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AI payment public chain Kite has released its mainnet roadmap, aiming to create a trust and payment technology stack native to intelligent agents, addressing the bottlenecks of trust, authorization, and payment in the transition of AI agents from "answering questions" to "executing tasks."The roadmap clarifies the native compatibility of the x402 protocol, supporting standardized payment intentions and settlement with pay-per-call and end-to-end audit capabilities. It also breaks down system capabilities into six independent pillars: agent trustworthiness (KitePass identity anchor + programmable governance), agent settlement (native stablecoin + Facilitator component), agent developer infrastructure (zero-fee RPC + documentation + observability tools), agent network operations (external validators + VaaS + gradual decentralization), AgenticFi (DEX + LSD + cross-chain bridging + deposit and withdrawal channels), and agent ecosystem growth engine (incentive systems + ecological events). Kite stated that the mainnet will adopt a gradual rollout, with phased deliveries over one to two years, prioritizing a balance of security, auditability, and ecological scalability, ultimately forming a sustainable intelligent agent economic system.It is reported that Kite previously completed a $33 million financing round led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst, and received strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures.

Since mid-2025, Bitcoin has begun to decouple from the global M2 money supply (i.e., the total amount of money in circulation in the market, including cash, demand deposits, time deposits, etc.), and this trend became more pronounced in early 2026. Historically, the correlation between the two has been the basis for bullish predictions, but analysts are now sharply divided on this phenomenon.Fidelity Digital Assets' January report maintains an optimistic outlook, believing that as the global monetary easing cycle begins and the Federal Reserve's QT plan ends, the M2 growth rate will continue to rise in 2026, which will be favorable for Bitcoin prices. Analyst MartyParty predicts that Bitcoin prices will rebound to catch up with M2 growth.However, Mister Crypto points out that the decoupling of Bitcoin prices from M2 typically signals a market top, followed by a 2-4 year bear market. The founder of Capriole Investments believes that the decoupling reflects the risk of quantum computing breaking Bitcoin's encryption. Despite the uncertainties, investors still view Bitcoin as a long-term store of value.

The stablecoin USX on the Solana chain has experienced severe fluctuations in the secondary market, once decoupling and dropping to $0.1, allegedly due to a depletion of liquidity.The Solstice team responded by stating that the decoupling of USX on the Solana chain is a secondary market liquidity issue. The team and market makers are working to resolve this and are injecting liquidity into the secondary market to ensure market stability. "The net asset value of USX's underlying assets and the assets held in custody by Solstice are completely unaffected, and the collateralization rate exceeds 100%. We have now requested a third party to issue a supplementary certification report immediately, and the team will release it as soon as the report is completed."The team emphasized that this is purely a secondary market liquidity issue, liquidity has been injected to restore stability, and the current price has risen to $0.94, with the primary market operating normally for 1:1 redemptions.

According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin is heading towards its fourth annual decline in history, and this is the first time this downturn has occurred without being accompanied by a major scandal or a systemic collapse in the industry. This decline comes as institutional participation expands, the regulatory environment matures, and the crypto industry receives public support from U.S. President Trump, which has surprised the market.Since hitting an all-time high above $126,000 in early October, Bitcoin has quickly retraced, with current trading volumes low and investors continuously withdrawing from related products. Data shows that since October 10, there has been a net outflow of over $5.2 billion from Bitcoin spot ETFs listed in the U.S., the market depth has decreased by about 30% from this year's peak, and there is a noticeable lack of willingness in the derivatives market to bet on a rebound.Unlike previous bear markets, this round of decline was not triggered by exchange collapses, regulatory crackdowns, or systemic risk events. The previous three annual declines occurred during the Mt. Gox collapse (2014), the ICO bubble burst (2018), and the industry crisis triggered by the FTX incident (2022). Analysts point out that Bitcoin has shown signs of "decoupling" from the U.S. stock market during this decline. This year, the S&P 500 index has repeatedly hit new highs, with an increase of about 16% year-to-date, and tech stocks have performed particularly well, while Bitcoin continues to face pressure.Apollo Crypto stated that despite numerous positive factors, the price lacks sustained follow-through, reflecting a clear weakening of market sentiment. Overall, this round of Bitcoin adjustment appears more like a reallocation of funds and a decline in risk appetite against a high backdrop, rather than a panic sell-off triggered by a single event.

Matrixport's Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Regulatory Affairs, Christopher Liu, was invited to attend the What the Fraud Summit 2025, where he delivered a keynote speech on "APAC's Compliance Vision for 2026." He discussed the regulatory trends in the Asia-Pacific region for 2026, focusing on the accelerated implementation of real-time compliance systems, the heightened requirements from regulatory agencies for the cryptocurrency industry and VASPs, as well as the practical applications of AI in anti-money laundering and monitoring processes. He pointed out that the Asia-Pacific market is transitioning from traditional "post-event remediation" to a more proactive and intelligent regulatory framework, which will profoundly impact the operational methods of virtual asset service providers in terms of transparency, risk governance, and cross-border collaboration.Christopher stated that compliance capability is gradually becoming a core competitive advantage for virtual asset institutions. In the face of increasingly clear regulatory directions, Matrixport will continue to strengthen its technological and compliance capabilities, actively align with regulatory requirements in various markets, and promote a more robust industry ecosystem.

The father of smart contracts and co-founder of Castle Island Ventures, Nic Carter, posted on the X platform stating that it is quite difficult for investors to achieve success in this cycle. Therefore, he suggests emotionally "decoupling" from cryptocurrencies, not putting too much pressure on themselves, and not feeling the need to succeed in this cycle. Reality is not like that; the price trends of cryptocurrencies over the past decade have blinded investors, and this situation may not happen again, as success requires creating products and delivering real value.

Hosted by Pieverse, the themed Space "Building the x402 Economy: Smart Agents, Standards, and Cross-Chain Payments" will take place today at 2 PM (UTC+8).The event brings together institutions such as the Ethereum Foundation, BNB Chain, Base, and Kite AI for the first time, focusing on popular Web3 topics like cross-chain payments and AI Agents, and delving into their gasless payment mechanisms, auditability, compliance pathways, and real-world application cases in the Web3 space.

According to market data, the USDX plummeted significantly to $0.314 early this morning and has currently rebounded to $0.74, still maintaining its decoupled status.

Trading StrategyIn-depth investigation reveals that the fundamental reason for the de-pegging of Stream XUSD is not the Balancer hacking incident, but rather the failure of the Delta neutral strategy during the historic liquidation on October 11.Although Stream claims to adopt a Delta neutral hedging strategy (1:1 configuration of spot and short positions), during the extreme volatility on October 11, the exchange's automatic deleveraging (ADL) system forcibly liquidated its positions, breaking the original hedging balance. This led to a direct loss of Stream's principal, which in turn triggered the de-pegging of XUSD.Underlying issues include: a severe lack of transparency (only $150 million out of $500 million TVL visible on-chain), high-risk off-chain trading strategies (including selling volatility strategies), and excessive leverage (recursive borrowing through Elixir). Analysis indicates that Stream is merely one of the first victims to surface.Given that October 11 was an unprecedented extreme liquidation event, it is expected that more DeFi projects will face similar issues in the future, highlighting the urgent need for stricter risk transparency standards in the crypto market.

Market CoinGecko data shows that Staked Stream USD (XUSD) has expanded its de-pegging to 62.1%, currently priced at $0.5504.