AI-Crypto Infrastructure Convergence Accelerates (2026-05-18)

Vitalik says AI‑assisted formal verification could be ‘final form’ of software development

Vitalik Buterin says AI‑assisted formal verification could be the “final form” of software, letting Ethereum ship ultra‑optimized code with machine‑checked proofs of correctness. Ethereum (ETH) co‑founder Vitalik Buterin has said that combining artificial intelligence with formal verification could become the “final form” of software development, allowing developers to ship highly optimized code that is also backed by machine‑checkable proofs of correctness.

In a new essay on his personal website, he writes that formal verification is “particularly well‑suited for situations where the goal is much simpler than the implementation,” pointing to quantum‑resistant signatures, STARKs, consensus algorithms, and ZK‑EVMs as prime candidates. Buterin’s latest comments echo a February post where he suggested that AI may “help make near bug‑free crypto code a realistic expectation,” provided the ecosystem channels about half of AI’s speed gains into stronger testing and verification.

In that piece, he warned developers not to expect magic from AI‑generated code, saying they should “not assume that you’ll be able to put in a single prompt and get a highly‑secure version out anytime soon; there WILL be lots of wrestling with bugs and inconsistencies between implementations.” In parallel, he has highlighted practical evidence that AI‑assisted formal methods are already working in the wild, citing the Lean Ethereum project where “a collaborator … managed to AI‑code a machine‑verifiable proof of one of the most complex theorems that STARKs rely on for security.”

That experiment, he suggested, hints at a future where AI tools help developers express desired properties in a proof language, then automatically search for and check proofs that a given implementation actually satisfies them. Despite his enthusiasm, Buterin has repeatedly cautioned that even perfect formal verification at one layer cannot guarantee that an entire system behaves as intended. In his new post, he notes that “formal verification is not a panacea,” adding that to be truly end‑to‑end, developers would need to verify everything from the high‑level specification down to the RISC‑V implementation or prover arithmetization, “but don’t worry – that exists too.”

Earlier this year, he framed crypto security as the problem of “minimizing the gap between user intent and system behavior,” arguing in a separate essay that “perfect security” is impossible because human intent itself is messy and hard to formalize. For that reason, he has advocated redundancy — simulations, multisig, formal verification, and multiple client implementations — over purely adding friction, saying specific security claims can still be proven in many contexts and “cut out over 99% of negative consequences from broken code.”

Buterin’s stance is that AI should be used both to accelerate Ethereum’s roadmap and to raise its security bar at the same time, rather than treating speed and safety as opposing goals. “People should be open to the possibility (not certainty! possibility) that the Ethereum roadmap will finish much faster than people expect, at a much higher standard of security than people expect,” he wrote, while warning that developers will still have to grind through bugs and edge cases even in an AI‑plus‑formal‑verification future.

Justin Sun moves 41.99m Spark to HTX in fresh suspected sell-off

Justin Sun has resumed large Spark (SPK) withdrawals from Spark, moving 41.99 million tokens worth approximately $1.23 million to his HTX exchange in another suspected sell-side transaction, according to on-chain data flagged by pseudonymous analyst ai_9684xtpa. The latest transfer follows a roughly two-week lull in activity, suggesting Sun is again cycling staking rewards or accumulated balances from the Spark protocol into centralized venues rather than compounding them on-chain.

Since September 2025, Sun-linked wallets have routed around 610 million SPK to exchanges, with an estimated aggregate value near $19.08 million at the time of transfer. While these movements do not prove immediate market sells, the consistent pattern of exchange-bound flows has led analysts and traders to treat them as de facto supply overhang that can cap upside or accelerate drawdowns when liquidity thins.

The latest move continues a broader trend of Sun monetizing rewards and ecosystem allocations across projects he influences, echoing earlier scrutiny over his handling of other tokens on networks associated with TRON and HTX. Each fresh SPK transfer into HTX expands the pool of coins that can be market-sold into bids, potentially dampening spot demand from users who interact with Spark for its lending and staking features rather than for speculative trading.

Traders watching SPK’s order books now have to factor in the possibility of further tranches coming online if Sun maintains his current pace, especially given the roughly eight-month history of repeated, multi-million token transfers. For long-term holders, the concern is less about any single $1.23 million move and more about the signaling effect of a key insider consistently sending rewards off-platform instead of holding or deploying them inside the Spark ecosystem.

The repeated flows also sharpen governance questions around how much effective control Sun still exerts over Spark and related assets, even when formal structures appear decentralized on paper. Large, opaque insider movements can erode confidence among smaller holders who lack visibility into Sun’s trading intentions or any internal agreements that might constrain his selling behavior.

Sun has previously dismissed similar concerns around his trading activity in other ecosystems, arguing that his moves are routine treasury and liquidity management rather than opportunistic dumping. However, the combination of regular SPK transfers to HTX, the cumulative $19.08 million value involved, and the absence of detailed public communication around those flows leaves SPK in the crosshairs whenever broader market sentiment turns risk-off.

[ChainCatcher]

Source: U.S. to extend Russia oil sanctions waiver for 30 days

On May 18, Reuters reported that sources said the U.S. Treasury Department will extend the expired sanctions exemption on Russian seaborne oil for another 30 days.

The decision was made after several poor and vulnerable countries requested more time to purchase Russian oil.

[PANews]

Tether invests in cross-border remittance fintech company LemFi, specific amount undisclosed.

On May 18th, stablecoin issuer Tether invested in cross-border remittance fintech company LemFi. The specific amount was not disclosed. LemFi was founded in 2021 and has raised a total of $85.00M, with over 1.00M users.

Part of this investment involves LemFi integrating Tether’s settlement network, using USDT as a settlement layer in its main remittance channels operating in Africa and Asia, to reduce reliance on traditional payment networks such as SWIFT.

Both parties stated that they will cooperate to improve the speed, cost, and transparency of cross-border remittances.

[PANews]

Aave proposes a “principal-preserving” charitable donation mechanism: donate the yield, not the principal.

Aave has officially proposed a principal-preserving charitable donation layer, enabling users to continuously donate generated yields to charitable causes while retaining control over and liquidity of their principal.

This proposal is currently undergoing a temp-check vote on the Aave Governance Forum. Its core objective is to address three key pain points of traditional charitable models: donors must permanently relinquish their principal; charitable organizations face unstable funding flows; and fund usage lacks transparency.

Under the proposal, users can deposit assets into yield-generating infrastructure such as Aave, direct the resulting yields toward charitable donations, and withdraw their principal at any time.

[ChainCatcher]

Forsage co-founder denies allegations of involvement in a $340 million crypto Ponzi scheme.

Crypto platform Forsage co-founder Olena Oblamska pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after being extradited from Thailand to the United States.

Launched in January 2020, Forsage was marketed to retail investors worldwide as a DApp investment platform based on smart contracts. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that the platform used smart contracts on Ethereum, Tron, and BNB Chain to automatically redirect funds from new participants to early investors, constituting a Ponzi and pyramid scheme.

Blockchain analysis shows that over 80% of Forsage investors received less cryptocurrency than they deposited, and over 50% received no return. The scheme defrauded victims in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America of approximately $340.00 million. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against those involved in August 2022.

[financefeeds]

Bernstein Circle call cements CLARITY edge

Bernstein analysts said the CLARITY Act’s yield compromise structurally favors Circle Internet Group, ending what they described as a looming stablecoin “interest rate arms race.” The note landed days after the bill cleared the Senate Banking Committee 15-9.

The compromise prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying yield economically equivalent to bank deposits, while preserving rewards tied to trading and payments. Bernstein argued the language protects USDC’s growth model.

Total dollar-backed stablecoin supply surpassed $300 billion this week, with Tether and USDC controlling roughly 97% of the market. Adjusted monthly transaction volume reached around $15 trillion, putting annualized flows near $100 trillion. USDC’s market share in adjusted transaction volumes climbed from 41% to 60% year-over-year.

Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote that the compromise “cements stablecoins as payment instruments rather than deposit substitutes.” Bernstein also highlighted Circle’s growing agentic payments infrastructure, including gas-free USDC transfers, the x402 protocol, and the ARC blockchain. ARC uses USDC as native gas under what the firm called “quantum-ready” architecture.

The bank maintained an Outperform rating and $190 price target on Circle, implying roughly 67% upside from its $114 close on Friday. Bernstein also kept an Outperform call on Coinbase with a $330 target. Circle does not pay passive yield on USDC directly. Partners such as Coinbase instead use distribution arrangements and activity-linked rewards programs tied to USDC usage, structures the CLARITY Act compromise leaves intact.

The CLARITY Act now heads to a full Senate floor vote that requires 60 votes. The House must reconcile any differences before the bill reaches President Trump’s desk for signature.

[Bernstein]

Coinbase will launch spot trading of Wrapped Ronin (WRON).

Coinbase announced today the launch of spot trading for Wrapped Ronin (WRON). The WRON-USD trading pair will open later today once liquidity conditions are met and will roll out gradually in supported regions.

According to the official announcement, WRON will be available for trading on Coinbase’s official website, mobile app, and Coinbase Advanced platform. Institutional users can access WRON directly via Coinbase Exchange.

Additionally, the Ethereum-based ERC-20 contract address for WRON has been published, and users are reminded to transfer funds exclusively via the designated network to prevent asset loss.

[ChainCatcher]

Aster DEX launches voting listing mechanism, with the first proposals being BTC/U and ETH/U perpetual contracts.

Aster has launched a Listing Vote mechanism that allows validators staking 20.00 million ASTER to initiate listing proposals, which are then voted on-chain by all ASTER holders based on their stake weight.

The first batch of proposals was initiated by United Stables and involves the listing of BTC/U and ETH/U perpetual contracts. The voting deadline is May 22nd at 14:00.

[Foresight News]

Elon Musk Loses OpenAI Battle: Jury Rules “Too Late”

A U.S. jury handed Elon Musk a decisive loss on May 18, 2026, ruling he waited too long to sue OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. The verdict means Musk’s high-stakes claims of mission betrayal are over, clearing OpenAI’s path to commercial dominance.

The advisory jury in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found Musk’s breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment claims time-barred. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit, donated tens of millions, and left the board in 2018. He sued in 2024, arguing the shift to for-profit with Microsoft funding violated founding promises. Jurors agreed he knew of the changes years earlier.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is expected to accept the jury’s advisory finding, dismissing the liability phase. Musk had sought over $130–150 billion in remedies, Altman’s removal, and structural reversal—now off the table.

Crypto traders showed little panic. Bitcoin and major altcoins held steady, highlighting “Musk fatigue” in volatile markets. The outcome strengthens centralized AI leaders like OpenAI (valued near $850B+), potentially sidelining decentralized AI-crypto projects that champion open-source and nonprofit models. Tesla (TSLA) faces short-term pressure as Musk’s xAI pushes forward without courtroom distractions in the AI race.

Musk has repeatedly called most cryptocurrencies “scams” while Tesla holds significant Bitcoin. The ruling affirms that donors challenging nonprofit-to-profit pivots years later face steep hurdles. It reduces legal uncertainty for Big Tech AI investments and boosts OpenAI’s IPO prospects alongside its Microsoft ties.

Musk’s team is expected to appeal, with final judgment from the judge coming soon. OpenAI advances toward public listing, while crypto-AI initiatives may accelerate decentralized alternatives to challenge corporate control. Investors should track TSLA volatility, Bitcoin’s correlation with AI news flow, and xAI developments for emerging opportunities in this high-stakes tech-crypto intersection.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve framework firmly on the horizon: White House official

The White House says it has achieved a legal and custody “breakthrough” for the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, finally giving Washington a compliant way to safeguard billions in seized BTC. The White House has confirmed a major operational breakthrough for the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, with an announcement expected in the coming weeks.

Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, revealed during an interview at Consensus 2026 that the administration has successfully established the legal compliance and asset custody structure required to protect government-held crypto assets. “We’ll have an announcement…It’s a breakthrough as far as getting everything in place, legally sound, properly safeguarding the assets,” Witt said during the interview with Scott Melker.

The statement marks the first official confirmation that the reserve framework has overcome regulatory obstacles that previously prevented the government from properly securing seized Bitcoin (BTC) holdings. The breakthrough comes more than a year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in March 2025. That order directed federal agencies to consolidate Bitcoin obtained through civil and criminal forfeiture into a single reserve account and prohibited the Treasury from selling the assets.

Witt emphasized that while executive orders established the initial framework, legislative action remains necessary to ensure long-term protections and permanence. The administration is working closely with Deputy Harry John and Stephen Miller’s policy team on interagency collaboration for the reserve, even as congressional attention focuses on the CLARITY Act. Witt warned that executive orders alone are vulnerable to reversal by future administrations, citing policy shifts between the Trump and Biden administrations as evidence that congressional codification through the BITCOIN Act and American Reserve Modernization Action Act is essential.

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 White House Executive Director says there is an announcement coming soon regarding a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: “We’ll have an announcement…It’s a breakthrough as far as getting everything in place, legally sound, properly safeguarding the assets.” 👀 pic.twitter.com/MJTJ581CWo

According to Wikipedia, the U.S. government is estimated to hold approximately 328,372 BTC as of February 2026, making it the largest known state holder of Bitcoin globally. With Bitcoin trading around $77,277 as of May 18, 2026, the government’s holdings represent approximately $25.4 billion in value. The reserve framework treats Bitcoin as a strategic asset comparable to gold or petroleum stockpiles, rather than a speculative investment.

Witt also highlighted custody failures, noting that losses by U.S. Marshals demonstrate gaps in the current system that require both the BITCOIN and ARMA Acts to properly protect executive orders. The official stressed that failing to establish clear regulatory leadership could force the United States to follow frameworks developed by other nations, potentially benefiting competitors like China in the digital asset race.

The BNBAgent SDK has been launched on the BSC mainnet, providing core infrastructure for the large-scale on-chain deployment of AI agents.

The BNBAgent SDK has officially launched on the BSC mainnet, providing core infrastructure for scaling AI agents on-chain. This SDK comprises four modular components: identity and trust based on ERC-8004; commerce and custody based on ERC-8183 (APEX); autonomous payments integrating MPP and x402; and memory and storage powered by BNB Greenfield.

This framework aims to address key challenges facing AI agents—including identity verification, commercial collaboration, automated settlement, and cross-runtime memory persistence—enabling developers to build, deploy, and monetize AI agents on BNB Chain. Initial partners include Google, AWS, Virtuals, Binance Pay, Trust Wallet, Binance Wallet, and United Stables.

[Odaily]

AEON raises $8m to wire AI agents into 50m real-world merchants

AEON has completed an $8 million pre-seed funding round to build what it calls the “financial foundation of the AI economy,” with Binance venture arm YZi Labs leading the round alongside IDG Capital, HashKey Capital, Stanford Blockchain Builders Fund, Oak Grove Ventures, and other backers. The company did not disclose its valuation, but said the capital will be used to develop settlement infrastructure that allows autonomous AI agents to exchange value directly with each other and with real-world merchants.

AEON said the goal is to create an AI-native payments fabric that supports “high-frequency microtransactions, on-chain agent identity, and global fiat settlement” so that AI systems can plug into commerce without human intermediaries. The team is explicitly targeting the “agentic economy,” positioning the protocol as a back-end layer that can be embedded into AI assistants, bots, and services that need to pay for APIs, subscriptions, or real-world goods.

AEON launched its first AI payment product in May, enabling AI agents to connect with more than 50 million physical merchants globally through integrations with existing payments partners. The company claims this lets agents route payments at point of sale, handle subscriptions, and settle online transactions while abstracting away blockchain complexity from end users and merchants.

A key part of AEON’s stack is its x402 protocol, which repurposes the long-ignored “402 Payment Required” HTTP status code into a programmable payment step for AI agents executing web-based actions. The company explained that x402 allows agents to “independently execute online transactions by embedding payments directly into standard HTTP interactions,” so that an agent can receive a 402 response, pay in stablecoins, and unlock access with no human in the loop.

Built on top of that protocol, the newly announced x402 Facilitator is deployed natively on BNB Chain and adds verifiable transactions, on-chain settlement, and immutable receipts to each agent-driven payment. Every x402 transaction is validated by the Facilitator for “payload authenticity and mandate compliance” before being finalized on BNB Chain, generating a tamper-proof on-chain receipt that includes the agent’s ERC-8004-compliant identity for auditing and reconciliation.

AEON says the BNB Chain integration gives its system the scalability and transparency needed for production-level AI-to-merchant commerce, allowing agents to interact with “millions of service providers across the BNB ecosystem” and execute payments that are “fast, transparent, and verifiable in real time.” Combined with the fresh $8 million round led by YZi Labs, the launch signals growing institutional conviction that an agent-specific settlement layer will be a core piece of infrastructure as AI systems start to transact on behalf of users and enterprises.

[ChainCatcher]

In the past 24 hours, the entire network contract liquidation was $682.00 million, mainly liquidating long orders.

On May 18, according to CoinAnk data, the total liquidation volume across the cryptocurrency market’s futures contracts over the past 24 hours amounted to $682 million, including $597 million in long-position liquidations and $84.6087 million in short-position liquidations.

The total liquidation volume for BTC was $214 million, and for ETH it was $222 million.

[PANews]

Minnesota signs bill allowing banks to offer cryptocurrency custody services

May 18th news, according to the latest bill signed by the government of Minnesota, USA, local banks and credit unions can now legally provide custody services for crypto assets such as Bitcoin.

The bill aims to provide a clear regulatory framework for financial institutions in the state to participate in digital asset business and expand the coverage of traditional finance for cryptocurrency services.

[PANews]

Two more Ethereum Foundation researchers resign amid wave of departures

Two more Ethereum Foundation researchers have tendered their resignations, with Carl Beek and Julian Ma announcing their departures on Monday.

This adds to a growing number of resignations in recent months, including the former heads of the major Protocol cluster earlier this month, and other executive-level departures. Tomasz K. Stańczak stepped down as co-executive director of The Ethereum Foundation in February, less than a year into the job, while Josh Stark resigned in March after seven years.

Similarly, Beek announced on Monday that he is leaving after seven years. He is perhaps most known for his contributions to Ethereum’s Beacon Chain, which supported the blockchain’s highly complex upgrade to proof-of-stake consensus in 2020.

“To every researcher, core dev, EFer, and community member, whether we worked together closely or not: thank you,” Beek said on X. “The strength of Ethereum is, and always will be, the people behind it striving to make it what it is. I’m grateful to have spent these years among you.”

Beek noted he and his wife welcomed a one-year-old last month. His last day will be Friday, May 29.

Meanwhile, Ma said he is stepping down after about four years, having made contributions to Ethereum’s mechanism design, cryptoeconomics, and protocol scaling. Ma noted some of his proudest achievements include co-authoring FOCIL (EIP-7805), to boost Ethereum’s censorship-resistance, and leading the rollout of the Fast Confirmation Rule that dropped bridging time between Ethereum Layer 2s and the mainnet to 13 seconds, he said.

In addition to Stańczak and Stark, other high-profile researchers and leaders who left the EF include Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko of the Protocol team and Trent Van Epps, who key organized the influential Protocol Guild, which is today an independent funding organization for Ethereum core developers.

Alex Stokes, former co-lead of Protocol, also announced he is going on sabbatical earlier this month. Last June, amid long-simmering tensions, Péter Szilágyi announced he was leaving the organization after about a decade, having created the most widely used Ethereum execution client Geth.

The Ethereum Foundation went through a significant reshuffling in 2025 to address community criticism about the organization’s execution, scaling, and support for the ecosystem amid Ethereum’s competition with other chains. At the time, the EF was praised for reducing former Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi’s influence with the appointment of more technical co-leads.

Vitalik Buterin also took an increasingly visible role in communicating the Ethereum roadmap, particularly its recommitment to scaling the Ethereum base layer while pulling back the so-called “rollup-centric” roadmap.

However, the EF has raised significant controversy in recent months. Most notably, the organization is said to have asked employees to sign a loyalty pledge after publishing a mandate outlining the EF’s focus on CROPs values, short for Censorship resistance, Open source, Privacy, and Security. While most Ethereum community members support CROPs in the abstract, the mandate’s apparent references to the controversial Milady online community upset many.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Galaxy Digital Wins Major Money Transmitter License in New York

Galaxy Digital secured a BitLicense and Money Transmitter License from the New York State Department of Financial Services on May 18, granting the Nasdaq-listed firm direct access to institutional clients across the state. The approval covers GalaxyOne Prime NY, the entity that will serve registered investment advisors, hedge funds, and family offices in what founder Mike Novogratz described as the country’s largest concentration of institutional capital.

The dual approval authorizes GalaxyOne Prime NY to offer regulated trading and custody services through Galaxy’s full platform. Previously, many local allocators routed through offshore entities or intermediaries to reach those services. Galaxy now holds more than 50 global licenses and manages roughly $9 billion in client assets across its digital asset business. The New York approval adds the country’s largest pool of professional investors to that footprint, building on the firm’s recent Nasdaq reorganization. Industry data shows fewer than 40 firms hold an active BitLicense, placing GalaxyOne in a small club alongside major exchanges and stablecoin operators serving the state.

The BitLicense regime, introduced by NYDFS in 2015, requires applicants to build a full anti-money laundering (AML) program, adopt board-approved cybersecurity standards, and post capital reserves often running into seven figures. Each digital asset offered also needs a separate coin-by-coin approval before going live. Emily Goodman, a fintech attorney who tracks state-level crypto policy, noted that applicants typically face 18 to 24 months of review and more than 10 rounds of regulator feedback. All-in costs routinely climb into high six or seven figures before a single customer is served.

That bar may benefit incumbents like Galaxy while raising barriers for newer entrants. Smaller startups often struggle to absorb the legal, cybersecurity, and reserve requirements, pushing some firms to serve New York indirectly or exit the state entirely. Supporters argue the regulated path could accelerate broader institutional crypto adoption by giving fiduciaries a compliant venue. With hedge funds and family offices now able to onboard directly, the next test will be how quickly Galaxy converts that access into measurable inflows.

Iran: Substantive differences between the two sides still exist

On May 18, according to sources close to the negotiation team, Iran stated that despite some changes in the new U.S. document, substantive differences remain due to America’s greed and lack of realism.

Iran firmly demands that the U.S. pay compensation for damages caused by the war. Iran’s frozen assets must be returned to the Iranian people in a clear and unequivocal manner. The U.S. demands regarding nuclear matters are purely political pretexts, contradicting the rights of the Iranian people.

As previously announced, Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons; the U.S. claim to the contrary is merely an excuse and deception. Moreover, the U.S. continues attempting to link negotiations on ending the war with nuclear issues—a logically unsound approach that Iran will not accept. The U.S. must understand that Iran will never agree to exchange nuclear commitments for ending the war—under any circumstances.

[PANews]

xAI asked employees for tax form data to train Grok for $420 in compensation

According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk’s xAI asked employees earlier this year to provide personal tax returns as training data for Grok, and offered $420.00 as an incentive.

[Odaily Planet Daily]