rails

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the venture capital firm a16z, published an article outlining his stance on AI regulation by the U.S. government. He stated that if so-called regulation means creating complex rules by people who do not understand the technology, suppressing innovation through layers of approval and compliance requirements, and ultimately becoming a tool for large enterprises to consolidate market positions and hinder newcomers, then he will firmly oppose such regulation.In his view, excessive regulation often leads to startups being crushed by cumbersome procedures and high compliance costs, causing innovative talent to flow to more open markets, while regulatory agencies themselves continue to expand, ultimately deviating from their original goals.Andreessen specifically criticized the regulatory mindset centered on the "precautionary principle," arguing that if this concept is amplified indefinitely, it could lead society to reject new technologies out of fear of potential risks. Many regulatory measures often arrive late, after fundamental changes in technology and industry have already occurred, making it difficult to address real issues and potentially becoming obstacles to innovative development. He also attributed the relatively lagging state of technological innovation in Europe in recent years to a culture of excessive regulation, believing that regulation should not become a moat to protect vested interests and raise market entry barriers.However, Andreessen emphasized that he does not oppose all forms of regulation. On the contrary, he supports rules that can build market trust, ensure public safety, and maintain fair competition. For example, preventing AI from faking voices to commit financial fraud, preventing deepfake content from interfering with elections, preventing technology from being used to harm vulnerable groups, and ensuring that consumers and businesses can safely use new technologies.In his view, reasonable regulation is like guardrails on a highway and a braking system in a car; it does not hinder technological progress but rather allows innovation to develop in a faster and more sustainable manner. Andreessen stated that what is truly worth pursuing is not "zero regulation" or "heavy regulation," but finding a balance between innovative vitality and social trust, which is also his unwavering stance.Previously, the U.S. government forcibly "recalled" commercial models due to jailbreak risks, leading Anthropic to take Fable 5 offline overnight and publicly protest.

ChainCatcher reported live that HashKey Capital CEO Deng Chao and Sharplink CEO Joseph Chalom jointly attended the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival roundtable discussion, exploring "From Finance to Strategy: How Public Companies Are Positioning Themselves Based on Digital Assets."Chalom, who worked at BlackRock for 20 years, began leading BlackRock's blockchain and digital assets team six years ago, during which he launched Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, raising about $100 billion at its peak. He stated that the choice to establish a digital asset treasury with Ethereum rather than Bitcoin is because Ethereum is a "native productive asset," which can earn nearly 3% returns through staking, while Bitcoin can only be held in anticipation of appreciation. Sharplink has been listed on Nasdaq and has raised billions of dollars to purchase Ethereum since launching its digital asset treasury strategy last June, currently holding approximately 770,000 ETH and earning about 17,000 ETH and over $35 million in rewards for investors through staking.Regarding industry trends, he pointed out that Ethereum is dominating three major use cases: stablecoins (over 60% occur on Ethereum), asset tokenization, and decentralized finance. He specifically warned that currently over 95% of stablecoins are denominated in US dollars, and if stablecoins are to become the payment rail for trillions of transactions in the AI economy, Asian regulators should not allow them to be dominated by the US dollar and US Treasury bonds, as this will trigger a geopolitical competition to advance local stablecoin legislation.Discussing market cycles, he noted that the crypto market has experienced significant pullbacks since last October, with short-term prices being unpredictable, but in the long term, the current risk-reward ratio is at its best level in a long time. He emphasized that digital asset treasuries are not passive investments; Ethereum is a high-volatility asset, and volatility is a characteristic of capital appreciation rather than a defect.

The electronic money institution Newrails, regulated by the Bank of Lithuania, announced the launch of the euro stablecoin EURW on Monad, compliant with MiCA standards.Newrails holds dual licenses as an electronic money institution (EMI) in Lithuania and a virtual asset service provider (VASP) in the Czech Republic. Each EURW token is backed 1:1 by euro reserves, allowing token holders to exchange them for fiat euros at any time without fees, aimed at providing production-grade stablecoin infrastructure for Web3 builders, payment developers, and RWA teams.

According to Cointelegraph, institutional crypto derivatives provider Rails has announced the launch of an "institutional-grade vault" on the Stellar network. This product allows brokers, fintech companies, and other intermediaries to access crypto perpetual contract trading through a single backend, with plans to introduce options trading in the second quarter of 2026.Rails CEO Satraj Bambra stated that the core design philosophy is to separate trade matching from fund custody. Client assets will be stored in audited smart contract vaults on Stellar, while Rails operates a centralized matching engine. Every 30 seconds, profit and loss, fees, and liability data will be submitted on-chain in the form of a Merkle root for independent verification by institutions. This design aims to reduce counterparty risk and operational risk by isolating client collateral from market-making capital and company operating funds.

According to The Block, Amboss Technologies has announced the launch of the P2P platform RailsX based on the Lightning Network, which is a peer-to-peer trading platform built on native FPGA for Bitcoin and stablecoin trading.RailsX enables atomic cross-asset swaps through self-paying loops on Lightning Network channels, allowing Bitcoin and stablecoin holders to trade directly while retaining custody.In addition, Rails is collaborating with Magnolia and Bringin to support connections with the traditional banking systems in the U.S. and Europe for fiat currency exchange.

ChainCatcher news, the cryptocurrency exchange Rails announced that it has completed a new round of financing of $14 million this week, led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Kraken, CMCC Global, Quantstamp, and Round13 Capital.The company aims to provide American traders with a popular yet hard-to-obtain asset type: perpetual futures (perps). Rails previously raised about $6.2 million in seed funding, bringing the total financing to over $20 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated during the Q4 2024 earnings call that the U.S. is entering a "new era of cryptocurrency."Armstrong predicts that by 2030, approximately 10% of the global GDP (over $10 trillion) will be operating on crypto rails. He compared the current wave of corporate cryptocurrency integration to the process of companies adapting to the internet in the early 2000s, emphasizing that "onchain is the new online."Regarding regulation, Armstrong mentioned that the U.S. currently has "the most crypto-friendly Congress in history," which is advancing legislation on stablecoins and market structure. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller also called for stablecoin regulation this week, allowing banks to issue digital assets pegged to the dollar. Given that the U.S. accounts for about 30% of the global GDP, its regulatory stance will have a significant impact on global cryptocurrency policy.

ChainCatcher news, September 16, according to the prediction market Polymarket data, after the shooting incident, Harris's probability of winning the 2024 U.S. presidential election decreased by 1%, still at 50%, surpassing Trump's 49%.

ChainCatcher news, according to Crowdfundinsider, self-custody cryptocurrency trading platform Rails has announced the completion of a $6.2 million seed round financing, with participation from Slow Ventures, CMCC Global, Round13 Capital, and Quantstamp.It is reported that Rails uses a centralized order book to drive the execution of optimal trades, and combines a self-custody decentralized solution on the blockchain to achieve transparent fund custody, thereby protecting user funds and gaining user trust, avoiding issues similar to FTX.

ChainCatcher news, Sotheby's Vice President and Co-Head of Digital Art Sales Michael Bouhanna tweeted that Sotheby's has completed the auction of the third part of the Grails series, with a total of 17 lots sold for over $1.2 million, with the highest-selling pieces being Fidenza, CryptoPunk, Ringers, and Seerlight.

ChainCatcher news, the official parent company of Moonbirds, PROOF, has announced the launch of the third season Grails III and a new minting mechanism, while also revealing the landing page for Grails III (currently only displaying one Grail #6). It is reported that the Grails III minting will open at 23:00 Beijing time on January 17, 2023, and the minting process will be similar to the second season Grails II, but will introduce a new mechanism.In the third season Grails III, selected NFTs will be categorized as either "edition" or "series," with different types corresponding to different available supply amounts. The total supply of NFTs marked as "edition" is only 50, while the total supply of NFTs marked as "series" is 150.Users not only need to choose which type of Grail to mint but also need to decide when to mint. Grails III minting requires a Grails III Mint Pass, which will be airdropped to PROOF Collective Pass holders. (source link)