Welcome to this week’s Crypto Weekly Digest — where global finance, blockchain, and AI collide in the most fascinating ways. 🌍 From Visa diving head-first into stablecoins to Japan launching a yen-backed token, the world of digital money is expanding faster than your MetaMask gas fee can refresh. 💨
Banks are tokenizing trillions, Western Union is going crypto-native, and Ethereum is gearing up for its next big leap. Meanwhile, innovators like Pavel Durov are blending AI and decentralization, and even regulators are starting to sound... curious rather than cautious. 👀 Whether you’re a crypto veteran, a DeFi explorer, or just crypto-curious, here’s everything you need to stay one block ahead. ⛓️
Visa announced that they'll start supporting four stablecoins running on four different blockchains, meaning more ways to pay in crypto and get converted into fiat instantly. The move comes as Visa saw a four-fold increase in stablecoin-linked consumer spending and is now enabling banks to mint their own stablecoins via its tokenised asset platform. 🪙➡️💶 In short: if you thought crypto-payments were niche, Visa is betting they’ll become mainstream. The key takeaway? Traditional payment networks are stepping in with crypto-friendly rails.
In Japan, a startup has launched the first yen-backed stablecoin, pegged 1 : 1 with the yen and backed by deposits and government bonds. The coin is designed to help Japanese firms and individuals use on-chain yen for payments and settlement globally. 📲💱 By issuing it transaction-fee free initially, they’re also trying to accelerate adoption. The message: stablecoins aren’t just dollar-pegged anymore. The interesting part? Whether the yen version will catch up to USD-pegged coins globally.
Legacy remittance giant Western Union is testing stablecoin-based settlement systems, aiming to modernise cross-border money transfers. The company revealed this pilot covers treasury operations and payments in select corridors in South America and Africa. The idea: fewer fees, faster settlement, maybe fewer middle-men. 📉💨 It signals that even old-school finance players are warming up to crypto infrastructure — quietly but surely.
Ethereum’s next big upgrade, nicknamed “Fusaka”, has gone live on its final testnet ahead of the mainnet launch. The update promises improvements in scalability and security — important given Ethereum’s role in the dApp ecosystem. One could say: the network is strapping on its new jet-packs. 🚀 The mainnet launch is slated for December 2025, so watchers should keep their eyes peeled.
In Germany, the opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has submitted a motion urging the government to treat Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset and arguing that the Europe-wide crypto rulebook Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) may be over-regulating bitcoin-service providers. The motion claims that stringent rules could stifle innovation and asks for Bitcoin to be kept separate from other crypto-assets. The plot twist? The idea of national Bitcoin reserves in a European state. 💡
Pavel Durov (yes, the Telegram guy) has revealed a new project called Cocoon: a decentralised AI inference network built on the TON blockchain, designed to give users AI-power while keeping their data private. Developers can contribute GPU power and get rewarded, while users can harness AI without centralised tracking. 🕶️ It’s part tech-innovation, part privacy manifesto — and it will be interesting to see if it gains traction beyond the crypto crowd.
Crypto-evangelist Michael Saylor is back with bold predictions: he believes Bitcoin could hit $150 000 by the end of 2025, citing regulatory clarity in the U.S. and increased investor confidence. While this is far from a guarantee, it certainly stirs excitement in the market. 💥 The takeaway? Bullish sentiment remains strong among big crypto believers — and Saylor’s optimism is as fiery as ever.
Mastercard is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire crypto infrastructure firm ZeroHash for somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, signaling a serious push into crypto payments and stablecoin rails. The deal would help Mastercard embed on-chain payment capabilities and settle 24/7 if needed. 💸 If it goes through, it may mark a big pivot in how big payments firms view crypto — from cautious interest to full-scale adoption.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is pushing ahead with its digital euro project, aiming for a possible launch in 2029, assuming the legal framework is approved by 2026. The preparation phase is complete and the technical phase is next. While some bankers and lawmakers remain sceptical, the drive is on to provide a state-backed digital payment option. 🏛️ The bigger message: the era of central-bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is drawing nearer.
Ethereum’s network fees have fallen dramatically, with many transactions now costing just pennies, while daily transaction counts have soared to about 1.6 million. This comes as upgrades like “Fusaka” ramp up efficiency and scalability. ⚡ The result: doing stuff on Ethereum is getting cheaper and more accessible — great news for small users and developers alike.
Standard Chartered has made a bold forecast, claiming that the global market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) could soar to an incredible $2 trillion by 2028 — and that’s not even counting stablecoins! 🌍 The bank believes tokenization will soon touch everything from real estate and government bonds to stocks and mutual funds, unlocking liquidity and reshaping finance as we know it. ⛓️ Ethereum is expected to host most of these assets, thanks to its reliability and developer base. The report suggests that the groundwork laid by stablecoins has already familiarized investors with blockchain infrastructure. It’s basically Wall Street moving to the blockchain — only with fewer suits, more code, and maybe a few memes. 🪙
African fintech powerhouse Flutterwave is joining forces with Polygon to launch stablecoin-based payments across more than 30 African countries. The initiative aims to make cross-border transactions faster, cheaper, and more transparent, replacing outdated systems plagued by delays and high fees. 💸 Businesses will soon be able to send and receive payments almost instantly, empowering trade, remittances, and startups across the continent. 🚀 For millions of Africans without easy access to banking, this could be a real financial game changer. It’s not just about crypto — it’s about inclusion and innovation, hand in hand. 🌍
Fintech giant Revolut has unveiled a slick new feature letting users swap U.S. dollars for stablecoins like USDC and USDT at a perfect 1:1 rate, with absolutely no hidden fees or spreads. 💵➡️🪙 The upgrade simplifies the process of entering crypto markets, treating it just like a foreign currency exchange inside the app. Users can move funds across six major blockchains, making Revolut one of the most crypto-friendly mainstream banks out there. This move makes digital assets feel less like “the future” and more like “the new normal.” 😉
In a story fit for a cyber-thriller, Australian police managed to decode the seed phrase of a crypto wallet containing nearly $9 million in stolen funds. 💻💰 The investigation involved advanced forensic analysis and cross-agency cooperation to outsmart a hacker who thought their assets were untraceable. Authorities recovered the funds and returned them to their rightful owners — proving that even in the decentralized world, justice can still catch up. 👮♀️ It’s both a huge win for law enforcement and a chilling message for cybercriminals: no seed phrase is truly safe when the police go digital. 🔍
During the APEC Summit, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent applauded Singapore’s forward-thinking approach to digital asset innovation and regulation. 🌏 He highlighted Singapore’s ability to balance progress and protection, encouraging other nations to take notes. The statement comes amid rising global competition to lead the next phase of financial technology. 🏦 Bessent’s praise signals that cooperation, not confrontation, might define the next era of global crypto regulation. It’s rare for the U.S. to tip its hat — and Singapore just earned one. 🎩
Rumors are flying that Elon Musk is developing “XChat,” a secure messaging platform designed to rival WhatsApp — but with peer-to-peer encryption inspired by Bitcoin’s decentralized principles. 💬⚡ The app would integrate into the X ecosystem, allowing users to message, pay, and maybe even transact in crypto, all without central data storage. It’s Musk’s latest move to merge communication, payments, and privacy in one tech super-app. If successful, it could redefine how billions of people chat and send money online — and make data snooping a thing of the past. 🚀
The European Union’s EURA stablecoin just got a serious upgrade, expanding to multiple blockchains through a partnership with Chainlink. 🇪🇺💱 This means faster, cheaper, and more accessible euro-backed transactions across the DeFi landscape. The move strengthens Europe’s position in the stablecoin race and opens up new use cases for cross-border commerce and decentralized finance. 🧱 For developers and investors alike, it’s a sign that euro-based digital money is finally stepping out of the dollar’s shadow — one chain at a time. 🌐
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has snapped up $5 million worth of shares in Bullish, a recently launched U.S.-based crypto exchange aiming to compete with the big names. 🦾 The purchase shows ARK’s ongoing confidence in the future of regulated digital asset platforms, even amid market uncertainty. Wood is known for spotting innovation early, and this looks like another long-term bet on crypto infrastructure. 🚀 It’s classic ARK strategy: buy bold, wait patient, and watch the market catch up later. ⏳
Analyst Jordi Visser believes that Bitcoin has entered its “unofficial IPO phase,” where institutional investors are finally treating it like a mainstream financial asset. 🏦 Between ETF applications, corporate adoption, and regulatory progress, Bitcoin’s evolution from digital gold to global store of value seems unstoppable. Investors now view it as a permanent portfolio component rather than a passing fad. 💪 The result? Bitcoin’s maturity moment has arrived — just without Wall Street’s roadshows or ringing bells. 🔔
A global Bitcoin recovery fund dedicated to unlocking dormant and lost wallets has amassed over $8 billion in recovered assets, bringing hope to long-forgotten HODLers. 🪙⏳ Yet despite the progress, the long-awaited U.S. Bitcoin ETF approval remains on ice, leaving investors tapping their watches. The contrast is ironic: we’re recovering lost coins faster than regulators can approve new products. 😅 Still, optimism runs high — because every recovered satoshi is a reminder that Bitcoin never really disappears, it just takes a while to find its way home. 🧭
The writing-tool favourite Grammarly has taken a bold leap and rebranded itself as Superhuman, signalling that it aims to be more than just a grammar checker and instead a full-on productivity AI platform. It introduced a brand-new AI assistant called Superhuman Go, which promises to integrate across more than 100 apps and help users draft, schedule, and manage tasks—and it’s included in paid plans until early 2026. The old brand “Grammarly” still exists but now as a subset of the larger ecosystem, showing how the company is pivoting from fix-my-writing to “manage-my-work”. The shift is reflective of the broader trend of productivity tools fusing with generative AI, and it raises the question: will users embrace the complexity or yearn for simplicity? Either way, Superhuman is making clear that it wants to be your “everything” AI assistant rather than just your spell-checker.
In a talk at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Aaron Levie, CEO of enterprise content-cloud company Box, Inc., addressed how AI agents aren’t going to replace SaaS platforms entirely—but rather will work on top of them in a hybrid model. He argued that core enterprise workflows still need SaaS foundations (things like storage, governance, identity) while intelligent agents layer in to automate tasks and raise productivity. His view suggests that the future of enterprise software is less about “AI takes over” and more about “AI partners with platforms”. This middle-ground perspective may resonate with companies wary of hype, and it offers a more pragmatic roadmap for how AI fits into large organisations.
Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of blockchain network Solana, shared that he’s a big fan of what’s being called “agentic coding”—AI tools that take over parts of the development process and free engineers up to focus on higher-level thinking. He admitted he’s increasingly comfortable stepping back and letting AI assistants handle more of the code generation and monitoring, while he observes and corrects. This mindset shows how even veteran builders of decentralised systems believe the future of software could involve humans supervising AI agents, not writing every line themselves. It also underscores how the lines between AI, blockchain and software engineering continue to blur.
Indian inter-city bus startup IntrCity SmartBus has raised US$30 million in a funding round, taking its valuation to about US$140 million, as it aims to strengthen its network across India’s highways and mobility corridors. The company reported a 67% year-on-year revenue growth last year and is targeting full profitability this year, leveraging cloud-connected buses, in-house fleet OS, and data-driven optimisation of seats, routes and services. The raise comes amid booming demand for road travel in India, and the startup wants to make buses not a fallback but a preferred mode of inter-city transport. With tech, safety, and scale as its focus, it’s positioning itself against both legacy bus operators and newer mobility startups.
Semiconductor giant Nvidia Corporation has soared to a market capitalisation of about US$5 trillion, making it the first publicly-traded company to hit that milestone, propelled by the global artificial intelligence boom and massive demand for its chips. This achievement underscores how central Nvidia has become in powering AI, data centres, autonomous vehicles and edge computing worldwide. At the same time, analysts are raising caution about a possible AI valuation bubble, asking whether the revenue and profits will keep up the pace of investor expectations. Regardless, Nvidia’s ascent reveals just how big the prize is for companies that dominate the AI hardware-software stack.
Ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies is gearing up to introduce a premium robotaxi service in San Francisco in 2026, partnering with EV maker Lucid Group and autonomous-vehicle firm Nuro. The service will feature Lucid’s luxury all-electric SUVs equipped with Nuro’s self-driving systems, and Uber reportedly plans a fleet expansion to 20,000 vehicles over several years. Launching in a city where Waymo LLC has a strong presence signals that Uber is serious about autonomy and high-end mobility. If successful, the move could redefine “ride-sharing” into something closer to “driver-free concierge travel”, blurring the lines between transport, tech and luxury.
If this week proved anything, it’s that crypto is no longer the “future of money” — it’s becoming the default infrastructure of the digital economy. 🏦 Visa and Mastercard are building rails, regulators are cautiously experimenting, and AI is sneaking its way into code, content, and coins alike. Even Elon’s rumored XChat wants to make encrypted, crypto-powered messaging mainstream. 🔒 The takeaway? The boundaries between finance, tech, and everyday life are dissolving — and we’re all early passengers on this decentralized ride. 🚀
