chain

According to official news, Tether Gold announced the launch of a new unit of measurement, Scudo, which provides a new and intuitive way to measure the value of on-chain gold. 1 Scudo is defined as equivalent to 1/1000 XAUT (gold ounce), offering users a more practical and operable way for small transactions, making it easy to send and receive on-chain gold.Tether stated that this move will enhance the everyday usability of gold digital assets, providing investors and traders with a more flexible operating experience.

Coinbase stated in its letter to shareholders that it will focus on three key priorities in 2026:Developing a comprehensive trading platform: Expanding Coinbase into the only trusted platform for customers to trade a variety of assets (cryptocurrencies, derivatives, stocks, and prediction markets), helping customers manage larger portfolios and deepen engagement.Expanding stablecoins and payments: Accelerating the utility of USDC and the payment tech stack (APIs, wallets, and merchant channels) to make value transfer faster, cheaper, and more convenient, while seizing the next opportunity. A wave of real-world applications beyond trading.Bringing the world on-chain: Simplifying and making on-chain experiences more accessible by expanding DeFi integrations in the Coinbase app and focusing more on trading to enhance the Base app. Coinbase's infrastructure continues to drive growth in the activity on the Base platform, so increased usage also relies on Coinbase's infrastructure. Coinbase enters 2026 with strong product development momentum and a clear strategy.

According to Cryptopolitan, the London Stock Exchange Group announced on Thursday its plan to launch an on-chain settlement service aimed at institutional investors, named LSEG Digital Securities Depository. This platform will connect traditional securities markets with blockchain networks, supporting the trading and settlement of tokenized bonds, stocks, and private market assets, while remaining compatible with existing infrastructure. The system will be compatible with multiple blockchain networks, with an initial delivery target set for 2026, pending regulatory approval.LSEG has been operating a blockchain platform for private equity funds on Microsoft Azure, and this new system is a further extension of its digital asset strategy. The company stated that it will form a strategic partnership group to gather market feedback during the development process, building an ecosystem that connects digital and traditional markets across time zones and supports multiple payment methods. Major UK financial institutions such as Barclays, Lloyds, National Westminster Bank, Standard Chartered, and Brookfield have expressed support for the plan.

Aster posted on platform X that the Aster Chain mainnet will launch in March.

Aster posted on platform X that the Aster Chain mainnet will launch in March.

According to CoinDesk, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson announced at the Consensus Hong Kong conference that the long-developed privacy blockchain Midnight will officially launch in the last week of March, operating as a partner chain of Cardano.Midnight is based on zero-knowledge proof technology and employs a "selective disclosure" privacy model: user transaction data is kept private by default and only specific information is disclosed to authorized parties when necessary. This design aims to balance the privacy protection of the blockchain with compliance requirements, supporting different levels of data access views for public, audit, and regulatory purposes. Hoskinson revealed that Google and Telegram have already participated in the collaboration.The concurrently launched Midnight City Simulation testing platform will be open to the public on February 26, simulating a real trading environment through AI agents to validate the network's proof generation and processing capabilities in large-scale scenarios.

According to official news, Citibank announced that it has tokenized a bill of exchange and completed its entire lifecycle (from issuance to settlement) on the Solana blockchain.

According to official news, Ondo Finance announced a partnership with Chainlink to accelerate the application of tokenized U.S. stocks in the DeFi space by adopting Chainlink as the official data oracle.It was introduced that Chainlink provides institutional-grade pricing tailored specifically for Ondo's on-chain tokenized stocks, allowing DeFi protocols to price Ondo Global Markets assets with top-tier accuracy, manage positions securely, and offer users stronger protection during market volatility.Currently, the initial lending of Ondo tokenized assets, including SPYon, QQQon, and TSLAon, supported by Chainlink, has gone live on Euler, enabling users to borrow stablecoins using tokenized stocks and ETFs as collateral. In the future, tokenized stocks and ETFs will expand to more markets, vaults, and structured products, facilitating more efficient capital deployment and portfolio construction.

The founder and CEO of OKX, Star, stated on social media, "Cryptocurrency has gone through the Bitcoin phase (2008--2015), followed by the smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApp) phase (2016--2024). The experimental phase is over. We are now entering the on-chain finance era (2025--present).In the next decade, a significant portion of the global economy will migrate on-chain. Financial services for the internet generation should be available 24/7, low-cost, and instant, as convenient as sending an email."

The UK Treasury has selected HSBC Holdings Plc's blockchain platform Orion for a pilot issuance of the country's digital debt instrument DIGIT. HSBC stated that issuing bonds on the blockchain can improve the structure of the UK debt capital market by accelerating settlement speeds.The UK Treasury plans to issue these digital instruments in a regulated testing environment managed by the Financial Conduct Authority. Previously, HSBC's Orion platform has been used globally to issue over $3.5 billion in digital native bonds, including the European Investment Bank's first digital pound bond and a $1.3 billion equivalent green bond issued by the Hong Kong government.

According to Bloomberg, Naveen Mallela, the global co-head of JPMorgan's blockchain division Kinexys, has left the company. Meanwhile, the bank is accelerating its expansion into digital asset payment services. Mallela took on the role in 2024 and had been with the bank for over ten years.A JPMorgan spokesperson confirmed that Mallela has left and stated that a successor will be appointed soon.

Coinbase has announced the launch of wallet infrastructure for AI Agents called Agentic Wallets, aimed at "providing wallets for any intelligent agent," allowing AI to independently complete on-chain transactions and payments without human intervention.This tool is based on the x402 protocol that Coinbase is developing, allowing AI Agents to autonomously hold funds, send payments, trade tokens, earn yields, and execute on-chain operations, all while incorporating built-in security permissions and risk control mechanisms. Coinbase states that this solution addresses the critical limitations currently faced by AI when it comes to financial operations, enabling it to truly perform economic actions.Agentic Wallets are an upgrade to the previous AgentKit tool, adopting a plug-and-play approach that allows developers to quickly configure tradable wallets for AI Agents. For example, under preset permissions, AI can automatically adjust asset allocations or capture yield opportunities. It is reported that this feature will initially support the EVM ecosystem and Solana, and will enable gas-free transactions on the Base Layer 2 launched by Coinbase.

Binance posted on the X platform stating that the recent market-focused data comes from the third-party platform Coinglass, and there was also a data discrepancy from DefiLlama previously. Currently, the related data is expected to take another 24 to 48 hours to recover.Binance believes that regularly conducting withdrawal tests on trading platforms is a positive and healthy practice, and reminds users to carefully verify addresses during the testing process and to confirm accuracy before proceeding with withdrawals. Additionally, Binance suggested that the industry could consider establishing an annual "Withdrawal Day" to uniformly verify the authenticity of assets across platforms, in order to enhance transparency and market trust.

According to Whale Alert monitoring, USDC Treasury has minted an additional 250 million USDC on the Solana chain.

According to PR Newswire, the crypto payment platform MoonPay has announced the launch of "MoonPay Deposits" which supports cross-chain crypto asset transfers. Users can directly use any crypto asset in their existing wallets to top up applications without worrying about token types or blockchain networks. The system automatically handles cross-chain routing, exchanges, and bridging operations, depositing the selected tokens for the user. It is now available on the self-hosted wallet TON Wallet on Telegram.

According to GMGN monitoring, the market capitalization of the Meme coin COPPERINUS on the Solana chain has surpassed 11 million USD, currently reported at 11.41 million USD, with a 24-hour increase of over 54%.Earlier reports indicated that Cobie posted a tweet about "Copper Inu" on the X platform today, leading to the emergence of several similarly named Meme coins "COPPERINU" on the Solana chain. In the tweet, Cobie stated, "You don't have to worry about waking up one day to find Copper Inu has taken all of copper's market share. They won't pop up every few seconds on Pump Fun like some digital assets do, flooding the market with new products to challenge existing value." ChainCatcher reminds users that Meme coin trading is highly volatile, largely relying on market sentiment and conceptual hype, and has no actual value or use case, so investors should be aware of the risks.

According to a report by Finextra, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) announced plans to connect private equity funds to its blockchain digital market infrastructure (DMI) to build an end-to-end digital distribution network for the private market, covering the entire lifecycle processes of asset issuance, tokenization, distribution, settlement, and ongoing management, enhancing fundraising efficiency and investor reach.It is reported that the related services are expected to officially launch in the first half of 2026.

XION recently published an article introducing its new infrastructure and application scenarios. XION announced the official launch of the DKIM module and the ZK module, becoming the first blockchain to directly store email authentication keys (DKIM) on-chain, as well as the first consumer-grade L1 public chain to implement zero-knowledge verification at the protocol level.XION pointed out that existing email verification solutions (including projects like zkEmail) rely on centralized DNS servers to obtain encryption keys. When email service providers rotate keys, the old verifications become invalid, and there are no historical records available. XION's DKIM module permanently stores these keys in the on-chain state, completely eliminating the reliance on centralized DNS infrastructure. Its ZK module implements zero-knowledge proof verification at the protocol level, achieving an efficiency that is 10 times that of smart contract solutions. The two work together, allowing users to prove any information in an email without exposing the email itself.XION stated that currently about 61% of employees who witness misconduct remain silent, as traditional options are often "anonymous but ignored" or "speak up but risk unemployment." With the above infrastructure, XION has realized various application scenarios, including:Anonymous reporting and workplace evaluations (proving employment status without exposing personal information)Wallet recovery without mnemonic phrases (using email as a backup key)Purchase behavior and certificate verification (without excessive sharing of personal information)Trust-based ticket resale and insurance claims, etc.It supports Gmail and Apple Mail from launch, covering approximately 3.8 billion email users globally (accounting for over 90% of the global email market). Currently, the XION platform has over 800,000 monthly active users, with more than 150 brands including Uber, Amazon, and BMW already onboarded. The official statement claims this is a verification infrastructure built for the existing internet, "capable of verifying anything while leaking zero information."

Former Multicoin co-founder Kyle Samani predicts that in the next 18 months, advancements in the microstructure of the Solana on-chain market will surpass any other period in cryptocurrency history. Notable expectations include:Alpenglow: A major upcoming consensus mechanism upgrade for Solana, representing one of the largest protocol-level changes in Solana's history.ACE (Application Controlled Execution): Application controlled execution is a key innovation in Solana's core roadmap.MCL (Multi-Concurrent Block Production): Future upgrades for Solana will allow multiple leaders to propose blocks simultaneously, significantly increasing throughput and reducing latency, while improving transaction inclusion times and censorship resistance.PropAMMs (Proprietary Automated Market Makers): Deployed privately by professional market makers/institutions, using real-time price oracles to update quotes and actively manage liquidity, typically not accepting permissionless deposits.Aggregators: Aggregators like Jupiter and Dflow aggregate liquidity from multiple DEXs, AMMs, PropAMMs, etc., to find the optimal execution path for users, providing the lowest slippage and best prices.Conditional liquidity: Prevents market makers from being front-run, allowing them to offer tighter spreads, ultimately resulting in better trade prices and deeper liquidity.Overall improvements to SVM and the scheduler: Including optimizations for compute units, asynchronous program execution (APE), scheduling algorithm upgrades, etc., making programs run faster, more resource-efficient, and supporting higher concurrency.