Crypto World
Apple CEO Transition: The Quiet Crypto Angle
Apple’s CEO transition from Tim Cook to John Ternus has drawn extensive analysis on AI and product strategy. However, crypto industry observers have specific reasons to watch this transition even without any visible policy shift.
Apple Pay, App Store economics, and regulatory shifts form three quiet forces shaping crypto on Apple’s platform.
Ternus Inherits Cook’s Conservative Crypto Stance
Ternus inherits a company that has maintained a consistently conservative stance on corporate crypto for over a decade. Apple has no digital assets on its balance sheet and rejects allocating treasury funds to cryptocurrencies of any type. Cook personally owns Bitcoin and Ethereum but deliberately kept investments separate from corporate policy throughout his tenure.
Nothing in Ternus’s engineering background suggests active reversal of this position or any direct crypto integration. Apple’s relationship with crypto does not depend on formal corporate endorsement or any explicit strategy reversal. Several existing channels already generate value without requiring public commitment from the new Cupertino leadership team.
Apple’s App Store still charges a 30% commission on digital goods, including NFTs and crypto-related in-app purchases. This creates a revenue relationship with the crypto sector without endorsing any specific token or blockchain project. The framework remains intact under Ternus, providing continuity for developers and users across the broader crypto space.
Apple Pay Has Quietly Become a Crypto Rail
Third-party wallets increasingly settle crypto transactions via Apple Pay infrastructure without any direct involvement from Apple. Mesh demonstrated stablecoin Apple Pay integration in 2025, allowing merchants to accept Bitcoin and receive USDC settlements. Exodus launched similar functionality across five US states in April 2026, supporting native USDC and Bitcoin spending.
Counterpoint Research found that 41% of first-time crypto buyers globally funded their initial purchases via Apple Pay. This exposes Apple to the economic growth of crypto adoption without requiring any formal strategic decision from new leadership. Partner integrations effectively turn Apple Pay into the backbone of retail crypto payments across several major markets.
Terminology matters here because Apple never touches crypto, yet the ecosystem benefits enormously from its global reach.
Regulatory Forces Are Reshaping the Ecosystem
US stablecoin legislation is steadily reducing the regulatory uncertainty that Apple long cited as the main obstacle to integration. The EU MiCA framework created compliant pathways for crypto payments across 27 European markets during 2024 implementation. These shifts weaken Apple’s traditional regulatory excuse for avoiding deeper corporate engagement in crypto under new leadership.
Cook’s executive chairman role preserves his policy influence over crypto-adjacent regulatory relationships across diverse global jurisdictions. Apple’s quiet crypto infrastructure will likely deepen regardless of whether Ternus shows any personal interest in digital assets.
The post Apple CEO Transition: The Quiet Crypto Angle appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Arbitrum on Monday froze more than 30,000 Ether worth about $71.2 million held in a wallet connected to the recent exploit of the Kelp protocol.
Arbitrum said on Monday that its security council, a 12-member body elected by the Arbitrum community, took “emergency action” to freeze 30,766 Ether (ETH) that was held in a wallet connected to the Kelp exploit.
It added that the ETH had been moved to “an intermediary frozen wallet” and was “no longer accessible to the address that originally held the funds, and can only be moved by further action by Arbitrum governance.”
Kelp, a liquid restaking protocol, was hacked for at least $293 million on Saturday through its LayerZero-powered bridge, with LayerZero accusing North Korea of carrying out the attack.
The exploit has caused millions of dollars’ worth of “bad debt” in the highly interconnected crypto lending market, as the attackers used stolen Kelp tokens to borrow cryptocurrencies on the lending platform Aave.
A blockchain freezing crypto is a divisive measure in the crypto sector, with opponents of freezes arguing that such action is antithetical to the purpose of the technology, while supporters argue it enhances security and maintains a network’s integrity.
Multiple users on X criticized Arbitrum over the freeze and questioned its decentralization in light of funds being frozen by decree of a council.
Related: Hackers impersonated eth.limo team to hijack its domain: Post-mortem
Griff Green, a member of the Arbitrum Security Council, posted to X that the group “did not make this decision lightly, there were countless hours of debates, technical, practical, ethical and political.”
Green added that nine members of the 12-member council voted to freeze the funds, but did not share further details.
Arbitrum said its council acted with input from law enforcement and “weighed its commitment to the security and integrity of the Arbitrum community without impacting any Arbitrum users or applications.”
Magazine: South Korea gets rich from crypto… North Korea gets weapons
The value of tokenized real-world assets on public blockchains is estimated at more than $29 billion, up more than 10% in the last 30 days.
OCBC, one of Singapore’s largest banking and financial services corporations, has launched a tokenized physical gold fund, with the underlying token, GOLDX, issued on both Ethereum and Solana.
The launch was made together with its asset management arm, Lion Global Investors and digital asset exchange DigiFT. The token is aimed at institutional investors, hedge funds and asset managers and can be bought and sold using both stablecoins and fiat currencies. After subscription, the token is delivered directly to investors’ blockchain wallets, OCBC said on Monday.
Kenneth Lai, head of global markets at OCBC, said the move is part of a new corporate strategy and a milestone in the corporation’s blockchain-focused approach.
“We believe digital assets will play an increasingly important role in financial services and our focus is on bridging traditional finance with the emerging world of decentralized finance,” he said.
The value of tokenized real-world assets on public blockchains has been on the rise in 2026, and is sitting at over $29 billion, up over 10% in the last 30 days, according to data from rwa.xyz.
GOLDX token tied to a physical gold fund
OCBC’s GOLDX token offers on-chain exposure to the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund, which launched in December and had about $525 million (669 million Singapore dollars) in assets under management as of April 16, according to OCBC.
Related: Singapore Gulf Bank adds stablecoin mint and redeem for 24/7 settlement
The goal of the tokenized fund is to attract Web3 ecosystem participants and high-net-worth individuals who operate in blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystems, according to OCBC.
OCBC has used blockchain technology before, starting with its first tokenized equity-linked note for accredited investors in 2023. Its total assets were estimated at about $526 billion as of December 2025.
Crypto World
Is SUI Network Positioned for the Next Bull Cycle? CME Futures, Spot ETFs, and 219% Dev Growth Suggest It
TLDR:
- SUI Network holds $583M in TVL and processes over $100 billion in monthly stablecoin volume on-chain.
- Monthly active developers grew 219% year-over-year, with more than 500 active projects in the ecosystem.
- USDsui, backed by Stripe, reached $36 million in supply within one month of its public launch.
- SUI is one of fewer than 10 altcoins with a live U.S. spot ETF, with CME futures launching in May.
SUI Network continues to attract market attention as on-chain data shows consistent, measurable activity. The Layer-1 blockchain holds total value locked of approximately $583 million, with daily DEX volume at $60 million.
Monthly active developers grew 219% year-over-year to roughly 1,400. With over 500 active projects and close to 300,000 daily active users, the ecosystem reflects data-backed growth. These numbers have drawn attention from both retail and institutional market participants.
On-Chain Metrics Point to a Maturing Blockchain
The network’s stablecoin supply stands at $519 million, with USDC making up about 72% of that figure. Monthly stablecoin volume exceeds $100 billion, and the chain crossed $1 trillion in cumulative stablecoin transfers by March.
These figures reflect genuine network usage, not just speculative activity. That distinction matters when evaluating whether a Layer-1 blockchain has real traction.
The MystenLabs/sui GitHub repository holds over 7,600 stars and more than 11,700 forks. Active projects across the ecosystem have surpassed 500, showing expansion well beyond early-stage development.
As analyst @Kaffchad noted on X, bear market conditions have helped separate genuine progress from noise. The network kept shipping and funding projects through the broader market cooldown.
Daily active users range from 150,000 to 300,000, showing demand that extends beyond speculative trading cycles. That consistency becomes a key comparison point against earlier-generation blockchains.
Moreover, MystenLabs has maintained active incubation efforts throughout the market downturn. Few Layer-1 networks carry the financial capacity to support builders at that level.
Developer growth of 219% year-over-year stands out across the broader L1 landscape. Each new project added to the ecosystem creates additional utility and pulls in more users over time.
This compounding effect has been building steadily through 2024 and into 2025. It represents the kind of structural growth that price momentum alone cannot manufacture.
Institutional Products and a Payments Roadmap Drive Broader Adoption
SUI launched USDsui, a Stripe-backed stablecoin that reached $36 million in supply within its first month. Treasury bond yields tied to this product flow back into buybacks and DeFi incentives.
Gasless stablecoin transfers are also planned for the 2026 roadmap. These moves place the chain in direct competition with Solana and Tron in the payments space.
Canary’s SUIS launched on NASDAQ and Grayscale’s GSUI listed on NYSE Arca in February. That makes SUI one of fewer than 10 altcoins with a live U.S. spot ETF.
Bitwise and 21Shares have additional ETF applications pending regulatory approval. T. Rowe Price also included the asset in a multi-asset crypto ETF filing in March.
CME Group is set to launch SUI futures in May, widening institutional market access further. @Kaffchad noted that the chain’s $15 billion market cap run came without the controversies tied to Solana’s rise.
No FTX or Alameda equivalent was connected to its early growth. That cleaner track record carries weight when institutional buyers assess counterparty risk.
Solana and Tron built payment dominance through low fees and fast transaction speeds. SUI brings comparable performance on more modern technical infrastructure.
With live institutional products and an active payments roadmap in motion, the network is building operational infrastructure that matches its on-chain data. Execution over the coming quarters will determine whether this trajectory holds.
While quantum computing remains a largely theoretical threat to blockchain for now, some projects are already preparing for that eventuality.
Fintech company Ripple has released a detailed four-phase roadmap to make the XRP Ledger, a decentralized, layer-1 blockchain, quantum-resistant, aiming to reach full readiness by 2028. XRP, the world’s fourth-largest digital asset by market capitalization, is the native token of the XRP Ledger. Ripple’s solutions use XRP Ledger, XRP, and other digital assets. Ripple is also one of many developers building on and contributing to the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
Ripple’s announcement comes weeks after Google warned that a quantum computer could potentially attack Bitcoin, the world’s largest blockchain, with less computational power than previously estimated—prompting some analysts to suggest 2029 as the Q-day, the so-called deadline to build defenses against such a machine. Bitcoin developers are also already working on measures to mitigate the risk.
Let’s first understand the threat to XRPL and then discuss the four-phase plan.
Quantum risks to XRPL
A quantum computer has three implications for the XRP Ledger, and these apply equally to most other blockchains.
First, every time an XRPL account signs a transaction, its public key becomes visible on the blockchain. It’s like writing your mailing addresses on the outside of an envelope, allowing anyone to see where it came from, but they still can’t see what’s written inside without the private key.
However, a quantum computer can reverse-engineer the private key from the exposed public key, draining your coin holdings.
Second, accounts that have held coins for long periods of time are the highest risk. The longer the public key sits on-chain, the more time a future quantum attacker has to target it.
Lastly, the team added that building quantum-resistant systems is not just a technical challenge but an operational one, as it’s tied to every XRP holder and every application built on the XRP Ledger.
Collectively, these things warrant a structured response.
The four-phase plan
Phase 1, called Q-Day readiness, is an emergency measure designed to protect exposed public keys and long-held accounts if quantum computers arrive faster than expected.
In that case, Ripple will implement what it calls a hard shift: Classical public-key signatures will no longer be accepted by the network, requiring all funds to migrate to quantum-safe accounts.
This phase also looks into enabling safe recovery for all account owners via zero-knowledge proofs, a way of mathematically proving you own a key without revealing the key itself. This would allow holders to migrate funds even in a compromised scenario, ensuring no one is locked out.
Phase 2 is already underway and is targeted for completion in the first half of 2026. It involves Ripple’s applied cryptography team conducting a full assessment of quantum vulnerability across the XRPL network and testing defenses suggested by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. government’s global standards body for cybersecurity.
But those defenses aren’t without cost. For instance, post-quantum cryptography uses larger keys and signatures, which can strain the ledger. So the team is also working through the tradeoffs and what system changes might be needed.
To accelerate this phase, Ripple has teamed up with quantum security research firm Project Eleven for validator-level testing, developer networking benchmarking and early custody wallet prototypes.
Phase 3, targeted for completion in the second half of 2026, involves controlled integration of post quantum measures. In this phase, Ripple will begin integrating quantum-resistant signatures alongside existing ones on its developer test network. It will allow developers to test and build against the new cryptography without disrupting the live network and existing users.
This phase, therefore, directly addresses the third implication that migration, though a giant operational effort, must not break what already works.
At the same time, the work goes beyond just replacing today’s signing methods. The team is rethinking the broader cryptography underpinning XRPL and exploring quantum-resistant approaches to privacy and secure data processing, which are important for compliant tokenization and features such as confidential transfers.
“This phase is where experimentation meets system design. We’re not just asking “what works cryptographically?” We’re asking “what works for XRPL at scale?,” the team said.
Phase 4 marks the full transition from experiment to full deployment, targeting completion by 2028. “We’ll design, build and propose a new amendment to the XRPL ecosystem for native post-quantum cryptography and begin transitioning the network to PQC-based signatures at scale,” Ripple’s team said.
The four phases mean the migration path could be seamless and significantly less painful, which could be a material advantage as the clock ticks down to Q-day.
Crypto World
Dutch Blockchain Week 2026 Strengthens Position as Europe’s Leading B2B Blockchain Event Week
Dutch Blockchain Week 2026 is rapidly evolving into one of Europe’s most business-driven blockchain event weeks. Taking place from June 22–28, 2026, the event will bring together the international digital asset ecosystem in Amsterdam for a full week of conferences, networking and high-level industry collaboration.
At the core of the week is the Dutch Blockchain Week Summit, hosted on June 24–25 at the Johan Cruijff ArenA, where more than a thousand professionals per day are expected to attend.
Strong Early Momentum With Leading Partners Onboard
Within just a few months of active conversations, Dutch Blockchain Week 2026 has secured a strong and diverse group of partners, highlighting the growing relevance of the event within the European digital asset landscape.
Confirmed partners include:
● Bitvavo as Main Partner
● bunq as Diamond Partner (joining for the first time)
● Visa, Kraken, OKX, Bybit EU and ZeroHash as Platinum Partners ● Mastercard, Worldpay, Talos, Deloitte, Coinmerce, Fireblocks and others as Gold Partners
In addition, a growing group of ecosystem and media partners is contributing to the expansion of the event’s international reach.
From Community to Business: A Clear B2B Focus
Dutch Blockchain Week has grown from a community-driven initiative into a fully B2B-focused event week, designed to connect:
● Exchanges
● Banks and payment providers
● Asset managers and funds
● Infrastructure providers
● Legal and compliance firms
● Regulators and policymakers
The event reflects the broader shift within the industry, where institutional adoption continues to accelerate and traditional finance increasingly converges with digital assets.
Amsterdam as a Gateway to the European Market
The Netherlands continues to play a leading role in Europe’s digital asset landscape, particularly with regard to MiCA licensing and regulatory developments.
This position is driving increasing interest from international companies looking to establish or expand their presence in Europe, making Dutch Blockchain Week a strategic entry point into the European market.
A Full Week of Events Across the City
Dutch Blockchain Week 2026 will feature more than 40 side events across Amsterdam, organized by partners from the Netherlands and abroad.
These include:
● Private dinners and roundtables
● Community and developer meetups
● Investor-focused gatherings
● Exclusive networking events
A key highlight is the VIP Night, an invite-only event ahead of the summit where speakers, partners and selected attendees connect in a more intimate setting.
Focused on Meaningful Connections
Rather than focusing solely on visibility, Dutch Blockchain Week is built around creating real business opportunities. Through curated networking, a dedicated networking app and facilitated introductions, the event enables participants to connect with the right people.
Looking Ahead to June 2026
With strong early traction, a growing international partner base and a clear positioning as a business-focused platform, Dutch Blockchain Week 2026 is set to become its most impactful edition to date.
For one week, Amsterdam will once again serve as the meeting point for the European Web3 and digital asset ecosystem.
Tickets are available via: https://dutchblockchainweek.com/tickets/
About Dutch Blockchain Week
Dutch Blockchain Week is the largest Web3 and digital assets event in the Netherlands and one of the fastest-growing blockchain event weeks in Europe. Since its launch, DBW has brought together thousands of professionals, dozens of side events and leading companies from across blockchain, fintech and digital assets.
The post Dutch Blockchain Week 2026 Strengthens Position as Europe’s Leading B2B Blockchain Event Week appeared first on BeInCrypto.
A BBC investigation has identified a consistent pattern of spikes in trading activity across several financial markets in the hours or minutes before US President Donald Trump’s most significant market-moving statements during his second term.
Some analysts argue the activity carries the telltale signs of illegal insider trading. Meanwhile, others contend the situation is less clear-cut, suggesting certain traders have simply grown more skilled at predicting the president’s interventions.
Is Someone Trading on Trump’s Next Move Before the World Hears It?
The report presented five notable examples. On March 9, 2026, a large volume of bets on falling oil prices was reportedly placed 47 minutes before a CBS reporter’s post about Trump’s interview on X.
During the interview with CBS, Trump signaled that the US-Israel war with Iran was “very complete, pretty much.” Oil prices subsequently dropped around 25%.
On March 23, 2026, traders placed “unusually high number bets” on US oil prices 14 minutes before Trump’s Truth Social post about a resolution with Iran. One oil analyst told the BBC the activity appeared abnormal.
Ahead of Trump’s 90-day “Liberation Day” tariff pause on April 9, 2025, over $2 million was wagered on the S&P 500 rising despite seven consecutive days of losses.
“Again, a pattern of unusual trading preceded these events with an unusually high number of bets ahead of the announcement on one fund that tracks the S&P 500. The number of contracts traded jumped to over 10,000 per minute just after 18:00 BST. Earlier in the day, the number had been in the hundreds,” the report read.
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The BBC also flagged that a Polymarket account called “Burdensome-Mix,” which turned $32,500 in wagers into $436,000. The account placed bets on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro leaving office just days before US special forces seized him on January 3, 2026.
The report added that shortly after, the account changed its username and has not placed any wagers since.
Finally, the BBC, citing data from blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps, noted that six Polymarket accounts were created in February 2026. All wagered on a US strike against Iran by February 28. The accounts collectively earned roughly $1.2 million after the attack.
“Five of those six users have placed no more bets since, but one of the account’s recent activity shows it has subsequently made $163,000 by correctly betting on a US-Iran ceasefire by 7 April, which was announced by Washington and Tehran on that day,” the outlet added.
BeInCrypto has reached out to the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for comment.
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The post Is It Luck, Skill, or a Leak? BBC Probes Trades Before Trump’s Announcements appeared first on BeInCrypto.
New York state assemblymember and congressional candidate Alex Bores has proposed an AI dividend program aimed at addressing possible job losses linked to artificial intelligence.
Summary
- Alex Bores proposed an AI dividend to support Americans if automation causes broad job displacement nationwide.
- The plan would use AI taxes, equity stakes, and reform to fund direct payments.
- The proposal also supports worker training, education, and oversight as AI adoption expands further.
He presented the plan as a way to prepare US workers and households for changes that may come as AI adoption spreads across industries.
In a post on X, Bores said the proposal would create direct payments for Americans if AI leads to major labor displacement. He said the goal is to prepare for what he called ”potential large-scale displacement of human labor by artificial intelligence.”
According to Bores, the proposed AI dividend would draw funding from several sources. These include taxes on AI use, equity stakes in major AI companies, and tax reforms tied to the treatment of labor and capital.
Bores said the plan is designed to respond if AI lifts productivity while concentrating more wealth in fewer hands. The proposal states, ”if AI dramatically increases productivity and concentrates wealth, the American people have a stake in those gains.” It also describes the dividend as ”not a punishment for innovation” but ”an insurance policy.”
Meanwhile, the plan goes beyond direct payments. It also calls for investments in workforce transition, education, training, and oversight systems tied to AI safety. That structure suggests the proposal is meant to address both income support and longer-term labor market adjustments.
Bores is promoting the policy as part of his campaign for Congress. That means the proposal’s path forward may depend in part on the outcome of his race and whether he can build broader political support for the idea.
Debate over AI job losses remains unsettled
The proposal comes as concerns about AI-led layoffs continue to grow. A recent Goldman Sachs report said AI adoption contributed to the loss of about 16,000 jobs per month over the past year, adding to worries that automation may reduce hiring in some sectors.
At the same time, other research points to a more mixed picture. Morgan Stanley said in an April 14 report that AI’s effect on the labor market has been ”modest so far.”
The firm said evidence of broad job losses remains limited and noted that past technological shifts often created new jobs over time, even when they replaced others in the short term.
Major US technology firms such as Amazon, Meta, Intel, and Microsoft have already cut thousands of jobs or reportedly planned cuts tied to AI-driven efficiency.
That backdrop has given more attention to proposals such as the AI dividend as policymakers weigh how to respond to the next stage of automation.
A chunk of the Kelp DAO haul is no longer going anywhere.
Arbitrum’s Security Council froze 30,766 ETH worth roughly $71 million on Monday night, moving funds linked to Saturday’s $292 million rsETH exploit into an intermediary wallet that can only be accessed through further Arbitrum governance action.
rsETH is a liquid restaking token issued by KelpDAO and represents a user’s position in restaked ether (ETH).
The Arbitrum Security Council has taken emergency action to freeze the 30,766 ETH being held in the address on Arbitrum One that is connected to the KelpDAO exploit. The Security Council acted with input from law enforcement as to the exploiter’s identity, and, at all times,…
— Arbitrum (@arbitrum) April 21, 2026
The council said it acted on input from law enforcement regarding the exploiter’s identity and executed the freeze “without impacting any Arbitrum users or applications.”
The transfer completed at 11:26 p.m. ET on April 20, according to Arbitrum’s statement on X. The stolen funds are no longer controllable by the address that originally held them.
The move recovers about a quarter of the total amount drained from Kelp’s LayerZero-powered bridge on Saturday, when attackers pulled 116,500 rsETH by exploiting compromised verifier infrastructure. LayerZero attributed the attack with preliminary confidence to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
Arbitrum is a layer-2 blockchain, meaning a network built on top of Ethereum that processes transactions more cheaply and settles them back to the main chain. Its Security Council is a group of elected signers with emergency powers to take protective action in exactly this kind of scenario, though governance-level interventions on user funds remain rare and controversial because they introduce a degree of discretionary control over an otherwise permissionless network.
The freeze leaves Kelp with a partial recovery option on top of whatever else law enforcement and chain-tracing firms can claw back.
It also escalates the ongoing dispute between Kelp and LayerZero over who bears responsibility for the exploit, since any broader socialization of remaining losses now has a $71 million offset to work with before legal coordination, insurance, or treasury contributions come into play.
Kelp has said it is coordinating with ecosystem partners on a recovery fund and weighing next steps on unpausing, loss socialization, and legal coordination with affected counterparties. LayerZero has not publicly commented on the Arbitrum freeze.
Whether more stolen funds can be frozen depends on where else the attacker moved rsETH or its derivatives before consolidation, and whether other chains with similar emergency powers choose to act on their portions of the flow.
Coinbase-backed AI payments protocol x402 has launched Agentic.market, a new platform built to help AI agents find and use compatible online services.
Summary
- Coinbase-backed x402 launched Agentic.market, helping AI agents find, access, and pay for compatible online services more easily.
- The platform offers human browsing tools and agent-facing integrations, removing API key barriers for service discovery.
- Support from Google, Microsoft, AWS, Visa, and Stripe expands momentum around x402-based AI payment infrastructure.
The launch adds a discovery layer to the protocol by offering a single place where users and AI agents can search for tools that support x402-based payments.
Coinbase product lead Nick Prince said the platform aims to “give humans and their agents access to thousands of services, with zero API keys required.” He described Agentic.market as a storefront where users can discover, compare, and use services that work with x402.
Prince said the platform addresses a gap in the AI agent market. He said many users have depended on scattered information and informal recommendations to find services that AI agents can access. Agentic.market is designed to solve that issue by organizing those services in one place.
The marketplace includes services and websites that AI agents can use, such as CoinGecko, Google Flights, and X. Prince also said the platform includes a web interface for people and a programming layer that lets AI agents search, filter, and connect to services on their own during operation.
Additionally, the x402 protocol launched in May 2025 and allows AI agents to make internet payments using stablecoins. It takes its name from the rarely used HTTP status code “402 Payment Required.” Coinbase and its partners present the protocol as infrastructure for AI-driven online commerce.
Prince said the platform gives an AI agent “skills,” or code that explains how to use a service. He added that agents also get a wallet, which allows them to “buy services and also sell services.” This setup is meant to let agents complete more tasks without requiring direct human control for each action.
Support grows across tech and payments firms
Earlier this month, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services backed the launch of the x402 Foundation, which will govern the protocol. American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Cloudflare, Shopify, Stripe, Circle, Base, Polygon Labs, the Solana Foundation, Thirdweb, and KakaoPay also expressed support for the initiative.
“There will be more AI agents transacting online than humans very soon,” noted Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire made a similar forecast in January, saying “literally billions of AI agents” could transact on blockchains within three to five years. The launch of Agentic.market places x402 more directly within that growing AI payments push.
The Russell 2000 just hit a new all-time high, sparking optimism for an altcoin season. However, this time, its historical correlation with altcoins has turned negative for the first time since July 2016.
The shift breaks a pattern that has guided altcoin season traders. It arrives as the macro setup turns bullish, but altcoin charts remain unconfirmed.
Russell 2000 Breakout Revives Altseason Narrative Amid Liquidity Surge
The Russell 2000 index tracks approximately 2,000 small-cap US companies, a segment generally associated with higher risk within traditional financial markets.
Outperformance in the index typically reflects a shift in market sentiment toward risk-on behavior, as investors allocate capital to higher-beta assets in pursuit of stronger returns. In April, the small-cap benchmark surged 11.8%, reaching a fresh all-time high on Monday.
“When small caps outperform on a red day for big tech the market is not scared. It is repositioning. Investors are rotating into the companies that benefit most from a domestic recovery. Lower oil. Lower rates. Peace deal,” analyst Bull Theory posted.
According to the analyst, past Russell 2000 breakouts have consistently preceded rallies in the altcoin market. Ash Crypto echoed the bullish view.
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Meanwhile, Federal Reserve balance sheet activity reinforces the bullish setup.
“One of the key drivers behind previous Alt Seasons is the Fed balance sheet… and it’s exploding for the first time in years. Three liquidity injections coming this week. • $5.058B Fed bill purchase (and repeated $5B–$7.5B ops scheduled) • $90B released via TGA • $15B Treasury debt buyback (largest on record) • $40B+ in total Fed purchases this week QT is over. Balance sheet is turning up. Risk is being re-enabled,” analyst Mark added.
He argued that the altseason was delayed rather than cancelled, citing the Fed’s balance sheet expansion.
The Correlation That Traders Rely On Has Broken
Nonetheless, the relationship supporting the altcoin rally thesis has shifted sharply. Analyst Tony Severino noted the correlation coefficient between the Russell 2000 and altcoins has turned negative and is strengthening to the downside.
“At the moment, the correlation between these two assets is negative for the first time since July 2016. The indicator can curl back up from here, but at the moment it is pointed sharply down,” he said.
Severino emphasized that historical correlations offer limited predictive value in a changing macro environment. As a result, relying on past breakout patterns may be ineffective when a previously positive relationship has reversed into negative territory.
At the same time, analyst Zach Humphries sees similar weakness on altcoin market cap charts, describing current price action as a bearish retest.
Whether the negative correlation reverses or signals a structural change in altcoin capital formation will determine whether the delayed altseason thesis survives into mid-2026.
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The post Russell 2000 Hits New Record High: Why This Signal May Mean Less for Altcoins in 2026 appeared first on BeInCrypto.
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