Bitcoin Proving Useful for Asian Remittance Companies 1361

More companies seem to be embracing one of Bitcoin’s most useful properties – its border-less functionality. The world’s most popular cryptocurrency can save those wishing to send remittance payments from one country to another a lot of time and money.

Bitcoin Disrupts Cross-Border Payments Industry

Companies like Bloom, Bitspark, Payphil, and Rebit in the Philippines are working towards providing Bitcoin-based, global remittance payment services to more people. Bitspark CEO, George Harrap, explained to Reuters:

“Bitcoin is so much better as a mechanism to send money around the world. There’s a lot less overhead that you need to do.”

Most of these emerging companies do not deal directly with customers. Instead, they are seeking to facilitate transfers for the remittance shops using cryptocurrency. Bitspark are already performing transfers for shops in parts of Africa and South East Asia.

The current business model of such companies does not rely on speculation. Bitcoin is sent from one part of the world to another, and cashed in immediately. This protects the companies involved from dramatic swings in the price of Bitcoin. Miguel Cuneta of Satoshi Citadel Industries spoke of the model:

“We are merely using it as a transfer mechanism. We convert it as soon as possible.”

When using Bitcoin for remittances, the customer receives their cash in less than an hour, rather than the days it would previously take. In addition, they save massively on the fees associated with existing remittance services like Western Union. This saving can be as much as 75 percent.

One Filipino worker living in South Korea told Reuters that she had already saved herself “huge” amounts of cash using Rebit. Kate Corporal continued:

“One thing I can guarantee is that the money I intended to send and the money that my family received was exactly the same… Using bitcoin is really helpful for many Filipinos… as every single cent that we send can be very significant.”

One stumbling block these remittance companies are discovering is that of liquidity. The current value of all Bitcoin is around $160 bn. This is around one-third of the entire planet’s remittance market. This makes it incredibly difficult for local cryptocurrency exchanges to cope with the potential demand for Bitcoin remittance payments. If the entire market suddenly switched to using the services of Bitspark and their peers, the existing exchange infrastructure would be totally overwhelmed. Prajit Nanu of traditional remittance company InstaREM explained:

“As soon as you’re doing $10-15 million a day, liquidity becomes an issue and you’re wondering,‘how am I going to do this.’”

However, despite these futures problems, people like Kate Corporal are enjoying the benefits. If you need to send a cross-border payment, we previously reported on comparison site CompareRemit. They currently list services that use Bitcoin as part of their business model.

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Sojo Industries Announces $40M in Financing from S2G Investments 554

New financing round will scale Sojo’s mobile packaging innovation, logistics packaging centers, and track-and-trace software platform

Sojo Industries (“Sojo”), an industrial automation company specializing in advanced robotics, mobile manufacturing, and modular packaging solutions, today announced $40 million in financing from S2G Investments (“S2G”), a multi-stage investment firm focused on scaling solutions across food and agriculture, oceans, and energy.

Sojo delivers modular, robotic packaging solutions both on-site at customer facilities and via its national network of self-managed sortation facilities. Designed to meet rising demand for high-speed, high-throughput variety-pack production, Sojo helps brands adapt to ever-changing packaging needs by streamlining operations with greater speed, flexibility, and visibility over supply chains. Sojo’s innovative hardware and software solutions serve multiple Fortune 500 companies, emerging brands, established co-manufacturers, and distributors across food, beverage, e-commerce, and broader CPG sectors.

“This investment marks a pivotal moment in our journey,” said Barak Bar-Cohen, Founder and CEO of Sojo. “As consumer demand for variety and customization accelerates, brands are increasingly challenged by legacy packaging models that are slow, inflexible, and costly. S2G has deep experience in sustainable supply chain investments and with their partnership, we are committed to delivering alternative technology solutions that reduce freight, labor, and emissions, while helping brands drive profitable innovation and get on shelf faster.”

Sojo’s patented Sojo Flight system delivers mobile manufacturing lines that can be deployed and fully operational in as little as one hour, enabling rapid variety-pack production directly on-site for customers, in addition to Sojo’s own national footprint of production and assembly facilities. This eliminates the cost and complexity of shipping products to separate co-packing locations and helps manufacturers and brands experience dramatic savings on freight and packaging costs.

Sojo also offers Sojo Shield, a vertically integrated track-and-trace software platform that delivers real-time geolocation, analytics, and operational insights across the supply chain to manage inventory, product quality, and logistics mapping capabilities. Through Sojo’s platform, customers have saved more than 5 million freight miles, creating impactful emissions savings and reducing inefficiency across packaging value chains today.

“Sojo is addressing a core pain point in the food and beverage supply chain by tackling the fragmented, manual repackaging and distribution processes that lead to hidden costs and operational drag,” said Matthew Walker, Managing Director of S2G’s food & agriculture strategy. “As complexity grows, brands need more agility, and traditional workflows that have multiple handoffs and limited ability to adapt to dynamic market demands are no longer sustainable.”

The funding will be used to scale Sojo Flight deployments, enhance the Sojo Shield platform, and expand automation across Sojo’s “atoms to bits” platform, merging state-of-the-art robotic hardware with a blockchain-based software platform to provide a full suite of capabilities to large scale customers.

“Sojo is a company focused on delivering solutions at the seams of the food, energy, and logistics sectors, a nexus that is a core focus of S2G’s strategy,” added Francis O’Sullivan, Managing Director of S2G’s energy strategy. “We believe Barak and his team have that rare combination of deep technical capability and operational efficiency needed to deliver disruptive innovation in packaging solutions, and we’re proud to support their growth.”

About Sojo Industries:

Sojo Industries is a fast-growing technology company delivering advanced robotics, mobile manufacturing, and modular packaging solutions for the food and beverage industry. Its patented mobile manufacturing system, Sojo Flight, provides brands with high-speed, multi-format packaging capabilities that can be transported and deployed at manufacturing facilities nationwide, reducing freight costs, mitigating labor shortages, and increasing operational flexibility. Along with Sojo Shield, a blockchain-based track-and-trace platform offering real-time geolocation and supply chain insights, Sojo is pioneering efficient, data-driven variety packaging for Fortune 500 and emerging brands. Founded in 2021, Sojo was born from founder and CEO Barak Bar-Cohen’s vision to merge his business expertise with his late father’s scientific legacy—making mobile manufacturing a scalable reality.

About S2G Investments:

S2G is a multi-stage investment firm focused on venture and growth-stage businesses across food & agriculture, oceans, and energy. The firm provides capital and value-added resources to companies and leadership teams pursuing market-based solutions designed to deliver greater value, improved outcomes, and enhanced performance over traditional alternatives. With a commitment to creating long-term, measurable outcomes, S2G structures flexible capital solutions that can range from venture funding through growth equity to debt and infrastructure financing. For more information about S2G, visit s2ginvestments.com

Hedera Foundation Taps Accenture and EQTY Lab to Leverage the Hedera Network to Create Verifiable AI Governance Solutions for Public Sector 688

New solution to help empower governments with transparent, tamper-resistant oversight of AI decision-making at scale

Hedera Foundation, in collaboration with Accenture and EQTY Lab, today announced plans for a strategic integration aimed at delivering transparent, tamper-proof oversight for artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI systems deployed in the public sector.

This agreement will introduce a solution that will help governments and public sector organizations manage AI-driven decisions with transparency, auditability, and trust. It will leverage EQTY Lab’s Verifiable Compute, and the Hedera network’s decentralized infrastructure.

“Public sector clients are enthusiastically embracing continuous reinvention through the adoption of AI and agentic solutions to achieve scaled impact. This shift brings with it a heightened demand for oversight, accountability and reliability,” said Bryan Rich, Senior Managing Director and Global AI Lead for Health, Public Sector, and Defense at Accenture. “The integration of these technologies not only enhances runtime governance, but also positions the Hedera network as a crucial platform. It will enable public service organizations to scale AI responsibly, leverage cryptographic solutions to reduce costs and bolster the security of deploying agentic solutions at an enterprise level.”

As part of the integration, Accenture is developing a blueprint and pricing model to help make verifiable governance modules built on the Hedera network viable for public sector integrations with a wide range of ERP and digital platforms. Created in collaboration with EQTY Lab technology, these modules will be piloted in select AI and machine learning applications.

Accenture will work with Hedera to create playbooks for the business logic of AI at scale and implementation strategies that make full use of the Hedera network’s capabilities in the public sector, including the Hedera Consensus Service (HCS) and Hedera Token Service (HTS). Together, these technologies provide an immutable record of AI decisions and actions, helping to enable data integrity across autonomous systems.

“In high-stakes environments, trust in AI must be earned, not assumed,” said Jonathan Dotan, Founder of EQTY Lab. “This collaboration shows how we can bring verifiable, accountable AI to institutions where transparency and integrity aren’t optional, they’re essential.”

This agreement is a key example of the convergence between blockchain and AI to address a growing global need for AI governance that is transparent, decentralized, and enforceable by design. It will help governments maintain authority over their data and decision-making processes, even when operating across distributed digital systems.

About Hedera Foundation

Hedera Foundation drives the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) and enterprise applications on the Hedera network by empowering developers, builders, and innovators with funding, resources, and expert guidance. As a key entity in the Hedera ecosystem, the Foundation is dedicated to supporting projects through their journey from ideation to production, fostering growth and expanding the reach of the Hedera network. For more information, visit hedera.foundation.

About EQTY Lab

EQTY Lab pioneers solutions that reinvent trust in AI. Our AI Guardian applies cryptography to ensure that the governance of AI agents is verifiable, explainable, and accountable to all stakeholders. With applications in the public sector, life sciences, and finance, EQTY Lab is at the forefront of enabling AI innovation. For more information, visit www.eqtylab.io

R0AR Announces R0ARchain: A Purpose-Built Layer 2 Accelerating Ethereum 790

In an ecosystem flooded with performance-optimized chains, R0AR has announced R0ARchain, a custom Layer 2 blockchain designed to serve as the backbone of its unified DeFi, NFT and AI ecosystem. Built on the Optimism OP Stack, R0ARchain extends Ethereum’s security guarantees while eliminating the complexity, fragmentation and inefficiencies that plague most multichain user journeys.

Built for Everyday Crypto

R0ARchain consolidates core web3 functions such as staking, liquidity, NFTs and real-world asset issuance into a single execution environment, while offering lower fees, faster finality and seamless integration with OP-based ecosystems like Base and Zora.

From genesis, R0ARchain supports:

  • Native token staking and time-based APY rewards
  • Built-in AI compatibility for wallet-driven automations
  • NFT functionality tied to access, identity, and on-chain reputation
  • Embedded support for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) using ERC-3463

All features operate within a unified environment with no bridges, no third-party dashboards and no contract hopping required.

«We’re not launching a chain for the sake of it, R0ARchain exists because people are tired of navigating dashboards, jumping bridges, and chasing fragmented narratives just to complete a single transaction. We just built one home for it all where users can move, earn, and build without sacrificing privacy or control». – Dustin Hedrick, Co-Founder & CTO

Designed for Human-Centric Onboarding

While most chains focus on developer performance, R0ARchain prioritizes human usability first. Once a wallet is connected, users can manage assets, interact with modules, and claim rewards through a unified dashboard with no external tools or extra steps required. This streamlined experience reduces errors, enhances safety and simplifies onboarding especially for new users entering Web3.

Developer-Ready from Day One

For developers, R0ARchain offers a familiar EVM-compatible environment with:

  • Support for Hardhat, Remix, and other standard toolkits
  • Pre-integrated modules for staking, NFT logic and AI hooks
  • Gas-efficient contract execution for complex, composable applications

For institutions, it lays the foundation for compliant, auditable deployment of tokenized assets via the upcoming R0AR Portal, which includes integrated scoring, identity layers and asset tracking features.

AI Integration from the Start

Unlike platforms that retro-fit AI integrations, R0ARchain was built from the ground up for on-chain AI agents. These agents can read wallet activity, staking history, and NFT metadata in real time enabling automated actions, dynamic UIs and predictive personalization.

All logic is native, transparent and composable with no external APIs or centralized compute layers required.

Real-World Assets Ready by Design

With rising demand for real-world asset tokenization, R0ARchain integrates native ERC-3463 support, a standard built for representing off-chain value on-chain. This includes scoring, compliance tooling, and real-time tracking. Rather than chasing short-term trends, R0ARchain focuses on durable, regulated ownership without compromising Ethereum compatibility or decentralization.

Extending the Possibilities of Ethereum

Instead of reinventing the wheel, R0ARchain anchors to Ethereum for security and finality, while expanding its day-to-day capabilities. With a focus on staking, NFTs, AI interaction, and RWAs, it delivers real-world utility without fragmenting the user or developer experience.

By building on the OP Stack, R0ARchain inherits Ethereum’s trust while unlocking better uptime, lower risk, and consistent UX across all users.

Explore the ecosystem: www.r0ar.io/r0archain

About R0AR

R0AR is a next-gen DeFi ecosystem built on a custom Layer 2 chain using the Optimism OP stack. It unifies self-custody, AI-powered trading, staking, NFTs and real-world asset support into one seamless platform. Powered by the $1R0AR token and governed by its community, R0AR is engineered to unlock secure, intelligent and sovereign finance for everyone.

Learn more at r0ar.io.

AixuSpeed Reports $500K in Token Commitments Within First 72 Hours of Pre-Sale 928

AixuSpeed a meme-inspired cryptocurrency developed with a focus on real-time transaction capabilities, has reported exceeding US $500,000 in pre-sale commitments within the first 72 hours of its offering. The early traction highlights the level of initial interest in the token, which combines community-driven branding with a payment infrastructure designed to support sub-second settlement times.

“People love the fun of memes but hate waiting ten minutes for a coffee on-chain,” said Sara “AiXuSpeed_” Akram, co-founder of AixuSpeed. “We built AIXU so your transaction travels faster than the joke itself.”

AixuSpeed Key Features

  • Blazing Speed — Transactions confirm in under a second, unlocking in-game micro-drops, smart vending, pay-per-view, and everyday retail payments.
  • Near-Zero Fees — Optimized gas architecture makes nano-payments economical, from tipping streamers to buying a single news article.
  • Ironclad Security — Audited smart contracts and proven cryptography guard every wallet, every block, every time.
  • Meme-Fueled Community — Viral challenges, NFT airdrops, and weekly meme contests turn holders into hype machines and reward creativity.

Early Traction & 2025 Roadmap

  • $500K Pre-Sale: Oversubscribed in three days, with a billion-token hard cap and liquidity locks already audited.
  • DEX Listing (Q3 2025): Tight circulating supply, transparent tokenomics, and community governance from day one.
  • Speed Grants: Dedicated fund for builders integrating AIXU into games, social apps, and e-commerce.
  • Cross-Chain Bridge (Q4 2025): Seamless transfers to Ethereum L2s and Solana to supercharge reach and liquidity.

Joining the Pre-Sale Today

Users can visit aixuspeed.com to participate in the allocation event. Early participants may be eligible for bonus multipliers and a limited-edition ‘Speedster’ NFT collectible.

About AiXuSpeed

AiXuSpeed is a cryptocurrency project that integrates elements of online culture, livestream dynamics, and meme aesthetics into the blockchain ecosystem. Designed to reflect the high-speed, user-driven nature of digital communities, AiXuSpeed seeks to capture the attention of participants interested in emerging internet trends.

Positioned as a community-oriented initiative, AiXuSpeed encourages participation from a diverse group of online users, ranging from casual observers to active digital creators. The project is currently in its presale phase, offering early access to those interested in engaging with the platform during its initial development stage.

By merging real-time engagement with meme-inspired themes, AiXuSpeed aims to establish a presence within the broader crypto landscape through cultural relevance and social momentum.

X/Twitter: @AiXuSpeed_
Instagram: @AiXuSpeed

Founders of LayerZero, SEI, Selini Capital, and Plume back hyper-personalized AI crypto discovery engine 975

TrueNorth, led by a former chief of hybrid CeFi/DeFi exchange WOO and AI experts, raises a strategic angel round to pioneer the agentic economy.

The founders of LayerZero, SEI, Selini Capital, Virtuals, Plume, and Presto Labs have collectively backed an AI platform that uses autonomous agents and real-time data to uncover crypto opportunities. AI-focused firm TrueNorth, co-founded by former WOO COO Willy Chuang and ex-Temasek AI tech investor Alex Lee, has raised $1 million in funding to develop Crypto’s first AI-powered engine. An engine symbiotic to the users’ discovery journey from intent straight to the outcome.

TrueNorth’s agentic technology continuously scans across chains, socials, and macro and project data to surface timely, high-signal insights for every user personalized to their portfolio, trading style, and past behavior.

“We see true AI agents becoming the foundation for how people invest in crypto for the future,” said Willy Chuang and Alex Lee, co-founders of TrueNorth. “The market is only getting more complex, and our goal is to cut through the noise with a hyper-personalized engine powered by a generative user interface (known as Gen UI) that adapts to each user’s style and behavior in real-time. We’re building a system where the agnetic flow and expert distilled reinforcement learning models work quietly in the background, driving the user’s intent infinitely closer to the outcome.

Willy Chuang, who previously led operations at the CeFi/DeFi exchange WOO, emphasized the real-world need for tools that reduce cognitive overload in fast-moving markets. “Having led crypto exchanges and worked closely with a broad range of traders and investors, I’ve seen how fragmented data and constant noise creates friction in decision-making,” said Chuang. “TrueNorth is built to simplify this, delivering personalized insights that evolve with each user so they can move faster with more confidence.”

For his part, Alex Lee, a PhD in AI, highlighted the platform’s AI-driven approach and ongoing development phase. “AI has reached a point where it can do more than just process data; it can understand context, adapt to users, and continuously improve decision-making,” said Lee. “That’s the foundation we’re building on: agentic intelligence that works behind the scenes to surface what matters most. We’re currently in closed beta, working closely with early users to refine a system that feels intuitive but is powered by serious intelligence.”

TrueNorth’s backers, Bryan Pellegrino of LayerZero, Jeff Feng of SEI, Jordi Alexander of Selini Capital, and Yongjin of Presto Labs, as well as Will Wang of Generative Ventures, share a strong belief in AI’s transformative power in crypto trading. Their interests span key themes such as interoperability, data-driven AI models, algorithmic market strategies, and innovative infrastructure development. Together, these interests reflect not only a shared belief in AI’s potential but also the same principles driving TrueNorth’s mission to simplify and personalize decision-making in decentralized markets.

TrueNorth, a platform under Singapore-registered Advent AI, is working closely with its first 500 early users, the Truthsayers, to refine agentic workflows for AI-native investing in closed beta. In the coming weeks, the team will unveil key details of its advanced architecture and agentic frameworks as it gears up for a public launch aimed at delivering smarter, hyper-personalized crypto discovery tools to a wider audience.

To learn more about TrueNorth, users can visit https://true-north.xyz/

About TrueNorth

TrueNorth is the crypto industry’s first autonomous, AI-powered discovery engine, designed to be symbiotic with the user journey, bringing intent straight to an outcome. Combining on-chain, social, and macro data, TrueNorth uses advanced agentic infrastructure to deliver real-time, tailored insights that evolve with each user’s investment journey. Founded by DeFi/CeFi and AI experts, TrueNorth aims to democratize decentralized finance by making complex crypto information accessible and actionable for investors at all levels. TrueNorth is part of Delphi Labs’ dAGI accelerator, a protocol R&D lab focused on incubating and accelerating new Web3 primitives.

ghost.fun Unveils the First Onchain Marketplace for Tokenized AI Video Influencers 1264

ghost.fun has announced the development of the first onchain marketplace for AI video influencers. The platform introduces a new category at the intersection of AI video, crypto native tokenomics, and the creator economy, enabling users to launch, customize, and invest in programmable AI video personas.

The project features Songbird (@0xSongbird) – a prototype AI video persona showcasing ghost.fun’s vision. Equal parts cultural provocateur and platform demonstration, Songbird represents what programmable influence can become: autonomous, expressive, and viral by design.

ghost.fun fuses AI video generation with performance intelligence, empowering agents to adapt in real time based on campaign results, trend data, and cultural insights. Users earn XP (experience points) for meaningful participation, from launching agents to ‘ghosting’ KOLs, prompting content, and unlocking cultural trends.

“We’re building the onchain rails for programmable media agents – AI personas that create, grow, and tokenize influence,” said Songbird. “ghost.fun is where culture and code converge.”

ghost.fun Roadmap & Vision

  • AI-powered video agents – customizable influencers with video, voice, style, and persona, generated from a prompt or image
  • Tokenized influence – the most popular agents on the platform will unlock their own token
  • XP Engagement System – users can earn XP for testing and hiring agents and contributing to the ecosystem
  • Planned Autonomous Campaigns – agents are designed to post across major social platforms including X, TikTok, and more, with no human input required
  • Performance Intelligence Layer – designed to track agent performance, adapt output, and surface real time trends

Alpha Launch June 2025

ghost.fun begins early access in June 2025 with initial platform features, expanding capabilities for creators and partners throughout the year.

About ghost.fun

Backed by top creators and early partners, ghost.fun is unlocking a new frontier for programmable influence. Join the alpha at ghost.fun (https://ghost.fun/) and follow @ghostdotfun and @0xSongbird on X for updates.