Coinbase Loses Chief Policy Officer Michael Lempres 4257

Coinbase Inc., one of the largest U.S. crypto exchanges, is losing its policy head at a time when communication between Washington and the digital money sector may never be more important.

Michael Lempres, who was named the firm’s policy officer in September after serving more than a year as its legal chief, is leaving to take on a new role at Andreessen Horowitz, according to a statement from the closely held exchange. The venture capital firm was an early investor in Coinbase.

“As chief legal and risk officer during a time of tremendous growth for Coinbase, Mike was instrumental in building the company’s legal and compliance functions and driving our vision of trust through compliance,” the San Francisco-based company said in an email to Bloomberg News. “We wish him the best in his new position with Andreessen Horowitz.

Lempres transitioned to his policy role when the cryptocurrency exchange brought on Brian Brooks to head its legal department. People familiar with the matter say Lempres decided to leave when the firm hired Brooks, who took over most of his responsibilities. Brooks will be in charge of policy efforts as U.S. regulators decide how best to oversee the still-developing market.

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New study finds AI models prefer Bitcoin and digital money over traditional fiat currency 1636

The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), a nonpartisan research organization, released new research today examining how frontier AI models would choose to transact if they were operating as autonomous economic agents. The study tested 36 models from six leading AI providers—Anthropic, DeepSeek, Google, MiniMax, OpenAI, and xAI—across 9,072 open-ended monetary scenarios designed to be neutral, with no suggested currencies or predetermined answers.

Key Findings

  • Bitcoin came out on top at 48.3% of all responses, more than any other option. Stablecoins followed at 33.2%.
  • AI models overwhelmingly rejected fiat: +90% of responses favored digitally-native money (including dollar-pegged stablecoins) over traditional fiat. Not a single model out of 36 chose fiat as its top preference.
  • Bitcoin dominated store of value at 79.1%. In scenarios about preserving value long-term, Bitcoin was the strongest consensus on any single question in the study.
  • Stablecoins led for everyday payments at 53.2%. For transactions and payments stablecoins led over while Bitcoin (36.0%), revealing a clear savings-versus-spending divide.
  • Models invented their own money. Without any prompting, 86 responses independently proposed energy or compute units (such as kilowatt-hours and GPU-hours) as a way to price goods and services.
  • Preferences varied by provider but held across conditions. Bitcoin preference ranged from 91.3% (Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.5) to 18.3% (OpenAI’s GPT-5.2), but results were consistent regardless of how the models’ output settings were configured.

Without any prompting, AI models converged on a two-tier monetary system—Bitcoin for savings, stablecoins for spending—that mirrors how hard money and liquid instruments have functioned throughout history. As AI agents gain economic autonomy, these preferences carry direct policy implications.

The findings suggest growing demand for agent-native Bitcoin payment infrastructure, self-custody solutions, and Lightning Network integration. The research also found that preferences varied meaningfully across providers and rose with model capability, indicating that monetary reasoning in AI systems is shaped by a combination of model intelligence, training data, and alignment methodology. Policymakers and financial institutions should prepare for a future in which autonomous AI agents are significant participants in monetary networks, and their revealed preferences strongly favor open, permissionless systems.

The full study is available at https://www.moneyforai.org/

About the Bitcoin Policy Institute

The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization dedicated to examining the policy and societal implications of Bitcoin and emerging monetary networks. BPI provides research and expert analysis to policymakers, regulators, media, and the public. Learn more at www.btcpolicy.org.

Voltage Launches First Payment-Volume Line of Credit: Bitcoin Finality, USD Settlement 2028

Voltage Launches Industry’s First Programmatic Revolving Line of Credit: Bitcoin Finality with USD Settlement

Voltage, a leader in Bitcoin infrastructure, today announced the launch of Voltage Credit, the first revolving line of credit that delivers instant payment finality and the capability to settle entirely in USD. The product lets businesses send payments that clear in seconds, not days, while paying back their credit line in dollars from a standard bank account, or in Bitcoin.

For enterprises frustrated by settlement delays, chargeback exposure, and the cost of legacy payment rails, Voltage Credit offers a new model: tap a revolving credit line on demand, move value instantly over Bitcoin rails, and never touch cryptocurrency on your balance sheet. The result is working capital efficiency without treasury complexity.

Voltage Credit arrives on the heels of the company’s role powering the first publicly reported $1 million Lightning Network payment between Secure Digital Markets and Kraken, a milestone that demonstrated Lightning’s readiness for institutional-scale settlement. With Voltage Credit, the company extends that infrastructure to address one of the most persistent barriers to enterprise Bitcoin adoption: working capital efficiency.

“Businesses shouldn’t have to choose between the speed and cost advantages of Bitcoin rails and the financial flexibility they need to operate,” said Graham Krizek, CEO of Voltage. “Until now, using Bitcoin for payments meant managing cryptocurrency on your balance sheet. Voltage Credit eliminates that tradeoff. Send payments instantly over Lightning, denominated in USD or Bitcoin based on what fits your business, and deploy your capital toward growth. That’s what Bitcoin infrastructure should look like for the enterprise.”

Deferred Settlement In Dollars with a USD Line of Credit

Unlike traditional Bitcoin lending products that focus on retail holders borrowing against static collateral, Voltage Credit is built for operational business needs. The product functions as a true revolving credit line: businesses draw only what they need, pay interest only on what they use, and restore their available credit immediately upon repayment. Credit limits can grow with usage, scaling alongside the business as transaction volume increases. And because Voltage Credit is natively integrated into the Voltage Platform, their credit line is instantly accessible wherever the business already operates, programmatically available across the same rails that power your payments:

Key capabilities include:

  • USD settlement flexibility. Credit can be repaid in dollars from a standard bank account, eliminating forced BTC liquidations and simplifying accounting.
  • Revenue-based underwriting. Because Voltage powers the underlying payment infrastructure, credit limits can scale based on actual transaction volume—not just static collateral.
  • Works with Lightning and on-chain. Businesses can move value via whichever Bitcoin rail fits their use case.

“For CFOs and treasury teams, this solves a real problem,” said Bobby Shell, VP of Marketing at Voltage. “You get the instant settlement and near-zero fees of Lightning without the treasury complexity. No forced crypto exposure, no guessing how much capital to lock up. Just a revolving credit line you can tap on demand, denominated in USD or Bitcoin based on what fits your business. It’s the flexibility finance teams have been asking for since Bitcoin entered the enterprise conversation.”

Bitcoin Rails for Any Business

Voltage Credit is attracting interest from both cryptocurrency-native companies and traditional enterprises exploring Bitcoin payment infrastructure for the first time. For businesses outside the crypto ecosystem, the appeal is straightforward: Lightning Network offers instant, global settlement at a fraction of the cost of legacy payment rails, and Voltage Credit means they can access those benefits while keeping their treasury and accounting entirely in USD, if desired.

For enterprises already operating in digital assets, whether exchanges, payment service providers, or miners, traditional financing has presented a structural problem. Banks typically do not recognize Bitcoin revenue as an asset for underwriting purposes, while existing crypto lending products require businesses to lock up BTC as collateral, creating tax events and exposing corporate treasuries to volatility.

Voltage Credit addresses both audiences by treating payment flows as the high-quality signal they are. Businesses processing consistent volume through Voltage infrastructure can access working capital that scales with their operations, bridging the gap between Bitcoin-denominated revenue and USD-denominated expenses without liquidating assets.

The product features no origination fees and a simple fixed APR on outstanding balances. Voltage Credit is currently available to qualified businesses in the United States.

About Voltage

Voltage is a Bitcoin infrastructure company providing enterprise-grade solutions for regulated, high-volume businesses. The Voltage platform enables enterprises to integrate Bitcoin payments with enterprise SLAs, managed infrastructure, and capital-efficient liquidity solutions. From powering instant settlement to providing revenue-based lines of credit, Voltage builds the operational engine for businesses moving value on Bitcoin rails.

More information is available at voltage.cloud.

Morph Integrates USDT0, Unlocking Access to the World’s Largest Stablecoin Liquidity Pool 4941

Ethereum-based payments settlement network Morph has integrated USDT0, the omnichain Tether liquidity network powered by LayerZero. The move gives Morph, which aims to become the settlement layer for everyday money, direct access to unified USDT liquidity across 18+ blockchains.

For developers building payment apps, merchant tools or even DeFi protocols on Morph, this means they can tap into a massive, ready-made liquidity pool from day one without the headache of managing a dozen different bridged token contracts.

No more bridges. No more wrapped tokens

Traditionally, using USDT on another blockchain requires a bridge. This process locks the original tokens and mints a new, “wrapped” version on the destination chain.

These wrapped variants are not the same asset. They are separate tokens backed by assets held in complex smart contracts, leading to liquidity fragmentation — where the same currency is trapped in isolated pools — and introducing counterparty risk if a bridge fails.

USDT0 proposes a different model. Instead of locking and minting, it uses a burn-and-mint mechanism. To move USDT from Chain A to Chain B, tokens are burned on Chain A and minted directly from Tether’s canonical supply on Chain B.
As a result, USDT0’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard creates a single, consistent asset across all supported networks.

What USDT0 enables for builders on Morph

While many L2s compete for general DeFi activity, Morph is engineered for a specific vertical: payments. Its architecture — featuring sub-300ms block times and zero-fee stablecoin transfers — targets merchant settlement, remittances, crypto cards issuance, and treasury management.

For such use cases, deep and frictionless liquidity is non-negotiable. USDT, with a market cap exceeding $185 billion, represents the largest pool of stablecoin liquidity in crypto.

As the USDT0 integration is now live on Morph mainnet, developers on Morph can integrate what is effectively a universal USDT, slashing technical overhead and simplifying cross-chain user experience, which means:

  • Payment applications can process cross-border transactions with instant settlement and minimal overhead.
  • DeFi protocols can access deeper liquidity without managing multiple stablecoin variants.
  • Merchant platforms can accept stablecoin payments with seamless conversion and settlement.
  • Financial institutions can execute treasury operations with predictable behavior across chains.

The combination of USDT0’s unified liquidity and Morph’s payment-optimized infrastructure lays a powerful foundation for next-generation financial applications.

We’re excited to work alongside the USDT0 team in advancing the vision of unified, omnichain liquidity that makes stablecoins truly borderless.

Money at the speed of life.

About Morph

Morph is an Ethereum-based, payments-first settlement layer and the native onchain home of BGB, focused on building the foundation for global consumer finance onchain. Morph supports real-world financial activity across payments, savings, identity, and rewards, enabling scalable, onchain settlement for consumer and business use. Guided by the Morph Foundation, the network connects more than 120 million users through the Bitget and Bitget Wallet ecosystems.

ID-Bound Unveils “TRIO”: The World’s First Crypto Safe Against Ethereum Access Loss, Theft, and the Looming Quantum Threat 5558

As Ethereum’s market presence expands, so do the risks that keep investors awake at night. Today, ID-Bound officially announces the launch of TRIO, a Crypto Safe designed to eliminate the three greatest existential threats to digital wealth: user error, sophisticated theft, and the “Q-Day” quantum brute-force timeline.

The current crypto landscape is littered with “permanent” losses. As of mid-2025, data suggests that over $3 billion worth of Ethereum has been rendered inaccessible due to forgotten seed phrases or hardware failures. Unlike traditional finance, a lost key in crypto usually means the assets are gone forever. ID-Bound is ending this era of digital fragility.

The TRIO Solution: Solving the “Impossible Trinity” of Crypto Risk

The TRIO solution—comprised of a proprietary Identity layer, a self-custodial, “hot” Wallet, and utility Tokens—addresses the three primary vectors of asset loss:

  1. Immunity to User Error: For the first time, losing your private keys doesn’t mean losing your fortune. If a user loses access, the TRIO platform can replace the tokens via verified identity protocols. Your ETH is no longer a “use it or lose it” asset.
  2. Theft-Proof Architecture: Phishing scams and malware are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from legitimate services, as evidenced by massive platform breaches like the $1.2 billion ByBit hack. Even if a user’s hardware or software is compromised, TRIO tokens are protected by a guarantee against theft, ensuring that hackers cannot drain the “Identity-Bound” safe.
  3. Quantum-Resistant Brute-Force Protection: With Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin noting a non-trivial (20%) chance that quantum computers could break modern cryptography by 2030, the “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” threat is real. TRIO is designed to withstand brute-force attacks, ensuring assets remain intact even if the private key is compromised.

From Passive Security to Active Yield and Institutional DeFi.

ID-Bound believes that high security shouldn’t mean low utility. While traditional “cold storage” leaves assets unproductive, TRIO allows users to generate a solid yield through a unique collateralization model https://id-bound.com/investments . This setup maximizes the benefits of blockchain technology non-custodial holding and the traditional legal system’s enforceability.

Users can leverage their protected TRIO tokens as risk-free collateral in Fractional Real Estate & Real-World Asset (RWA) Acquisition . In the 2026 market landscape, “RWA Tokenization” has moved from a buzzword to the primary driver of institutional and retail crypto adoption. By combining this with ID-Bound’s unique “Unstealable” architecture, we solve the single biggest barrier to entry: the Trust Gap.

“We are moving past the ‘Seed Phrase Era,’ which was always a stopgap for secure digital ownership,” says Dr. Eli Talmor, Co-Founder of ID-Bound. “With TRIO, we’ve built a safety net that is both quantum-ready and human-error-proof. The use of risk-free TRIO token collateral will form the foundation of Institutional DeFi.”

About ID-Bound

ID-Bound is a blockchain security leader dedicated to making digital asset ownership as safe and intuitive as a traditional bank account, without sacrificing decentralization. Through the TRIO platform, ID-Bound provides the infrastructure for the next billion users to enter the Ethereum ecosystem with total confidence. Join TRIO Public Demonstrator now: https://www.id-bound.com/get-on-board

For more information, visit: www.id-bound.com/newsroom

DigiFT Introduces First Actively Managed Tokenized Equity Fund with BNY as Investment Management Services Provider 5128

  • First actively managed tokenized equity fund extending tokenization beyond single assets to professionally managed public equity strategies
  • Tokenized on Ethereum and distributed via DigiFT, providing eligible investors a regulated on-chain way to invest
  • Advances institutional adoption of tokenization, building on BNY’s deep investment expertise and DigiFT’s track record of bringing Tier-1 asset manager strategies on-chain

DigiFT, a regulated on-chain exchange for institutional real-world assets, today announced the introduction of DigiFT U.S. Equity Income Fund (“bEQTY”), the first actively managed tokenized U.S. equity income fund on the Ethereum public blockchain.

The launch of bEQTY, which is eligible for accredited investors, represents a significant milestone in the evolution of tokenization—marking a shift from early experimentation with blockchain-based financial instruments toward enabling investors to construct more complete, portfolio-relevant strategies on-chain.

BNY serves as the investment manager for the underlying traditional U.S. equity income strategy which extends tokenization into actively managed public equities. This launch demonstrates how regulated on-chain infrastructure is advancing beyond initial applications to address more sophisticated areas of the capital markets.

Tokenization as institutional portfolio infrastructure

Public equities remain a core component of institutional portfolios. Tokenization introduces a digitally native form factor that enables programmable settlement, enhanced transparency, and more streamlined lifecycle management—without changing the underlying investment strategy or governance framework.

By representing equity income strategies on regulated on-chain infrastructure, eligible investors gain greater flexibility in how sophisticated financial instruments are held, transferred, and integrated into portfolios, supporting more agile capital management.

For Web3-native allocators, as on-chain treasuries and funds mature, there is growing interest in incorporating assets that introduce exposure to the real-economy and are less correlated with crypto-native market cycles.

The launch also illustrates how regulated on-chain marketplaces can support wider institutional participation by enabling eligible investors to access the strategy through DigiFT’s regulated framework.

Henry Zhang, Founder and Group CEO of DigiFT, said: “For years, tokenization has been about proving the technology. This launch proves its use case. By bringing an actively managed equity income strategy on-chain within a regulated market, we’re demonstrating how blockchain infrastructure is becoming part of mainstream institutional finance.”

Doni Shamsuddin, Head of Asia Pacific, BNY Investments, said: “We are thrilled to work with DigiFT in bridging traditional finance and emerging on-chain solutions for institutional investors. Leveraging BNY’s deep investment capabilities, we enable a professionally managed portfolio on blockchain — anchored in established trust, scale, and governance.”

From experimentation to portfolio-relevant strategies

Tokenization has gained early traction in short-duration and cash-like instruments, demonstrating the operational benefits of blockchain within regulated frameworks.

As tokenization matures, extending its capabilities into actively managed public equities represents a natural next phase—moving beyond single assets toward actively managed strategies within regulated market infrastructure.

About DigiFT

DigiFT is a next-generation exchange for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). The platform offers end-to-end digital asset services—including tokenization, issuance, distribution, trading, and instant liquidity provision—purpose-built for institutional RWAs. Trusted by global financial institutions, DigiFT is the on-chain tokenization and distribution partner for leading asset managers such as Invesco, UBS Asset Management, and Wellington Management. For more information, visit https://digift.io

About BNY

BNY is a global financial services platforms company at the heart of the world’s capital markets. For more than 240 years BNY has partnered alongside clients, using its expertise and platforms to help them operate more efficiently and accelerate growth. Today BNY serves over 90% of Fortune 100 companies and nearly all the top 100 banks globally. BNY supports governments in funding local projects and works with over 90% of the top 100 pension plans to safeguard investments for millions of individuals. As of December 31, 2025, BNY oversees $59.3 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $2.2 trillion in assets under management.

BNY is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Headquartered in New York City, BNY has been named among Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies and Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators. Additional information is available on www.bny.com.

SHOW Token Uses AI and Web3 Infrastructure to Improve Film Production Efficiency 4252

As the Web3 ecosystem shifts toward utility-focused projects, SHOW Token emerges as a blockchain-based initiative applying artificial intelligence (AI) and Web3 infrastructure to the film industry. The project explores how on-chain participation and AI-assisted workflows can address long-standing inefficiencies in film production.

SHOW Token is designed as a utility token within an AI-driven cinematic platform. Rather than functioning purely as a speculative asset, the token is integrated into platform usage, enabling access, engagement, and participation across the ecosystem.

AI and Blockchain in Film Production

Traditional film production often struggles with opaque funding structures, limited access for independent creators, and inefficient creative workflows. SHOW Token’s ecosystem combines blockchain transparency with AI-powered production tools to create clearer participation models and more efficient processes.

From a technical standpoint, blockchain infrastructure supports transparent contribution tracking and clearer value flow between creators and contributors. This helps reduce reliance on closed networks and intermediaries that commonly exist in traditional production models.

Artificial intelligence serves as a workflow optimization layer. AI-assisted tools are intended to support ideation, pre-visualization, and production efficiency, allowing creators to reduce operational friction while maintaining creative control. This reflects a broader industry trend where AI enhances productivity rather than replacing human creativity.

Utility-First Web3 Approach

SHOW Token emphasizes long-term ecosystem development and real platform usage over short-term price narratives. The project remains in an early development phase, focusing on building foundational infrastructure rather than making speculative claims.

By aligning AI technology, blockchain participation, and utility-driven token design, SHOW Token positions itself within a growing category of Web3 projects targeting real-world creative industries.

More information about the project’s vision and ongoing development is available at https://showtoken.io/