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Bank of AI and the Peking University Blockchain Association PKUBlockchain have officially released their first research report titled "Web4.0: When AI Agents Become Economic Entities------Infrastructure, Track Patterns, and Investment Outlook." The report systematically outlines the three-layer infrastructure gaps of the x402 payment protocol, ERC-8004 identity standard, and MCP tool invocation protocol, and focuses on how Bank of AI can package five core components into a one-stop Agent financial operating system, becoming a typical case of a closed-loop from protocol to product. The research report points out that the daily average transaction volume on the TRON chain exceeds $22 billion, with a circulation of $86 billion USDT, providing a scalable foundation for high-frequency micro-settlement for Agents. Both parties will continue to promote the coordinated development of Web4.0 infrastructure and the agent economy.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken's parent company Payward announced that it will acquire 100% of the digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for up to $550 million (cash + stock). The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approval.Bitnomial is the first crypto-native platform to obtain all three U.S. derivatives licenses (designated contract market, derivatives clearing organization, and futures commission merchant). This acquisition will help Payward quickly gain a complete compliant derivatives infrastructure, significantly accelerating its expansion in the U.S. market. After the transaction is completed, Bitnomial's clearing and trading capabilities will be integrated with platforms such as Kraken and NinjaTrader, offering products like spot margin, perpetual contracts, and options to U.S. customers, and will be regulated by the CFTC.This acquisition will also expand Payward Services, allowing banks, fintech companies, and brokerages to access the U.S. compliant derivatives market through a single API. Industry insiders believe that with the market warming up and valuations recovering, merger and acquisition activities in the crypto industry are on the rise, as leading institutions are accelerating their transformation into comprehensive trading platforms for institutional clients by acquiring key capabilities such as compliance, custody, and derivatives.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange today published a consultation document regarding the shortening of the settlement cycle for the Hong Kong stock cash market (the "Consultation Document"), proposing to shorten the settlement cycle from the current T+2 to T+1, and seeking market opinions on the proposal.

Global mobile charging solution provider and RWA entity asset network explorer Electric Soul announced that it will attend the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" forum as a co-supporter, co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData.It is reported that the forum will be held on the afternoon of April 19 in Hong Kong, focusing on the paradigm shift driven by the integration of AI technology and cryptocurrency networks. At that time, Electric Soul will share on-site how to leverage shared charging devices and real-world revenue scenarios to map onto the revenue rights chain, bringing physical energy assets into a more transparent and efficient global value network.

Web3 asset data platform RootData released the sixth issue of the "Cryptocurrency Exchange Transparency Ranking (Stock Category)," continuing to focus on the growth trend of stock assets in cryptocurrency exchanges. In this issue, Binance, OKX, Gate, Bitget, and Bybit ranked in the top five.According to the ranking, most cryptocurrency exchanges saw an increase of around 10% in trading volume over the past week, reversing a downward trend that had persisted for several weeks, but the traffic remained mostly flat compared to last week, with no significant signs of rebound.In terms of ranking changes, Gate and Bitget both moved up one position, while Bybit dropped two positions. Bitget launched the first Pre-IPO project SpaceX (SPCX) in this issue, connecting the Pre-IPO product framework with traditional capital markets, enhancing the richness and institutional attributes of its "tradable stock assets," which is an important reason for the score increase this time.It is reported that RootData adheres to the "transparency first" principle and has taken the lead in establishing a dual evaluation system of "transparency + liquidity" in the field of stock cryptocurrency exchanges, thereby providing investors with more effective data references. The ranking will continue to be improved and published in the future.

According to The Block, the total amount of bets related to the 2026 elections on the Polymarket platform has exceeded $2 billion. With the elections in Hungary and Peru approaching, the betting volume in April has significantly increased; the share of bets from non-U.S. markets has risen significantly and now accounts for a majority.The Block points out that election prediction markets are no longer exclusive to the United States and are gradually becoming a global phenomenon.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released the final draft of the crypto asset framework. This new regulation is set to bring most crypto activities under the regulation of the Financial Services and Markets Act by October 25, 2027.According to the proposal, any institution that holds customer crypto assets for more than 24 hours or has the ability to revoke customer permissions will be considered a regulated custodian and must hold a full safeguarding license. Validators and node operators that provide value-added features such as yield or reward reinvestment will lose their technical exemptions. In addition, stablecoin issuers within the UK must control the entire lifecycle from issuance to redemption. Relevant institutions must submit authorization applications between September 30, 2026, and February 28, 2027.

According to the Financial Times, an analysis of campaign finance records shows that the cryptocurrency and AI industries have raised approximately $250 million over the past year to support congressional candidates in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections in November.A16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz donated a total of $25 million in February to the pro-AI Super PAC "Leading The Future." The organization has raised about $75 million from billionaires, including the two mentioned above and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman; when including "dark money" non-profits that do not disclose their donors, that figure rises to $140 million. The largest Super PAC in the crypto industry, Fairshake, has raised over $134 million on its own.In January, Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street firm previously led by current U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and now managed by his son Brandon, which has a partnership with Tether, donated $10 million to the pro-crypto Super PAC Fellowship; the parent company of the major crypto platform, Anchor Labs, also added a $1 million donation to Fellowship PAC. Elon Musk donated $1.6 million to his America PAC in March, significantly reducing his involvement compared to 2024, when he invested over $250 million across various PACs.Anthropic has pledged $20 million to the non-profit Public First Action, which has redirected some of the funds to a Super PAC to influence the 2026 elections. The company holds a relatively unique position in the industry, explicitly calling for the establishment of strict federal AI safety regulations, which diverges from the majority of participants in the AI industry.

OmenX CMO Gisele confirmed her attendance at the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" themed forum to be held on April 19 in Hong Kong, and will participate in a roundtable discussion. This event is co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData, and is one of the important peripheral activities of the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival Conference.OmenX is a decentralized prediction market platform that supports leveraged trading, allowing users to trade on the outcomes of real-world events in crypto, sports, finance, and more by buying and selling long and short positions. This forum will focus on the paradigm shift under the deep integration of AI technology and crypto networks, engaging in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge tracks such as AI Agent economy, smart payments, RWA, and crypto infrastructure. At the intersection of technological leaps and economic restructuring, this themed forum not only provides insights into the current state of the industry but also offers a forward-looking reflection on the future smart economic system.Event registration: https://luma.com/18v6vwpf

HashKey Chain announced a strategic cooperation with the compliance brokerage infrastructure platform HabitTrade. The two parties will collaborate on the on-chain integration of quality assets and on-chain financial infrastructure, promoting the issuance and circulation of compliant assets.As the first tangible progress, HSKSwap has integrated the open-source securities tokenization protocol Stove Protocol under HabitTrade, supporting on-chain tokenized trading of assets including U.S. stocks.HashKey Chain stated that this cooperation will continuously introduce compliant assets backed by real assets, further improving the on-chain financial infrastructure. In the future, both parties will expand into more asset categories and explore cross-market circulation and on-chain financial application scenarios, promoting the integration of traditional capital markets and the on-chain ecosystem.

CoW Swap tweeted that it has regained control of the cow.fi domain and has been operating normally on cow.finance for some time, and is currently gradually transitioning back to the original domain.The official statement indicated that the attacker deceived the DNS registrar with forged documents on April 14 to gain control of the cow.fi domain; the attacker deployed a highly realistic phishing website, implementing it in two phases: first, inducing users to sign malicious transactions through a wallet stealer, and then stealing mnemonic phrases and passwords through fake wallet pop-ups; this attack targeted the domain registrar and did not involve a breach of CoW Swap's own infrastructure or private keys. Affected users should use tools like Revoke.cash to revoke all authorizations and consider transferring funds to a new wallet.

According to The Hill, the White House seems eager to push for a resolution to the dispute between the banking industry and the cryptocurrency sector, a dispute that has hindered Senate negotiations on the legislation since the beginning of this year. Key officials both inside and outside the U.S. government—from Treasury Secretary Scott Bansen to White House crypto advisor Patrick Witte, and former head of AI and crypto affairs David Sacks—have recently called for the passage of the bill.At the same time, the Council of Economic Advisers released a report that countered the relevant concerns of the banking industry. However, it is still unclear whether the White House's push is sufficient to overcome the issues plaguing the bill, which are not limited to the narrow industry disputes that have dominated discussions over the past three months. Christopher Neuber, a senior research analyst at Beacon Policy Advisors, stated in an interview, "From a timing perspective, their judgment is reasonable—if Congress has the opportunity to push the market structure bill through, now is that opportunity."

According to CoinDesk, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has been selected for TIME magazine's 2026 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

The official announcement from the American cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase Global states that it will release its financial performance report for the first quarter of 2026 after the close of the US stock market on May 7, 2026, and will hold a video conference at 2:30 PM Pacific Time on the same day to interpret the results.

According to Businesswire, Bitcoin Treasury Company Strategy announced that it will release its financial results for the first quarter of 2026 after the close of U.S. stock markets on May 5, 2026, and will hold a video conference at 17:00 Eastern Time on the same day to interpret the results.