For years, crypto’s most ambitious builders focused on blockchains’ plumbing. But a growing number of projects are now stepping away from the base layer and focusing on payments and neobank-like services.
Fogo aims to achieve 40-millisecond block times, making it “up to 18x faster” than rival throughput-maxing networks like Solana and Sui.
Alpaca says it powers 94% of all tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs, working with leading RWA projects Dinari, Ondo Finance, and xStocks.
Figure’s OPEN platform is designed to handle issuance, settlement, and stock lending onchain, instead of replicating existing stock trading.
Also: Zcash token falls after developer quits, Smart Cashtags and BTC quantum computing defense
The startup is building tools to help secure crypto networks such as Bitcoin against emerging threats from quantum computing.
Noise is building a prediction market for the relevancy of social media topics, similar to "a stock market for trends."
The U.K. clearing bank has selected Taurus' wallet infrastructure as it expands into digital assets and stablecoin-based payments.
Buterin emphasizes the importance of quantum resistance and scalability, aiming for the Ethereum blockchain to handle thousands of transactions per second.
Post-quantum cryptography specialist BTQ Technologies has introduced ‘Bitcoin Quantum,’ a permissionless fork and testnet of the largest cryptocurrency.
Nikita Bier outlined plans for asset-aware Smart Cashtags a day after criticism from parts of the crypto community over a now-deleted post.
The retail giant said a new Gemini integration reflects a broader shift from search-based shopping to AI systems that can act on a customer’s behalf.
The Ethereum co-founder argues that price benchmarks, oracle security and staking incentives remain unresolved challenges for decentralized stablecoins.
Ripple has secured approval from the UK’s top financial regulator, clearing the way for an expansion of its platform in the country.
Former ECC CEO Josh Swihart hinted at the "misalignment" between the needs of a tech startup and its nonprofit parent organization.
ECC's CEO, Josh Swihart, claims the team was forced to leave because of changes that made their work untenable.
Ethereum increased its data capacity per block, raising the blob target to 14 and the maximum blob limit to 21.
Fusaka, activated in early December, introduced the “Blob Parameters Only” upgrade mechanism to ramp up Ethereum's data availability.
The Kinexys-led move aims to bring regulated digital cash to a privacy-enabled blockchain for real-time, interoperable finance.
Also: Starknet goes down, Vitalik Buterin's goals for Ethereum and ETH staking queues cleared.
The move extends JPM Coin to its second network after launching on the Coinbase-supported Ethereum Layer 2 Base in November 2025.
Security researchers spoke to CoinDesk about how users can protect themselves after Monday’s breach.
Downtime can have knock-on effects across decentralized finance and other onchain applications.
Crypto VCs told The Block they expect disciplined activity to persist in 2026, with a higher bar for new investments.
Ethereum's next phase will be defined by financial products that feel familiar to everyday users, Mike Silagadze said.
Ethereum saw a surge in institutional adoption and progress on scaling in 2025, while Solana was stress-testing the network and hardening its infrastructure.
The U.S. hacker pleaded guilty to stealing and laundering nearly 120,000 bitcoin from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016.
After major technical gains in 2025, Buterin says the network must double down on usability and decentralization to meet its original goals.
Cypherpunk’s ZEC position now accounts for more than a third of its stated 5% accumulation target, following a series of recent purchases.
The layer-1 network reversed course after ecosystem partners warned that rewriting chain history would undermine decentralization and create operational risks following a $3.9 million exploit.