI agents.”

Independent analytics back that picture: Nansen and other researchers have found that TRON routinely clears over $21 billion in daily stablecoin transfers, with more than $80 billion of USDT supply and roughly 2 million to 2.2 million stablecoin transactions per day. Earlier crypto.news coverage has charted how Tron flipped Ethereum in USDT supply, with on‑chain data showing its USDT float rising past $73.8 billion in 2025 and then above $80 billion, making it Tether’s primary settlement layer for routine dollar transfers.

That dynamic has also been visible on the regulatory front, where USDT on Tron has been recognized as an accepted fiat‑referenced token in Abu Dhabi’s ADGM regime, even as U.S. lawmakers tighten scrutiny on Tether’s global footprint. In a recent crypto.news story, Tron’s role as a stablecoin rail was tied to a broader “agentic economy” push, including TRON DAO’s $1 billion AI fund targeting projects that blend AI agents with on‑chain payments — the same junction Bank of AI’s report now attempts to formalize.

The xrp price prediction picked up a new catalyst this week after Ripple announced a partnership with Kyobo Life Insurance to pilot Korea’s first tokenized government bond settlement using Ripple Custody, cutting a two-day cycle to near real-time, according to 24/7 Wall St.

The xrp price prediction depends on whether deals like Kyobo translate into real volume, and that process takes quarters even with a $92 billion partner. Capital that refuses to wait keeps moving into Pepeto, where the Pepe creator leads a presale with working exchange tools and a confirmed Binance debut that pays from one event instead of years of deal flow.

XRP Price Prediction Gets a Boost as Ripple and Kyobo Life Insurance Pilot Korea’s First Blockchain Bond Settlement

Ripple and Kyobo Life Insurance announced a partnership on April 15 to test tokenized government bond settlement on Ripple Custody, per 24/7 Wall St. Kyobo manages $92 billion in assets as one of Korea’s Big Three life insurers, and the pilot aims to cut the standard two-day settlement window to near real-time. SBI Holdings connects the Japan-Korea strategy across both markets.

When a $92 billion insurer picks Ripple for government bonds, the use case is no longer theoretical. But pilot programs need months to reach production, and XRP’s price needs volume, not just headlines. Seven spot ETFs already hold $1 billion in combined assets, yet Ripple (XRP) still trades at $1.42 because institutional adoption and token price move on different clocks.

The XRP Outlook and the Presale That Does Not Wait for Adoption Timelines

Pepeto Combines Meme Momentum With Live Exchange Tools No Other Presale Has Shipped

The xrp price prediction waits on deal flow that takes quarters to mature. Pepeto does not. The Pepe creator who built a $11 billion token on zero products now runs a presale where the exchange already works and the Binance listing is locked in.

The bridge moves assets between Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana at zero cost, so holders across every chain hold their entire position through each transfer. Over $9.13 million raised while the Fear Index read extreme levels shows serious buyers stepping in while the rest of the market sits idle.

A token scanner checks every contract before you touch it, catching the traps that wiped portfolios in past downturns so your entry stays protected from day one. PepetoSwap handles every trade without taking a cut.

Pepeto sits at $0.0000001865 with the Binance debut closing in, and 182% APY staking adds daily yield as the listing draws nearer. SolidProof passed the full audit before the presale opened. The wallets that spotted setups like this early and moved fast built wealth that waiting alone never created, and Pepeto at $0.0000001865 is that opening with remaining tokens thinning as buyers keep arriving.

Ripple (XRP) Price at $1.44 as Kyobo Life Partnership Signals Real-World Adoption

Ripple (XRP) trades at $1.44 after gaining 3.8% to a 3-week high according to CoinMarketCap. Seven spot ETFs hold $1 billion in combined assets, but XRP needs more institutional volume at scale to break resistance at $1.50.

The xrp price prediction crowd keeps asking about $50, so here is the honest math. At $50, XRP’s market cap reaches about $3 trillion, larger than any crypto ever and near Apple’s total value. That outcome needs dozens of Kyobo-sized partnerships running live production volume across Ripple’s custody network for years. It is possible over a decade, not quarters.

Near term, the xrp price prediction targets $2.00 resistance and the $3.40 ATH from January 2018, a 139% gain. But even the Kyobo deal shows that each step from pilot to production adds months. The wallets that need speed over patience are already looking at presale entries instead.

Conclusion

The xrp price prediction at $50 needs years of institutional adoption at scale. Kyobo proves the technology works, but pilot-to-production timelines do not reprice tokens overnight. Pepeto stands as the entry for returns that large-cap tokens need years to deliver and you can lock in today.

The path splits right here. One group entered Pepeto before the Binance debut and rode live tools plus viral momentum from presale pricing into gains that reshaped their year. The other group waited on the xrp price prediction for proof and paid full exchange price for what early buyers locked in at pennies.

Presale tokens are thinning as demand keeps building. The people who grabbed XRP at $0.003 before anyone noticed already knew which move they would make again.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

Can XRP hit $50 based on current xrp price prediction models?

Not in the near term. A $50 price means a $3 trillion market cap, larger than any crypto in history. Realistic targets range from $2.00 resistance to the $3.40 ATH depending on how fast institutional deals like Kyobo scale into production.

How does Ripple (XRP) benefit from the Kyobo Life Insurance partnership announced on April 15?

Ripple (XRP) gains a real-world bond settlement use case with Korea’s $92 billion Kyobo Life Insurance through Ripple Custody. Pepeto at presale pricing delivers larger multiples from one Binance listing without waiting for institutional adoption timelines.

Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

Grinex, a sanctioned Kyrgyzstan-registered crypto exchange, has disclosed a hack of over one billion rubles.

In an announcement posted to the exchange’s official Telegram channel, the “targeted attack” was attributed to “Western special services,” and is aimed at “causing direct damage to Russia’s financial sovereignty.”

The loss sees Grinex “forced to suspend its operations.”

It says “attempts to destabilize the domestic financial sector have reached a new level – the direct theft of assets of Russian citizens and companies.”

Blockchain forensics firm Elliptic analysed outflows from affected addresses listed by Grinex and tallied a total of $15 million of USDT. The funds were then swapped to TRX or ETH to avoid being frozen by Tether.

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2125.52, up 0.3% (+7.28) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Nine of 20 assets are trading higher.

Leaders: XLM (+1.5%) and HBAR (+1.4%).

Laggards: NEAR (-2.3%) and DOT (-1.6%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

Pi Network price rallied 8% on Friday as developers revealed a hard deadline for the Pi Network mainnet upgrade to version 22.

According to data from crypto.news, Pi Network (PI) price rose to a three-week high of $0.182 on Friday, April 17, before stabilizing around $0.180 at the time of writing.

The token rallied after developers at Pi Network revealed that the mainnet would be upgraded to Protocol 22 on April 27. The team also advised node operators to update their software to the latest version by the deadline to remain connected on the network.

For the uninitiated, the Protocol 22 update introduces vital structural improvements and a dual interface system that combines a node interface with a desktop Pi App. Such a setup will finally allow the Pi community to manage balances, use chat functions, and explore ecosystem features directly from their computers.

Additionally, node operators can now install the core blockchain component to participate in network validation. The Core Team explained that this rollout will occur in phases, starting with a selection stage to evaluate node reliability and connectivity. Full participation in this phase requires mandatory KYC compliance.

This transition follows closely on the heels of the Protocol 21 update from earlier this month, which also required a mandatory migration for operators.

While the Protocol 22 update goes live on April 22, it is primarily viewed as a bridge to the upcoming V23 upgrade. The final iteration is expected to introduce full smart contract functionality, allowing developers to build decentralized applications directly on the Pi blockchain.

On the daily chart, Pi Network price has broken out of a falling wedge pattern formed of two descending and converging trendlines. A breakout from such a pattern often leads to a bullish reversal as the buying pressure finally overcomes the exhausted selling trend.

Technical indicators seem to portray that the bulls are firmly in control of the current momentum. Notably, the Aroon Up indicator is sitting at 92.86% while the Aroon Down has plunged to 0%, which is a clear sign that a new uptrend has begun and the previous bearish cycle has completely dissipated.

Meanwhile, the Chaikin Money Flow index has climbed to a reading of 0.23, suggesting that significant capital is flowing into the asset as traders position themselves for the mainnet upgrade.

For now, the next immediate target for the token price lies at $0.204, which represents a major psychological barrier and a recent local high.

On the contrary, a drop below $0.163 would invalidate the current bullish thesis and could lead to a deeper correction as the network awaits further fundamental developments.