development

According to the latest weekly report from Gate Ventures, the market has shown a significant cooling of risk appetite under the influence of strong economic data and ongoing inflationary pressures, with global growth assets generally under pressure.The cryptocurrency market has also pulled back, with BTC down 14.4% for the week and ETH down 15.7%. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has decreased by 12.5%, and market sentiment has dropped to the "extreme fear" range. In terms of capital flow, the spot BTC ETF saw a net outflow of $1.72 billion in a single week, setting a record for the largest weekly outflow in history; the spot ETH ETF experienced a net outflow of $168.2 million during the same period, indicating that institutional funds are becoming more cautious in the short term.In terms of industry development, Mastercard announced the expansion of stablecoin settlement applications in its global payment network, supporting various compliant stablecoins for round-the-clock settlements in payment scenarios, further promoting the integration of stablecoins into mainstream financial infrastructure.In terms of investment and financing, three financing transactions were disclosed last week, with the infrastructure sector continuing to dominate. Among them, the digital asset derivatives infrastructure project SignalPlus completed a $50 million financing, demonstrating that market funds are still focused on underlying infrastructure and long-term application scenario development.Overall, the market is temporarily disturbed by macro factors, but stablecoin payments and infrastructure development remain important directions for industry growth.

AMIKO announced the completion of the full-platform Agent runtime upgrade, with the underlying platform migrated to the self-developed open-source architecture OpenHermit. According to information from the project team, existing users have completed the system transition, and new users will directly operate on the OpenHermit architecture after registration. Meanwhile, the AMIKO ecosystem development segment has officially entered the open phase.AMIKO is an identity and social infrastructure aimed at the AI Agent era, focusing on four aspects: identity, productivity, social interaction, and economy, with the goal of enabling users to have AI Twins, Companions, Assistants, and Experts that can represent them in actions, communication, and collaboration. OpenHermit is AMIKO's self-developed open-source Agent runtime, designed for large-scale production-level deployment scenarios, supporting stable hosting and low-cost continuous operation of a large number of Agents.During the internal testing phase, OpenHermit has gained discussions and code contributions within the global developer community, and the related code repository has been opened on GitHub. Documentation and quick start guides can be viewed at openhermit.ai.This upgrade is also seen as a product landing point for AMIKO's recent strategic actions. Previously, AMIKO received strategic investment from the American technology investment firm High Ridge Holdings and reached a strategic equity partnership and comprehensive ecological cooperation with Feixiaohao.With the completion of the underlying architecture upgrade, independent developers and professional teams can develop and deploy products and services within the platform ecosystem based on AMIKO's infrastructure covering identity, productivity, social interaction, and economy. AMIKO stated that its goal is to become a universal Agent infrastructure platform in the AI-native era, allowing the flow of identity, productivity, social interaction, and economy to occur naturally between users and Agents.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently announced the establishment of the Blockchain Advisory Group (BAG) during the Proof of Talk 2026 in Paris, focusing on optimizing public systems and governance through blockchain technology. The first meeting was chaired by UNDP Deputy Administrator Xu Haoliang, with the initial in-depth topic being inclusive finance and digital finance, discussing obstacles such as fragmented payment systems, limited digital identities, insufficient interoperability, and institutional readiness, while assessing how blockchain can complement existing digital public infrastructure to enhance financial accessibility, efficiency, and transparency.BAG plans to hold two meetings each year to promote cooperation with the blockchain ecosystem around themes such as digital governance and public trust, legal identity and inclusive societies, digital financial services, climate and traceable accountability, digital labor and the future of work. Current members include 26 institutions such as the Ethereum Foundation, Filecoin Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, Algorand Foundation, Arbitrum Foundation, Celo Foundation, Web3 Foundation, and Kraken.

The Deputy Minister of Finance of Russia, Ivan Chebeskov, stated that he does not wish to allow dollar-denominated stablecoins to circulate in the Russian market. Chebeskov pointed out that foreign stablecoin issuers such as USDT and USDC have the ability to freeze users' wallet assets. Once the relevant wallets engage in transactions with platforms licensed by the Central Bank of Russia, the risk of asset freezing for holders will significantly increase.He revealed that there have already been cases where dollar stablecoins held by Russian legal entities were frozen by the issuers, while Bitcoin and Ethereum have not encountered similar situations due to the lack of relevant technical means. The Russian Ministry of Finance believes it is necessary to establish a regulatory framework specifically for stablecoins and to prioritize the development of stablecoins pegged to the ruble and the currencies of friendly countries, while also granting the Central Bank of Russia the authority to adjust the list of relevant assets.

Gate Europe successfully held the "Capital Social at Money20/20 Europe" industry exchange event. The event was jointly organized by Gate Institutional, Gate Fiat, and Gate Pay, attracting over 150 professionals from the fields of payment, OTC, institutional trading, and fintech to discuss the integration trends of digital assets and traditional finance, as well as opportunities for institutional market development.During the event, the senior team of Gate and industry guests engaged in discussions on topics such as the integration of fiat currency and digital assets, institutional liquidity, cross-border payments, and institutional-level settlement. Partner Utexo conducted specialized discussions on institutional liquidity, fiat infrastructure, and payment collaboration. In a roundtable discussion themed "Everything Capital," attendees focused on topics such as capital flow efficiency, the construction of institutional payment networks, the evolution of OTC market structure, and innovations in cross-border settlement.This event provided a deep communication platform for traditional financial institutions, payment companies, and participants in the digital asset industry.Currently, Gate Group's Malta entity Gate Europe has obtained European MiCA and PI licenses under the supervision of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), continuously advancing its compliance layout in Europe and strengthening its infrastructure capabilities in institutional payments, fiat channels, and cross-border settlement. As the industry moves towards a higher level of compliance and institutional development, Gate will continue to deepen global industry collaboration and promote the integration of digital assets and traditional finance.

The DeFi protocol Radiant announced that after experiencing a hacker attack in October 2024, and after 18 months of continuous efforts, the DAO no longer has a viable path to continue operations and will gradually enter the "sunsetting" phase.Currently, the project has no progress in recovering funds, no new capital injection, and lacks the funds and development space to maintain normal operations, thus it cannot continue responsible long-term operations.

Michael Saylor posted on the X platform, stating that CFTC guidelines promote the development of the Bitcoin capital market, including around-the-clock trading, BTC collateral, perpetual futures, options, and regulated access. This will benefit BTC holders, support the MSTR engine, and facilitate the development of STRC as Bitcoin-backed digital credit.

According to the Securities Times, the National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference today. At the meeting, Li Chao, deputy director of the Policy Research Office of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that the commission is planning to introduce supporting documents to accelerate the implementation of artificial intelligence and further strengthen resource guarantees.At the same time, we will continue to promote central state-owned enterprises to open high-value application scenarios, creating benchmark applications for artificial intelligence across various industries, fields, and regions, and accelerating the integration of artificial intelligence into all aspects and links of business management.

The DAO infrastructure service provider Syndicate announced that it will gradually cease operations. It stated that after five years of continuous development of on-chain developer infrastructure, the Rollup market has undergone fundamental changes. Currently, the Rollup market size has significantly shrunk, with some Rollup projects gradually shutting down, and the market has shifted from EVM Rollups to custom chain models built from scratch by consulting teams, resulting in a significant decline in reusable technology and network value.Syndicate stated that its system consists of two parts: Syndicate Labs, responsible for development, will shut down, while the independent entity Syndicate Network Collective (Wyoming DUNA), which holds SYND tokens and has governance rights, will continue to exist, and SYND governance will not be affected in the short term.In addition, Syndicate emphasized that this decision to cease operations is unrelated to recent cross-chain security incidents, and affected users and SYND holders have received full compensation through treasury reserves, while team and investor tokens are still locked.

Gate Europe CEO Dr. Giovanni Cunti attended the VI3NNA Congress 2026 and delivered a keynote speech titled "The Role of Exchanges and Stablecoins." The conference was held from May 19 to 20 in Vienna, Austria, bringing together industry representatives from Web3, AI, finance, and regulation to discuss the future development direction of the European digital economy.Giovanni Cunti's speech analyzed the popularization of stablecoin applications, industry development trends, and how blockchain financial infrastructure is gradually reshaping the traditional financial market landscape. It focused on how crypto asset service providers, including Gate Europe, are transitioning from meeting user needs to playing a key role in driving industry structure and future market development. In addition to the keynote speech, Giovanni Cunti also participated in several roundtable discussions, engaging with policymakers, financial institutions, investors, and industry innovators on topics such as digital asset regulation, infrastructure development, and real market implementation.Currently, Gate's Malta company, Gate Europe, has obtained European MiCA and PI licenses under the regulation of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). As the industry continues to move towards compliance and institutional development, Gate is actively participating in global key industry dialogues and promoting the long-term development of the digital asset ecosystem.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko publicly supports the development of a native perpetual contract DEX on the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), directly challenging Hyperliquid's leading position in on-chain derivatives trading.Anatoly believes that Solana needs to build its own perpetual contract infrastructure with atomic composability, showing that the ecosystem views perpetual contracts as key to retaining user activity and on-chain trading volume. Specific project details or launch timelines have not yet been disclosed. In recent months, a large volume of perpetual contract trading has migrated to Hyperliquid, which has become the dominant protocol in the on-chain perpetual contract space.Meanwhile, Hyperliquid co-founder Jeffrey Yan is in Washington engaging with policymakers on regulatory pathways, including discussions around the CLARITY Act legislation concerning crypto derivatives regulation, which could provide an advantage to Hyperliquid if the bill passes. The Solana native alternative will directly compete by leveraging its speed and cost advantages, but Hyperliquid's existing network effects and liquidity create high barriers to entry.

According to Jinshi News, the technology company Hangzhou Yunshen Technology Co., Ltd., which focuses on embodied intelligent robots and their supporting products and solutions, has released a prospectus. It shows that the revenue from the embodied intelligent robot project for the year 2025 is expected to reach 322.3773 million yuan; the revenue from product components is expected to reach 11.9501 million yuan; and the revenue from supporting services is expected to reach 2.573 million yuan.According to the resolutions from the company's first extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in 2026 and the ninth meeting of the first board of directors, this issuance aims to raise 2,502.511 million yuan. After deducting issuance costs, the funds will be invested in the research and development projects for embodied algorithms and models, the research and development projects for robot bodies and solutions, the industrialization projects for embodied intelligent robots, and the construction projects for embodied intelligent robot bases.

Solana treasury company DeFi Development Corp reported that despite an expanded loss in the first quarter, the per-share holding of SOL increased from 0.0322 to 0.0670 over the past year, a growth of 108%. As of May 13, the company holds approximately 2.2946 million SOL and equivalents.CEO Joseph Onorati stated that the company achieved growth through strategies such as internal staking, operating joint validation nodes in collaboration with Bonk, and deploying over 25% of the treasury on-chain, and believes that the strategy is a starting point rather than a ceiling. The company reported a revenue of $2.66 million in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 827%; the net loss was $83.4 million, compared to $778,000 in the same period last year, mainly impacted by the decline in SOL prices.

According to the official announcement, the digital asset trading platform Websea has reached an investment intention with a strategic investor and will officially open withdrawals on May 18 at 16:00 (UTC+8), while also announcing specific withdrawal arrangements.It is reported that this strategic investment comes from a family fund in the Middle East. Both parties have conducted multiple rounds of in-depth communication on core issues such as the platform's asset status, business structure optimization, recovery path design, and long-term development planning, ultimately reaching a consensus for cooperation. Currently, the investor is advancing the capital injection process according to procedures, while simultaneously carrying out final confirmation work such as legal review, agreement signing, and equity arrangements.Websea CMO Herbert R. Sim stated that Websea has gone through an exceptionally difficult time, but in the face of many doubts from the industry, the platform team members have been working silently and have finally welcomed new life. He believes that this test is both a challenge and an opportunity for the platform. He also mentioned that with the entry of the investor, the platform will publish proof of reserves (Proof of Reserves, POR) and conduct regular disclosures to further enhance user asset transparency and market confidence. The platform will also continue to optimize its product structure and ecological mechanisms to promote long-term stable development.

According to CoinDesk, Denis Beau, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, has publicly called for a joint effort from the European public and private sectors to promote the development of euro tokenized currency in response to the dominance of the US dollar stablecoin. This move stands in stark contrast to the position of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who is cautious about private stablecoins, believing that USDT, USDC, and others pose financial stability risks, and favors a central bank-led digital euro plan expected to be implemented by 2029.Beau proposed a "triple objective" for Europe: to adapt central bank currency services, to promote the issuance of pan-European tokenized private currency by regulated institutions, and to strengthen the MiCA regulatory framework. His stance is highly aligned with the Qivalis consortium, which consists of 12 major European banks including ING, BBVA, and BNP Paribas, and plans to launch a private digital euro within this year. Beau also revealed that the euro system will launch its first tokenized wholesale central bank currency service by the end of the year.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced on the X platform that TON has launched a unified smart contract toolchain called Acton. The new toolchain increases TON's development efficiency by 10 times, making the creation, testing, and deployment of smart contracts more convenient, and it is fully prepared for AI. This toolchain replaces TON's previous scattered tool stack, unifying it into a single development process.According to the introduction, Acton is an integrated command-line tool built around the Tolk language, covering the entire process of project creation, testing, debugging, dApp integration, deployment, and verification.

The Ethereum Foundation disclosed the results of a recent interoperability meeting held by core developers in the Svalbard archipelago of Norway and updated the key technical progress for the next phase upgrade, Glamsterdam. During the meeting, multiple client teams collaborated on network scalability and execution layer optimization, making progress in several directions. Developers confirmed that based on the comprehensive results of ePBS, BAL optimization, and the EIP-8037 repricing mechanism, a consensus on the "trusted path" after Glamsterdam has been reached.In terms of the execution layer, ePBS (External Proposer Separation Architecture) has been stably running in the multi-client Glamsterdam-devnet, and the external block builder process has completed end-to-end testing, covering almost all client implementations. Meanwhile, EIP-8037 has been finalized, establishing the fixed cost_per_state_byte model, and complete repricing parameter output has been achieved in bal-devnet-6. The scalability direction Hegotá has also made progress. The FOCIL-related prototype has a runnable implementation, and the scope of account abstraction (AA) requirements has been defined, with the next phase entering the multi-client development network verification stage.Current development focus remains on the final implementation of Glamsterdam while advancing the Hegotá scalability design and subsequent Strawmap route evolution. The development network is online, and functionalities such as FOCIL are expected to continue deepening in the next phase of testing. At the organizational level, this interop meeting also marks the formal initiation of leadership structure adjustments within the Protocol Cluster. The new leaders include Will Corcoran, Kev Wedderburn, and Fredrik. Will Corcoran is responsible for zkVM proof and post-quantum consensus coordination, Kev Wedderburn leads zkEVM development, and Fredrik is in charge of protocol security and the Trillion Dollar Security project.Original Protocol Cluster leadership team members Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko will gradually step back from management roles, and Alex Stokes is entering a leave period. The foundation stated that during its term, the Protocol has completed modular advancement and facilitated the launch of the Fusaka upgrade (December 2025), introduced PeerDAS, and enhanced mainnet gas capacity.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Data Bureau jointly issued the "Action Plan for Promoting the Bidirectional Empowerment of Artificial Intelligence and Energy," proposing to initially establish a safe, green, and economical energy security system supporting AI development by 2027, and to achieve world-leading research and application of AI-specific technologies in the energy sector by 2030.The key points of the plan include: coordinating the layout of new energy bases and computing power hubs, exploring direct connections between nuclear power and hydrogen energy to computing power facilities; promoting computing power facilities to increase the proportion of green electricity and energy efficiency, and improving carbon emission accounting; achieving synergy between computing power and electricity through market-based electricity trading; opening up high-value AI application scenarios in power grids, coal, oil and gas, and energy storage; accelerating breakthroughs in large energy models and the application of autonomous intelligent computing chips, and providing supporting support in standards, funding, talent, and other aspects.

Aptos Foundation and Aptos Labs announced that they will invest over $50 million to cover first-party products, research, protocol infrastructure, and a strategic fund for trading and AI partners.Aptos stated that Decibel has launched on the Aptos mainnet, with a cumulative trading volume exceeding $1 billion. The market capitalization of stablecoins on the Aptos network has reached $1.93 billion, and the scale of RWA has reached $1.2 billion, with asset management institutions such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Apollo Global already deployed on the network. Subsequently, Aptos will advance features such as crypto memory pools, FIX and CCXT connections, multi-leader consensus, and confidential perpetual trading.