TLDR:

• Trident’s RLUSD Ghana pilot targets 2.1M MSMEs with faster settlement and lower transfer friction.
• The rollout adds RLUSD/GHS liquidity pools to support stablecoin and cedi business settlement flows.
• Automated tax rails place blockchain payments directly into Ghana’s revenue collection systems.
• Mid-2026 remains the target launch window, pending regulatory approvals and system readiness.

Trident Digital Tech Holdings plans to bring Ripple RLUSD infrastructure into Ghana through a blockchain payments and tax pilot set for mid-2026. 

The rollout targets cross-border settlements for 2.1 million MSMEs, aiming to cut transfer costs and improve transaction speed. Ghana stands as the first launch market, with broader African expansion already outlined in the initial framework. 

Regulatory approval remains the final condition before the pilot moves into live deployment.

Ripple RLUSD Pilot Targets Ghana MSME Cross-border Payments

The partnership centers on Ripple Strategy’s RLUSD stablecoin stack and blockchain payment rails. According to Chad Steingraber’s post, the system will support always-on settlement for businesses in Ghana.

The core use case focuses on reducing delays tied to correspondent banking networks. Trident said the rail will help MSMEs move funds across borders in real time.

A dedicated RLUSD/GHS liquidity pool forms a key part of the infrastructure. That pool will help local firms convert between stablecoin balances and Ghanaian cedi flows efficiently.

The initial design also links payment activity with government revenue systems. Trident stated the integration will support automated tax collection for compliant business transactions.

Trident Digital Expands Ripple RLUSD Infrastructure Beyond Payments

The Ghana rollout extends beyond simple merchant transfers. Trident’s framework places RLUSD inside broader digital finance and compliance workflows for small businesses.

The company said the system will connect with private sector commercial ecosystems first. That approach allows MSMEs to settle supplier invoices, payroll obligations, and trade payments onchain.

Chad Steingraber’s source thread also noted that Ghana serves as the first regional test market. Trident plans to use the pilot as a model for other African corridors.

Founder Lim Soon Huat said the project focuses on utility-driven financial infrastructure rather than speculative use cases. The company’s roadmap ties RLUSD settlement directly to trade liquidity and formal revenue channels.

With mid-2026 as the target, the next phase depends on local regulatory clearance. Until then, Trident and Ripple Strategy appear focused on infrastructure readiness and liquidity design.

Bitwise Asset Management has taken another step in its effort to launch a spot Hyperliquid exchange-traded fund in the United States. 

The firm filed a second amendment with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, adding new details to its proposed product as competition in the category continues to grow.

The updated filing included the ticker BHYP and a management fee of 0.67%. Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said those additions often suggest a product may be getting closer to market, while other issuers continue to pursue similar funds tied to Hyperliquid.

Balchunas said in a post on X that Bitwise had updated its filing to include the BHYP ticker and a 67-basis-point fee. He said such details usually mean the fund may “launch soon.” He also noted that HYPE had risen sharply over the past year as issuers move to meet growing investor interest.

If approved, the Bitwise product will trade on NYSE Arca and aim to track the spot price of Hyperliquid. The filing marks the latest move in Bitwise’s push to bring a fund linked to the crypto perpetual futures protocol and blockchain to the US market.

In addition, Bitwise was the first asset manager among the current group to file for a Hyperliquid ETF. The company submitted its proposal in September. 21Shares followed one month later, while Grayscale entered the race in late March with its own filing.

The latest amendment keeps Bitwise in focus as firms compete to launch the first spot fund tied to HYPE. The category remains new, and approval would give investors a regulated way to gain exposure to the token through a traditional exchange-traded product.

Staking feature sets Bitwise apart

In its earlier amended filing from December, Bitwise said the fund could also seek added returns through HYPE staking. That feature sets its proposal apart from the filings submitted by Grayscale and 21Shares, which have not clearly stated that their products would include staking income.

That structure may give Bitwise a different position in the current race. It also shows how issuers are trying to shape crypto ETF products beyond simple spot exposure as they wait for the SEC to decide on approval.

Hyperliquid posts strong market growth

Hyperliquid has continued to gain traction in 2026. CoinGecko data showed HYPE was up about 65% since the start of the year, trading around $42 at the time of writing. Over the past 12 months, the token had gained about 176%.

The network has also expanded its share of derivatives trading activity. CoinGlass reported in early April that Hyperliquid had entered the top 10 crypto derivatives platforms by volume. 

The platform generated $492.7 billion in trading volume during the first quarter, placing it just below Coinbase by roughly $90 billion.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has named the first members of its new Innovation Task Force as the agency steps up its work on crypto regulation. 

The move comes as lawmakers continue to debate the CLARITY Act, which would define the roles of the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission in digital asset oversight.

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig first launched the task force on March 24 and appointed Michael Passalacqua to lead it. 

On Friday, the agency confirmed the first five members and outlined broader efforts tied to its push for clearer rules for new technologies.

The CFTC said Passalacqua will lead the group alongside five initial members. They include Hank Balaban, Sam Canavos, Mark Fajfar, Eugene Gonzalez IV, and Dina Moussa. The agency described the team as part of its effort to support work on crypto, prediction markets, and other emerging sectors.

Selig said the team brings strong legal and policy experience to the agency. He stated, 

“The Innovation Task Force brings together a leading team that exhibits deep expertise and an enthusiastic commitment to deliver clear rules of the road for American innovators.”

On the same day, Selig also announced the launch of the CFTC’s innovation tracker. The agency said the tracker will show the work completed under his leadership to support regulatory clarity, market integrity, and responsible technology development.

According to the CFTC, the tracker covers three main areas. These include crypto and blockchain, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, and contracts and prediction markets. The new page is meant to show the scope of the agency’s work in each area.

Crypto oversight debate remains active

The latest announcement comes as the debate over crypto oversight continues in Washington. The CFTC could take on a larger role if lawmakers approve a framework that places more digital assets under its watch.

That process remains incomplete because the CLARITY Act has not yet become law. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said on X that both agencies are “ready to implement the CLARITY Act” and added, “It’s time for Congress to future-proof against rogue regulators and advance comprehensive market structure legislation to President Trump’s desk.”

Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong has renewed support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, backing a recent call from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for Congress to move the bill forward. 

The public statement marks a shift from Coinbase’s position in January, when Armstrong said the company could not support the measure in its earlier form before a key Senate committee vote.

Armstrong said in a post on X that Coinbase now supports the latest version of the bill after months of talks between lawmakers and industry groups. He also backed Bessent’s recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, which called on Congress to act on crypto market structure legislation.

Armstrong wrote, ”It’s time to pass the Clarity Act.” His new statement came about three months after he said the exchange could not support the bill ”as written,” a position that contributed to a delay in Senate Banking Committee action.

The CLARITY Act still faces several steps before reaching a full Senate vote. The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its part of the bill in January, but the Senate Banking Committee must still address provisions tied to securities and commodities oversight.

As of Friday, no markup had been scheduled in the Banking Committee. The bill has remained stalled for months as lawmakers debated issues tied to ethics, tokenized equities, stablecoin yield, and other digital asset matters.

In addition, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said last week that lawmakers were ”very close to a deal” on the bill. That comment added to signs that negotiations had continued behind the scenes even as the measure remained off the committee calendar.

The latest support from Armstrong suggests Coinbase believes the bill has improved since January. His earlier comments had pointed to concerns over the wording of the draft, while the current version now appears to have the exchange’s backing.

Crypto policy ties stay in focus

The bill’s progress has drawn attention to the crypto industry’s role in Washington. Coinbase and Ripple executives have both taken part in talks with administration officials on crypto policy, while Armstrong reportedly met President Donald Trump before Trump publicly called for action on market structure legislation.

Coinbase’s renewed support for the bill also comes shortly after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the company’s application for a national bank trust charter. The approval followed similar decisions for Paxos, Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle, and Fidelity Digital Assets in December.

Prediction market users turned to Kalshi and Polymarket as NASA’s Artemis II mission returned to Earth, placing trades not only on future Moon landing timelines but also on words that might appear in the agency’s post-splashdown briefing. 

The activity added a new space-related category to the broader event-contract market that has recently drawn more attention from lawmakers and regulators.

Artemis II launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1, 2026, and completed a crewed lunar flyby before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego at 8:07 p.m. EDT on April 10. NASA described the mission as the first crewed Artemis flight and the first human mission around the Moon in more than 50 years.

As the mission neared its end, traders used prediction platforms to take positions on Artemis-related outcomes. Polymarket hosted Moon landing markets and Artemis-linked event pages, while Kalshi continued to offer event contracts tied to real-world outcomes on its regulated exchange.

Some of the trading centered on what NASA officials might say after splashdown rather than only on mission milestones. Traders tracked possible references tied to government officials, radiation, and damage during the post-mission news cycle, showing how event contracts can extend beyond launch and landing results into conference language and public statements.

Other contracts focused on longer-term Moon exploration timelines. Polymarket pages showed active interest in human Moon landing markets, while broader Moon landing prediction pages listed live trading across related science and space questions.

Debate over event contracts continues

Prediction markets have faced scrutiny as users place trades on sensitive geopolitical and public-interest events. That debate has widened as platforms expand into more areas, including science, government activity, and major public announcements.

The Artemis II trading activity arrived as prediction markets remained under close watch in Washington. The attention reflects ongoing questions about how far event-contract offerings should extend and what kinds of real-world events should be available for trading.

Furthermore, interest in space-linked markets has also overlapped with crypto and infrastructure stories. In March, Starcloud said it planned orbital data centers that could support Bitcoin mining from space using solar power and ASIC miners, adding another speculative commercial angle to the space sector.

CoreWeave has signed a multi-year agreement with Anthropic to support workloads for the Claude family of AI models. 

The deal adds another major customer to CoreWeave’s cloud business as the company expands its role in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

CoreWeave said Anthropic will use its cloud data centers to run AI workloads tied to Claude models. The company added that the agreement will roll out in phases and may grow over time as demand increases.

The announcement gave investors a fresh look at CoreWeave’s position in the AI sector. The company said the new agreement means it now serves nine of the 10 major developers of large language models.

CoreWeave shares rose more than 10% on Friday after the company announced the deal. The stock traded at around $102 at press time, showing a strong reaction from investors to the latest customer win.

The agreement came shortly after CoreWeave completed an $8.5 billion capital raise led by Meta Platforms. The financing was tied to deployed computing capacity and expected cash flows rather than graphics processing unit hardware, marking a different structure from older crypto mining funding models.

Moreover, CoreWeave shifted away from crypto mining and rebranded as an AI infrastructure company in 2019. The change came after mining economics weakened following the 2018 crypto market downturn.

That transition has become more relevant as more mining firms look at AI workloads for new revenue. Rising energy costs, lower block rewards, and weaker crypto prices have continued to pressure Bitcoin miners.

AI demand draws attention from miners

CoinShares said up to 20% of Bitcoin miners are now unprofitable in the current market. The report shows how tighter margins have made traditional mining harder to sustain for many operators.

Some firms are now looking to AI computing as a stronger use of power and hardware. Market analyst Ran Neuner noted, 

”Both industries compete for the same thing: electricity, and right now, AI is willing to pay much more for it.” 

His comment reflects a wider shift as miners weigh whether AI can offer steadier returns than crypto mining.