Innovation City, a Ras Al Khaimah free zone focused on artificial intelligence and Web3, has unveiled what it calls the first blockchain-based digital business identity system. In a Monday release shared with Cointelegraph, the city said every company registered there will receive a sovereign, cryptographically verifiable identity issued on OPN Chain, the public blockchain infrastructure developed by UAE-based IOPn.

The release frames the initiative as converting a traditional business license from a static document into a dynamic on-chain asset, designed to reduce reliance on central intermediaries and to cut verification uncertainty across the free zone’s ecosystem.

The move aligns with a broader UAE push to replace traditional registries with blockchain-based identity systems and AI-driven workflows, a policy direction proponents say could streamline verification and digital operations for businesses operating in the United Arab Emirates.

Key takeaways

• Innovation City will issue on-chain, cryptographically verifiable business identities to its registered firms via the OPN Chain, covering more than 1,000 companies at launch.
• The onchain identity is intended as the native business registration primitive within the free zone, not merely an optional credential layered onto a traditional registry.
• OPN Chain uses a public validator network and a hybrid data model that stores core transaction data and proofs on-chain while handling sensitive or large datasets off-chain.
• The project emphasizes security through human-in-the-loop authorization for consequential actions and designs the agent layer with adversarial scenarios as a first principle.
• External adoption remains uncertain, with no specific banks, regulators, or exchanges named as current validators or acceptors of these onchain identities; questions persist about dispute handling and credential revocation when third parties are involved.

How the onchain business IDs work

Jimi Ibrahim, co-founder and chief operating officer of IOPn, told Cointelegraph that at launch the onchain identity framework is intended to extend across Innovation City’s client base of more than 1,000 companies, with immediate live utility within the free zone’s own digital ecosystem.

He described the core value not merely as issuing a digital certificate but as establishing a cryptographically verifiable business identity to be used for access and verification across Innovation City’s touchpoints, such as the business center and selected ecosystem services, with plans to broaden to partner providers in technology, marketing and legal services over time.

OPN Chain is presented as a public network where validator participation is open to institutions, infrastructure partners and governance-approved node operators. The system uses a hybrid data model in which core transaction data and proofs stay on-chain while sensitive or large datasets are handled off-chain, balancing transparency with privacy concerns.

Company registration under this framework is described as the native primitive within the free zone rather than an optional overlay on top of a conventional registry, distinguishing it from some digital-ID schemes such as Estonia’s e-residency example.

AI security and geopolitical risks

Recent exploits have highlighted how AI agents can be socially engineered to authorize transfers from wallets they control, underscoring the fragility of autonomous workflows. Ibrahim emphasized that every agentic workflow built on these identities will require human oversight for consequential actions, and that the agent layer is designed with adversarial scenarios as a core consideration from the outset.

The timing of the launch also intersects with regional tensions and new attacks affecting the UAE. Within this broader context, observers note that UAE investors have continued to allocate capital toward AI infrastructure, software and crypto-related assets, even amid volatility, according to data cited by Cointelegraph from eToro. Deutsche Bank researchers have also argued that the conflict may spur demand for AI rather than derail it.

Regulatory and market backdrop in the Gulf

The initiative sits within a wider policy push in the United Arab Emirates to move away from traditional registries toward blockchain-based identities and AI-enabled workflows. Government and industry watchers see potential benefits in streamlined verification, faster onboarding and more seamless cross-service operations, though practical adoption will hinge on external actors — banks, regulators, and service providers — recognizing and validating onchain credentials.

That context is underscored by the absence of named external banks or regulators currently recognizing Innovation City’s onchain identities, leaving questions about interoperability and dispute resolution when third parties are involved. The launch also arrives as the UAE seeks to attract AI and crypto investment, a dynamic reflected in investor behavior and market commentary cited by industry observers.

Uncertainties and next steps for external adoption

Key questions remain around how these onchain identities will be verified by external institutions such as banks and regulatory bodies, and how disputes or credential revocations will be handled when third parties are involved. The immediate utility is clear within Innovation City’s own digital ecosystem, but external integration will determine whether the model can scale beyond the free zone and become a broader standard.

As Innovation City pilots this approach, the next chapters will reveal whether the wider Gulf region and international partners will adopt similar onchain business identity primitives, and how issues of governance, data privacy and cross-border interoperability are resolved.

Readers should watch whether banks and regulators begin recognizing these onchain IDs outside Innovation City and how revocation or dispute handling will work as adoption expands.

TLDR

• Nvidia shares are hovering near $198, reflecting a 6.9% decline across the last five trading days after struggling to maintain the $200 threshold
• Manufacturing partner Foxconn disclosed 30% year-over-year April revenue expansion, attributing growth to robust AI server demand
• Wall Street’s consensus price target stands at $269.82, suggesting approximately 35% potential gains from present trading levels
• The stock carries a forward price-to-earnings multiple of roughly 22x, significantly lower than AMD’s 40x+ valuation
• The company’s May 20 earnings release is approaching; 48 analysts maintain “Buy” ratings on the shares

Nvidia shares commenced Tuesday’s session at $198.51, marking a position approximately 6.9% beneath the level established five trading days earlier.

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA

The chip giant’s shares escaped their $165–$195 consolidation zone last week amid semiconductor sector optimism, only to surrender those gains rapidly. The psychological $200 barrier continues to present challenges.

Market participants may need to exercise patience until May 20 — when Nvidia releases its quarterly results — before witnessing more definitive price movement.

“Nvidia’s current valuation appears reasonable, potentially even attractive,” observed Julian Koski, chief investment officer at New Age Alpha, highlighting the company’s impressive streak of 12 consecutive quarters delivering revenue expansion.

Foxconn, a critical Taiwanese manufacturing ally of Nvidia’s, provided encouraging signals Tuesday. The electronics manufacturer disclosed 30% April revenue growth versus the prior year, propelled by AI server systems and cloud networking hardware.

Foxconn indicated that “AI rack deployments should sustain their upward trajectory,” despite traditional tech hardware markets entering typical seasonal weakness.

This represents a significant indicator. Foxconn’s primary revenue generator has shifted to cloud and networking infrastructure — surpassing its longstanding reliance on Apple product assembly.

Valuation Metrics Compare Favorably Against Competitors

Trading at a forward earnings multiple hovering around 22x, Nvidia appears attractively priced relative to AMD, which commands a valuation exceeding 40x ahead of its quarterly report scheduled for Tuesday evening.

Analyst consensus points to an average price objective of $269.82 per FactSet data — representing roughly 35% appreciation potential from current price levels.

Among 54 Wall Street analysts monitored by MarketBeat, 48 assign “Buy” recommendations, four rate it “Strong Buy,” while only two maintain “Hold” positions. Zero sell ratings exist.

Morgan Stanley maintains a $260 price objective. Wolfe Research projects $275. New Street Research reduced its forecast from $307 to $275 while preserving its “Buy” stance.

Potential Challenges on the Horizon

Not every indicator points upward. CEO Jensen Huang conceded that Nvidia presently holds “zero market share in China,” a direct result of American export restrictions on cutting-edge semiconductor technology.

Additional concerns emerge around customer diversification efforts. Anthropic has reportedly entered discussions with chip newcomer Fractile, while Cerebras pursues public market listing plans — suggesting certain buyers are exploring alternative suppliers.

Regarding insider transactions, CFO Colette Kress divested 20,000 shares during March at $174.89, representing a 19.41% reduction in her stake. Board member John Dabiri similarly decreased his holdings that month.

Institutional capital, conversely, has flowed inward. PDS Planning expanded its Nvidia allocation by 3.5% during Q4. Multiple additional funds increased their positions throughout the third and fourth quarters.

Bernstein analysts characterized AI agent-driven semiconductor demand as escalating “off the charts,” with supply chains unable to satisfy requirements — a situation that directly reinforces Nvidia’s pricing authority.

Nvidia’s most recent quarterly disclosure, published February 25, revealed $1.62 earnings per share, exceeding analyst projections of $1.54. Revenue reached $68.13 billion, representing 73.2% year-over-year growth.

The semiconductor leader maintains a market capitalization of $4.82 trillion, a minimal debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, and established a 12-month peak at $216.82.

Attention now shifts entirely toward May 20.

Introduction

Reimagining financial primitives in a trust-minimized world

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) represents one of the most ambitious attempts to reconstruct the global financial system from the ground up. Built primarily on blockchain networks like Ethereum, DeFi replaces centralized intermediaries—banks, brokers, and clearinghouses—with transparent, automated protocols governed by code.

Where traditional finance relies on institutions to enforce trust, DeFi relies on cryptography, consensus mechanisms, and smart contracts. The result is a parallel financial system that is open, programmable, and globally accessible—yet not without its own structural vulnerabilities.

Replacing Traditional Banking Primitives

At its core, finance is built on a few fundamental primitives: custody, lending, borrowing, trading, and settlement. DeFi reconstructs each of these using blockchain-based infrastructure.

Custody Without Banks

In traditional systems, financial institutions hold and manage assets on behalf of users. DeFi replaces this with self-custody through digital wallets. Users maintain direct control over their funds, secured by private keys rather than institutional guarantees.

This shift eliminates counterparty risk tied to custodians—but introduces a new responsibility: the user becomes their own bank. There is no recovery mechanism for lost keys, no customer support desk, and no safety net.

Programmable Lending and Borrowing

DeFi lending protocols, inspired by early innovations in the ecosystem, allow users to lend assets and earn interest, or borrow against collateral, without credit checks or intermediaries.

Smart contracts automatically enforce loan conditions:

• Collateral is locked on-chain
• Interest rates adjust dynamically based on supply and demand
• Liquidations occur instantly when collateral thresholds are breached

This system replaces the bureaucratic processes of traditional banking with algorithmic efficiency—but also removes human discretion, often leading to abrupt and unforgiving outcomes during volatility.

Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs)

Instead of relying on centralized exchanges to match buyers and sellers, DeFi uses liquidity pools governed by automated market makers (AMMs). These pools allow users to trade assets directly from their wallets.

Liquidity providers supply capital to these pools and earn fees from trading activity, effectively becoming micro-market makers. This democratizes participation in financial markets, but also exposes participants to risks such as impermanent loss and volatile fee structures.

Yield Generation Without Intermediaries

One of DeFi’s defining innovations is the ability to generate yield without traditional financial intermediaries. Yield farming, staking, and liquidity provision enable users to earn returns by actively participating in protocol ecosystems.

Unlike savings accounts in traditional banks—where interest rates are centrally determined—DeFi yields are:

• Market-driven
• Highly dynamic
• Often incentivized by token emissions

This creates opportunities for significantly higher returns, but also introduces complexity and instability. Yield is not generated solely by underlying economic productivity; in many cases, it is subsidized by speculative incentives, raising questions about sustainability.

Risks in a Permissionless System

Despite its promise, DeFi is not a frictionless utopia. Removing intermediaries does not eliminate risk—it redistributes and, in some cases, amplifies it.

Smart Contract Failure

Smart contracts are immutable once deployed. A flaw in the code can lead to catastrophic losses, as exploits can drain funds within seconds. Unlike traditional systems, there is no central authority to reverse transactions or compensate users.

Audits and formal verification reduce risk but cannot guarantee safety. The system’s integrity ultimately depends on the quality of its code.

Liquidity Crises

DeFi markets rely heavily on liquidity pools. In times of stress, liquidity can evaporate rapidly, leading to cascading liquidations and extreme price slippage.

Because many protocols are interconnected, a failure in one can trigger systemic effects across the ecosystem—mirroring, and sometimes exceeding, the contagion risks seen in traditional finance.

Human Greed and Speculation

While DeFi is powered by code, it is driven by human behavior. Speculative mania, herd mentality, and short-term profit seeking often dominate decision-making.

This has led to:

• Rug pulls and fraudulent projects
• Unsustainable yield schemes
• Rapid boom-and-bust cycles

The absence of regulation allows for innovation—but also creates an environment where bad actors can operate with minimal resistance.

Bitcoin: A Store of Value, Not a Financial System

No discussion of DeFi is complete without addressing Bitcoin, the first and most recognized blockchain asset.

Bitcoin was designed as a decentralized store of value and a peer-to-peer payment system. Its architecture prioritizes security, simplicity, and immutability over programmability. As a result, it does not natively support the complex smart contracts required for DeFi applications.

This creates a fundamental distinction:

• Bitcoin functions as “digital gold.”
• DeFi operates as a programmable financial layer.

Efforts have been made to bridge Bitcoin into DeFi ecosystems through wrapped assets and sidechains, but these solutions often introduce additional trust assumptions—ironically reintroducing intermediaries that DeFi seeks to eliminate.

In this sense, Bitcoin sits adjacent to DeFi rather than fully within it: a foundational asset that provides value storage, but not the infrastructure for financial experimentation.

Conclusion

DeFi represents a radical rethinking of financial systems—one that replaces institutional trust with transparent, autonomous code. It reconstructs lending, borrowing, and trading into permissionless protocols that operate without centralized control.

Yet this transformation comes with trade-offs. Efficiency replaces oversight, automation replaces discretion, and accessibility replaces protection. The risks—technical, systemic, and behavioral—are not eliminated but reshaped.

The future of finance may not lie in the complete replacement of traditional systems, but in the convergence of both models: combining the resilience and innovation of DeFi with the safeguards and stability of established institutions.

For now, DeFi remains an evolving experiment—one that is simultaneously rebuilding finance and stress-testing the limits of decentralization.

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Toncoin (TON) is rallying as messaging app Telegram takes a more direct role in the token’s parent network and pushes for lower transaction costs, a shift that seems to be driving the move.

TON has rallied more than 36% in the past 24 hours, hitting a four-month high of $1.80, according to data from CoinDesk. It is the native token of The Open Network, a Layer 1 blockchain designed to integrate crypto payments and applications within the Telegram messaging platform.

The bullish sentiment has spread across the Telegram-linked ecosystem, with Notcoin gaining nearly 26%, Dogs rising more than 100%, and several smaller TON-based tokens posting even larger daily moves.

The market seems to be reacting to Telegram’s decision to replace the Ton Foundation as the driving force behind TON.

In an X post on Monday, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that the messaging platform would become TON’s largest validator and take over as the driving force behind the ecosystem, with new developer tools, performance upgrades, and a refreshed ton.org expected within two to three weeks.

A validator is a specialized node or participant responsible for verifying transactions, ensuring network security, and maintaining the accuracy of a blockchain.

Becoming the largest validator is indicative of Telegram’s willingness to put its own weight behind the chain’s security and direction. This likely reduces one of TON’s biggest overhangs, namely the gap between the Telegram narrative and TON Foundation’s execution.

The story doesn’t end there. In the same X post, Durov said TON fees have fallen sixfold to near zero, after previously announcing that transaction costs would drop to 0.00039 TON, or about $0.0005, with most transactions eventually moving toward a fee-less model.

Near-zero transaction costs matter most for the kinds of products Telegram can actually distribute, such as on-chain tips, games, bot payments, mini-app transactions, collectibles, and small retail transfers.

A fee that looks irrelevant to a DeFi whale can still kill a consumer app if users are moving cents or dollars at a time. Fixed, tiny costs make TON more usable for high-frequency, low-value activity, broadening its appeal as a blockchain among existing users.

Various tracking sites put Telegram’s estimated monthly users at as much as one billion, though the company has not publicly claimed or denied those figures.

But TON’s fundamentals have failed to catch up to that hype in recent years. DefiLlama data shows TON captures just over $69 million in locked value across its decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, far below its 2024 highs near $800 million. Daily chain fees sit around $3,600, DEX volume around $29 million, and app revenue near $134,000.

Data from Tonstat shows shows daily active wallet activity on TON at just under 50,000, coming from around 136,000 unique wallets. That compares with roughly 700,000 daily activities across more than 2.2 million wallets during August and September 2024, according to the data.

Venture capital heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has launched a $2.2 billion crypto fund, doubling down on blockchain startups amid a surge in venture capital into artificial intelligence.

The new vehicle, called “Crypto Fund 5,” will invest in crypto entrepreneurs at all stages, with capital deployed over a decade, according to a company spokesperson. The firm said it is targeting founders building practical applications on crypto infrastructure, especially in areas like payments, financial services and decentralized systems.

The firm’s partners see the current crypto market as an opportunity to invest in founders building projects that are “durable” and lasting even when the hype cycle dies down.

“We’re at one of those quieter moments now. And the signal coming through is one of the most encouraging it has been in years,” according to a blog by the firm’s partners, published on Tuesday.

“The founders we’re backing with this $2.2 billion fund are working on the part of the cycle that gets less attention and produces more of the lasting value: turning new infrastructure into products people use every day,” according to the blog.

What the fund is investing in

The fund will focus on sectors where these capabilities translate into tangible and lasting products.

One of the areas where a16z is seeing that pattern is stablecoins. The digital dollar market, which recently surged to $320 billion in market cap, has seen its adoption continue to grow through downturns, with users relying on it for cross-border payments, savings, and everyday transactions. This is particularly true when compared to legacy systems, which are “slow, expensive, and unreliable,” a16z said.

Other areas that are seeing “meaningful growth” include perpetual futures, blockchain-based lending, prediction markets and tokenized assets.

The new fund is launching at a time when venture capital firms are recalibrating their strategies amid an AI funding boom. Recent industry trends show generalist investors shifting capital toward AI startups, forcing crypto-focused funds to sharpen their positioning.

And this is where a16z is seeing the use of crypto’s role as a financial and coordination layer for AI systems, more important than ever.

“Software is getting more complex and harder to trust. AI systems are powerful and largely opaque. The infrastructure the internet runs on is more consolidated than ever. In that environment, the properties that crypto networks were designed to provide become more valuable, not less,” the blog said.

While the new fund is almost half the size of its fourth fund, which raised $4.5 billion in 2023, it’s still larger than the recent $1 billion raised by Huan Ventures (founded by a former a16z partner) and $650 million raised by another prominent crypto VC firm, Dragonfly Capital.

These recent raises are likely signs that, while sentiment is not running as high as it did in the 2021 bull market, there is a gap between the hype and underlying activity.

“We believe while sentiment may be low, the fundamentals of the crypto industry are at an all-time high,” according to the spokesperson.

Key Highlights

• The cryptocurrency exchange is eliminating 700 positions, representing a 14% workforce reduction
• Chief Executive Brian Armstrong attributed the decision to cryptocurrency market turbulence and artificial intelligence transformation
• Shares of COIN gained more than 4% during premarket hours Tuesday
• The company projects restructuring expenses between $50M and $60M, affecting second-quarter results
• First-quarter financial results are scheduled for Thursday, with projections showing adjusted EBITDA declining 50% from last year

Shares of Coinbase (COIN) advanced more than 4% during Tuesday’s premarket session following the cryptocurrency platform’s disclosure that it would eliminate approximately 700 positions, representing roughly 14% of its total employee base.

Coinbase Global, Inc., COIN

The digital asset exchange stated that these workforce reductions are intended to control operational costs amid prevailing market dynamics and to position the organization for what executives describe as the “artificial intelligence age.”

Chief Executive Brian Armstrong communicated the announcement through a memorandum published on X, characterizing the decision as essential to maintaining Coinbase’s competitive position during challenging cryptocurrency market conditions.

“We find ourselves navigating a declining market environment and must recalibrate our expense framework immediately to ensure we exit this phase more streamlined, agile, and productive,” Armstrong stated.

He identified two primary catalysts behind the restructuring: deteriorating cryptocurrency market conditions and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on business operations.

COIN has declined approximately 10% year-to-date, pressured by a wider cryptocurrency market downturn that has erased roughly $1.6 trillion in aggregate market capitalization throughout the year.

Armstrong emphasized that Coinbase remains committed to the cryptocurrency sector. He highlighted stablecoins, prediction markets, and asset tokenization as critical catalysts for the “subsequent adoption cycle.”

Financial Impact and Upcoming Earnings

The organization anticipates total restructuring-related charges ranging from $50 million to $60 million, predominantly attributed to employee severance packages and termination benefits. Coinbase plans to recognize these expenses entirely during the second quarter.

Coinbase is scheduled to release first-quarter financial results on Thursday. Wall Street analysts polled by Bloomberg anticipate adjusted EBITDA will drop 50% year-over-year.

Armstrong additionally revealed plans to streamline the company’s organizational hierarchy, limiting management levels to a maximum of five tiers between executive leadership and the approximately 4,300 remaining employees.

History of Workforce Adjustments

This marks another instance of Coinbase reducing headcount during market downturns. The platform implemented substantial workforce reductions throughout the 2022 cryptocurrency market collapse.

The current announcement reflects broader trends throughout the technology sector. Companies including Block, Pinterest, CrowdStrike, and Chegg have recently announced workforce reductions, with multiple organizations referencing artificial intelligence as a contributing factor.

Armstrong emphasized that the objective centers on transforming Coinbase into a more efficient, AI-focused enterprise rather than retreating from cryptocurrency markets. “We must recapture the velocity and concentration of our entrepreneurial origins, with artificial intelligence as our foundation,” he remarked.

At the May 4 market close, COIN traded at $202.99, representing a 6.14% daily gain.

Standard Chartered PLC’s (STAN) venture capital division SC Ventures invested in GSR, as the London-based multinational bank seeks to further expand its digital asset services, the crypto capital market’s firm announced Tuesday.

The investment agreement, which according to Bloomberg was $150 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion, is the first external stake into the crypto capital markets and liquidity partner firm since its founding in 2013 by former Goldman Sachs traders.

GSR and SC Ventures did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment.

In its statement, GSR said the deal is part of a broader partnership to bridge traditional finance and digital assets, and to expand access to tokenization.

“Institutional digital asset markets are maturing rapidly, and the firms best positioned to lead will be those that combine deep capital markets expertise with trusted banking infrastructure,” said Xin Son, CEO at GSR.

SC Ventures and GSR plan to develop scalable market infrastructure in light of increasing institutional demand for regulated crypto services.

“The next phase of the digital asset evolution will be defined by the strength of infrastructure,” said Alex Manson, CEO at SC Ventures.

Standard Chartered has recently made financial investments aimed at expanding its digital asset footprint. In January 2025, it launched its own digital asset custody services out of Luxembourg and introduced crypto trading for institutional clients last summer, becoming one of the first global banks to offer spot bitcoin and ether trading. Standard Chartered was recently reportedly seeking to fully acquire Zodia Custody Ltd.

In March, GSR, which claims to have over 300 liquidity partners and over $1 trillion traded since its inception, announced the $57 million acquisition of Autonomous and Architech, a move aimed at significantly expanding the firm’s tokenization services division.