Wrapped XRP went live on Solana on Friday, issued by custodian Hex Trust and bridged through LayerZero, making the token available inside Solana’s DeFi apps for the first time.

XRP holders can now use the wrapped asset on Jupiter, Phantom, Titan Exchange, and Meteora without selling their underlying position.

Each wXRP is backed 1:1 by native XRP held in segregated custody accounts and is redeemable at any time, according to Hex Trust.

The Solana launch is one leg of a broader rollout Hex Trust disclosed in December 2025, which also targets Ethereum, Optimism, and HyperEVM. The move fits a pattern that has accelerated through 2025 and 2026, where tokens that started their life on one chain are being bridged to others to capture yield and liquidity that did not exist at launch.

XRP has historically functioned as a payment-rail token settled directly on the XRP Ledger. Solana has built the opposite use case, a throughput-optimized smart contract platform where the DeFi and memecoin activity actually lives.

The piece of infrastructure underneath this deal is LayerZero, the cross-chain messaging protocol that has quietly won most of the bridge volume that used to flow through Wormhole, Nomad, and Ronin before those protocols were exploited for more than $1 billion combined between 2022 and 2024.

Whether XRP generates meaningful DeFi volume on Solana is a separate question. The wrapped asset is live, but the test is whether holders actually use it.

Crypto’s next major inflection point is coming from artificial intelligence (AI).

That’s according to Consensys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin. He told CoinDesk that autonomous or semi-autonomous agents can transact, coordinate and verify one another on decentralized networks, using crypto rails as a foundation for machine-driven activity.

Lubin, who will be speaking at Consensus Miami 2026 next month, said he is “sympathetic to the idea that blockchain is for machine intelligences,” but does not see humans being displaced. Instead, increasingly intelligent interfaces will abstract away complexity, allowing users to interact with crypto systems through intent rather than manual inputs. In that model, AI becomes the intermediary layer between people and protocols.

That vision comes with risks. If AI infrastructure remains concentrated among large technology firms, “we could be in trouble,” Lubin warned. He argued that decentralized systems and cryptography will be essential in ensuring accountability, enabling machines to “check on one another” in transparent, verifiable environments.

Within that broader shift, products like MetaMask — a Consensys product — are evolving to reflect the change. Lubin said the wallet is being rebuilt as “a new kind of neobank that you own and control,” part of a transition toward what he described as a “personal money operating system.” AI-powered agents could act on behalf of users, managing assets, executing transactions and navigating a growing decentralized economy. “You can walk around with your personal financial system in your pocket,” he said.

The rise of corporate chains on Ethereum

Beyond interfaces, Lubin pointed to structural changes across the Ethereum ecosystem. The architecture of the blockchain is also shaping how institutions approach adoption. Lubin expects “corporate chains” to become more common as companies seek higher throughput and greater control over their infrastructure. Still, he argued that assets are best issued on Ethereum’s base layer, saying “the best way to ensure that an asset is durable… is to mint it on Ethereum layer one,” even if the asset is later used across other networks.

Stablecoins, one of crypto’s fastest-growing sectors, are part of that transition, but not the endpoint. Lubin described them as a “stepping stone” toward more fully decentralized financial systems, noting that current models remain heavily reliant on centralized issuers. Over time, he expects growth in decentralized collateral to enable more robust, crypto-native forms of money.

On tokenization more broadly, Lubin suggested that traditional finance and decentralized finance are entering a period of convergence, combining centuries of financial innovation with newer blockchain-based systems. The result, he said, will be a more granular and programmable global economy.

Even as these shifts accelerate, Lubin struck a measured tone on longer-term technical risks like quantum computing. While not an immediate concern, he said Ethereum developers have been preparing for years.

“A lot of us just see it as being folded into the natural evolution of Ethereum,” Lubin said.

Read more: Joe Lubin claims DeFi is as safe as traditional finance, adding that bitcoin is in crisis

Poland’s parliament has once again failed to overturn a presidential veto blocking a key crypto regulation bill, extending the political standoff over how the country should oversee digital assets.

In a vote held Friday, lawmakers fell short of the 263 votes required to override the veto issued by President Karol Nawrocki, local outlet TVP World reported. A total of 243 MPs voted against the veto, while 191 supported it, per the report.

The bill, backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, aims to align Poland with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), introduced in 2024 to govern the issuance and custody of crypto assets. Poland remains the only EU member state yet to implement the bloc’s framework.

Nawrocki has defended his decision, citing concerns over excessive regulation, limited transparency and the potential burden on small businesses, according to the TVP World report.

However, government officials warn that delaying regulation leaves investors exposed. Finance Minister Andrzej Domański reportedly said the absence of clear rules risks turning the market into an “El Dorado for fraudsters,” adding that both consumers and businesses remain vulnerable to abuse.

Related: Zonda exchange says 4.5K BTC wallet inaccessible amid withdrawal crisis

Poland’s crypto bill faces repeated defeats

The failed overturn of the presidential veto marks the second unsuccessful attempt by the government to push the legislation through after a similar rejection in December.

However, despite the failure, Polish lawmakers reintroduced the regulation within days in December last year. They claimed that the new draft was an “improved” version, though critics said it was virtually unchanged from the original.

President Nawrocki vetoed the bill again in February this year. “I will not sign a wrong law just because it was passed again by the parliamentary majority. A wrong law that passed a hundred times still remains a wrong law,” he said at the time.

Related: Poland president vetoes MiCA bill again as crypto companies look to license abroad

Zonda caught in Poland crypto political row

The dispute has also drawn in Zonda, the country’s largest crypto exchange, which has reportedly lobbied against the bill. Tensions escalated after Tusk accused the platform of links to illicit funding, citing intelligence reports that allegedly connect its origins to Russian criminal networks.

“Attempts to drag me and Zonda into the current political squabbles are as absurd as they are harmful to the Polish innovation market,” Zonda CEO Przemysław Kral wrote on X, adding that he is “compelled to take appropriate legal steps to protect my personal rights.”

Last week, he also said he does not control access to a crypto wallet reportedly holding $330 million, which he claims remained with former CEO Sylwester Suszek prior to his disappearance in 2022.

Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author