Someone told you about Pi Network. Maybe a friend, a relative, a coworker. They said you can mine cryptocurrency on your phone by tapping a button once a day. You looked it up and ended up more confused than when you started. There are 60 million users, a price chart, a 24-word recovery phrase, something called KYC, and a long list of words you do not recognize. This guide explains, in plain English, what Pi Network actually is, how it works, what you do with the app, what happens when you actually own PI, and what the honest tradeoffs look like before you decide whether to bother.

What Pi Network is, in one paragraph

Pi Network is a cryptocurrency project built around a mobile app. You install the app, open it once a day, and tap a button. The app says you are “mining” PI (PI) tokens. After enough days of doing this, and after you complete identity verification, those tokens become real and can be moved off the app to a wallet or sold on certain exchanges. The project has been running since 2019, claims around 60 million users, and as of mid-2026, one PI trades at about $0.15. It is one of the most-downloaded crypto apps in the world and also one of the most debated. This guide will explain why both of those things are true.

Why does Pi Network exist?

Most cryptocurrencies are hard to use for ordinary people. To mine Bitcoin, you need specialized hardware and access to cheap electricity. To buy Bitcoin, you need a bank account, an exchange, and some idea of what you are doing. For most of the world’s population, both routes are out of reach.

Pi Network’s founders, a group of Stanford-affiliated researchers led by Nicolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan, started with a simple question. What if ordinary people could get their first taste of cryptocurrency through nothing more than the phone they already own? No hardware to buy. No exchange account to open. No bank required.

That was the original pitch in 2019, and it is still the pitch today. Pi is designed to be the easiest possible on-ramp into crypto. The tradeoffs that come with that design choice are what most of the debate around Pi is actually about.

How does the “mining” work?

This is the part that confuses people most, so it is worth being precise.

When you mine Bitcoin, your computer is doing real cryptographic work. That work secures the network and is rewarded with new Bitcoin. Mining costs electricity, requires hardware, and produces a real economic output.

When you “mine” PI by tapping a button on your phone, your phone is not doing cryptographic work. It is not contributing computing power. The button is essentially a check-in. By tapping it, you are telling Pi’s system you are still an active human user, and the system credits you with PI tokens at a rate that decreases as the total network grows.

Pi calls this approach “social mining.” Rather than computing power, the resource Pi is using to allocate tokens is verified, active humans. The Security Circle feature, where you add five trusted people who can vouch for you, is part of the same idea. The network is trying to build a trust graph of real, distinct people, and the daily tap is the signal that you are still part of it.

The actual security of the Pi blockchain comes from validator nodes, which run on desktop computers operated by a subset of users. The mobile app is the user-facing layer. The two should not be confused: tapping the lightning button on the app is not what secures the network, even though Pi uses the word “mining” for both.

What does PI actually look like when it is yours?

Here, the process gets more complicated, and it is the part where many users get stuck.

The PI you earn by tapping the button is not immediately usable. It sits in your Pi app account as a balance. To turn that balance into real PI you can send, hold, or sell, you have to clear three more steps.

First, you complete KYC. KYC stands for Know Your Customer, the same identity verification process banks use. Pi asks you to submit a photo of a government-issued ID (passport, driver’s license, or national ID) and a selfie or live video. The system, partially automated and partially handled by community validators, checks that the ID is real and matches you. The wait time varies. Some users are verified in days.

Some are stuck in “tentative” status for months or longer, particularly if their ID format is unusual or the system flags their submission for manual review.

Second, you create a Pi Wallet. This happens inside the Pi Browser, a separate app from the main mining app. The wallet generates a 24-word recovery phrase, which is the master key to your PI. Lose that phrase, and your PI is gone forever. Pi cannot recover it for you. Anyone who gets it can take your PI. Write it on paper, store it somewhere safe, and never type it into a website or share it with anyone.

Third, you migrate to Mainnet. This moves your mined PI from the app’s internal ledger to the actual Pi blockchain. After migration, your PI sits in your Pi Wallet, identified by an address that starts with a “G” (Pi uses Stellar-style addresses). At that point, the PI is yours in the same sense that Bitcoin in a Bitcoin wallet is yours. You can send it to someone else. You can move it to certain exchanges. You can sell it.

As of mid-2026, of Pi’s claimed 60 million users, about 19 million have completed KYC, and about 16 million have completed mainnet migration. The other roughly 44 million are at various points in the funnel, often stuck on KYC. This gap is one of the most-discussed features of the Pi experience.

Where can you actually use PI?

Once you have PI in a Mainnet wallet, your options fall into three categories.

You can spend it inside the Pi ecosystem. Pi has been building a network of merchants and apps that accept PI as payment. The annual PiFest event encourages real-world merchants to take PI, and Pi has reported over 100,000 merchants signing up for at least one PiFest period. Some users have bought small electronics, food, clothing, and other items in PI. The reach is uneven and concentrated in particular regions and communities, but it exists. The Pi App Studio, a platform inside the Pi ecosystem, lets developers build apps that accept Mainnet PI payments.

You can trade it on exchanges. PI is listed on a range of cryptocurrency exchanges, including OKX, Bitget, MEXC, Gate, Bitfinex, and HTX. You can send your PI to one of these exchanges (subject to the exchange’s deposit requirements and Pi’s transfer rules) and sell it for stablecoins like USDT or for fiat currency via the exchange’s withdrawal options. The two largest exchanges in the world, Binance and Coinbase, have not listed PI as of mid-2026. Kraken put PI on its 2026 roadmap, but the listing has not yet been completed.

You can hold it. Some users keep PI in their Pi Wallet and keep mining, betting on the project’s long-term growth. Pi offers lockup configurations where you commit your PI to be held for a fixed period in exchange for a higher mining rate. Whether this is a sensible thing to do depends entirely on your view of where PI’s price will go, which is the part nobody can answer for you.

How much is PI worth, and is it volatile?

In May 2026, PI trades at about $0.15. The all-time high was $2.99, reached shortly after Pi opened external trading in February 2025. The all-time low, briefly touched on the same day Pi opened to external trading, was about $0.049. The price has been in a long decline from the early-2025 peak, with some periods of recovery and some of further selling. The current market capitalization is around $1.6 billion, which places PI around the 55th-largest cryptocurrency by market value.

A few things are worth knowing about that price, because they explain why it has moved the way it has.

PI’s circulating supply is growing. About 10.4 billion of the maximum 100 billion PI are currently in circulation. As more users complete KYC and migrate to Mainnet, more PI enters the market. This adds supply against a finite demand pool, which is a structural reason for downward price pressure even when other things go well for the project.

Trading volume is modest. PI’s daily trading volume sits roughly in the $1.5 million to $25 million range, depending on the source and the day, which is small for a token of its market cap rank. Smaller volume means larger price moves on relatively small buys or sells, and it means the price you see can change quickly.

Listings drive demand. When a new exchange lists PI, the price usually moves up on anticipation, then often retraces as the new supply available to that exchange’s users gets absorbed. The biggest pending listings (Binance, Coinbase, completion of the Kraken listing) are watched closely by the community and will, if they come, be meaningful price events.

Does it cost anything to start?

Mining PI is free in the direct sense. The app is free. There is no fee to tap the button. There is no fee to complete KYC.

There are indirect costs worth being honest about.

The time cost is real. Pi requires you to open the app and tap the lightning button every 24 hours to maintain your mining rate. Miss a day, and you do not mine that day. Miss enough days, and your rate decreases. Over years of mining, the time investment adds up.

The attention cost is real. The app shows ads, and the ad revenue is part of how Pi funds its operations. If you mine Pi consistently, you are exchanging some amount of your attention for some amount of PI tokens. Whether that exchange is worth it depends on what those tokens end up being worth.

The data cost is real. KYC requires submitting government ID and biometric data to Pi’s systems. Pi has its own policies around how that data is handled and stored. As with any KYC process at any company, you are trusting the operator to handle your data responsibly. Pi is far from unique in collecting this data, but it is worth knowing you are submitting it.

The opportunity cost is real, but harder to measure. The years spent mining Pi could have been spent on other crypto strategies, or on nothing at all. If PI ultimately reaches a price that makes the time worthwhile, the opportunity cost is zero. If it does not, it was real. Nobody can tell you in advance which one will be true.

Is it safe? What about scams?

Pi Network itself is a real project. The team is identifiable, the app is in official app stores, the blockchain is live, the founders appeared at Consensus 2026 (one of the largest events in the crypto industry), and the project has been running for over six years. In the basic sense of “is this a real company with real people building a real thing,” the answer is yes.

Pi Network has also become a magnet for third-party scams. Because the community is large, because the KYC process is slow, and because many users do not understand the difference between the official Pi system and external services, scammers have built an entire ecosystem of fake “KYC acceleration” services, fake Pi websites, fake exchanges, and fake support accounts on Telegram, Twitter, and Discord.

The rules to stay safe are simple.

Only use the official Pi Network app, downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play. The official app is published by the Pi Core Team. There are no priority KYC services. There is no way to speed up your verification by paying someone.

Never share your 24-word recovery phrase with anyone, ever. Nobody legitimate will ask for it. If anyone asks for it, including someone claiming to be Pi support, they are trying to steal your PI.

Be skeptical of every “exchange” or “service” that promises to trade your PI before you have migrated to Mainnet. Some smaller platforms trade IOU tokens that are not the same as native PI. An IOU is a promise to deliver PI under certain conditions. The price of an IOU can drift from the real PI price, and not every IOU operator is reliable.

Do not click links in messages from people claiming to be Pi Network officials. The Core Team communicates through the official app, the official website (minepi.com), and verified social media accounts. Anyone reaching out to you directly with offers, fixes, or special access is almost certainly trying to scam you.

What are the actual risks of using Pi?

This is the part most beginner guides skip, and it is the part you most need to know before deciding whether to use Pi.

The first risk is that PI may not be worth much. PI’s price has been in a long decline since its early-2025 peak, the circulating supply keeps growing, and the project is still waiting on major exchange listings. If you mine PI, hoping it will fund a major purchase someday, the honest answer is nobody knows whether it will. The crypto market is generally volatile. PI specifically has structural headwinds that may or may not be overcome.

The second risk is that you spend years in the KYC backlog and never successfully migrate. Of Pi’s claimed users, roughly two-thirds have not yet completed KYC. Some never will. The mined PI of an unverified user sits inside the Pi system but cannot be moved or sold. Pi has been working on this, including new biometric options and validator-reward incentives, but the backlog is real, and the timeline for clearing it is unclear.

The third risk is centralization. Pi’s network is not as decentralized as many other major cryptocurrencies. The Core Team retains significant control over the protocol, the validator set, and the distribution of tokens. Critics have raised questions about the proportion of the total token supply held by the team. This is not unique to Pi (many cryptocurrencies start out centralized and gradually decentralize), but it is a factor to weigh.

The fourth risk is regulatory. Different jurisdictions treat cryptocurrencies differently, and the rules are still being written. The CLARITY Act and other US legislation may eventually clarify how tokens like PI are treated, but until those rules land, there is some legal ambiguity around what PI is, how it is taxed, and how it can be used.

The fifth risk is the meta-risk: the time you spend matters whether or not the project succeeds. Even if all of the above resolve in Pi’s favor, the years you spent tapping the button were spent. The question is whether the eventual value of the PI you mined justifies that time. Nobody can promise you it will.

What is the ecosystem actually doing right now?

Pi has been shipping technical milestones through 2025 and 2026, and as of mid-May 2026, several pieces of the ecosystem are live or nearly live.

Smart contracts went live on Mainnet on May 11, 2026, with the Protocol 23 upgrade. This opens the door for decentralized applications, decentralized exchanges, and lending protocols to run on Pi.

Pi Launchpad, a platform for new projects to issue tokens within the Pi ecosystem, has a Minimum Viable Product on Testnet as of Pi Day 2026 (March 14).

Pi DEX, a decentralized exchange running on the Pi blockchain, is targeted for Q2 2026 launch.

Pi App Studio has been updated to accept Mainnet PI payments, so apps built on the platform can transact in real PI rather than test tokens.

The “human infrastructure for AI” positioning is the newest strategic framing from the Core Team. Pi argues that its KYC-verified user base, which has completed over 526 million human verification tasks across the network, could become a useful resource for AI training, identity verification, and similar applications. This is forward-looking, and the market has not yet priced it in or rejected it.

Whether any of this turns into meaningful product traction is the open question. The infrastructure is being built. What gets built on top of it is the part to watch over the rest of 2026.

How do you actually get started, step by step?

If you have read this far and want to try Pi, here is the practical sequence.

Step 1. Download the Pi Network app from the official Apple App Store or Google Play. Reject anything that is not in an official app store.

Step 2. Create an account using your phone number or a Facebook login. Use your real first and last name, because this has to match the government ID you will use for KYC later. Choose a username (this also becomes your referral code).

Step 3. Enter a referral code if you have one. You need a code from an existing user to join. If you do not have one, find a real person you know who is already on Pi and ask for theirs. Do not use random codes from strangers online.

Step 4. Verify your phone number or email, depending on how you signed up.

Step 5. Tap the lightning bolt button on the main screen. This starts your first 24-hour mining session. Set a reminder to come back tomorrow and tap it again.

Step 6. After about three days of mining, the app will unlock the Security Circle feature. Add three to five people you genuinely trust (real friends and family, not strangers). This raises your mining rate and is part of how the network builds its trust graph.

Step 7. Complete KYC when the app prompts you. Have your government-issued ID ready. The verification will ask for a photo of the ID and either a selfie or a brief liveness video (or in newer rollouts, a palm scan). Submit accurate information. Pi cannot fix mismatches between your account name and your ID.

Step 8. Install the Pi Browser app (separate from the main Pi app, also on the official app stores). Inside the Pi Browser, create a Pi Wallet. The system will generate your 24-word recovery phrase. Write it on paper, store it somewhere safe, and never enter it into a website.

Step 9. Once KYC is approved (this can take days to months), follow the in-app prompts to migrate your mined PI to Mainnet. After migration, your PI sits in your Pi Wallet and can be sent, held, or traded.

Step 10. If you decide to sell, send your PI from your Pi Wallet to a supported exchange (OKX, Bitget, MEXC, Gate, and others). Always double-check the deposit address. Always send a small test amount first if you are doing a large transfer.

The honest summary

Pi Network is real. It is also unfinished. Whether using it is worth your time depends on what you are looking for.

If you are curious about cryptocurrency and want a free, low-stakes way to see what a wallet, a private key, and a real digital asset feel like, Pi is one of the lowest-friction options out there. The app is free, the time commitment is small, and the worst case is that you spend a few minutes a day on something that did not pan out. The best case is that you have PI tokens of some value and a working understanding of how a non-trivial cryptocurrency ecosystem actually works.

If you are looking for a guaranteed financial return, Pi cannot offer you that. No cryptocurrency can. The price could go up. It could go down. It could stay where it is for a long time. The structural questions around supply, listings, and adoption are real and unresolved.

If you are looking to “invest” in Pi by buying it on an exchange, treat it the way you would treat any speculative crypto holding. Position size matters. Do not put in more than you are comfortable losing. The token is volatile, the listings are incomplete, and the unlock schedule keeps adding supply.

The most important things for a beginner to take away are these. Pi is one of the easiest entry points into crypto in the world. The mining itself costs nothing. The risks are mostly time, data, and the chance that the tokens do not become valuable. The safeguards are simple: only use official apps, never share your recovery phrase, never trust anyone offering KYC shortcuts. Beyond that, what you decide to do with Pi is up to you, and there is no rush to decide today.

Take a few days to think about it. Pi will still be there when you come back.

This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets are volatile, and project details can change quickly; the figures and milestones described reflect reporting available as of mid-May 2026. Always do your own research.

TLDR

• The prediction market operator Kalshi has established Americans for Fair Markets (AFM), a lobbying organization designed to influence federal policy on prediction markets.
• Taylor Budowich, who previously served in the Trump administration, has joined the organization as a strategic advisor.
• AFM’s debut coincided with the House Oversight Committee’s announcement of insider trading investigations targeting Kalshi and competitor Polymarket.
• The organization frames its mission as countering misinformation from traditional gaming establishments like sportsbooks and casinos.
• Traditional gaming interests have responded by characterizing prediction markets as disguised sports betting platforms.

The federally regulated prediction market operator Kalshi has established a political advocacy organization named Americans for Fair Markets. This new entity seeks to shape how federal policymakers and regulatory agencies approach prediction markets across the country.

Taylor Budowich, who held a senior position in President Donald Trump’s White House, has been brought on as the organization’s strategic advisor. Before departing his role in September, Budowich oversaw communications operations for both the White House and a Trump-aligned super PAC.

Kalshi provided backing for AFM’s formation, though representatives indicate additional members are involved. While a spokesperson characterized the organization as having substantial financial resources, specific funding details were not disclosed.

The organization’s primary objective involves challenging what Kalshi characterizes as misleading claims about prediction markets circulated by established gambling sector players. According to AFM, traditional sportsbooks and casino operators are attempting to safeguard their market positions by portraying prediction markets negatively.

“Entrenched interests protecting their monopolies won’t outspend or out-organize us,” stated John Bivona, who serves as Kalshi’s head of government relations and has assumed a position on AFM’s board.

Congressional Investigation Announced Simultaneously

AFM’s unveiling occurred the very same day House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer revealed investigations into potential insider trading activities at both Kalshi and Polymarket. Comer highlighted questionable wagers placed before military operations involving Venezuela and Iran, incidents that have already resulted in arrests domestically and in Israel.

Kalshi has expressed support for Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight. The CFTC and state authorities have engaged in jurisdictional disputes, with state officials contending that prediction markets breach local gambling regulations.

Polymarket maintains a regulated platform for US users while handling the majority of its wagering activity through international channels. Kalshi, in contrast, functions predominantly as a federally supervised exchange.

Traditional Gaming Sector Responds

The American Gaming Association has adopted an aggressive position opposing prediction markets. During congressional testimony this week, Bill Miller, the organization’s president and CEO, characterized these platforms as “deceptively calling sports betting financial contracts and investing.”

AFM’s online presence presents a contrasting viewpoint, contending that prohibiting prediction markets would drive them to “unregulated platforms with no identity verification, no consumer protections, no insider trading rules.”

AFM becomes part of an expanding lobbying effort that includes the Coalition for Prediction Markets, which emerged in December 2025 with support from Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Robinhood.

The organization states it will advocate for platforms implementing consumer safeguards including know-your-customer protocols, insider trading prohibitions, and limitations on markets connected to violence or terrorism.

President Trump has expressed conflicting views regarding prediction markets. Last month, he indicated dissatisfaction with these platforms but subsequently moderated his stance, warning the US risked being “left out in the cold” through prohibition. His son, Donald Trump Jr., has made investments in Polymarket and holds positions on both Polymarket’s advisory board and as an advisor to Kalshi.

Kalshi’s company valuation recently reached $22 billion, doubling after securing $1 billion in new funding.

Chun Wang, the Chinese-born Maltese entrepreneur who founded the Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, has joined SpaceX’s first planned interplanetary mission to Mars after “purchasing” the mission.

SpaceX announced Thursday that the two-year-long mission will explore beyond the moon, fly by Mars, and return to Earth. Wang has also bought a ticket for a planned weeklong commercial spaceflight around the moon that will launch before the Mars mission.

“I believe that even without private investment in lunar flights, we will still reach the Moon, and likely very soon. As competition between the United States and China intensifies, governments will turn lunar bases into reality,” Wang said in a post on X on Friday.

“And I am happy to sit back and watch that happen. On the other hand, I have no confidence that Mars will still happen within our lifetime. And I think I should do something about that. I hope that by purchasing a flyby mission to Mars, SpaceX will have another reason not to forget about Mars. Because we seriously shouldn’t defer Mars to our next generation,” he added.

Source: Chun Wang

A growing number of tech entrepreneurs have started funding and taking part in trips to space, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Virgin Group co-founder Richard Branson and Jared Isaacman, founder of the American payment processing company Shift4 Payments.

Starship cargo flights to Mars for research, development and exploratory missions are expected to start no earlier than 2028, according to SpaceX.

The ultimate goal is to establish a self-sufficient city on Mars, which SpaceX estimates will require more than 1 million people and millions of tons of cargo.

“I hope this mission can show the public that Mars is not just a point of light in a telescope. It is a real place, and humans can fly there and come back alive and come back healthy,” Wang said.

Wang, a Chinese-born citizen of Malta, founded F2Pool in 2013, one of China’s first Bitcoin mining pools. It is currently the third largest pool, with a market share of over 11.85%, according to mempool.space.

Related: F2Pool co-founder says Thailand condo bought for 2,900 Bitcoin sold for 7

Last April, Wang also bankrolled and commanded the “Fram2” mission, another SpaceX venture that flew over the Earth’s poles and carried out experiments such as taking an X-ray in space and growing mushrooms.

German polar scientist Rabea Rogge, Norwegian cinematographer Jannicke Mikkelsen and Australian Arctic adventurer Eric Philips made up the rest of the four-person crew.

Magazine: Polymarket seeks Japan entry, Harvard dumps entire ETH position: Hodler’s Digest, May 17 – 23

Strategy has paused its Bitcoin purchases this week as the company moved to repurchase convertible debt, while Michael Saylor has continued signaling that future Bitcoin sales remain possible as part of the firm’s capital management strategy.

According to a post published by Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor on X, the company bought bonds instead of Bitcoin this week, with Saylor stating that the “BitVac is charging.” 

The comment came as investors watched for signs of another Bitcoin acquisition following recent weakness in both Bitcoin and MSTR stock.

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Earlier disclosures from Strategy showed the company plans to repurchase nearly $1.5 billion in face value of its 0% convertible senior notes due 2029 for about $1.38 billion in cash. Company filings said the repurchase could be funded through existing cash reserves, proceeds from at-the-market stock sales, and potential Bitcoin sales.

Just days before the latest announcement, Saylor said during an interview that it was “not unlikely” that Strategy could sell some Bitcoin before the end of 2026. During the interview, Saylor said models relying only on equity, credit, or Bitcoin underperformed compared with a more flexible capital allocation approach.

Strategy keeps focus on balance sheet and Bitcoin accumulation

Strategy has continued adding to its Bitcoin holdings in recent months. The company previously disclosed that it purchased 24,869 BTC for about $2.01 billion using proceeds raised through sales of STRC perpetual preferred shares and MSTR stock.

Company data showed Strategy currently holds 843,738 BTC valued at about $65.25 billion. Those holdings were acquired for roughly $63.88 billion, leaving the company with unrealized gains based on current Bitcoin prices.

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Meanwhile, Saylor has framed the temporary pause in Bitcoin buying as part of a larger financing strategy rather than a retreat from accumulation. In the Coin Stories interview, he described Strategy’s treasury model as programmatic and data-driven, with liabilities managed across cash, equity, credit, and Bitcoin.

While discussing possible Bitcoin sales, Saylor has reiterated that any disposal would likely remain small compared with Bitcoin’s estimated daily liquidity of $20 billion to $50 billion. He also argued that the company could still acquire roughly 20 Bitcoin for every one sold if dividend obligations were fully funded through BTC sales.

In the long term, Saylor said Strategy’s target remains increasing Bitcoin per share through 2033, describing any future Bitcoin sale as a capital allocation decision rather than a change in the company’s conviction around the asset.

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Additional comments from Saylor also pointed to the company’s long-term funding structure. He said Strategy does not plan to retire products such as STRF, STRD, and STRK preferred shares, while convertible bonds remain liabilities the company intends to reduce over time.

The debt repurchase has also drawn attention from equity investors because retiring convertible notes at a discount could reduce future stock dilution risks for MSTR shareholders. Strategy stated that the move improves its balance sheet while preserving flexibility to raise capital later through debt, equity offerings, or preferred share issuances.

Recent market pressure has nevertheless weighed on the stock. MSTR closed down 3.01% at $159.89 on Friday after falling more than 5% over the week. 

Strategy share price. Source: Google Finance.

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Artificial intelligence agents handling settlements in crypto have evolved from a speculative idea to a measurable part of the payments landscape over the past year. A collaborative study by crypto investment firm Keyrock, in partnership with Coinbase and the Tempo blockchain, shows machine-to-machine settlements totaling $73 million across 176 million transactions from May last year through April 2026.

Ben Harvey, a researcher with Keyrock, framed the development as a maturation of the field: “In the past 12 months, machine-to-machine payments have gone from concept to a developed ecosystem.” The report adds that incumbents have already deployed more than $8 billion in acquisitions to secure their foothold in what is becoming a new payment stack. This points to a marketplace where automation and programmable finance are increasingly central to everyday crypto activity.

Key takeaways

• AI agents settled $73 million across 176 million transactions between May 2025 and April 2026, according to Keyrock in collaboration with Coinbase and Tempo.
• By the end of Q1 this year, more than 104,000 AI agents were registered across 15+ directories, with the average transaction size around $0.31.
• Nearly all settlements—about 98%—were conducted in Circle’s USDC, highlighting the centrality of a single stablecoin issuer in the nascent AI-agent economy and raising concerns about systemic risk if reserve management or regulatory status changes.
• Industry signals point to rapid acceleration: Circle’s leadership has projected billions of AI agents operating with stablecoins in the coming years, and surveys show strong user appetite for AI-managed trading and portfolio decisions.

Rapid expansion of AI agent settlements

The scale of activity captured in the Keyrock report underscores a shift from experimental pilots to a functioning settlement layer for machine-driven commerce. The collaboration with Coinbase and Tempo aimed to quantify how far the ecosystem has come and where it might be headed as AI agents autonomously initiate and settle transactions across networks.

Harvey notes that the sub-dollar nature of many AI-agent payments exposes the inefficiency of traditional rails. He pointed out that a typical fixed processing fee—often around 30 cents per transaction—renders micro-payments uneconomical on conventional networks. The study emphasizes that stablecoins have become the practical settlement layer for sub-dollar machine payments, enabling cost-effective, near-instant settlements that would be impractical with legacy rails.

USDC’s central role and the risk it entails

Remarkably, the vast majority of AI-agent settlements—about 98%—used USDC, according to the report. While this confirms USDC as the de facto settlement currency for machine commerce, it also centralizes risk around Circle’s reserves, regulatory standing, and operational reliability. Harvey describes this reliance as both a validation and a vulnerability: “If Circle faces a regulatory challenge, a de-peg event, or even sustained downtime, the agent economy has no fallback.”

These observations contribute to a broader conversation about resilience in crypto payment ecosystems. As automation scales, the ecosystem’s dependence on a single stablecoin issuer could become a focal point for regulatory scrutiny and risk management strategies among startups, exchanges, and developers building AI-driven financial primitives.

Signals of acceleration and user appetite

The trend lines extend beyond settlement volumes. Circle’s leadership has publicly forecast a future in which billions of AI agents operate with stablecoins, representing a substantial expansion of automated, programmable payments. At the same time, user sentiment toward AI-managed finance remains cautiously positive. A CoinGecko survey of 2,632 crypto users found broad comfort with AI involvement in trading, with 87% willing to let AI agents manage at least 10% of their crypto portfolios.

Beyond these polls, the ecosystem is already seeing related product activity. Exodus recently launched an AI-agent-focused stablecoin on Solana, reflecting ongoing experimentation with specialized rails and instruments designed to support autonomous finance. Such developments illustrate a broader push to embed AI capabilities into the fabric of decentralized finance, from settlement layers to on-chain applications and liquidity provision.

What this means for users, developers, and investors

The emergence of AI-agent settlement raises practical considerations for users and builders. For users, the promise is faster, cheaper sub-dollar payments that unlock new use cases—micro-tokens for API calls, service payments, or on-demand access to data streams. For developers, the data suggests a growing demand for robust, interoperable agent frameworks that can operate across networks and wallets while maintaining security and auditability. Investors will likely watch for how the ecosystem handles concentration risks around stablecoins, especially in times of macro or regulatory stress, and which protocols diversify their settlement rails to avoid single points of failure.

As adoption accelerates, observers should monitor regulatory clarity around stablecoins and the resilience of crypto payment rails under stress. The next few quarters will reveal whether the AI-agent economy can sustain its early momentum or whether diversification of settlement assets and governance will become a prerequisite for scalable, permissioned machine commerce.

Readers should stay attentive to regulatory developments affecting stablecoins, the evolution of settlement-layer standards for AI agents, and the emergence of new tools designed to broaden anti-fragility in machine-to-machine payments.

Crypto trading platform Hyperliquid is beginning to compete with traditional exchanges and prediction market operators as it expands beyond perpetual futures trading, according to a new report from FalconX.

Senior crypto market strategist David Lawant outlined how Hyperliquid’s recent moves into pre-IPO markets, prediction contracts and tokenized real-world assets are broadening the platform’s appeal beyond crypto-native traders.

“Hyperliquid is seeing traction as demand for its HIP-3 markets expands to include pre-IPO markets,” the report said.

Hyperliquid first gained traction through crypto perpetual futures, a type of derivatives contract that dominates offshore digital asset trading. The platform’s native token, HYPE, has skyrocketed 94% over the past three months. But FalconX said newer products could push the platform into more direct competition with firms such as CME Group, Intercontinental Exchange-backed prediction market Kalshi and Polymarket.

The report pointed to growing activity in Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 markets, which allow users to trade assets including equities, commodities, forex and pre-IPO contracts around the clock. FalconX said those markets gained attention after traders used them to speculate on companies such as Cerebras, Anthropic and SpaceX before public listings.

The platform has also begun rolling out HIP-4 outcome markets, which function similarly to prediction markets by allowing traders to bet on binary outcomes tied to politics, economics and crypto events.

FalconX said the ability to trade prediction contracts alongside crypto and real-world asset positions on the same platform could become a major advantage.

“For example you could pair a HIP-3 perps position on NVDA with outcome markets that it could miss or beat earnings,” the report said.

The firm also highlighted strong early interest in newly launched exchange-traded funds tied to Hyperliquid’s HYPE token. Spot HYPE ETFs from 21Shares and Bitwise have attracted a combined $53 million in inflows after only a few trading sessions, according to Bloomberg data cited in the report.

FalconX said those inflows represented a larger percentage of HYPE’s market capitalization than early inflows into spot bitcoin, ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) ETFs at similar stages.

Meanwhile, Hyperliquid’s recent partnership with Coinbase (COIN) and Circle (CRCL) to integrate USDC as an aligned quote asset could significantly increase protocol revenue. FalconX estimated the arrangement could generate as much as $160 million in annualized revenue based on reserve yields tied to USDC balances on the platform.

The report also noted that regulatory developments in Washington could help accelerate adoption of tokenized real-world assets on decentralized trading venues. FalconX cited reports that the SEC is considering an innovation exemption framework for tokenized stocks.

At the same time, the firm warned that growing attention from traditional financial exchanges could bring regulatory scrutiny. CME and ICE have raised concerns with regulators about potential manipulation risks tied to Hyperliquid’s markets.

Even so, FalconX said Hyperliquid continues to lead decentralized perpetual futures markets in trading volumes, revenue and total value locked, positioning it as one of the fastest-growing trading platforms in crypto.

Fenwick & West has agreed to pay $54 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by former FTX customers who accused the law firm of helping facilitate fraud at the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.

According to court filings tied to the proposed settlement, the Silicon Valley law firm reached the agreement after initially trying to dismiss the case brought by former FTX users in 2023. The settlement still requires approval from a U.S. judge before it can take effect.

Former customers of the exchange alleged that Fenwick played a central role in legal and corporate arrangements that allowed FTX and its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research, to move and commingle customer funds without proper safeguards. Plaintiffs claimed the firm helped create structures and entities designed to obscure how customer assets were handled inside the FTX group.

Court records from the original complaint alleged that Fenwick also advised FTX on legal strategies intended to avoid money transmitter licensing requirements in some jurisdictions.

Earlier filings from August 2025 added further accusations against the law firm after plaintiffs sought permission to amend their complaint using evidence from Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial and the FTX bankruptcy process. In that proposed amended filing, former FTX customers argued that testimony from senior insiders and findings from an independent bankruptcy examiner showed Fenwick had become “deeply intertwined” with the exchange’s operations.

At the time, plaintiffs cited testimony from former FTX executives Nishad Singh, Gary Wang, and Caroline Ellison, who allegedly described internal practices involving improper loans, false statements, and misuse of customer funds. According to the filing, Singh told the court that Fenwick had been informed about some of those activities and advised on legal structures connected to them.

Other allegations in the amended filing accused the law firm of helping establish shell companies linked to Alameda Research and North Dimension, an entity used to route customer deposits. Plaintiffs also pointed to the use of encrypted and auto-deleting Signal chats by FTX executives, which they said Fenwick knew about during its legal representation of the exchange.

At the same time, the filing introduced securities law claims under Florida and California statutes tied to the sale of FTT tokens and other FTX-related investment products. Plaintiffs argued that Fenwick attorneys participated in designing and facilitating those offerings for investors.

Legal fallout from FTX collapse continues

Elsewhere in the FTX fallout, former FTX head of engineering Nishad Singh agreed in April 2026 to pay a $3.7 million disgorgement to settle charges brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

According to the CFTC, Singh also accepted a five-year trading ban and an eight-year registration ban as part of the supplemental consent order tied to the misuse of customer funds at FTX. CFTC enforcement director David Miller said the resolution accounted for Singh’s cooperation with investigators.

Separately, the FTX Recovery Trust has continued distributing recovered assets to former customers and creditors. In March, the Trust distributed $2.2 billion to claimants, while another reimbursement round has been scheduled for May 29.

Key Highlights

• HYPE token reached an unprecedented peak of $64.48, maintaining levels above $60 through Monday’s trading session
• Institutional investment vehicles from 21Shares, Bitwise, and Grayscale are channeling significant capital, with $72M entering the market last week
• The platform’s innovative buyback mechanism allocates 97–99% of fee revenue toward HYPE token repurchases
• Perpetual futures Open Interest surged to an all-time high of $2.95 billion, indicating robust market participation
• Market analyst Michaël van de Poppe forecasts HYPE could surpass the $100 threshold

Hyperliquid’s native token (HYPE) continues its remarkable ascent, establishing new price records driven by a confluence of institutional adoption, strategic token economics, and expanding platform utility. The digital asset peaked at $64.48 before stabilizing near the $60 level.

The competitive landscape for HYPE-focused exchange-traded products is rapidly evolving. Bitwise introduced BHYP on the NYSE Arca exchange, while 21Shares debuted THYP on Nasdaq. These investment vehicles collectively attracted $72.38 million in fresh capital during the previous week, representing a dramatic increase from the prior week’s modest $2.52 million.

Grayscale has officially entered the competition. According to Bloomberg’s ETF specialist James Seyffart, Grayscale submitted an updated registration document for a HYPE investment trust, proposing the ticker symbol GHYP. The documentation identifies Anchorage Digital Bank as the custodial partner and Bank of New York Mellon as the administrative entity.

Grayscale’s submission incorporates a staking component. Should regulatory authorities approve, the trust may be rebranded as the Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF, potentially offering investors exposure to both price appreciation and staking income.

Token Repurchase Program Generates Sustained Demand

Hyperliquid employs a distinctive economic model that channels 97% to 99% of platform trading fees toward systematic token repurchases from secondary markets. Approximately 210,000 HYPE tokens were acquired through this mechanism during the past week. The platform’s assistance fund currently maintains 44.52 million tokens, with cumulative repurchases totaling 26.81 million HYPE. The aggregate value of all buyback activity has reached $1.16 billion.

Perpetual futures Open Interest climbed to a record $2.95 billion on Monday, according to CoinGlass data. Hyperliquid commands approximately 70% of the decentralized perpetual futures market and represents roughly 7% of total perpetual contract open interest across all trading venues.

Market participant LSTRADER, sharing analysis on X, observed that previous all-time high projections have already materialized. The trader suggested the current strategy involves trend following while capitalizing on temporary retracements, with additional resistance levels now in focus.

New Platform Features Drive Revenue Growth

Hyperliquid’s recently launched HIP-4 prediction market processed 6.05 million contracts on its inaugural day and equaled Polymarket’s two-week Bitcoin binary contract volume within just 48 hours. Additional product offerings generate increased fee revenue, which directly powers the token buyback system.

From a technical analysis perspective, HYPE maintains strong positioning above its 50, 100, and 200-day exponential moving averages. The Relative Strength Index registers at 75, suggesting overbought territory, while the MACD indicator confirms ongoing bullish momentum. Fibonacci extension analysis identifies critical resistance zones at $70.04 and $83.51.

Crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe has publicly expressed his conviction that HYPE will exceed $100 in the near term.