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The Jito Foundation has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Korean digital asset custodian KODA to explore providing institutional custody and staking support for JitoSOL in the Korean market.According to a Monday announcement, the agreement covers the promotion of institutional investors and the development of compliant custody and staking pathways. This move comes as the Korean Financial Services Commission is expected to finalize the digital asset regulatory framework later this year. In February, the Jito Foundation began exploring the launch of the JitoSOL ETF in Korea with Hanwha Asset Management, but it is still pending regulatory approval. KODA is supported by investors such as KB Kookmin Bank and holds a VASP license and ISMS certification, providing custody infrastructure such as cold storage and MPC key management.

According to a report by Jinshi Data, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued a notice on launching a special action to empower the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through inclusive computing power, mentioning the innovative service model of computing power.Improve the SME section of the China Computing Power Platform, the computing resource docking section of the China SME Service Network, and the national computing internet service node section (hereinafter collectively referred to as the SME platform section), to promote the precise matching of SME demand and computing resource supply, and implement flexible payment models such as "card time," "calculated time," and Token billing.Explore innovative businesses such as "computing power banks" and "computing power supermarkets," supporting SMEs to deposit idle computing resources and achieve flexible use through cross-regional and cross-cycle scheduling. Implement an artificial intelligence SME entrepreneurship support plan, encouraging local relevant departments to subsidize "computing power vouchers," "storage vouchers," and "transportation vouchers" to SMEs that meet industrial orientation through the SME platform section, simplifying the acquisition and usage process.

Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the People's Bank of China, stated yesterday at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2026 that a good payment system is not a champion of a single technology or performance. Just like instant payment is not necessarily good, the most important thing is "adaptation." He pointed out that regulation needs to combat money laundering and prevent drug trafficking, cross-border gambling, telecom fraud, etc. Several central bank governors mentioned at the forum that digital currencies are now used in payment systems, but fraud also uses digital currencies, and "it is quite severe." Zhou Xiaochuan believes that the ability to combat fraud still needs to be continuously improved.When discussing the topic of regulatory adaptation, Zhou Xiaochuan mentioned stablecoins again. He said that now, as soon as the proceeds from telecom fraud arrive, they are immediately split into hundreds or thousands of accounts to evade compliance checks, which means it is quite difficult to recover losses afterward. "Stablecoins fundamentally bypass compliance checks; everyone needs to think clearly and not follow the trend." Zhou Xiaochuan also emphasized that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology can be explored, but it does not mean that "peer-to-peer" and "decentralization" are all positive. One cannot hastily conclude that using correspondent banks and SWIFT messages in the original backend systems is outdated; the key is to adapt to the user's experience.

According to The Block, Across Protocol has initiated a temperature check proposal to explore transforming the existing DAO and token structure into a U.S. C Corporation and equity structure.Under this proposal, the new entity AcrossCo will become the operating company of Across Protocol, and ACX token holders will have the option to exchange their tokens for equity in AcrossCo on a 1:1 basis, or redeem ACX for USDC at the average market price over a month within a six-month window. Larger holders can directly exchange for equity, while smaller holders can participate through a free special purpose entity structure.Hart Lambur, co-founder of Across Protocol, stated that if community feedback is positive, the team will initiate a formal governance vote two weeks after the temperature check concludes, with a simple majority determining the outcome. The team noted that the current DAO structure has limitations in executable contracts and clear legal entities as the demand from institutional partners for protocol infrastructure grows.Across Protocol previously raised a total of $51 million through two rounds of token financing, with the most recent round raising $41 million led by Paradigm, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and Multicoin Capital. The current price of the ACX token is approximately $0.035, having risen about 4% in the past 24 hours and fallen about 84% over the past year.

Bitcoin mining company DMG Blockchain Solutions released its operational performance report, disclosing that it mined 23 BTC last month. However, due to the sale of some of its Bitcoin holdings, its current holdings have decreased to 410 BTC, and the overall platform hash rate has increased to 1.78 EH/s. Additionally, the company stated that it has been approved to increase its total available power capacity to 75 megawatts and plans to explore power financial hedging contracts to mitigate the impact of power outages on Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence data center operations.

Aurelion (NASDAQ: AURE) announced the arrival of the company's first AI virtual employee, Duncan.Aure, and opened access to its AI Agent Skills. This AI Agent has established a dedicated website and is live on social platforms such as X and Telegram, supporting automated trading and strategy execution for XAU₮ through preset Skills modules.Aurelion stated that Duncan is an important exploration for the company in the direction of digital gold infrastructure. In the future, the company will continue to strengthen the strategic positioning of XAU₮ assets while expanding the execution capabilities of the AI Agent in digital gold trading and asset management scenarios, and exploring innovative scenarios such as XAU₮ Shop, allowing digital gold to have more practical applications.

According to market news, Bitcoin mining company DMG Blockchain Solutions announced that it has been approved to increase its total available power capacity to 75 megawatts, and it plans to explore power financial hedging contracts to avoid the impact of power restrictions on Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence data center operations.Additionally, according to its 2026 operational performance report, it mined 23 BTC last month, but due to the sale of some of its held Bitcoin, its current holdings have decreased to 410 BTC, and the overall platform hash rate has risen to 1.78 EH/s.

According to The Block, OpenAI has announced a partnership with the crypto investment firm Paradigm to launch EVMbench, aimed at assessing the capabilities of AI Agents in the field of smart contract security, including the identification, patching, and exploitation of high-risk vulnerabilities.Both parties stated that as AI improves its capabilities in code writing and execution, it can be exploited by attackers but can also serve as a defensive tool. Therefore, it is necessary to test the security capabilities of AI systems in environments with real economic significance. EVMbench will provide various testing modes, including vulnerability detection, contract modification, elimination of exploitability, and simulating complete attack processes in a sandbox chain environment.At the launch of this tool, the DeFi protocol Moonwell and the cross-chain liquidity protocol CrossCurve have recently encountered smart contract vulnerability attacks, raising concerns about AI-assisted code security. EVMbench is reportedly built on 120 selected vulnerability samples, covering multiple public audits and competition cases.Industry analysts believe that as AI technology advances, the threshold for identifying smart contract vulnerabilities may further decrease, and the game between security defense and attack capabilities is accelerating.

According to The Fintech Times, UAE digital bank Zand is expanding its partnership with Ripple, specifically to support RLUSD in Zand's regulated digital asset custody services, research direct liquidity solutions between the regulated dirham stablecoin AEDZ and RLUSD, and explore issuing AEDZ on the XRPL.

Co-founder of Multicoin Capital, Kyle Samani, announced on social media that he has decided to step down from Multicoin Capital and will continue to serve as the chairman of Forward Industries (the largest SOL treasury company).As part of the redemption request planned to be submitted to the Multicoin main fund, he will apply for a physical redemption in the form of FWDI stock and warrants, rather than cash in USD, depending on Multicoin's subsequent decisions, legal and compliance approvals, and the independent consent of Forward. Kyle expressed mixed feelings about saying goodbye, as his time at Multicoin has been one of the most meaningful and rewarding experiences of his life. Nevertheless, he looks forward to taking a break and exploring new directions in the tech field.Kyle Samani is one of the most influential investors in the cryptocurrency space. Since its founding in 2017, Multicoin has become one of the most successful crypto-focused funds, managing billions of dollars. Multicoin is one of the most well-known early institutional investors in Solana, heavily investing in the seed/early stages and steadfastly holding during the extreme situation when Solana plummeted over 90% after the FTX collapse.Kyle is one of the investors in the crypto space who loves to write long articles, and the "three mega theses" proposed by him and the Multicoin team have influenced a generation of practitioners' understanding of the intrinsic value of crypto. Forward Industries will completely pivot to the crypto space in September 2025 through a $1.65 billion PIPE (private investment in public equity), led by crypto giants such as Multicoin Capital, Jump Crypto, and Galaxy Digital, with Kyle Samani personally adding $25 million and serving as chairman.According to the latest report, as of January 15, 2026, the publicly listed Solana treasury company Forward Industries holds a total of 6,979,967.46 SOL, far exceeding other competitors, and has staked almost all SOL since establishing the Solana treasury, earning 133,450 SOL in staking rewards.

PayPal announced the appointment of Enrique Lores as President and CEO, effective March 1, 2026, succeeding Alex Chriss. PayPal's Chief Financial and Operating Officer Jamie Miller will serve as interim CEO until Lores takes office, and David Dorman will immediately assume the role of independent board chair.The PayPal board stated that the pace of transformation and execution at the company over the past two years has not met the board's expectations. Lores served as President and CEO of HP for over six years, leading the company from a focus on PCs and printing to services, subscriptions, and artificial intelligence products. Meanwhile, PayPal reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.23 and revenue of $8.68 billion, both of which missed analysts' expectations, causing the stock to drop 16% in pre-market trading.

According to Cointelegraph, India is exploring the cross-border use of the digital rupee (e-rupee) to reduce payment costs, enhance trade settlement efficiency, and expand the global role of the rupee.The report states that as a sovereign digital currency issued by the Reserve Bank of India, the e-rupee enables direct and final settlement without relying on multiple intermediaries in international payments. Currently, India has proposed linking the e-rupee with the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) of other countries, particularly those in the BRICS, to streamline cross-border trade, remittances, and tourism settlements.

The Hang Seng Gold ETF has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first physical gold ETF in Hong Kong that allows individual investors to redeem directly from banks. The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, stated at the 19th Asian Financial Forum (AFF) held in Hong Kong that the Hang Seng Gold ETF not only provides an option for redeeming physical gold at banks but also plans to distribute through licensed digital asset trading platforms.According to Li Peishan, Executive Director and CEO of Hang Seng Investment Management, the tokenized non-listed category of the Hang Seng Gold ETF is currently in the final testing phase and is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2026. The tokenized category will also be open to retail investors, with an anticipated lower entry fee. Currently, only USD-denominated shares are arranged, but this category will not have a physical gold redemption option.

Jupiter announced the launch of the Solana ecosystem explorer, integrating Solscan and DefiLlama data to build a discovery layer for the entire Solana.It now supports any user to view the complete status of projects through a single view: including project financials (fees, revenue, TVL); social media presence (tweets, followers, updates); user activity (transactions, growth); products and tokens.

On the occasion of Data Privacy Day, Bitget officially announces the appointment of MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo as its security ambassador. Both parties take this opportunity to launch a series of security education videos consisting of five modules, systematically explaining how to prevent phishing attacks, implement two-factor authentication, provide risk alerts, and understand core mechanisms such as the Bitget Protection Fund and reserve proof. This series uses Lorenzo's iconic "X-Fuera" racing perspective as a starting point to interpret how, within the UEX ecosystem, a broader vision and information access can enhance the safety and rationality of trading decisions.The related security education content is also linked to Bitget's anti-fraud center. This center will be launched in June 2025, continuously providing users with real-time fraud alerts and security tools. Currently, Bitget has a protection fund exceeding $300 million and insists on publishing monthly Merkle tree reserve proofs to ensure that user assets receive 1:1 full support.Jorge Lorenzo stated that both motorsport and the digital asset field need to achieve a precise balance between speed and security; Bitget CEO Gracy Chen also pointed out that through this collaboration, they hope to further enhance users' proactive awareness of digital asset security and promote continuous progress in the industry regarding transparency and security standards.

Ripple announced a partnership with Riyad Bank's innovation department, Jeel, a major financial institution in Saudi Arabia. The two parties will collaborate through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly explore the application scenarios of blockchain technology in the Saudi financial system. The focus of the cooperation includes cross-border payments, digital asset custody, and asset tokenization, with the related exploration aimed at supporting Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030," modernizing financial infrastructure, and reducing reliance on the oil economy.Reece Merrick, Managing Director of Ripple Middle East and Africa, stated that this partnership reflects the institutional-level interest of large financial institutions in Saudi Arabia in blockchain infrastructure. Riyad Bank is one of the largest banks in Saudi Arabia, with assets exceeding $130 billion by mid-2025, playing a significant role in the national financial system.At the same time, the Middle East is gradually becoming an important market for digital asset innovation, with the UAE leading in regulatory clarity and institutional participation. Ripple continues to strengthen its presence in the Middle East, with its institutional-grade stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD) having received relevant regulatory approval and being traded on several mainstream platforms.

The Solana ecosystem DEX Jupiter announced on the X platform that the initial intention of launching the stablecoin JupUSD is to focus on security, inclusiveness, and transparency. Currently, JupUSD is still in the early stages and will continue to develop within the project and the ecosystem:JupUSD will actively return native treasury earnings to the ecosystem;The JupUSD reserves are supported by 90% BlackRock BUIDL fund and 10% USDC;Providing JupUSD on Jupiter Lend will earn native treasury earnings;The interest-bearing asset jlJupUSD can be used as a core composable trading token and DeFi foundational module, just like JLP;Jupiter will seek more stablecoin use cases, integrations, and partnerships to enhance JupUSD.

According to Reuters, sources say that Pakistan has signed an agreement with a subsidiary of World Liberty Financial to explore the use of World Liberty's stablecoin for cross-border payments.World Liberty Financial is a major crypto financial business under the Trump family, launched in September 2024. This collaboration is one of the first publicly announced partnerships between World Liberty and a sovereign nation.

According to a report by Businesswire, Nasdaq-listed WLFI Financial Company ALT5 Sigma has released its latest financial report, disclosing a net profit of approximately $57 million for the third quarter of 2025, with shareholders' equity increasing to about $1.6 billion as of September 27, 2025.The company currently holds the largest amount of WLFI tokens among U.S. publicly traded companies, with a holding of approximately 7.28 billion tokens.In addition, it is actively exploring the integration of the stablecoin USD1 into its payment and financial platforms ALT5 Pay and ALT5 Prime.

According to Businesswire, Blockstream Capital Partners (BCP) announced that it has reached an agreement to strategically acquire the digital asset trading and investment business unit of Numeus Group, with the specific acquisition amount not disclosed.It is reported that after the acquisition is completed, BCP plans to explore specific Bitcoin derivative trading strategies focused on yield generation to support the growing demand for crypto derivatives and volatility trading from institutional clients.