Pakistan signed an MoU with SC Financial Technologies, a firm linked to World Liberty Financial, to explore using USD1 for cross-border payments and digital payment infrastructure.
Grayscale released its Q1 2026 Assets Under Consideration list, adding TRON to Smart Contracts, ARIA Protocol to Consumer & Culture, Nous Research and Poseidon to Artificial Intelligence (while removing Prime Intellect), and DoubleZero to Utilities & Services.
Backpack Exchange launched an invite only beta for Prediction Markets letting users simultaneously bet on predictions and cross-margin with spot, perps, and lending in one account
ETHGas Foundation unveils GWEI, their governance token that transforms blockspace into a programmable, tradable market, enabling predictable execution for protocols.
Polygon Labs is acquiring Coinme, Sequence and Trails for $250M, to build key components for their Open Money Stack. Sequence provides simple “1-click” cross-network wallet transfers and powers Trails for intents, while Coinme holds licenses to operate in 48 US states, helping Polygon make digital money easier and more accessible for everyone.
US Senators propose Stablecoin Bill to restrict exchanges from paying its users interest on holding stablecoins. However it allows exceptions for activity-based rewards or incentives linked to actions such as making transactions, staking, providing liquidity, or posting collateral.
The Bank of Thailand is bringing USDT under its official monitoring framework. This is part of a broader effort to crack down on so-called “grey money” after authorities found that a large portion of stablecoin activity on local platforms is linked to foreign sources
Franklin Templeton has updated two of its money market funds so that institutions can now use them with digital finance platforms and regulated stablecoins
Zama is launching an on-chain token sale with a minimum valuation of $55 million. The sale will distribute 12% of Zama’s total 11 billion tokens through CoinList and Zama’s own auction app using a sealed-bid Dutch auction.
The Golden Globes featured Polymarket in their broadcast last night and Shayne Coplan posted that it is biggest mainstream use of a prediction market so far. Polymarket correctly predicted 26 out of 28 winners.
Bitdeer Technologies Group is now the biggest bitcoin mining company by capacity, overtaking MARA Holdings. At the end of December, Bitdeer had a total mining power of 71 exahashes per second (EH/s), including 55.2 EH/s from its own operations. MARA, the previous leader, has a capacity of 61.7 EH/s.
Nigeria has passed a new law requiring crypto transactions to be linked to people’s Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) and National Identity Numbers (NIN). Crypto platforms must collect users’ details, send monthly reports to tax authorities, and report large or suspicious trades to law enforcement. The goal is to track taxes while keeping blockchain security intact.
South Korea’s KB Kookmin Card, part of KB Financial Group, has filed a patent for a stablecoin-linked credit card that connects a blockchain wallet to an existing card
Russia is drafting a law to let retail investors buy up to 300,000 rubles (~$3,800) in crypto, with no limits for professionals, aiming to expand crypto use including cross-border payments.
