The rapid rise of AI agents is beginning to reshape how payments happen online, and crypto infrastructure is emerging as a natural fit, according to Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak.

“What was almost impossible nine months ago is now totally possible,” Pollak said in an interview with CoinDesk, pointing to the accelerating capabilities of autonomous AI systems. As these agents evolve, one need is becoming clear: they require native ways to transact.

“Agents are defined in software and operating software, they want money as software,” said Pollak, who will be speaking at Consensus Miami 2026 next month.

That shift is fueling interest in so-called “agentic payments,” where AI systems can autonomously pay for services like data access, compute or travel bookings.

Pollak said he hopes a key piece of that stack will be x402, an open-source payments protocol that Coinbase and collaborators like Microsoft, Google, and Mastercard have been developing, which enables on-demand API payments without subscriptions or traditional billing systems.

Instead of relying on legacy rails, blockchain-based payments allow agents to “make a single API call or smart contract call and move money globally, instantly, basically for free,” Pollak said.

Early traction is already visible. According to Pollak, roughly $48 million in payment volume has flowed through X402 so far, with about 95% of transactions occurring on Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network founded by Pollak and incubated by Coinbase. The ecosystem is also expanding quickly, with integrations spanning AI providers, data platforms and travel services that agents can tap into directly.

Pollak said the long-term vision is to create an open marketplace of services that agents can access programmatically, without hitting paywalls or requiring human intervention. “You want agents to be able to run wild,” he said, describing a system where software can seamlessly discover, purchase and use digital services in real time.

While fully autonomous “zero-human” businesses are beginning to emerge, Pollak said the bigger near-term shift will come from people augmenting themselves with AI.

“The top performers are now using agents to become even more top performers,” he said, describing workflows powered by multiple parallel AI systems.

For crypto, the broader challenge remains adoption. Pollak argued the solution isn’t better marketing, but invisibility.

“It’ll be a lot easier to sell crypto when you don’t have to tell people about it, they just experience it,” he said.

Read more: Coinbase’s AI payments system joins Linux Foundation, gathers support from Google, Stripe, AWS and others

Pi Network has confirmed it is an official sponsor of Consensus 2026 in Miami, with co-founders Nicolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan each presenting at the event on May 7 and May 6 respectively, as the network simultaneously faces a mandatory April 27 deadline for all node operators to upgrade to Protocol 22.

Pi Network has confirmed it is an official sponsor of Consensus 2026 in Miami, with co-founder Nicolas Kokkalis joining a panel on May 7 from 10:15 to 10:45 AM EDT titled “How to Prove You’re Human in an AI World (Without Doxing Yourself)” and co-founder Chengdiao Fan presenting on May 6 from 11:15 to 11:35 AM EDT in a session titled “Aligning Web3, AI, and Blockchain for Utility.” The event runs May 5 to 7 and is expected to draw over 20,000 attendees.

Pi Network Consensus 2026 Appearance Frames Identity as Its Core Market Thesis

The panel Kokkalis is joining addresses one of the fastest-growing problems in the AI era: AI systems can now generate convincing fake profiles and interact across platforms in ways that are nearly indistinguishable from real human behavior. Pi Network argues that its 18 million KYC-verified users, built through a mobile-first identity verification system that has processed over 526 million validation tasks, give it a structural answer to that problem that pure code-based blockchains cannot replicate. As crypto.news reported, Pi competes directly in the proof-of-personhood space with Worldcoin and Humanity Protocol, a category that has attracted significant venture capital attention as AI-generated content proliferates. Fan’s May 6 session is positioned around the idea that tokens should function as tools within real applications rather than as stand-alone financial instruments, framing PI not as an exit vehicle but as infrastructure for sustainable ecosystem growth.

Protocol 22 Deadline Arrives Days Before the Conference

The Consensus 2026 sponsorship lands at a tight operational moment for Pi Network. All Mainnet node operators must upgrade to Protocol 22 by April 27, and nodes that miss the deadline will be automatically disconnected from the network. As crypto.news documented, the upgrade takes under 15 minutes and must be completed to version 0.5.4, introducing a dual-interface setup that allows node operators to use both a node screen and a desktop Pi application simultaneously. Protocol 22 is not the endpoint but the prerequisite for Protocol 23, which is scheduled for May 18 and is expected to introduce full smart contract functionality across the network. As crypto.news tracked, PI was trading at approximately $0.1687 on April 23 with a $1.73 billion market cap, largely unmoved by the technical activity, with the market continuing to treat each milestone as a sell-the-news event.

What Consensus 2026 Could Mean for PI’s Market Trajectory

The combination of the Protocol 22 deadline, the PiRC1 token framework launch, and the Consensus 2026 sponsorship represents the busiest three-week period in Pi Network’s recent history. As crypto.news noted, PI’s market trajectory in 2026 has been heavily dependent on whether technical milestones translate into actual on-chain usage. The Consensus stage gives both founders a direct channel to institutional investors, developers, and policy audiences at exactly the moment Pi is asking the market to recognize its identity infrastructure as commercially relevant. Whether the Miami appearance generates developer adoption and institutional recognition beyond the existing Pioneer community will be the clearest signal yet of whether Pi’s long-term thesis is gaining traction.

Pi Network has not confirmed whether specific ecosystem announcements will accompany the founders’ Consensus 2026 presentations, or whether the sessions will focus primarily on the project’s broad identity and utility thesis.

Key Takeaways

• A dozen defense contractors received Space Force contracts totaling up to $3.2 billion for orbital missile defense technology.
• Major recipients include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and RTX’s Raytheon division.
• These awards support the “Golden Dome” initiative championed by President Trump, with overall costs projected at $185 billion.
• Functional prototype systems must be demonstrated by 2028.
• Budget analysts caution that complete implementation could reach $542 billion across two decades.

The United States Space Force has distributed contract awards valued at up to $3.2 billion across 12 defense industry participants tasked with creating orbital missile interception capabilities. These agreements advance President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” defense architecture.

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Recipients of the contracts include major defense players such as SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and the Raytheon business unit of RTX Corporation, alongside a number of smaller specialized firms.

The Space Force utilized an accelerated procurement strategy for these awards. The intention was to minimize bureaucratic bottlenecks while maintaining competitive pressure among multiple vendors for subsequent phases.

Golden Dome represents a strategic enhancement to America’s existing missile shield infrastructure. The program envisions adding space-deployed capabilities to identify, monitor, and neutralize hostile projectiles during their flight trajectory toward American territory.

Different from conventional ground-stationed interceptor missiles, the Space-Based Interceptor initiative positions defensive weapons in orbital deployment. This configuration enables military forces to engage adversary missiles during their boost phase, immediately following launch.

According to Space Force officials, multiple contract recipients were chosen to maintain “contracting flexibility to award to the best provider.” This competitive approach ensures no contractor receives automatic follow-on business.

The contract distribution occurred between late 2025 and early 2026 via the Space Force’s Space Systems Command. These initial agreements focus on prototype creation rather than mass production.

2028 Deadline for Working Demonstrations

Each contracted firm faces a 2028 deadline to present fully integrated, operational prototypes. Since the underlying technology remains largely unvalidated at scale, defense experts note this timeline introduces substantial pressure alongside considerable technical risk.

The complete Golden Dome infrastructure carries an estimated price tag near $185 billion. The comprehensive system would integrate current terrestrial defense installations with advanced satellite constellations and weapons platforms operating in orbit.

Budgetary considerations present substantial challenges, however. Congressional Budget Office projections suggest a fully operational space-based interceptor constellation could demand expenditures approaching $542 billion throughout a 20-year operational lifecycle.

Pentagon leadership has emphasized that economic feasibility will determine program continuation. Should projected expenses escalate beyond acceptable thresholds, the initiative may undergo significant restructuring or scaling back.

Investment Community Monitors Defense Sector

Financial analysts are closely tracking publicly traded defense contractors participating in the Golden Dome program. Lockheed Martin has attracted particularly strong interest from the investment research community among contract recipients.

Analyst consensus places Lockheed Martin’s price objective at $674.15 per share. This target represents approximately 33% appreciation potential compared to current market valuations, based on aggregated analyst forecasts.

Northrop Grumman and RTX Corporation also secured positions among the winning bidders. Both organizations bring established missile defense portfolios that strengthened their competitive proposals.

The Space Force previously distributed an additional group of Golden Dome development contracts in November focused on alternative prototype designs. Industry observers view these earlier awards as laying groundwork for subsequent production contracts potentially worth tens of billions of dollars.

Brazilian authorities have moved to shut down 27 prediction market platforms, including Kalshi and Polymarket. The action, announced Friday, follows a directive from the Finance Ministry and enforcement by Anatel, Brazil’s telecom regulator, which contends that these services operate outside the country’s current legal framework.

Finance Ministry executive secretary Dario Durigan described the moment as a turning point for the sector, telling reporters at the Palácio do Planalto that Brazil previously experienced “a period of anarchy because there were no rules, no oversight, from 2018 to 2022.”

The crackdown aligns with a new rule framework issued by the National Monetary Council (CMN). Resolution 5.298, issued on Friday, takes effect in early May and narrows the scope of permissible prediction-market contracts. Under the CMN’s plan, contracts tied to sports, politics, entertainment, or social events are banned, as authorities deem them closer to gambling than to financial investments. Only contracts linked to economic indicators—such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, or commodity prices—will remain allowed and fall under financial-market oversight.

The block list spans both international operators and Brazil-focused platforms. Among the best-known affected names are Kalshi, Polymarket, PredictIt, and Robinhood’s forecasting feature, along with Fanatics Markets. The crackdown also targets ProphetX, Hedgehog Markets, Novig, Polyswipe, PRED Exchange and Stride, as well as several Brazil-centric services such as Palpita, Cravei, Previsao and MercadoPred.

Related: Kalshi bans 3 US politicians for betting on their own election races

Brazil flags prediction platforms as debt risk

Durigan argued that prediction markets could deepen household debt and expose users to financial harm. “At a time when we are working to reduce debt levels among families, small businesses, and students, we must also prevent new forms of harmful indebtedness,” he said.

The government’s stance frames these markets as potential vectors of financial risk at a moment when Brazil seeks to curb indebtedness across households and enterprises. The Ministry and Anatel emphasized that only markets tied to tangible economic indicators will remain within the legitimate financial-market framework.

Global trend and what to watch next

The Brazilian move fits a broader, ongoing pattern as several jurisdictions move to restrict or ban prediction markets, often by folding them into gambling or broader financial-regulatory regimes. In Europe, countries such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands have restricted or penalized operators operating without authorization. The United States presents a more fragmented picture, with ongoing friction between federal authorities and individual states over how to regulate or limit prediction-market activity.

Earlier coverage noted that Kalshi has also taken steps to limit betting on political events in other markets, underscoring the regulatory sensitivity surrounding this sector.

As the CMN rule takes effect and enforcement continues in Brazil, investors and users should watch whether other markets in the region follow suit and how platforms adapt—whether by narrowing offerings, seeking licenses, or exiting certain jurisdictions altogether.

The shift signals a clarifying moment for the intersection of prediction markets and financial regulation. While the technology and its potential for price discovery persist, the path to legitimate, supervised use remains tightly tethered to national frameworks and consumer-protection considerations. Watch how Brazil’s enforcement actions influence platform strategies, local participation, and the broader adoption of regulated forecasting markets in Latin America.

BridgeTower Capital has officially deployed Chainlink’s full infrastructure stack to tokenize securities tied to the DOM X Arizona Copper-Gold Project, an $11 billion US natural resource initiative, in what the companies describe as live production infrastructure rather than a pilot.

BridgeTower Capital announced on April 23 the adoption of Chainlink’s full infrastructure stack to tokenize securities from the DOM X Arizona Copper-Gold Project, a US natural resource initiative valued at $11 billion. The deployment covers the complete tokenization lifecycle: Chainlink’s CCIP for cross-chain connectivity to regulated DeFi venues and licensed secondary markets, Proof of Reserve for on-chain asset verification, NAVLink for real-time valuation data, and the Chainlink Runtime Environment to coordinate compliance, reserve checks, and settlement automation in a single operational environment.

Chainlink Tokenization BridgeTower DOM X Marks a First for Physical Commodity Infrastructure

The distinction between live production and pilot matters materially. As crypto.news reported, institutional buyers evaluating tokenization vendors require production evidence, not proof-of-concept demonstrations, before approving vendor relationships or allocating capital. The DOM X deployment provides that evidence in the physical commodities sector, where Chainlink’s institutional reach has until now been concentrated in financial assets like equities, treasuries, and funds. Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer at Chainlink Labs, said the deployment shows “what it looks like when tokenized assets become core institutional infrastructure,” adding that the world’s largest financial institutions are watching tokenization right now and looking for exactly this kind of production-scale evidence. KYC, KYB, and AML controls are embedded at the protocol level throughout the platform, while investor subscriptions are funded through fiat and stablecoin rails powered by Iron, a MoonPay company. Privacy-preserving workflows for institutional primary issuance are also being developed, keeping ownership positions confidential while preserving compliance and on-chain verifiability.

Why Physical Commodities Are the Next Tokenization Frontier

The BridgeTower deployment arrives as the tokenized commodities market is accelerating. As crypto.news documented, tokenized commodities had surpassed $7 billion in value by April 2026, rising nearly 600% since early 2025, with gold-backed tokens dominating but oil, natural gas, and agricultural products gaining share rapidly. Physical commodities present a different tokenization challenge than financial assets: they require verified reserve attestation of underlying physical material, real-time commodity pricing data that can vary by location and grade, and cross-chain connectivity to the multiple settlement venues where institutional commodity trades clear. Chainlink’s Proof of Reserve, NAVLink, and CCIP address each of those requirements directly. As crypto.news tracked, CCIP was averaging approximately $90 million in weekly token transfers by March 2026 and the network had enabled over $28 trillion in cumulative transaction value, providing the operational track record that institutional compliance teams require before deployment.

A $25 Billion Pipeline Behind the Initial Deployment

BridgeTower has structured the DOM X deployment as the first phase of a much larger program. The company plans to tokenize a pipeline exceeding $25 billion in natural resources, energy, and metals assets through the same Chainlink-powered platform, with the DOM X copper-gold project serving as the production reference point for that expanded rollout. As crypto.news noted, Chainlink launched 24/5 US equity data streams across more than 40 blockchains in the same week as the BridgeTower announcement, with the tokenized RWA sector at $27 billion and Chainlink positioned as the primary oracle infrastructure across the growing institutional pipeline. LINK was trading at approximately $9.31 on April 23 as the announcement landed, consolidating below the $9.50 resistance level that analysts have identified as the near-term trigger for a potential directional move.

BridgeTower CEO Cory Pugh described the platform as an end-to-end system in which CRE acts as the orchestration layer linking data agents, regulatory agents, compliance logic, and payments inside one coordinated environment, with institutional issuance and distribution readiness built in from day one.

Quick Summary

• Intel shares skyrocketed approximately 24% on Friday following a massive Q1 earnings surprise
• Adjusted earnings per share reached $0.29 versus Wall Street’s modest $0.01 projection; total revenue hit $13.6B compared to $12.36B consensus
• The Data Center and AI division generated $5.1B in revenue, surpassing analyst expectations of $4.41B
• Forward guidance for Q2 revenue of $13.8B–$14.8B significantly exceeded the $13.03B Street estimate
• Citigroup elevated Intel to Strong-Buy status; numerous Wall Street firms increased their price targets post-earnings

Intel delivered results that caught Wall Street completely off guard. The semiconductor giant reported adjusted earnings of $0.29 per share, demolishing the meager $0.01 consensus projection — representing a stunning $0.28 beat. Total revenue reached $13.6 billion, substantially exceeding analyst forecasts of $12.36 billion.

Intel Corporation, INTC

This marks the sixth straight quarter where Intel has exceeded its own revenue projections, a streak CEO Lip-Bu Tan attributed to a “deliberate reset” in the company’s operational approach.

Shares finished Friday’s session at $82.54, representing a remarkable 23.6% single-day gain. The closing price positions the stock close to its 52-week peak of $85.22, a dramatic recovery from its yearly low of $18.97.

Intel’s Data Center and AI division emerged as the clear winner. This segment generated $5.1 billion in revenue, significantly outpacing the $4.41 billion Wall Street projection. Company leadership characterized CPU demand for AI applications as “unprecedented.”

The AI Agent CPU Thesis

Intel’s positioning is clear and focused. While graphics processors dominate AI model training and execution, the actual tasks performed by AI agents — web navigation, data retrieval, workflow execution — depend heavily on CPUs. This represents Intel’s core strength.

“The next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user,” Tan explained, “moving from foundational models to inference to agentic.”

The Client Computing division, encompassing PC processors, also exceeded expectations. Revenue reached $7.7 billion versus the $7.1 billion forecast — despite IDC projecting an 11.3% contraction in the global PC market for 2026.

Outlook for Q2 landed between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion. Analysts had previously estimated $13.03 billion. Intel also projected Q2 earnings per share at $0.20, surpassing the current full-year analyst consensus of $0.08.

Major Partnership Announcements

Intel secured multiple significant contracts during Q1. The company will collaborate with Elon Musk on the upcoming Terafab project, manufacturing chips for SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla. Tesla’s selection of Intel’s 14A manufacturing process represents a significant validation of its foundry operations.

Additionally, Intel announced an extended partnership with Google, with Xeon processors designated to support AI and inference applications across Google Cloud infrastructure.

In a strategic transaction, Intel announced plans to reacquire a 49% ownership stake in a manufacturing plant previously sold to Apollo in 2024 for $11.2 billion — now repurchasing it for $14.2 billion.

Regarding analyst coverage, Citigroup elevated Intel from Hold to Strong-Buy after reviewing the results. Royal Bank of Canada increased its price target from $48 to $80. BNP Paribas shifted from Underperform to Buy. The overall consensus rating remains Hold, with an average target of $72.12 — which now sits below the current trading price.

Major institutional investors had been accumulating shares prior to the report. Norges Bank initiated a position valued at approximately $2.2 billion during Q4. Vanguard increased its stake by 3.5%. Institutional ownership currently stands at roughly 64.5% of outstanding shares.

Despite supply constraints in its Data Center business — where demand continues to exceed production capacity — the company confirmed it will progressively increase output each quarter.

Key Highlights

• The company set its IPO price at $23 per share, surpassing the initial $16–$19 target range and securing $1.02 billion
• Shares began trading at $30.11 and climbed to $31.33, representing a 36% first-day increase
• Demand exceeded available shares by more than 15 times, with institutional buyers competing heavily
• Major backers include Amazon as both client and shareholder; Ark Investment Management signaled potential purchases up to $105 million
• The company recorded approximately $390 million in net losses against $94 million revenue in the previous year

X-Energy Inc. kicked off its public trading journey Friday with an impressive performance, seeing shares climb 36% during its initial session following a heavily oversubscribed offering that brought in over $1 billion.

X-Energy, Inc. Class A Common Stock, XE

The Maryland-headquartered developer of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) sold 44.25 million shares at $23 apiece — exceeding its projected $16 to $19 pricing bracket. The company also expanded the offering size beyond its original plan of 42.86 million shares.

Trading under ticker symbol XE on the Nasdaq, shares debuted at $30.11 and reached an intraday peak of $31.33.

Investor appetite proved overwhelming, with subscription levels topping 15 times the available allocation. Approximately one-third of institutional participants walked away empty-handed. Company leadership played an active role in determining final share distributions.

The offering generated roughly $1.02 billion in total capital, significantly outpacing initial projections of approximately $700 million.

Calculated on outstanding equity, the first-day valuation pushed X-Energy’s market capitalization near $12 billion, though alternative calculations suggested figures closer to $9 billion.

Regulatory documents revealed that Ark Investment Management indicated potential purchases reaching $105 million of IPO shares.

JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies Financial Group, and Moelis & Co. served as lead underwriters for the transaction.

Core Technology and Strategic Partnerships

X-Energy specializes in SMR development and produces next-generation nuclear fuel. The company’s reactor systems utilize Triso fuel — tristructural isotropic uranium particles approximately the size of poppy seeds — engineered to operate at higher temperatures and extended durations compared to traditional nuclear fuel.

CEO Clay Sell articulated the company’s vision of standardizing nuclear power generation. “We want to make nuclear boring,” he stated. “We can build this over and over and over again. That’s the way you get costs down.”

The firm has secured commercial contracts with Amazon, Dow Inc., and Centrica. Amazon has also taken an equity position in the enterprise.

Regulatory approval for X-Energy’s inaugural reactor is anticipated this year, with construction slated for a Texas facility serving Dow. The plant is expected to become operational in the early 2030s.

Further developments are in the pipeline for Washington state locations supporting Amazon’s energy requirements.

Financial Position and Shareholder Structure

X-Energy remains in the pre-revenue phase from a commercial operations standpoint. The company reported net losses of roughly $390 million against $94 million in revenue last year, not including government grants. The year prior showed net losses of $126 million on $84 million in revenue.

Loss figures are expanding as the organization accelerates development initiatives in preparation for its first reactor launch.

Company founder and chairman Kamal Ghaffarian maintains control of 61% of Class B voting shares. Entities affiliated with Ares Management Corp. possess another 26%.

The stock concluded its inaugural trading session substantially above the offering price, with XE finishing approximately 27% higher by market close.