Pi Network co-founders took the Consensus 2026 stage in Miami, six days before Protocol 23 activates on May 11

Pi Network co-founders Dr. Chengdiao Fan and Nicolas Kokkalis both appeared at Consensus 2026 in Miami this week, speaking to over 20,000 attendees including institutional investors and government representatives. Fan addressed the Convergence Stage on May 6, delivering a session titled “Aligning Web3, AI, and Blockchain for Utility,” while Kokkalis joined a May 7 panel called “How to Prove You’re Human in an AI World (Without Doxing Yourself).”

The appearances are precisely timed. As crypto.news reported, Pi Network’s Protocol 23 activates on May 11, four days after the conference closes, introducing full smart contract functionality to the Pi blockchain for the first time. The Consensus stage gives the co-founders maximum public visibility immediately before their most consequential technical upgrade.

Identity and AI as Pi’s central argument

Kokkalis’s panel placed Pi Network’s KYC-verified user base at the centre of one of the most pressing problems in the AI era: how to confirm that a user is human when AI can simulate human behaviour convincingly. Pi Network argues its 18 million verified users and 526 million completed KYC validation tasks give it a structural answer that pure code-based blockchains cannot replicate.

Fan’s session argued that utility, not speculation, must drive the next phase of crypto adoption. Pi Network’s official X account confirmed that Fan stated on stage: “This is the infrastructure Pi has been building since 2019,” directly connecting the network’s years of identity verification work to the AI era’s governance challenge.

With Protocol 23 days away, Consensus 2026 gave Pi Network’s founders a high-profile window to frame what the upgrade delivers before the launch itself defines the story. As crypto.news tracked, PI rose more than 5% on April 29 when both founders were confirmed as speakers, with the token near $0.187 entering conference week.

Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR), the blockchain firm helmed by former SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, is planning on taking on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in first-lien mortgages.

Speaking at Consensus Miami, Cagney cited origination costs of $1,000 on the firm’s blockchain platform against $11,000 through the GSEs, the federally chartered firms that buy mortgages from U.S. lenders.

The pitch combines cost and speed. Figure says HELOC applications get approved in 5 minutes and loans fund in 3 days, against an industry norm of 30-45 days.

The platform also gives originators a guaranteed buyer for the loans they make, the same role Fannie and Freddie play in the traditional system.

The first-lien market is 25 times larger than Figure’s existing second-lien HELOC business, which runs through 308 partner originators according to Cagney.

Cagney said the sub-$300,000 segment is the target because the fee structure that supports smaller GSE-channel loans does not work at Fannie and Freddie’s cost levels.

Cagney also said Figure’s HELOC tokens are the ninth-largest crypto asset on public blockchain by market value, passing DOGE$0.1109 roughly six weeks ago.

That number sits at the center of a fight over what counts as onchain. DeFiLlama founder 0xngmi argued in a September article that Figure’s claimed $12 billion in tokenized real-world assets is not visible in any meaningful sense on Provenance, the firm’s affiliated chain.

He documented roughly $5 million in BTC and $4 million in ETH on Figure’s exchange, plus $20 million in YLDS stablecoin supply. DeFiLlama tracks Figure’s TVL at about $140 million and has declined to count the larger figure.

Beyond that debate, margins reflect a shift away from balance-sheet lending. Figure’s adjusted EBITDA margin moved from 30% to 55% in 2025 as the firm pivoted to a marketplace model. Cagney guided to 80–85% over the next one to two years.

Revenue was $339 million in 2024 and $510 million in 2025, with sell-side estimates of $650 to $680 million for 2026. Figure crossed $1 billion in monthly originations for the first time in March.

Cagney also said Figure is in talks with Consensys’ MetaMask to integrate Democratized Prime, the firm’s DeFi protocol for lending against onchain mortgage and auto collateral.

He also announced a second listing on OPEN, Figure’s blockchain-native equity venue. The first listing was for Figure’s FIGR shares alongside a $150 million secondary offering.

Hyperliquid just activated prediction markets and logged $6 million in contracts on day one, but the Hyperliquid price prediction still has HYPE sitting 30% below the peak it set last September.

Product launches do not always spark immediate breakouts, and traders who recognize the pattern are scanning for entries where the math works on a different scale.

As a presale raising more than $9.78 million ahead of a Binance listing, Pepeto carries the rare mix of meme energy, working tools, and exchange backing that most tokens never assemble in one cycle.

Hyperliquid activated HIP 4 outcome markets on mainnet May 2, 2026, bringing prediction trading into the same accounts where users already run futures and spot positions according to Bitcoin.com.

The first contracts covered daily BTC price levels, and researchers tracked 6.05 million contracts in the opening session.

CoinDesk reported that Arthur Hayes called HYPE the competitive weapon against Polymarket because holders share directly in platform revenue. The prediction market sector hit $29.8 billion in monthly volume during April, and the Hyperliquid price prediction now factors in earnings from a completely new product line.

HYPE Forecast, Pepeto, and the Bigger Multiplier

Pepeto

While the HYPE forecast watches the token push from a $42.01 floor toward its old high, the distance is a 43% move inside a $10 billion cap, and that ceiling limits what new money can achieve. The shift toward presale entries where the listing itself creates the return is where the sharper math sits.

Pepeto has raised more than $9.78 million so far, and at $0.0000001868 per token the entry costs less than what most meme coins traded at on their worst day. The exchange behind the token solves problems traders deal with every session.

The bridge moves capital across chains at zero cost, so positions travel to the next opportunity without losing value on the way, and the token scanner audits every contract before money goes in, protecting wallets before a bad token can drain them.

Every contract cleared a full SolidProof audit before the presale opened, and that step came before the millions started flowing. Locking tokens through staking earns 176% APY while the presale remains active. Analysts project that the HYPE forecast crowd watching the token grind slowly would multiply faster by entering Pepeto before the listing removes the presale floor for good.

Hyperliquid Price Prediction: Can HYPE Reclaim Its September Peak?

HYPE trades at $42.01 on May 5, 2026, roughly 30% below the $59.37 record from September 2025 per CoinMarketCap. Support holds near $40, and analysts mark $44 as the resistance that must break for real momentum. CoinCodex targets a 2026 high near $175 in its bullish case, while DCo research sets fair value at $72.

The Hyperliquid price prediction has real backing. The platform handles over $6 billion in daily futures volume, HIP 4 brings prediction market fees, and a governance vote to burn roughly $1 billion in HYPE tokens passed this year.

A confirmed break above $44 opens the path toward $50 and then the old peak. The downside risk is continued sideways action between $38 and $42 if demand stays flat.

Conclusion

Following the HYPE forecast means watching the token push from $42.01 toward $59, a strong move but one that still needs months to play out inside a $10 billion cap.

Meanwhile, meme energy backed by live exchange tools and a Binance listing approaching is the rarest combination crypto produces in any given cycle, and $9.78 million from wallets that already picked a side tells you the smartest capital is not waiting for HYPE to break $44.

The Pepeto official website is where the presale entry remains available, but that entry vanishes the second trading opens, and no one outside the presale knows the exact day. The wallets inside are not guessing, because meme coins built by proven founders with real products and Binance backing do not stay at these prices once trading begins.

A $1,000 entry at presale price turns into a position worth multiples the day the first exchange candle opens. Everyone else will open a chart that morning, see the listing price, divide it by $0.0000001868, and feel the full weight of what not buying actually cost them in dollars they could have had.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

What is the current Hyperliquid price prediction for 2026?

HYPE trades near $42.01, down 30% from its $59.37 all time high, with $44 resistance as the key breakout level. HIP 4 prediction market revenue and a token burn worth roughly $1 billion could tighten supply and push the Hyperliquid price prediction higher through 2026.

Why is the Pepeto presale attracting Hyperliquid price prediction followers?

Pepeto has $9.78 million raised at $0.0000001868 per token, backed by a SolidProof audit, a fee free trading hub, and a Binance listing on the way. The gap between presale price and listing price offers multiplier upside that HYPE at a $10 billion cap grinding toward $59 simply cannot produce.

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.

The biggest cryptocurrency news this week is not about a price move. Japan’s Financial Services Agency approved digital assets for inclusion in regulated pension portfolios, opening a pipeline of institutional capital that the market has waited years to see.

XRP and BNB both reacted with modest gains, but neither moved the way the headline deserved because large caps price in adoption slowly.

Pepeto passed $9.78 million in presale funding with a Binance listing approaching, and the wallets that searched for this headline found what smart money already discovered weeks ago.

Reuters reported that Japan’s Financial Services Agency finalized rules allowing regulated pension funds to hold up to 5% of their portfolios in digital assets starting July 2026. The Block confirmed Japanese exchanges saw a 41% volume spike within hours of the announcement.

The ruling makes Japan the first G7 nation to give pension managers direct crypto exposure, and analysts estimate it could funnel $14 billion into the market over 12 months. The cryptocurrency news sparked a broad rally, but the biggest beneficiaries may be entries that have not listed yet.

Where Pepeto, XRP, and BNB Stand After the Japan Ruling

Pepeto ($PEPETO)

Institutional doors opening is what turns presale entries into positions everyone wishes they held, and Pepeto is the entry absorbing that energy now with the credentials to back it. Analysts forecast 100x gains for Pepeto ahead of year end because the presale sits where the price meets real demand for the first time at listing.

The $9.78 million entered the presale because that capital tracks working tools already running before the token reaches public markets. With 96.6% of the target filled, Pepeto moves toward a Binance listing powered by a swap engine that processes zero fee trades and a cross-chain bridge linking blockchains at zero transfer cost.

The developer who took the original Pepe token to $11 billion on no product and the same 420 trillion total leads Pepeto.

SolidProof cleared every contract before the presale went live, and a Binance specialist guides the build. Pepeto trades at $0.0000001868 with 175% APY staking for holders ahead of listing. The Pepeto presale is that same kind of early discovery, and the entry ends when the token goes public.

XRP

XRP trades near $1.39 after a modest gain on the Japan ruling per CoinMarketCap data. Ripple’s cross-border payment network could benefit from pension inflows, but XRP sits 61% below its $3.65 all-time high from July 2025 and has struggled to break higher.

Analysts target $2.00 to $2.50 by year end, which represents a solid gain from current levels. Pension capital entering XRP would add to volume, but the return ceiling from $1.39 cannot match what presale entries deliver once a listing arrives.

BNB

BNB holds at $627 after a steady week following the Japan ruling per CoinMarketCap data. The Binance token benefits from exchange activity, and Japanese pension capital could increase trading volume across the board. Analysts project BNB reaching $750 by Q4, a 20% move from here.

BNB provides steady growth, but that ceiling from $627 is a fraction of what presale math offers when the listing hits.

Closing Thoughts

The cryptocurrency news from Japan opened a door that sends billions into digital assets, but the tokens that gain the most from new capital are the ones that have not listed yet.

Pepeto fills that search because the math points to 100x from a live swap engine with $9.78 million behind it and a Binance listing on track for Q2 2026. The presale sits at 96.6% of its target, which means there is barely any time left to enter at the current price.

The Pepeto official website is where the presale still stands today. The moment the listing confirms, the $0.0000001868 price is gone forever, and the wallets that hesitated will be the ones reading cryptocurrency news about the returns Pepeto holders made. This is the kind of moment that separates the people who build wealth from the ones who talk about it.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

How does Japan approving crypto for pension funds change the cryptocurrency news outlook?

Japan became the first G7 nation to allow pension funds to hold up to 5% in digital assets, opening an estimated $14 billion pipeline over 12 months. The ruling boosts every crypto asset but gives the strongest advantage to presale tokens like Pepeto that have not listed yet.

What is the best crypto to buy before a Binance listing in 2026?

Pepeto leads the presale market before a Binance listing with $9.78 million collected, a SolidProof verified swap engine running, and a bridge that moves tokens across chains at zero cost. At $0.0000001868, the entry carries return room that XRP at $1.39 and BNB at $627 cannot offer.

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.

TLDR:

• Arbitrum’s Security Council froze $72M in stolen funds traced to North Korean wallets via a Kelp DAO bridge attack.
• Griff Green warns that leaked private keys and social engineering now pose greater threats than smart contract bugs.
• Aave and similar lending protocols are flagged for being too loose in managing liquid staking token risks.
• The recovered $70M will be redistributed to affected users through a decentralized Arbitrum DAO token holder vote.

Arbitrum Security Council member Griff Green has raised concerns about how lending protocols handle liquid staking tokens.

Green, a veteran of the 2016 Ethereum DAO hack, flagged operational security gaps across decentralized finance. He spoke following the recovery of $72 million in stolen crypto assets linked to North Korean hackers.

The incident involved a Kelp DAO exploit that affected Aave and resulted in roughly $300 million in stolen tokens via a bridge attack.

Arbitrum Council Steps In to Freeze Stolen Funds

The Arbitrum Security Council acted swiftly after tracing $72 million to North Korean-controlled wallets. The council operates as a nine-of-twelve multi-signature group with emergency intervention powers.

Working alongside the Seal 911 team, the council froze the stolen funds in a new address. That address remains inaccessible to the attackers, effectively halting any further movement.

Green noted this was the first time the council used its powers to freeze funds directly. Previously, those powers covered protocol upgrades and bug fixes only.

The action drew on social consensus rather than code immutability. Green referenced the 2016 Ethereum DAO hard fork as a precedent for this kind of intervention.

On the nature of blockchains, Green was direct: “Blockchains are not immutable and can be altered through social consensus.”

He pointed to the Ethereum DAO hard fork as proof that the community can act when needed. This time, however, the stakes involved another party’s funds rather than his own. That distinction made the recovery effort feel less personal but no less urgent.

The recovered $70 million will now fall under Arbitrum DAO governance. Token holders will vote on how to redistribute those funds to affected users.

This approach reflects decentralized governance in practice. It also sets a precedent for how stolen funds may be handled in future incidents.

Green Calls Out Weak Operational Security Across the Industry

Green stated that smart contract bugs are no longer the biggest threat facing crypto. Instead, he pointed to operational security failures such as leaked private keys.

North Korean actors, in particular, rely heavily on social engineering tactics. These methods bypass code-level protections entirely and target human vulnerabilities.

Addressing the broader security gap, Green warned that the industry must match the standards of mature tech companies.

He observed that attackers like North Korea “often rely on social engineering rather than smart contract exploits.” That shift in tactics means technical audits alone are no longer sufficient. Teams must also harden their internal processes and access controls.

Green also addressed how lending protocols like Aave approach liquid staking tokens. He believes these platforms are “too loose with liquid staking tokens” and overlook underlying technical risks.

That oversight creates exposure that bad actors can exploit through bridge attacks. Tighter risk frameworks around these assets would reduce that vulnerability significantly.

Looking ahead, Green supports ongoing efforts like the DAO Security Fund. This initiative aims to identify and support critical security projects across Ethereum.

Stronger infrastructure benefits the broader ecosystem over time. Making crypto safe and accessible for everyday users remains the long-term goal.

Western Union’s new Solana-based stablecoin, USDPT, may do more than speed up money transfers. It could also weaken the old lines between remittances, consumer payments and bank settlement, according to Angus Scott, founder of the Solana Research Institute, a Solana Foundation-backed body.

Western Union launched the U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. on Monday. The company said the token will support 24/7 settlement with agents and partners across its global payment network. The launch follows Western Union’s April disclosure that USDPT would initially replace SWIFT-based interbank settlement with its agents.

Scott told CoinDesk the launch is another sign that stablecoins are starting to challenge older payment models.

“Western Union’s adoption of Solana-based stablecoins is another point of proof that stablecoins are becoming highly disruptive to traditional payments business models,” Scott said.

The key point, he added, is that Solana can handle both small consumer payments and large settlement flows. Low fees make it possible to use a stablecoin for small purchases, and fast settlement, coupled with 24/7 operations, can also help firms move money between agents without waiting for correspondent banks.

Scott said that could let Western Union pool idle balances and manage cash across its network in real time. Businesses that accept USDPT could do the same with customer payments.

“The Western Union model appears to be breaking down the barriers between remittances, payments and wholesale settlements via correspondent banks,” Scott said. “How this plays out will be one of the key themes of the next few years.”

Miami Beach, FL — Morgan Stanley’s newly launched spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (MSBT) has attracted over $200 million in early demand, and it’s largely without help from its own advisors.

“Almost all of that first week or two of activity was self-directed, meaning it was not our advisors that were selling this,” Amy Oldenburg, the bank’s newly appointed head of digital assets, said during a fireside chat at Consensus in Miami.

The fund, just a few weeks old, has already gathered more than $200 million in assets, an unusually fast start in the traditional ETF market, where most launches struggle to gain traction over a short period of time. Oldenburg said the flows reflect individual investors making their own allocation decisions rather than relying on financial advisors.

The dynamic points to a broader shift.

Crypto exposure is no longer limited to niche or speculative corners of the market. Instead, investors who may already hold digital assets directly are now moving some of that capital into regulated products.

Oldenburg noted “how much activity that we’re fielding in terms of spot crypto holders that are also looking to put assets into ETPs,” describing a transition from decentralized holdings to more traditional investment vehicles.

‘Hybrid world’

However, Morgan Stanley is not betting on a single format. The firm plans to support both ETF access and direct crypto ownership, including spot trading on its wealth platform later this year.

“We’ll live in a hybrid world for quite some time, where we’ll be supporting both the digital native and the traditional business all in one,” Oldenburg said.

That approach reflects a practical challenge facing large financial institutions: clients increasingly hold both stocks and crypto, often across disconnected systems. Bringing those assets into a single view remains a work in progress.

Beyond the ETF, Oldenburg said the bank is exploring how digital assets could reshape market structure more broadly, including faster settlement and tokenized financial products.

“We’re not tokenizing for the sake of tokenizing,” she said. “Ultimately, we want to provide the client more value and better service.”

The effort is part of a longer-term shift rather than a short-term trend. “This isn’t a 2026 project or 2027 project. This is the next decade,” she added.

OnRe Finance raised $5M from Forward and RockawayX as Forward prepares up to $25M into ONyc, scaling Solana-based, tokenized reinsurance with DeFi integrations.

OnRe Finance said it has closed a $5 million strategic funding round to accelerate development of its tokenized reinsurance platform on Solana, with the raise co-led by Solana-focused treasury company Forward Industries and multi-strategy digital asset firm RockawayX.

Forward and Rockaway back on-chain reinsurance on Solana

According to the GlobeNewswire announcement, the capital will go toward expanding OnRe’s underwriting programs, hiring, and integrating its products more deeply into Solana’s DeFi stack.

ONyc pools are integrated with leading Solana DeFi venues and can be used as collateral for lending, borrowing, and looping strategies, effectively letting investors turn reinsurance-backed cash flows into composable on-chain capital.

Insurance industry coverage notes that OnRe has previously launched structured products like the ONe token, which targeted projected returns north of 30% by combining reinsurance performance, collateral yields, and token incentives, leveraging the $750 billion global reinsurance market as a base.

RockawayX, an early Solana backer and investor in more than 15 Solana ecosystem projects, has argued that OnRe’s model can “generate the same revenue from $10 million in TVL as a $500 million money market fund” because reinsurance premiums and collateral income stack in a capital-efficient way.

Miami Beach, FL — “The market is the market… it’s not crypto and traditional anymore,” said Dave LaValle, President of CoinDesk Indices and Data, on a panel at Consensus Miami Tuesday, capturing a shift echoed across issuers and asset managers.

As traditional finance firms pour in, Douglas Yones of Direxion argued that institutional participation is “good for the industry,” bringing standardization and discipline to processes that were once fragmented.

That institutional layer is also unlocking global access. In regions where spot crypto remains restricted, particularly across parts of Asia, ETFs have emerged as the primary on-ramp.

“ETFs are a plug-and-play solution,” said Krista Lynch, SVP of ETF Capital Markets at Grayscale, noting they fit seamlessly into existing risk systems that can’t accommodate direct bitcoin BTC$81,072.38 exposure.

The result is rapid adoption. Lynch points to surging demand for features like in-kind redemptions and collateral usage, while Steven McClurg, CEO of Canary Capital, highlights a simpler appeal: security and liquidity. “Some investors would rather hold an ETF and let issuers handle custody,” he said.

Where the market goes next is already taking shape. Index-based products are poised to organize a growing universe of assets, while staking and income-generating strategies could define the next wave. Tokenization, though promising, remains in its early stages, according to McClurg.

Still, the direction is clear: ETFs aren’t just expanding crypto access, they’re redefining how the asset class is structured, distributed, and owned globally.

Read more: Recovery in bitcoin ETF inflows is real. It is just not complete yet.