Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Vitalik Buterin Challenges AI Cybersecurity Doom Narrative

Vitalik Buterin believes that advanced AI will improve cybersecurity through formal verification.Ethereum uses AI agents to detect software vulnerabilities.Anthropic has observed increased AI capacity in offensive cybersecurity tactics.　　Vitalik Buterin dismissed all allegations concerning the ability of AI hackers to render cybersecurity indefensible due to advancements in artificial intelligence technology. Buterin said that AI could help improve the cybersecurity system by means of formal verification. This involves using mathematical proofs to assess the security properties of software. However, Buterin admitted that verification could not safeguard the system from bugs that developers had omitted in their specifications. In a similar manner, Ethereum has emphasized the necessity of comprehensive security specifications. Moreover, Buterin has indicated that about 90 percent of his net worth is in cryptocurrencies.　　Its an increasingly common take that AI hacking means cybersecurity is doomed.　　I disagree. I think cybersecurity is naturally defense-favoring once people get their shit together. And anyone who continues to hold cryptocurrency (including me, ~90% of my net worth) is implicitly…　　Combining AI with Security Research Has Become Routine for Ethereum　　AI agents are already used by Ethereum scientists to analyze the protocol code and reproduce vulnerabilities on their own. The Foundation announced that coordinated AI agents helped detect actual

09-18Industry

'Major Breakthrough': Saylor Reacts to SEC's Big Crypto Move

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has taken one of its biggest steps yet toward bringing Wall Street stocks onto public blockchains.　　It has unveiled a temporary regulatory framework that will allow certain tokenized U.S. equities to trade using infrastructure borrowed directly from decentralized finance.　　Former Strategy CEO Michael Saylor has described it as a “major breakthrough.”　　Why it is a big deal　　Tokenized stocks themselves are not entirely new. Platforms outside the United States have already experimented with blockchain-based representations of publicly traded companies.　　The SEC is opening a path for actual secondary-market trading to take place using mechanisms closely associated with crypto and decentralized finance.　　A TSV can provide automated market maker liquidity pools in which approved participants buy and sell tokenized shares. AMMs rely on smart contracts and pools of assets rather than the traditional order-book model used by major stock exchanges.　　Even more notably, the SEC requires the smart contracts behind these venues to be public and auditable and to operate on a public, permissionless distributed ledger.　　The SEC is allowing pieces of the public blockchain infrastructure developed by the cryptocurrency industry to become part of an experimental market structure for U.S.-listed stocks.　　SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and Atkins had previously floated precisely this possibility.

09-18Industry

Ripple Adds Stripe And Tempo AI Payment Standard

Ripple‘s developer arm RippleX released version 1.1 of the XRP Ledger AI Starter Kit on 15 September, adding support for two open standards that let artificial intelligence agents hold and spend XRP without custom key handling. The update makes the XRP Ledger a settlement rail for the Machine Payment Protocol, an HTTP-native payments standard co-authored by Tempo and Stripe, and brings the chain into the Open Wallet Standard, according to RippleX’s announcement.　　Two open standards for agent payments　　The Machine Payment Protocol, or MPP, lets a service return an HTTP 402 status with a price, the agent authorizes the payment, and the resource is delivered without an account or a checkout flow. The Open Wallet Standard is a local-first, multi-chain wallet specification that keeps an agents keys in a single encrypted vault at ~/.ows/, decrypted only long enough to sign. With XRP Ledger support, a single ows wallet create command now derives an XRPL address alongside every other supported chain, so agent frameworks do not have to write chain-specific key management code for XRP.　　XRP as a settlement rail　　The XRP Ledger is now a supported settlement rail for MPP, live in two payment modes covering XRP charges and payment channels. Developers also get

09-18Industry

S&P Global agrees to acquire blockchain security firm OpenZeppelin

S&P Global has agreed to acquire blockchain security company OpenZeppelin as the financial data and ratings provider expands its digital asset business into smart contract and onchain technology risk assessment.　　SummaryS&P Global has agreed to acquire OpenZeppelin to expand its smart contract security and onchain risk assessment capabilities.OpenZeppelin has completed more than 900 security engagements, while its smart contracts have supported over $37 trillion in value transferred.OpenZeppelin will operate as a separate S&P Global business unit and keep its open source contracts library free and publicly maintained.The deal follows S&P Globals $110 million strategic investment round in crypto market data provider Kaiko earlier this week.　　According to S&P Globals Sept. 17 announcement, the transaction is expected to complement its existing risk assessment and digital asset capabilities. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the acquisition remains subject to closing conditions.　　OpenZeppelin will continue operating under its existing name as a separate S&P Global business unit. CEO Demian Brener will remain in charge of the company and report to S&P Global Ratings President Yann Le Pallec.　　S&P Global said the transaction is not expected to have a material effect on its financial results.　　S&P Global acquisition adds smart contract security capabilities　　Founded in 2015, OpenZeppelin develops open source

09-18Industry

Canadian Dollar: Underperformance persists on wider spreads – Scotiabank

Scotiabank strategists Shaun Osborne and Eric Theoret highlight that USD/CAD remains elevated near 1.40 after the FOMC, with the Canadian Dollar (CAD) underperforming peers as the Fed/BoC rate differential returns to 175bps. Their fair value model suggests modest USD overvaluation around 1.3894, but limited prospects for narrowing spreads imply CAD may struggle to recover, while technicals point to potential USD gains above 1.40 toward 1.4050/1.4125.　　Rate differentials weigh on Canadian Dollar　　“The CAD slide following the FOMC Wednesday has steadied in overnight trade. But the CAD has failed to improve, unlike most of its major currency peers, leaving it a clear underperformer on the session.”　　“With the Fed/BoC policy rate differential back to 175bps, where it spent much of last year, wider front-end spreads account for the CADs softness and underperformance. Our fair value model indicates an equilibrium exchange rate of 1.3894, indicating that there is a degree of USD overvaluation in current spot rates but, with little prospect of that gap narrowing anytime soon, the CAD may find it hard to recover meaningfully for now.”　　“Bullish—USD gains are holding just under 1.40, with the 50% retracement resistance of the June/August slide in the USD at 1.3990 holding gains for now. ”　　“Trend momentum has

09-18Industry

S&P Global Buys the Auditor Behind Most Stablecoins: Why Now, and Why Twice？

S&P Global agreed Thursday to buy OpenZeppelin, whose open-source code sits beneath most of the world‘s largest stablecoins. It is the ratings giant’s second crypto deal in three days.　　Neither company disclosed a price. The purchase hands S&P a grip on the code that moves tokenized money, not just the data describing it.　　S&P Global two major crypto deals in three days. Led the top-up to Kaikos $110M Series B Monday, buying OpenZeppelin today.　　The Code Running Beneath Most Stablecoins　　OpenZeppelin has published free smart contract building blocks since 2015. Smart contracts are programs that move money on a blockchain without a bank in the middle.　　The firm says its code has carried more than $37 trillion in value. It has run over 900 security reviews and found more than 10,000 flaws.　　Discover more　　News　　Compare Exchange Rates　　Choose POS Systems　　“OpenZeppelin‘s standards, technology, and expertise already power the infrastructure behind the world’s leading stablecoins, tokenized funds, DeFi protocols, and onchain markets,” Chief executive Demian Brener said that in the companys statement.　　He keeps his job and will report to S&P Global Ratings president Yann Le Pallec.　　S&P Global Has Spent a Year Rating Crypto Products　　The company issued the first credit rating of a DeFi protocol, Sky, and the first stablecoin stability

09-18Industry

Edel Expands Institutional Push as Wall Street Tokenization Matures

New York, USA, September 17th, 2026, Chainwire. Edel announced an expanded institutional push for its tokenized equity and commodity markets on Canton, led by board member Brad Klaas, a securities lending and prime brokerage veteran whose career spans BlackRock‘s predecessor firms and Franklin Templeton. The push comes as Wall Street’s largest institutions move assets onchain and confront a harder question: what those assets can do once they arrive, and whether the answer gives institutions a compelling reason to change.　　As part of that effort, Edel has joined the DTC Digital Assets Solutions Industry Working Group, convened to provide feedback on the creation of the DTCC Tokenization Service.　　Edel will help shape this work alongside more than 100 other members, including institutions at the core of US capital markets such as NYSE, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Citadel Securities. The DTCC Tokenization Service is expected to launch in Q4 2026.　　For most of the past decade, the question hanging over blockchain and capital markets was whether the two belonged in the same sentence. That question has largely been settled. BlackRock has tokenized funds. JPMorgan has built blockchain settlement rails.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　Franklin Templeton has moved investment products onchain. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, the post-trade utility

09-17Industry

Bolt and Lucid target 25,000 robotaxis for Europe

Bolt and Lucid Motors are planning to put at least 25,000 self-driving vehicles on European roads, the Estonian mobility company and U.S. electric-car maker announced today. If the plan goes ahead, it would be Lucids biggest robotaxi commitment to date and give Bolt a vehicle designed specifically for its push into autonomous ride-hailing.　　However, there are still no firm orders placed yet, and no transactions have been done. Bolt has not ordered a single Lucid vehicle, which makes the 25,000 autonomous vehicle target a plan on paper and not an actual committed purchase.　　Discover more　　Brokerages & Day Trading　　Merchant Services & Payment Systems　　News　　Bolt would own and run the fleet　　The vehicles will be built on Lucids upcoming mid-size EV platform, which the company says will be smaller and cheaper than its current models, according to TechCrunch. Bolt plans to own and operate the fleet instead of getting the vehicles on a lease, while the two sides will develop the platform with autonomous driving in mind from the start, according to a press release.　　The vehicles are expected to use Nvidias Hyperion platform for the computing and sensors needed for autonomous driving. However, it remains unclear who will provide the software that actually controls the vehicle,

09-17Industry

SEC grants 5-year exemption for tokenized stock trading

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has granted tokenized securities venues five years of conditional relief to trade tokenized U.S. stocks through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools.　　SummaryThe exemption permits eligible venues to support tokenized NMS stock trading for five years.Token holders must receive the same rights and privileges as traditional shareholders.Trading limits, public smart contracts and coordinated stock halts form part of the conditions.The SEC is seeking public feedback on whether it should change the relief.　　SEC tokenized stock exemption opens a five-year pathway　　The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in its order that Tokenized Securities Venues, or TSVs, may use permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools to facilitate trading in tokenized National Market System stocks.　　Issued as conditional exemptive relief, the measure will remain available for five years after publication. The agency also requested public comments on possible changes to the framework while it studies how blockchain-based trading can operate under U.S. securities laws.　　Eligible platforms will receive relief from several rules that apply to national exchanges such as the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange. Liquidity providers working with tokenized shares will also receive temporary relief from certain dealer-registration requirements, according to the SEC.　　You might also like:　　Hong Kong

09-17Industry

Fed Holds Rates Near 4% as Trump Pushes for 1%: What It Means for Bitcoin

Fed rates remain near 4% as Trump pushes for 1%, creating a major policy divide.Lower rates support Bitcoin, but rising inflation and bond yields create risks.Bitcoin traders are watching inflation, Treasury yields, the dollar, and the September 30 PCE report.　　Bitcoin is facing mixed signals from U.S. interest-rate policy. On September 16, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75%-4%.　　At the same time, President Donald Trump has called for interest rates to fall to 1% or lower. That creates a large gap between Trump‘s preferred rate and the Fed’s current rate. Bitcoin traders are watching whether rates eventually fall or remain high because of inflation.　　Trump Wants Much Lower Interest Rates　　Trump again called for much lower interest rates after the Feds decision. He said the U.S. has strong credit, investment is growing, and lower rates would help the economy and trade. Cutting rates from 3.75%-4% to 1% would represent a reduction of about 275-300 basis points.　　For Bitcoin, lower rates are generally positive because cheaper borrowing encourages investors to take more risk. Lower U.S. interest rates also reduce the returns available from dollar-denominated investments, putting downward pressure on the dollar. These conditions have historically supported assets such as Bitcoin

09-17Industry

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