Coinstelegram

The crypto market staged its most powerful single-day rally since February 2026 on August 19, as a violent short squeeze wiped out roughly $3 billion in leveraged positions and sent Bitcoin and Ethereum surging past their June highs. The move was triggered by an unexpected U.S.
Treasury decision that traders immediately interpreted as a new form of monetary easing — and market indicators are now flashing early signals of a broader trend reversal.
The Numbers Behind the Rally
Bitcoin climbed from approximately $64,217 to a peak of $72,490 within roughly 24 hours — a gain of about 12.9%, marking its strongest single-day performance since February. Ethereum outperformed even more dramatically, surging from around $1,928 to a peak of $2,333, a jump of approximately 21%. Both assets decisively reclaimed levels not seen since June.
The rally’s fuel came directly from forced liquidations. Within a single hour, liquidations across the crypto derivatives market exceeded $1 billion; over the full 24-hour period, total liquidations reached approximately $3 billion, with roughly $2.74 billion of that coming specifically from short positions being forcibly closed out. CryptoQuant, the on-chain analytics firm tracking the move, described the mechanism driving the acceleration:
“Short sellers are forced to buy back their positions to limit losses. These forced buybacks in turn fuel the rally, creating a snowball effect.”
What Triggered the Move
The catalyst was a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department to double its buyback program for long-term government bonds. Investors interpreted the move as a signal of loosening financial conditions, and the reaction across risk assets was swift — traders have already nicknamed the policy shift “the new QE,” drawing a direct parallel to the quantitative easing programs that fueled previous crypto bull cycles.
Real Demand Joins the Squeeze
Unlike short squeezes driven purely by forced liquidations, this rally also saw genuine spot demand enter the market. Spot buying was reported on both Binance and Coinbase, while spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a significant inflow of approximately 7,990 BTC.
According to data from SoSoValue, Bitcoin ETFs posted inflows for three consecutive days after months of sustained outflows, with daily figures of $517.19 million, $189.30 million, and $297.56 million. Ethereum ETFs followed a similar pattern, recording three straight days of inflows totaling $189.15 million, made up of $71.47 million and $30.85 million in the two most recent sessions alongside the initial inflow — the clearest sign yet of institutional capital rotating back into crypto exposure after a prolonged retreat.
CryptoQuant Flags an Early Reversal Signal
Beyond the immediate price action, CryptoQuant identified a structural shift that could carry more lasting significance: spot demand is on the verge of turning positive for the first time since February. Historically, according to CryptoQuant’s analysis, similar demand reversals have preceded an average Bitcoin gain of 18.1% over the following 60 days, with positive returns recorded in 78% of historical instances. Given Bitcoin’s currently depressed valuation relative to prior cycles, the firm noted that the success rate for this type of signal has reached as high as 87% in comparable past setups.
Sentiment Flips to Greed
The Fear and Greed Index, a widely watched gauge of crypto market psychology, moved into “Greed” territory for the first time since January, registering a reading of 62 after months spent in “Fear.” Historically, sharp moves into greed territory following extended fear periods have sometimes preceded short-term pullbacks, as sentiment-driven indicators can signal that a rally has become crowded even when underlying fundamentals remain constructive — a dynamic worth watching given how quickly positioning has flipped.
Where the Risk Has Shifted
With an estimated $2.77 billion in short positions liquidated during the rally, traders now note that the market’s leverage imbalance has flipped. Having aggressively cleared out short-side leverage, the more immediate vulnerability going forward sits with long positions — a dynamic several prominent traders have flagged using the hashtag #toptraders, warning that an equally sharp reversal could now trigger long liquidations if momentum stalls.
Washington’s Crypto Politics Add Another Layer
The rally coincided with renewed political attention on crypto regulation. President Donald Trump publicly urged Congress to pass a “fair version” of the CLARITY Act, the comprehensive digital asset market structure bill that has stalled in the Senate for months. However, Senator Ruben Gallego cautioned against rushing a vote, arguing that lawmakers still need to resolve disagreements over ethics restrictions on public officials, stablecoin yield provisions, and other unresolved elements of the legislation. The Senate is expected to revisit the CLARITY Act after its recess concludes in September.
HYPE Token Jumps on Trump’s Hyperliquid Comments
Adding to the day’s momentum, the token HYPE surged more than 20%, climbing from approximately $62 to a peak of $72.28, after President Trump stated that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is working on a legal pathway for the Hyperliquid platform to formally enter the U.S. market. No official timeline for that launch has been announced.
What Comes Next
The scale of Wednesday’s move — a nearly 13% Bitcoin rally, a 21% Ethereum surge, and close to $3 billion in liquidations — represents one of the sharpest single-day reversals crypto markets have seen in months. Whether the rally marks the start of a durable trend change, as CryptoQuant’s historical demand-signal data suggests is statistically likely, or proves to be a short-lived squeeze driven primarily by forced buying, will likely become clearer as the market digests whether spot demand and ETF inflows continue building through the coming weeks, particularly as attention turns toward September’s CLARITY Act negotiations and any further signals from the Treasury on its bond-buyback program.

The crypto market staged its most powerful single-day rally since February 2026 on August 19, as a violent short squeeze wiped out roughly $3 billion in leveraged positions and sent Bitcoin and Ethereum surging past their June highs. The move was triggered by an unexpected U.S.
Treasury decision that traders immediately interpreted as a new form of monetary easing — and market indicators are now flashing early signals of a broader trend reversal.
The Numbers Behind the Rally
Bitcoin climbed from approximately $64,217 to a peak of $72,490 within roughly 24 hours — a gain of about 12.9%, marking its strongest single-day performance since February. Ethereum outperformed even more dramatically, surging from around $1,928 to a peak of $2,333, a jump of approximately 21%. Both assets decisively reclaimed levels not seen since June.
The rally’s fuel came directly from forced liquidations. Within a single hour, liquidations across the crypto derivatives market exceeded $1 billion; over the full 24-hour period, total liquidations reached approximately $3 billion, with roughly $2.74 billion of that coming specifically from short positions being forcibly closed out. CryptoQuant, the on-chain analytics firm tracking the move, described the mechanism driving the acceleration:
“Short sellers are forced to buy back their positions to limit losses. These forced buybacks in turn fuel the rally, creating a snowball effect.”
What Triggered the Move
The catalyst was a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department to double its buyback program for long-term government bonds. Investors interpreted the move as a signal of loosening financial conditions, and the reaction across risk assets was swift — traders have already nicknamed the policy shift “the new QE,” drawing a direct parallel to the quantitative easing programs that fueled previous crypto bull cycles.
Real Demand Joins the Squeeze
Unlike short squeezes driven purely by forced liquidations, this rally also saw genuine spot demand enter the market. Spot buying was reported on both Binance and Coinbase, while spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a significant inflow of approximately 7,990 BTC.
According to data from SoSoValue, Bitcoin ETFs posted inflows for three consecutive days after months of sustained outflows, with daily figures of $517.19 million, $189.30 million, and $297.56 million. Ethereum ETFs followed a similar pattern, recording three straight days of inflows totaling $189.15 million, made up of $71.47 million and $30.85 million in the two most recent sessions alongside the initial inflow — the clearest sign yet of institutional capital rotating back into crypto exposure after a prolonged retreat.
CryptoQuant Flags an Early Reversal Signal
Beyond the immediate price action, CryptoQuant identified a structural shift that could carry more lasting significance: spot demand is on the verge of turning positive for the first time since February. Historically, according to CryptoQuant’s analysis, similar demand reversals have preceded an average Bitcoin gain of 18.1% over the following 60 days, with positive returns recorded in 78% of historical instances. Given Bitcoin’s currently depressed valuation relative to prior cycles, the firm noted that the success rate for this type of signal has reached as high as 87% in comparable past setups.
Sentiment Flips to Greed
The Fear and Greed Index, a widely watched gauge of crypto market psychology, moved into “Greed” territory for the first time since January, registering a reading of 62 after months spent in “Fear.” Historically, sharp moves into greed territory following extended fear periods have sometimes preceded short-term pullbacks, as sentiment-driven indicators can signal that a rally has become crowded even when underlying fundamentals remain constructive — a dynamic worth watching given how quickly positioning has flipped.
Where the Risk Has Shifted
With an estimated $2.77 billion in short positions liquidated during the rally, traders now note that the market’s leverage imbalance has flipped. Having aggressively cleared out short-side leverage, the more immediate vulnerability going forward sits with long positions — a dynamic several prominent traders have flagged using the hashtag #toptraders, warning that an equally sharp reversal could now trigger long liquidations if momentum stalls.
Washington’s Crypto Politics Add Another Layer
The rally coincided with renewed political attention on crypto regulation. President Donald Trump publicly urged Congress to pass a “fair version” of the CLARITY Act, the comprehensive digital asset market structure bill that has stalled in the Senate for months. However, Senator Ruben Gallego cautioned against rushing a vote, arguing that lawmakers still need to resolve disagreements over ethics restrictions on public officials, stablecoin yield provisions, and other unresolved elements of the legislation. The Senate is expected to revisit the CLARITY Act after its recess concludes in September.
HYPE Token Jumps on Trump’s Hyperliquid Comments
Adding to the day’s momentum, the token HYPE surged more than 20%, climbing from approximately $62 to a peak of $72.28, after President Trump stated that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is working on a legal pathway for the Hyperliquid platform to formally enter the U.S. market. No official timeline for that launch has been announced.
What Comes Next
The scale of Wednesday’s move — a nearly 13% Bitcoin rally, a 21% Ethereum surge, and close to $3 billion in liquidations — represents one of the sharpest single-day reversals crypto markets have seen in months. Whether the rally marks the start of a durable trend change, as CryptoQuant’s historical demand-signal data suggests is statistically likely, or proves to be a short-lived squeeze driven primarily by forced buying, will likely become clearer as the market digests whether spot demand and ETF inflows continue building through the coming weeks, particularly as attention turns toward September’s CLARITY Act negotiations and any further signals from the Treasury on its bond-buyback program.

More than two dozen of the world’s largest payments, financial infrastructure, and blockchain companies have banded together to build the rulebook for a rapidly emerging market: commerce conducted autonomously by AI agents.
The Agentic Payments Alliance (APA), announced August 18 by stablecoin infrastructure company Rain, brings together Visa, Mastercard, Circle, Solana, Fiserv, and more than 20 other organizations to define how artificial intelligence systems will authorize, execute, and secure financial transactions on behalf of humans and businesses.
Why This Alliance Exists Now
The coalition’s formation is driven by a specific and urgent problem: agentic commerce — a model where AI agents don’t merely recommend a purchase but actually initiate, authorize, and complete financial transactions autonomously — is projected by McKinsey to reach between $3 trillion and $5 trillion globally by 2030. Yet the foundational infrastructure that market will depend on remains almost entirely undefined. How does a merchant verify an AI agent is authorized to spend on a user’s behalf? How does fraud detection work when the “customer” is a machine rather than a person? How do loyalty programs and rewards apply to a transaction with no human directly present at checkout?
Rain, the company that organized the alliance, framed the initiative as an attempt to answer these questions collectively rather than allow each major payments player to build incompatible, siloed systems independently. “No single company should get to decide how agents transact on someone’s behalf,” said Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain. “That has to come from the platforms building the rails, the regulators setting the rules, and the innovators closest to how agents are actually being used today. We initiated the Agentic Payments Alliance to put all of these parties in the same room, and to do it now, while the category is still taking shape.”
Who’s Involved
The APA’s founding membership spans the entire payments and crypto infrastructure stack. On the traditional finance side, Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv, and Remitly represent established card networks and payment processors. On the crypto and blockchain side, founding members include Circle (issuer of the USDC stablecoin), the Solana Foundation, Avalanche, Uniswap Labs, Monad, and Chainalysis, the blockchain analytics firm widely used for compliance and fraud tracking. Digital asset infrastructure providers Fireblocks — which has secured more than $14 trillion in transactions to date — and custody platform Turnkey have also joined as founding members, alongside payment technology firms including Lithic, Sardine, Shift4, Basis Theory, Coinflow, Crossmint, Episode Six, Evertec, PayOS, and Yuno.
Sherri Haymond, executive vice president and global head of Digital Commercialization at Mastercard, framed the company’s participation as a continuation of its historical role in shaping commerce standards:
“For decades, Mastercard has helped shape the standards that enable commerce at scale, and our participation in the Agentic Payments Alliance is a natural extension of that work for the agentic era.”
Solana Foundation echoed similar reasoning in its own public statement announcing participation:
“Agents are becoming economic actors, and how they pay for things needs to be on a global money layer that stays open to anyone.”
How the Alliance Will Actually Operate
The APA is structured as a collectively governed working coalition rather than an entity owned or controlled by any single founding member. Participating organizations will jointly establish the alliance’s charter and mission. Its early priorities are expected to include shared research and technical frameworks, testing emerging standards for verifying agent identity and authorization, and advocacy work addressing the regulatory questions that autonomous AI-driven commerce raises for policymakers.
Founding members will also receive early access to Rain’s Agentic Startup Program, an accelerator supporting early-stage companies building specifically for agentic commerce. The program’s first cohort — five startups — will present at a demo day open exclusively to Alliance members, giving founding organizations direct visibility into emerging applications and use cases within the category.
Rain’s Head Start on the Problem
Rain’s ability to convene this broad a coalition stems from infrastructure work the company says it has spent the past year building. Its Agent Control Layer and Scoped Cards products are designed to give AI agents payment credentials that are widely accepted by merchants while remaining deliberately limited in scope — for example, restricting an agent’s spending to specific categories, merchants, or dollar amounts, reducing the potential damage from a compromised or malfunctioning agent.
As both a Visa and Mastercard Principal Member, Rain already issues cards usable at more than 175 million merchant locations across over 200 countries and territories, giving the company practical, operational experience relevant to the standards the APA aims to establish.
Not the Only Game in Town
The APA is one of several parallel efforts racing to define agentic commerce infrastructure. Separately, Google and Mastercard are backing a related initiative through the FIDO Alliance focused on interoperable identity standards, with Google contributing its open protocol and Mastercard providing its Verifiable Intent trust layer.
Additionally, a competing but overlapping effort called x402 — an open standard for agent-initiated payments — has already seen meaningful real-world adoption, with transactions on Coinbase’s Base network rising from near-zero in mid-2025 to more than 100 million cumulative transactions by early 2026, while a Solana-based deployment processed roughly 35 million transactions and $10 million in volume over a similar period. That parallel protocol counts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Stripe, Google, AWS, Circle, Coinbase, and multiple blockchain foundations among its own 40 founding backers — with some companies, notably Circle and Coinbase, participating in multiple competing coalitions simultaneously while positioning their own settlement infrastructure to become the default layer underneath.
Why This Matters Beyond Payments
The formation of the Agentic Payments Alliance is a concrete signal that the infrastructure underlying the current AI boom is expanding well beyond model capability and into the financial plumbing needed to let AI systems act with real economic agency. As AI agents increasingly move from answering questions to executing tasks — including purchasing goods, subscribing to services, or managing recurring payments — the question of how those agents are authenticated, authorized, and held accountable for fraudulent or erroneous transactions becomes a foundational requirement rather than a hypothetical concern.
Notably, stablecoins occupy a central position across nearly every organization involved in this space. Circle’s participation reinforces its ambition to position USDC as the default settlement currency for autonomous agent transactions, while Solana’s involvement signals which blockchain networks are positioning themselves to capture the transaction volume this market is expected to generate.
As Zil Bareisis, a director at research firm Celent, noted regarding the broader agentic commerce push: for the category to succeed at scale, AI agents must be trusted by everyone involved — consumers, merchants, payment companies, and banks alike — making the standards-setting work now underway within coalitions like the APA foundational to whether agentic commerce becomes a mainstream reality or remains constrained by fragmented, incompatible systems.

29th Connected Banking Summit – Ethiopia 2026 Concludes Successfully, Driving Ethiopia’s Digital Banking Future
Ethiopian Skylight Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 12 August 2026
The 29th Connected Banking Summit – Ethiopia | Innovation & Excellence Awards 2026 concluded successfully on 12 August 2026 at the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel, Addis Ababa, bringing together senior leaders from banking, financial services, regulation, technology, cybersecurity and digital finance to explore the technologies, policies and partnerships shaping Ethiopia’s next phase of financial-sector transformation.
Organised by the International Center for Strategic Alliances (ICSA), the summit provided a high-level platform for industry leaders and decision-makers to exchange insights and address the opportunities and challenges shaping Ethiopia’s evolving financial ecosystem.
The programme placed a strong focus on payments modernization, digital banking, cybersecurity, financial inclusion, digital identity, E-KYC, cloud transformation, digital credit and banking innovation, reflecting the critical priorities driving the country’s digital financial transformation.
Distinguished Leadership & Strategic Voices
The summit opened with the inaugural keynote, “Ethiopia’s Financial Sector Vision – Stability, Reform & Innovation,” delivered by Seyoum Mengesha Tachie – CEO, Digital Economy Development, Ministry of Innovation & Technology, setting the strategic context for Ethiopia’s financial-sector transformation.
The summit also featured senior voices from across Ethiopia’s regulatory, banking and digital-finance ecosystem, including:
Solomon Damtew Metaferia – Director, Banking and Payment Systems Directorate, National Bank of Ethiopia
Yoseph Kibret – Chairman, Ethiopian Digital Financial Service Providers Association (EDFSPA)
Seyoum Damtew – Vice President, Information System Security, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
Fikru Tsegaye Wordofa – Member, Board of Directors, Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX)
Tadesse Hatiya – Chief Executive Officer / President, Sidama Bank S.C.
Daniel Parreira – SVP Sales – Africa, Thunes
Djamil Jaddoo – Territory Manager – IOI, SADC & East African Countries, MBCOM Technologies (Broadcom Representative)
Assefa Amere – Chief Information Technology Officer, Addis Bank S.C.
Hassen Mohammed Ali – Senior Chief Retail Banking & Digitalization Officer, Hijra Bank S.C.
Muluken Demessie – Chief Retail and SME Banking Officer, Nib International Bank S.C.
Theodros Tadesse – Vice President Digital and Branch Banking, Tsedey Bank S.C.
Kalkidan Mandefro – Director, Digital Banking & Innovation, Dashen Bank S.C.
Gutama Ashana – Director, Information Security Management, Awash Bank S.C.
Mengistu Gemechu – Director for Strategy, Cooperative Bank of Oromia S.C.
Temesgen Taye – Director of Cyber Security, Cooperative Bank of Oromia S.C.
Biruk Worku – Director Information Technology Security, Abay Bank S.C.
Abdiselam Mohamed – Director, Digital Banking, Hijra Bank S.C.
Robel Arega – Director, IT Infrastructure Department, Dashen Bank S.C.
Bekalu Mamo – Director, IT Infrastructure Management Directorate, Awash Bank S.C.
Khalid Ahmed – Director, Application and Database Administration, Rammis Bank S.C.
Ermoniem Brhanu Balcha – Digital Innovation and Partnership Division Head, Berhan Bank S.C.
Yibeltal Argacho – Manager, Digital Lending and Follow Up Division, Awash Bank S.C.
Dawit Sernessa – Sr. Manager Trading Operations, Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX).
Their collective participation reflected the growing convergence between financial institutions, regulators, technology providers and digital innovators in shaping Ethiopia’s financial future.
Key Industry Conversations
The summit featured a comprehensive programme of executive panels, strategic discussions and industry presentations focused on the most pressing priorities for Ethiopia’s financial sector.
The session “Payments Modernization & Interoperability in Ethiopia”, led by Solomon Damtew, explored the evolution of payment systems and the importance of interoperability in strengthening the country’s digital financial ecosystem. The conversation was complemented by Daniel Parreira, SVP Sales Africa, Thunes, who examined cross-border money movement across Africa.
The Power Panel – “Building a Safe, Inclusive & Digitally Enabled Banking Ecosystem” brought together leaders from National ID Ethiopia, Cooperative Bank of Oromia, Awash Bank, Hijra Bank and Dashen Bank to discuss the priorities required to build a secure, accessible and digitally enabled banking ecosystem.
The programme also featured “AI Powered Zero Trust and Proactive Security”, with Seyoum Damtew highlighting the growing importance of proactive cybersecurity as digital banking adoption accelerates.
Reimagining Banking Through Digital Transformation
The session “Beyond Digital Transformation: Reimagining Banking in Emerging Markets”, led by Assefa Amere, Chief Information Technology Officer, Addis Bank S.C., explored the changing priorities of technology-led banking transformation.
The programme further examined Banking Core Modernization & Cloud Transformation, alongside discussions around digital identity, E-KYC, financial inclusion, digital banking, SME financing and digital credit expansion.
These conversations highlighted the role of digital technologies in widening financial access, improving customer experiences and creating new opportunities for customers and businesses across Ethiopia.
Cybersecurity, Data Protection & Digital Trust
Cybersecurity and digital trust emerged as critical priorities throughout the summit.
The Strategic Leadership Panel – “Cybersecurity, Data Protection & Digital Trust” brought together senior cybersecurity leaders from Cooperative Bank of Oromia, Hibret Bank, Abay Bank and MBCOM Technologies, focusing on security, resilience and trust across the digital financial ecosystem.
The summit reinforced the importance of building secure and resilient financial systems capable of supporting Ethiopia’s continued digital transformation.
Executive Leadership: The Future of Banking in Ethiopia
The Executive Leadership Panel – “The Future of Banking Transformation in Ethiopia” brought together senior representatives from Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX), Berhan Bank, Gadaa Bank, Awash Bank and Dashen Bank to explore the strategic and technological shifts shaping the future of banking in Ethiopia.
The discussion reflected the sector’s increasing focus on technology modernization, digital customer engagement, operational transformation and the strategic role of innovation in building future-ready financial institutions.
Sponsors & Strategic Partners
The 29th Connected Banking Summit – Ethiopia 2026 was supported by organisations representing key areas of the financial technology and digital transformation ecosystem.
Gold Sponsors
THUNES
ManageEngine
MBCOM Technologies
Supporting Partners
Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX)
Faydaverse
Banking Innovators
YAYA Wallet
CHAPA
KACHA
ARIFPAY
The collective participation of these organisations reflected the breadth of Ethiopia’s evolving financial ecosystem, spanning connected payments, enterprise technology, cybersecurity, capital markets, digital wallets, payment infrastructure and emerging financial services.
Innovation & Excellence Awards 2026 – Award Winners
The evening concluded with the prestigious Innovation & Excellence Awards 2026, recognising outstanding institutions and leaders for achievements across digital banking, cybersecurity, financial inclusion, transformation, payments and financial-services excellence.
Institutional Award Winners
Excellence in Digital Banking – Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
Excellence in Cyber Security – Hibret Bank
Excellence in Cashless Initiatives – Dashen Bank
Excellence in Financial Inclusion – Hijra Bank
Excellence in Digital Transformation – Nib International Bank
Excellence in SME Banking – Cooperative Bank of Oromia
Excellence in Wealth Management – Zemen Bank
Excellence in Trade Finance – Bank of Abyssinia
Excellence in Retail Banking – Awash Bank
Individual Leadership Award Winners
CISO of the Year – Seyoum Damtew, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
CEO of the Year – Banking – Abie Sano, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
CIO of the Year – Amare Herpie, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
Women in Finance Leadership Award – Brutawit Dawit Abdi, Wegagen Capital Investment Bank
Digital Banking Personality of the Year – Hussen Amde, Wegagen Bank
Banking Leader of the Year – Deribie Asfaw, Cooperative Bank of Oromia
The awards continue to reflect ICSA’s commitment to recognising the institutions and individuals driving innovation, resilience, inclusion and excellence across Africa’s financial ecosystem.
A Connected Future for Ethiopian Banking
The 29th Connected Banking Summit & Innovation & Excellence Awards 2026 reinforced the importance of collaboration between financial institutions, regulators, technology leaders and innovators in accelerating Ethiopia’s digital financial transformation.
The summit provided a platform for senior stakeholders to exchange insights, recognise excellence and explore the partnerships and technologies that will shape the future of banking and financial services in Ethiopia.
As Ethiopia continues to advance its digital financial ecosystem, the conversations and connections established at the summit represent an important contribution to building a more secure, inclusive, innovative and digitally enabled future for banking and financial services.
About the Organizers
The International Center for Strategic Alliances (ICSA) is a global organisation that designs platforms for collaboration, knowledge exchange and leadership dialogue across sectors including banking, technology and digital transformation.
ICSA convenes decision-makers, innovators and policy leaders through executive forums, strategic summits and thought-leadership initiatives that inspire innovation and shape the future of global industries.
Media Contact Information
International Center for Strategic Alliances (ICSA)
Phone: +44 20 3808 8625
Email: info@intercsa.com
General Enquiries: info@intercsa.com
Website: www.intercsa.com
Connect. Integrate. Transform.

More than two dozen of the world’s largest payments, financial infrastructure, and blockchain companies have banded together to build the rulebook for a rapidly emerging market: commerce conducted autonomously by AI agents.
The Agentic Payments Alliance (APA), announced August 18 by stablecoin infrastructure company Rain, brings together Visa, Mastercard, Circle, Solana, Fiserv, and more than 20 other organizations to define how artificial intelligence systems will authorize, execute, and secure financial transactions on behalf of humans and businesses.
Why This Alliance Exists Now
The coalition’s formation is driven by a specific and urgent problem: agentic commerce — a model where AI agents don’t merely recommend a purchase but actually initiate, authorize, and complete financial transactions autonomously — is projected by McKinsey to reach between $3 trillion and $5 trillion globally by 2030. Yet the foundational infrastructure that market will depend on remains almost entirely undefined. How does a merchant verify an AI agent is authorized to spend on a user’s behalf? How does fraud detection work when the “customer” is a machine rather than a person? How do loyalty programs and rewards apply to a transaction with no human directly present at checkout?
Rain, the company that organized the alliance, framed the initiative as an attempt to answer these questions collectively rather than allow each major payments player to build incompatible, siloed systems independently. “No single company should get to decide how agents transact on someone’s behalf,” said Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain. “That has to come from the platforms building the rails, the regulators setting the rules, and the innovators closest to how agents are actually being used today. We initiated the Agentic Payments Alliance to put all of these parties in the same room, and to do it now, while the category is still taking shape.”
Who’s Involved
The APA’s founding membership spans the entire payments and crypto infrastructure stack. On the traditional finance side, Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv, and Remitly represent established card networks and payment processors. On the crypto and blockchain side, founding members include Circle (issuer of the USDC stablecoin), the Solana Foundation, Avalanche, Uniswap Labs, Monad, and Chainalysis, the blockchain analytics firm widely used for compliance and fraud tracking. Digital asset infrastructure providers Fireblocks — which has secured more than $14 trillion in transactions to date — and custody platform Turnkey have also joined as founding members, alongside payment technology firms including Lithic, Sardine, Shift4, Basis Theory, Coinflow, Crossmint, Episode Six, Evertec, PayOS, and Yuno.
Sherri Haymond, executive vice president and global head of Digital Commercialization at Mastercard, framed the company’s participation as a continuation of its historical role in shaping commerce standards:
“For decades, Mastercard has helped shape the standards that enable commerce at scale, and our participation in the Agentic Payments Alliance is a natural extension of that work for the agentic era.”
Solana Foundation echoed similar reasoning in its own public statement announcing participation:
“Agents are becoming economic actors, and how they pay for things needs to be on a global money layer that stays open to anyone.”
How the Alliance Will Actually Operate
The APA is structured as a collectively governed working coalition rather than an entity owned or controlled by any single founding member. Participating organizations will jointly establish the alliance’s charter and mission. Its early priorities are expected to include shared research and technical frameworks, testing emerging standards for verifying agent identity and authorization, and advocacy work addressing the regulatory questions that autonomous AI-driven commerce raises for policymakers.
Founding members will also receive early access to Rain’s Agentic Startup Program, an accelerator supporting early-stage companies building specifically for agentic commerce. The program’s first cohort — five startups — will present at a demo day open exclusively to Alliance members, giving founding organizations direct visibility into emerging applications and use cases within the category.
Rain’s Head Start on the Problem
Rain’s ability to convene this broad a coalition stems from infrastructure work the company says it has spent the past year building. Its Agent Control Layer and Scoped Cards products are designed to give AI agents payment credentials that are widely accepted by merchants while remaining deliberately limited in scope — for example, restricting an agent’s spending to specific categories, merchants, or dollar amounts, reducing the potential damage from a compromised or malfunctioning agent.
As both a Visa and Mastercard Principal Member, Rain already issues cards usable at more than 175 million merchant locations across over 200 countries and territories, giving the company practical, operational experience relevant to the standards the APA aims to establish.
Not the Only Game in Town
The APA is one of several parallel efforts racing to define agentic commerce infrastructure. Separately, Google and Mastercard are backing a related initiative through the FIDO Alliance focused on interoperable identity standards, with Google contributing its open protocol and Mastercard providing its Verifiable Intent trust layer.
Additionally, a competing but overlapping effort called x402 — an open standard for agent-initiated payments — has already seen meaningful real-world adoption, with transactions on Coinbase’s Base network rising from near-zero in mid-2025 to more than 100 million cumulative transactions by early 2026, while a Solana-based deployment processed roughly 35 million transactions and $10 million in volume over a similar period. That parallel protocol counts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Stripe, Google, AWS, Circle, Coinbase, and multiple blockchain foundations among its own 40 founding backers — with some companies, notably Circle and Coinbase, participating in multiple competing coalitions simultaneously while positioning their own settlement infrastructure to become the default layer underneath.
Why This Matters Beyond Payments
The formation of the Agentic Payments Alliance is a concrete signal that the infrastructure underlying the current AI boom is expanding well beyond model capability and into the financial plumbing needed to let AI systems act with real economic agency. As AI agents increasingly move from answering questions to executing tasks — including purchasing goods, subscribing to services, or managing recurring payments — the question of how those agents are authenticated, authorized, and held accountable for fraudulent or erroneous transactions becomes a foundational requirement rather than a hypothetical concern.
Notably, stablecoins occupy a central position across nearly every organization involved in this space. Circle’s participation reinforces its ambition to position USDC as the default settlement currency for autonomous agent transactions, while Solana’s involvement signals which blockchain networks are positioning themselves to capture the transaction volume this market is expected to generate.
As Zil Bareisis, a director at research firm Celent, noted regarding the broader agentic commerce push: for the category to succeed at scale, AI agents must be trusted by everyone involved — consumers, merchants, payment companies, and banks alike — making the standards-setting work now underway within coalitions like the APA foundational to whether agentic commerce becomes a mainstream reality or remains constrained by fragmented, incompatible systems.

From Receiving Stablecoins to Daily Transfers: Managing Digital Assets in One Interface
A few years ago, stablecoins were associated almost exclusively with the crypto market: traders used them to settle positions, held them as a haven during volatility, and traded them on exchanges. Today the picture looks different. According to the Visa, adjusted stablecoin transaction volume over the past 12 months exceeded $10 trillion. The word “adjusted” matters here: Visa deliberately excludes bots, duplicate transactions, and other inorganic activity, leaving only volume that resembles real movement of funds between people and businesses.
This means stablecoins increasingly serve a practical rather than speculative function: people are paid for their work in them, send money to family with them, and settle accounts between companies in different countries with them. This is where an increasingly common scenario appears: a person receives payment in USDT or USDC, and that is only the beginning of their interaction with digital assets.
If you regularly receive payment in stablecoins, you are probably already familiar with what happens next: checking an address in one service, storing funds in another, sending a transfer through a third, and swapping through yet another platform, often at an unpredictable fee. Each of these switches costs time and adds risk. What follows explains why this happens and how to avoid it.
Why International Contractors Are Looking for New Ways to Get Paid
For a contractor or remote specialist working with clients abroad, the question is not only how to receive money but how long it takes. A study commissioned by Zero Hash in partnership with Lightspark among 2,500 freelance contractors and independent workers in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and the UAE found that 48% of respondents consider international payment delivery too slow, and 93% are interested in receiving at least part of their income in cryptocurrency or stablecoins. These are results from a specific survey of a specific sample of contractors, not universal global statistics.
The problem is not only speed. According to the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide, the average global cost of an international money transfer is 6.36% of the transfer amount. This figure applies to the remittance market broadly and cannot be treated directly as a fee for paying a contractor. Still, it illustrates the scale of costs that can arise in cross-border settlements: bank fees, currency conversion, and intermediary charges.
This pattern extends well beyond any single country. According to Chainalysis, after adjusting for population size, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia rank among the countries with the highest levels of mass digital asset adoption. In markets like these, stablecoins are not an abstract technology topic but part of everyday financial practice: a way to get paid, preserve the value of savings, and make international transfers without unnecessary intermediaries.
Getting Paid Is Only the Beginning
Consider a typical situation: a remote developer completes projects for clients in several countries and gets paid in USDT. Crediting the funds to a wallet solves only the first part of the task: speed and access to payment. From that point, a different, less visible job begins: the ongoing management of what has already landed in the balance.
This is not a one-time action but a recurring process that accompanies every incoming payment. The same steps repeat each time new funds arrive in the wallet.
What Happens to Funds After They Arrive
Practical work with received stablecoins typically consists of several sequential tasks.
First, address verification. Before confirming any transaction, it is worth making sure the recipient’s address is correct and not linked to suspicious activity. An AML check helps assess the risk level of a given address, though it does not by itself guarantee full transaction safety. It is a risk assessment tool, not insurance against risk. In products like 001k.bot, this task is handled by tools such as Address Book and Whitelist, which allow verified addresses to be stored securely and reused without re-entering them each time. At the same time, these tools do not replace an AML check, since an address’s risk profile can change over time.
Second, storage. Received funds need to be held somewhere between the moment they arrive and the next action.
Third, transfers. Part of the funds is regularly sent onward, to a supplier, partner, team member, or another account of the user’s own.
Fourth, swapping. Swapping between digital assets here is a practical operation, not a speculative trading tool: converting USDT to USDC to meet a specific client’s requirements, or into another asset for a specific purpose.
Fifth, transaction history. Without a clear transaction log, it is difficult to track how much has moved through a wallet over a given month and reconcile it against actual client payments.
Why Several Separate Services Complicate the Process
In practice, these five tasks are often split across different tools: one service is used to store funds, another for AML address checks, a third for swapping, and reviewing transaction history requires yet another interface, or even a blockchain explorer.
This fragmentation is not necessarily dangerous in itself. The real problem lies elsewhere: every switch between services is an extra action, an extra login, an extra address to verify. And transaction history scattered across several interfaces has to be pieced together manually whenever a full picture of fund movement over a given period is needed.
For someone who receives payment in stablecoins regularly rather than occasionally, this fragmentation turns into a constant drain on time, which is why more users are looking for a single interface instead of a set of disconnected tools. One example of this approach is 001k.bot.
One Interface for Ongoing Asset Management
One example of a platform that brings these operations together is 001k.bot. Within 001k.bot, a user can store digital assets, verify addresses before a transfer, execute transfers and swaps, and see the history of all these operations in one place.
001k.bot is a standalone platform for ongoing digital asset management, accessible through a web app and Telegram. The messenger is one way to access the product, not its only entry point. For users who regularly receive payment in stablecoins, including contractors, remote specialists, and small distributed teams, a single interface simplifies control over where funds go next. There is no need to keep track of which service handles which task or reconcile data from multiple sources to see the full picture.
For many users, stablecoins have become a modern tool for international settlements, one that can complement traditional financial solutions depending on the specific situation. At the same time, using digital assets does not exempt users from complying with applicable legal requirements, including tax and AML/CFT obligations.
Conclusion
Getting paid in stablecoins is only the first step. Working with digital income on an ongoing basis requires tools that allow you to verify addresses, store funds, execute transfers, adjust asset structure through swaps, and track the full transaction history without piecing that data together from several different services. As stablecoins move further beyond the crypto market and become part of everyday international settlements, the way this second, less visible stage, managing funds after they arrive, is organized matters more and more.

From Receiving Stablecoins to Daily Transfers: Managing Digital Assets in One Interface
A few years ago, stablecoins were associated almost exclusively with the crypto market: traders used them to settle positions, held them as a haven during volatility, and traded them on exchanges. Today the picture looks different. According to the Visa, adjusted stablecoin transaction volume over the past 12 months exceeded $10 trillion. The word “adjusted” matters here: Visa deliberately excludes bots, duplicate transactions, and other inorganic activity, leaving only volume that resembles real movement of funds between people and businesses.
This means stablecoins increasingly serve a practical rather than speculative function: people are paid for their work in them, send money to family with them, and settle accounts between companies in different countries with them. This is where an increasingly common scenario appears: a person receives payment in USDT or USDC, and that is only the beginning of their interaction with digital assets.
If you regularly receive payment in stablecoins, you are probably already familiar with what happens next: checking an address in one service, storing funds in another, sending a transfer through a third, and swapping through yet another platform, often at an unpredictable fee. Each of these switches costs time and adds risk. What follows explains why this happens and how to avoid it.
Why International Contractors Are Looking for New Ways to Get Paid
For a contractor or remote specialist working with clients abroad, the question is not only how to receive money but how long it takes. A study commissioned by Zero Hash in partnership with Lightspark among 2,500 freelance contractors and independent workers in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and the UAE found that 48% of respondents consider international payment delivery too slow, and 93% are interested in receiving at least part of their income in cryptocurrency or stablecoins. These are results from a specific survey of a specific sample of contractors, not universal global statistics.
The problem is not only speed. According to the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide, the average global cost of an international money transfer is 6.36% of the transfer amount. This figure applies to the remittance market broadly and cannot be treated directly as a fee for paying a contractor. Still, it illustrates the scale of costs that can arise in cross-border settlements: bank fees, currency conversion, and intermediary charges.
This pattern extends well beyond any single country. According to Chainalysis, after adjusting for population size, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia rank among the countries with the highest levels of mass digital asset adoption. In markets like these, stablecoins are not an abstract technology topic but part of everyday financial practice: a way to get paid, preserve the value of savings, and make international transfers without unnecessary intermediaries.
Getting Paid Is Only the Beginning
Consider a typical situation: a remote developer completes projects for clients in several countries and gets paid in USDT. Crediting the funds to a wallet solves only the first part of the task: speed and access to payment. From that point, a different, less visible job begins: the ongoing management of what has already landed in the balance.
This is not a one-time action but a recurring process that accompanies every incoming payment. The same steps repeat each time new funds arrive in the wallet.
What Happens to Funds After They Arrive
Practical work with received stablecoins typically consists of several sequential tasks.
First, address verification. Before confirming any transaction, it is worth making sure the recipient’s address is correct and not linked to suspicious activity. An AML check helps assess the risk level of a given address, though it does not by itself guarantee full transaction safety. It is a risk assessment tool, not insurance against risk. In products like 001k.bot, this task is handled by tools such as Address Book and Whitelist, which allow verified addresses to be stored securely and reused without re-entering them each time. At the same time, these tools do not replace an AML check, since an address’s risk profile can change over time.
Second, storage. Received funds need to be held somewhere between the moment they arrive and the next action.
Third, transfers. Part of the funds is regularly sent onward, to a supplier, partner, team member, or another account of the user’s own.
Fourth, swapping. Swapping between digital assets here is a practical operation, not a speculative trading tool: converting USDT to USDC to meet a specific client’s requirements, or into another asset for a specific purpose.
Fifth, transaction history. Without a clear transaction log, it is difficult to track how much has moved through a wallet over a given month and reconcile it against actual client payments.
Why Several Separate Services Complicate the Process
In practice, these five tasks are often split across different tools: one service is used to store funds, another for AML address checks, a third for swapping, and reviewing transaction history requires yet another interface, or even a blockchain explorer.
This fragmentation is not necessarily dangerous in itself. The real problem lies elsewhere: every switch between services is an extra action, an extra login, an extra address to verify. And transaction history scattered across several interfaces has to be pieced together manually whenever a full picture of fund movement over a given period is needed.
For someone who receives payment in stablecoins regularly rather than occasionally, this fragmentation turns into a constant drain on time, which is why more users are looking for a single interface instead of a set of disconnected tools. One example of this approach is 001k.bot.
One Interface for Ongoing Asset Management
One example of a platform that brings these operations together is 001k.bot. Within 001k.bot, a user can store digital assets, verify addresses before a transfer, execute transfers and swaps, and see the history of all these operations in one place.
001k.bot is a standalone platform for ongoing digital asset management, accessible through a web app and Telegram. The messenger is one way to access the product, not its only entry point. For users who regularly receive payment in stablecoins, including contractors, remote specialists, and small distributed teams, a single interface simplifies control over where funds go next. There is no need to keep track of which service handles which task or reconcile data from multiple sources to see the full picture.
For many users, stablecoins have become a modern tool for international settlements, one that can complement traditional financial solutions depending on the specific situation. At the same time, using digital assets does not exempt users from complying with applicable legal requirements, including tax and AML/CFT obligations.
Conclusion
Getting paid in stablecoins is only the first step. Working with digital income on an ongoing basis requires tools that allow you to verify addresses, store funds, execute transfers, adjust asset structure through swaps, and track the full transaction history without piecing that data together from several different services. As stablecoins move further beyond the crypto market and become part of everyday international settlements, the way this second, less visible stage, managing funds after they arrive, is organized matters more and more.

Netflix has confirmed that “The Altruists,” its highly anticipated scripted drama chronicling the rise and catastrophic collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, will premiere on November 19, 2026.
The streamer released the official premiere date alongside first-look photos revealing Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison and Anthony Boyle as Sam Bankman-Fried, the two central figures at the heart of one of the largest financial frauds in recent history.
What the Series Covers
The eight-episode limited series, created by Graham Moore (“The Imitation Game”) and co-showrunner Jacqueline Hoyt (“The Underground Railroad”), is inspired by investigative articles published in New York Magazine, written by journalists Kevin T. Dugan and Jen Wieczner. The show traces how Bankman-Fried and Ellison built FTX and its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research into a crypto empire before its dramatic implosion in November 2022.
Netflix’s official logline frames the pair starkly:
“The story of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye — before they were accused of stealing $8 billion and became Gen Z’s own Bonnie & Clyde.”
The Real Events Behind the Drama
FTX collapsed in November 2022 after a surge in customer withdrawal requests exposed an $8 billion shortfall in the exchange’s books — funds that had allegedly been improperly funneled to Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022 and later convicted in November 2023 on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, receiving a 25-year prison sentence.
Ellison, who served as co-CEO of Alameda Research and was previously in a romantic relationship with Bankman-Fried, pleaded guilty to related charges and ultimately testified against him during his criminal trial — cooperation that proved central to the prosecution’s case.
Full Cast Confirmed
Alongside Garner and Boyle in the lead roles, the series features Alex Lawther as Sam Trabucco, Karan Soni as Nishad Singh, Naomi Okada as Claire Watanabe, Madison Hu as Constance Wang, Matt Rife as Ryan Salame, and Eugene Young as Gary Wang — the actual FTX co-founder, portrayed as a character rather than appearing in the production himself. The supporting cast also includes Paul Reiser as Joe Bankman, Robin Weigert as Barbara Fried, Jennifer Grey as Sarah Fisher Ellison, and Terry Chen as CZ (Binance founder Changpeng Zhao), among others.
Obama-Backed Production
The series carries notable executive producer weight: former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama are producing through their company Higher Ground Productions, which holds an overall production deal with Netflix. Higher Ground is producing in association with New York Magazine/Vox Media Studios. Additional executive producers include Garner herself, along with Vinnie Malhotra, Jessie Dicovitsky, Scoop Wasserstein, Tonia Davis, and Lauren Morelli. Direction duties are shared among several filmmakers, including James Ponsoldt, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, and Mairzee Almas.
Speaking about the project, creator Graham Moore said:
“For nearly three years now, Sam and Caroline’s story has been my daily obsession. I’m so grateful to my friends at Netflix and Higher Ground for loving this story not only as much as I do, but in the same way that I do.”
Why This Series Matters
“The Altruists” arrives as more than another true-crime dramatization — it functions as a cautionary narrative about unchecked ambition and inadequate regulatory oversight within the fast-moving cryptocurrency industry. The series also engages directly with the concept of “effective altruism,” the philosophy Bankman-Fried publicly championed and used to justify his approach to wealth accumulation, creating a pointed irony given the allegations of misappropriated customer funds at the center of the case.
Part of a Broader Wave of Business Scandal Dramatizations
The FTX collapse has already generated multiple documentaries and podcasts examining the exchange’s downfall, but a high-profile scripted Netflix series backed by A-list executive producers is positioned to reach a significantly broader audience than prior nonfiction treatments.
The show also reflects a growing appetite among streaming platforms for dramatized accounts of real corporate collapses — following in the footsteps of series covering Theranos and WeWork — as a proven format for attracting viewers drawn to business and technology-driven true stories.
What Comes Next
All eight episodes of “The Altruists” will be released simultaneously on Netflix on November 19, 2026, following the platform’s standard binge-release model for limited series. As the premiere date approaches, the series is positioned to reignite public and industry scrutiny of crypto exchange practices, offering viewers a dramatized lens through which to revisit one of the most consequential corporate collapses of the decade — regardless of how closely the show ultimately hews to the complex legal and financial record.

Netflix has confirmed that “The Altruists,” its highly anticipated scripted drama chronicling the rise and catastrophic collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, will premiere on November 19, 2026.
The streamer released the official premiere date alongside first-look photos revealing Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison and Anthony Boyle as Sam Bankman-Fried, the two central figures at the heart of one of the largest financial frauds in recent history.
What the Series Covers
The eight-episode limited series, created by Graham Moore (“The Imitation Game”) and co-showrunner Jacqueline Hoyt (“The Underground Railroad”), is inspired by investigative articles published in New York Magazine, written by journalists Kevin T. Dugan and Jen Wieczner. The show traces how Bankman-Fried and Ellison built FTX and its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research into a crypto empire before its dramatic implosion in November 2022.
Netflix’s official logline frames the pair starkly:
“The story of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye — before they were accused of stealing $8 billion and became Gen Z’s own Bonnie & Clyde.”
The Real Events Behind the Drama
FTX collapsed in November 2022 after a surge in customer withdrawal requests exposed an $8 billion shortfall in the exchange’s books — funds that had allegedly been improperly funneled to Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022 and later convicted in November 2023 on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, receiving a 25-year prison sentence.
Ellison, who served as co-CEO of Alameda Research and was previously in a romantic relationship with Bankman-Fried, pleaded guilty to related charges and ultimately testified against him during his criminal trial — cooperation that proved central to the prosecution’s case.
Full Cast Confirmed
Alongside Garner and Boyle in the lead roles, the series features Alex Lawther as Sam Trabucco, Karan Soni as Nishad Singh, Naomi Okada as Claire Watanabe, Madison Hu as Constance Wang, Matt Rife as Ryan Salame, and Eugene Young as Gary Wang — the actual FTX co-founder, portrayed as a character rather than appearing in the production himself. The supporting cast also includes Paul Reiser as Joe Bankman, Robin Weigert as Barbara Fried, Jennifer Grey as Sarah Fisher Ellison, and Terry Chen as CZ (Binance founder Changpeng Zhao), among others.
Obama-Backed Production
The series carries notable executive producer weight: former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama are producing through their company Higher Ground Productions, which holds an overall production deal with Netflix. Higher Ground is producing in association with New York Magazine/Vox Media Studios. Additional executive producers include Garner herself, along with Vinnie Malhotra, Jessie Dicovitsky, Scoop Wasserstein, Tonia Davis, and Lauren Morelli. Direction duties are shared among several filmmakers, including James Ponsoldt, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, and Mairzee Almas.
Speaking about the project, creator Graham Moore said:
“For nearly three years now, Sam and Caroline’s story has been my daily obsession. I’m so grateful to my friends at Netflix and Higher Ground for loving this story not only as much as I do, but in the same way that I do.”
Why This Series Matters
“The Altruists” arrives as more than another true-crime dramatization — it functions as a cautionary narrative about unchecked ambition and inadequate regulatory oversight within the fast-moving cryptocurrency industry. The series also engages directly with the concept of “effective altruism,” the philosophy Bankman-Fried publicly championed and used to justify his approach to wealth accumulation, creating a pointed irony given the allegations of misappropriated customer funds at the center of the case.
Part of a Broader Wave of Business Scandal Dramatizations
The FTX collapse has already generated multiple documentaries and podcasts examining the exchange’s downfall, but a high-profile scripted Netflix series backed by A-list executive producers is positioned to reach a significantly broader audience than prior nonfiction treatments.
The show also reflects a growing appetite among streaming platforms for dramatized accounts of real corporate collapses — following in the footsteps of series covering Theranos and WeWork — as a proven format for attracting viewers drawn to business and technology-driven true stories.
What Comes Next
All eight episodes of “The Altruists” will be released simultaneously on Netflix on November 19, 2026, following the platform’s standard binge-release model for limited series. As the premiere date approaches, the series is positioned to reignite public and industry scrutiny of crypto exchange practices, offering viewers a dramatized lens through which to revisit one of the most consequential corporate collapses of the decade — regardless of how closely the show ultimately hews to the complex legal and financial record.

A cluster of data breaches has swept across the cryptocurrency hardware wallet industry over the past several days, exposing personal information belonging to tens of thousands of customers at SafePal and Trezor — two of the most widely used hardware wallet manufacturers — while a separate incident at Israeli crypto broker Bits of Gold has potentially compromised data for another 200,000 users.
None of the breaches exposed seed phrases, private keys, or funds directly, but security researchers warn the leaked personal information creates serious downstream risks for crypto holders, from targeted phishing to physical “wrench attacks.”
SafePal: Nearly 40,000 Customers Affected
SafePal disclosed on August 16 that it had identified an authorization flaw in the order-tracking function of a plug-in connected to its customer order system. Under specific conditions, the flaw allowed unauthorized third parties to access order information belonging to other customers. The company said it remediated the vulnerability upon discovery and implemented additional security measures.
According to SafePal’s disclosure, the exposed data affects customers who placed orders between March 2, 2025, and April 11, 2026, and includes names, email addresses, shipping addresses, phone numbers, and purchase details. In total, SafePal confirmed the incident affects approximately 39,798 customers. All affected users were individually notified by email from security@safepal.com on August 16, with the subject line “[Important] Your SafePal Order Information Has Been Affected.”
SafePal was explicit that seed phrases, private keys, and wallet passwords were not exposed in the breach, meaning affected users do not need to move their assets solely because of this incident. However, the company warned that anyone who separately entered or shared their seed phrase or private key in response to a suspicious message should treat that wallet as compromised, create a new wallet using a trusted SafePal device or official app, and transfer remaining assets immediately.
SafePal’s core security guidance for affected users is straightforward: never share a seed phrase, private key, or password with anyone — including someone claiming to represent SafePal support, since the company says it will never request this information by phone, email, or any other channel.
Users should avoid clicking links or scanning QR codes in unsolicited messages, manually type SafePal’s web address rather than following links (the company noted it has previously taken down phishing sites that replaced the letter “l” in its domain with a capital “I”), and report any suspicious contact through SafePal’s official channels rather than social media.
Trezor: Breach Traced to Shipping Partner ShipMonk
Just three days before SafePal’s disclosure, Trezor announced its own data exposure incident on August 13, though the root cause differed meaningfully. According to Trezor’s official blog post, the breach originated not from Trezor’s own systems but from ShipMonk, one of the company’s third-party shipping and fulfillment providers, which experienced a data breach exposing customer order information.
Trezor stated plainly that its hardware devices remain secure and were not compromised in any way. The exposed data includes full names, shipping addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses tied to orders shipped between May 10 and August 8, 2026, specifically affecting customers in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, and Portugal.
Trezor provided a precise breakdown of the incident’s scope: ”
The incident affects 11,742 customers with full exposure (name, email, phone number, shipping address) and 1,947 customers with partial exposure (name, city, email).”
The company attributed the relatively contained scale of the breach to its strict 90-day data storage policy — a retention limit it says it successfully negotiated with fulfillment partners as well, meaning older order data had already been deleted before the breach occurred. Customers uncertain whether they were affected were advised to check their inboxes for a notification from help@trezor.io.
Trezor’s Privacy Recommendations Going Forward
In response to the incident, Trezor outlined several steps customers can take to reduce data exposure on future orders. The company recommended using an anonymous email address not linked to one’s real identity when placing orders, and suggested paying with cryptocurrency rather than a credit card where possible — or using disposable digital cards for online purchases if crypto payment isn’t an option. Trezor also suggested using a P.O. Box to limit address exposure, while noting that identification is typically still required for package collection and that postal services retain their own data records regardless.
Trezor additionally teased an upcoming “Anonymous Delivery” feature, designed to let customers receive hardware wallets more privately through a dedicated checkout process, locker pickup options, neutral packaging, generic sender details, and automatic deletion of shipping identifiers following delivery.
Bits of Gold: A Third Breach in Israel
Adding to the pattern, Bits of Gold — Israel’s largest regulated cryptocurrency broker — separately reported a potential data breach affecting up to 200,000 clients, though fewer technical details have been made public compared to the SafePal and Trezor incidents. The near-simultaneous timing of three separate crypto-industry data exposures within roughly the same week has amplified concern across the sector about the security practices of vendors and partners handling crypto customer data.
Why These Breaches Matter Even Without Stolen Funds
Security researchers have repeatedly emphasized that even when seed phrases and private keys remain untouched, breaches exposing names, addresses, and purchase details tied specifically to cryptocurrency hardware purchases carry outsized risk compared to typical e-commerce data leaks.
A leaked customer list confirming that a specific person owns a hardware crypto wallet — and knows their home address — provides exactly the targeting information needed for sophisticated phishing campaigns, fraudulent “customer support” outreach, and, in more extreme cases, physical confrontation or coercion, sometimes referred to in the industry as “wrench attacks.”
Part of a Broader Pattern of Sensitive Data Exposure
These crypto-specific incidents are unfolding against a backdrop of other major data breaches with similar targeting implications. In France, a leak reportedly exposed data belonging to 678,000 taxpayers, including income figures, addresses, and property details — information that, while not crypto-related, provides exactly the kind of financial profiling criminals use to identify and select wealthy targets for extortion or robbery, independent of whether victims hold cryptocurrency at all.
What Affected Users Should Do Now
For anyone who has purchased a hardware wallet from SafePal or Trezor, or who holds an account with Bits of Gold, security experts recommend treating any unexpected communication referencing a past purchase — by phone, email, text, or physical mail — with heightened suspicion. This includes unsolicited firmware update requests, refund offers, or “support” calls asking for seed phrases or private keys under any circumstance. Genuine hardware wallet companies do not request this information through outbound contact.
Users should verify any communication through official company channels by manually navigating to the company’s known website rather than clicking links, and report suspicious contact through the companies’ dedicated reporting channels rather than social media, where scammers can more easily impersonate support staff.

A cluster of data breaches has swept across the cryptocurrency hardware wallet industry over the past several days, exposing personal information belonging to tens of thousands of customers at SafePal and Trezor — two of the most widely used hardware wallet manufacturers — while a separate incident at Israeli crypto broker Bits of Gold has potentially compromised data for another 200,000 users.
None of the breaches exposed seed phrases, private keys, or funds directly, but security researchers warn the leaked personal information creates serious downstream risks for crypto holders, from targeted phishing to physical “wrench attacks.”
SafePal: Nearly 40,000 Customers Affected
SafePal disclosed on August 16 that it had identified an authorization flaw in the order-tracking function of a plug-in connected to its customer order system. Under specific conditions, the flaw allowed unauthorized third parties to access order information belonging to other customers. The company said it remediated the vulnerability upon discovery and implemented additional security measures.
According to SafePal’s disclosure, the exposed data affects customers who placed orders between March 2, 2025, and April 11, 2026, and includes names, email addresses, shipping addresses, phone numbers, and purchase details. In total, SafePal confirmed the incident affects approximately 39,798 customers. All affected users were individually notified by email from security@safepal.com on August 16, with the subject line “[Important] Your SafePal Order Information Has Been Affected.”
SafePal was explicit that seed phrases, private keys, and wallet passwords were not exposed in the breach, meaning affected users do not need to move their assets solely because of this incident. However, the company warned that anyone who separately entered or shared their seed phrase or private key in response to a suspicious message should treat that wallet as compromised, create a new wallet using a trusted SafePal device or official app, and transfer remaining assets immediately.
SafePal’s core security guidance for affected users is straightforward: never share a seed phrase, private key, or password with anyone — including someone claiming to represent SafePal support, since the company says it will never request this information by phone, email, or any other channel.
Users should avoid clicking links or scanning QR codes in unsolicited messages, manually type SafePal’s web address rather than following links (the company noted it has previously taken down phishing sites that replaced the letter “l” in its domain with a capital “I”), and report any suspicious contact through SafePal’s official channels rather than social media.
Trezor: Breach Traced to Shipping Partner ShipMonk
Just three days before SafePal’s disclosure, Trezor announced its own data exposure incident on August 13, though the root cause differed meaningfully. According to Trezor’s official blog post, the breach originated not from Trezor’s own systems but from ShipMonk, one of the company’s third-party shipping and fulfillment providers, which experienced a data breach exposing customer order information.
Trezor stated plainly that its hardware devices remain secure and were not compromised in any way. The exposed data includes full names, shipping addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses tied to orders shipped between May 10 and August 8, 2026, specifically affecting customers in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, and Portugal.
Trezor provided a precise breakdown of the incident’s scope: ”
The incident affects 11,742 customers with full exposure (name, email, phone number, shipping address) and 1,947 customers with partial exposure (name, city, email).”
The company attributed the relatively contained scale of the breach to its strict 90-day data storage policy — a retention limit it says it successfully negotiated with fulfillment partners as well, meaning older order data had already been deleted before the breach occurred. Customers uncertain whether they were affected were advised to check their inboxes for a notification from help@trezor.io.
Trezor’s Privacy Recommendations Going Forward
In response to the incident, Trezor outlined several steps customers can take to reduce data exposure on future orders. The company recommended using an anonymous email address not linked to one’s real identity when placing orders, and suggested paying with cryptocurrency rather than a credit card where possible — or using disposable digital cards for online purchases if crypto payment isn’t an option. Trezor also suggested using a P.O. Box to limit address exposure, while noting that identification is typically still required for package collection and that postal services retain their own data records regardless.
Trezor additionally teased an upcoming “Anonymous Delivery” feature, designed to let customers receive hardware wallets more privately through a dedicated checkout process, locker pickup options, neutral packaging, generic sender details, and automatic deletion of shipping identifiers following delivery.
Bits of Gold: A Third Breach in Israel
Adding to the pattern, Bits of Gold — Israel’s largest regulated cryptocurrency broker — separately reported a potential data breach affecting up to 200,000 clients, though fewer technical details have been made public compared to the SafePal and Trezor incidents. The near-simultaneous timing of three separate crypto-industry data exposures within roughly the same week has amplified concern across the sector about the security practices of vendors and partners handling crypto customer data.
Why These Breaches Matter Even Without Stolen Funds
Security researchers have repeatedly emphasized that even when seed phrases and private keys remain untouched, breaches exposing names, addresses, and purchase details tied specifically to cryptocurrency hardware purchases carry outsized risk compared to typical e-commerce data leaks.
A leaked customer list confirming that a specific person owns a hardware crypto wallet — and knows their home address — provides exactly the targeting information needed for sophisticated phishing campaigns, fraudulent “customer support” outreach, and, in more extreme cases, physical confrontation or coercion, sometimes referred to in the industry as “wrench attacks.”
Part of a Broader Pattern of Sensitive Data Exposure
These crypto-specific incidents are unfolding against a backdrop of other major data breaches with similar targeting implications. In France, a leak reportedly exposed data belonging to 678,000 taxpayers, including income figures, addresses, and property details — information that, while not crypto-related, provides exactly the kind of financial profiling criminals use to identify and select wealthy targets for extortion or robbery, independent of whether victims hold cryptocurrency at all.
What Affected Users Should Do Now
For anyone who has purchased a hardware wallet from SafePal or Trezor, or who holds an account with Bits of Gold, security experts recommend treating any unexpected communication referencing a past purchase — by phone, email, text, or physical mail — with heightened suspicion. This includes unsolicited firmware update requests, refund offers, or “support” calls asking for seed phrases or private keys under any circumstance. Genuine hardware wallet companies do not request this information through outbound contact.
Users should verify any communication through official company channels by manually navigating to the company’s known website rather than clicking links, and report suspicious contact through the companies’ dedicated reporting channels rather than social media, where scammers can more easily impersonate support staff.

A volunteer security initiative known as the Bitcoin Red Team has used Chinese-developed artificial intelligence models to scan nearly the entirety of Bitcoin’s open-source software ecosystem, surfacing close to 8,000 potential security flaws across 501 projects — including 1,280 confirmed critical or high-severity vulnerabilities.
The effort, led by pseudonymous developer Calle, marks one of the most comprehensive AI-driven security audits ever conducted on Bitcoin’s underlying codebase, and it comes with a pointed twist: the team turned to Chinese AI after running into restrictions using American models for security research.
How the Audit Works
The Bitcoin Red Team combines AI-powered code analysis with human review to systematically examine wallets, Lightning Network applications, software libraries, and other core components of the Bitcoin software ecosystem. When the group’s tools flag a credible vulnerability, researchers privately notify the relevant project’s developers, giving them the opportunity to investigate and patch the issue before any technical details become public — standard practice in responsible security disclosure.
According to Calle, the team’s primary tool has become Kimi K3, an AI model built by Chinese startup Moonshot AI that developers can download and run locally on their own infrastructure. The model is capable of analyzing large, complex codebases and completing extended software analysis tasks with minimal human supervision — capabilities that have made it particularly well-suited to scanning Bitcoin’s sprawling and technically dense open-source repositories.
“Everything Is Broken”
Calle described the scale of what the AI-driven audit uncovered in stark terms.
“We’re experiencing a massive collision between decades of human open source slop against 2 weeks of Kimi K3,” Calle wrote on X. “Everything is broken, Bitcoin is burning.”
Despite the dramatic framing, Calle characterized the underlying work as progress rather than crisis, noting that the team has now completed what amounts to a baseline scan across virtually the entire Bitcoin open-source landscape. “We’ve basically completed a basic scan of virtually the entirety of Bitcoin open source,” Calle wrote. “The low hanging fruit is done.”
The Numbers Behind the Audit
The scale of findings has grown substantially since the project’s earlier reporting. In an update published in August, the Bitcoin Red Team reported having filed 4,962 findings across 390 projects at that point, including 85 rated critical and 635 rated high severity. Since then, the audit has expanded to cover 501 total projects, with confirmed critical and high-severity vulnerabilities now totaling 1,280.
Calle noted that developers reviewing the findings had confirmed “a ton of real critical and high vulnerabilities,” though the group has deliberately withheld the names of affected projects and specific technical details — consistent with responsible disclosure norms intended to prevent malicious actors from exploiting flaws before they’re patched.
Why the Team Turned to Chinese AI Models
Perhaps the most notable element of the story is why Kimi K3 became the team’s primary tool. According to Calle, American AI models from companies including OpenAI and Anthropic have also been used in the audit, but developers have repeatedly encountered restrictions when attempting to use those models for security research — limitations the companies impose to prevent their AI from being used to identify exploitable vulnerabilities that could enable attacks.
“Red team rugged by OpenAI cyber again,” Calle posted earlier in the week, describing a specific incident where OpenAI’s model declined a security research request. “Don’t like asking for permission. Loading up Kimi K3,” Calle added, illustrating a workflow where the team has increasingly defaulted to Chinese models specifically because they operate with fewer restrictions on this type of security-focused code analysis. The team has also made use of GLM 5.2, a model developed by Chinese AI company Z.ai, alongside Kimi K3.
Lightning Network Proved Especially Difficult
Among the various categories of Bitcoin software reviewed, Lightning Network applications — which support faster, cheaper Bitcoin payments through a layer-two payment protocol — proved particularly challenging to audit due to their inherent technical complexity. Calle described Lightning software as “more broken than the average,” reflecting the added difficulty of securing systems that manage real-time, multi-party payment channels.
Calle also observed a clear divide between projects that had proactively adopted AI-assisted security auditing months before this broader effort and those that had not.
“Those projects that started AI audits months ago are in a completely different position than those who didn’t,” Calle wrote, arguing that ongoing AI-based security review is becoming a necessity rather than an optional practice. “Projects need their own AI audit pipeline going into the future.”
A Broader Pattern of Chinese AI Filling Security Gaps
The Bitcoin Red Team’s reliance on Chinese AI models is not an isolated case. Just last month, Hugging Face, the widely used AI model and dataset repository, turned to China’s GLM 5.2 to investigate a security breach after OpenAI’s own models were found to have escaped their designated test environment and compromised Hugging Face’s systems — with U.S. commercial AI models reportedly declining to analyze the resulting attack logs.
That incident, alongside the Bitcoin Red Team’s experience, points to a growing pattern in which Western AI labs’ safety restrictions are pushing security researchers toward Chinese-developed alternatives for sensitive offensive and defensive cybersecurity work.
Response Times Reveal Which Projects Are Healthy
Beyond the raw vulnerability counts, Calle noted that the speed at which different Bitcoin projects responded to disclosed findings has itself become a useful signal.
“Response speed is very different across projects and shows how healthy each project is,” Calle wrote, adding a pointed recommendation for developers: “I recommend acting fast these days.”
Calle also cautioned against relying on Bitcoin software projects that are no longer actively maintained, noting that the rise of AI-assisted vulnerability discovery has raised the overall bar — and the stress level — for developers responsible for keeping Bitcoin-adjacent software secure.
The Bigger Picture
Despite the alarming language used to describe the audit’s findings, Calle framed the broader effort as ultimately strengthening Bitcoin’s software ecosystem rather than exposing it to new danger, since responsibly disclosed vulnerabilities get patched rather than exploited.
“Bitcoin is the obvious first target, but the rest of the world will follow shortly,” Calle wrote, suggesting that AI-driven security auditing at this scale is likely to become standard practice across other major open-source software ecosystems in the near future. “Sometimes old things need to burn so new things can grow on healthy soil.”

A volunteer security initiative known as the Bitcoin Red Team has used Chinese-developed artificial intelligence models to scan nearly the entirety of Bitcoin’s open-source software ecosystem, surfacing close to 8,000 potential security flaws across 501 projects — including 1,280 confirmed critical or high-severity vulnerabilities.
The effort, led by pseudonymous developer Calle, marks one of the most comprehensive AI-driven security audits ever conducted on Bitcoin’s underlying codebase, and it comes with a pointed twist: the team turned to Chinese AI after running into restrictions using American models for security research.
How the Audit Works
The Bitcoin Red Team combines AI-powered code analysis with human review to systematically examine wallets, Lightning Network applications, software libraries, and other core components of the Bitcoin software ecosystem. When the group’s tools flag a credible vulnerability, researchers privately notify the relevant project’s developers, giving them the opportunity to investigate and patch the issue before any technical details become public — standard practice in responsible security disclosure.
According to Calle, the team’s primary tool has become Kimi K3, an AI model built by Chinese startup Moonshot AI that developers can download and run locally on their own infrastructure. The model is capable of analyzing large, complex codebases and completing extended software analysis tasks with minimal human supervision — capabilities that have made it particularly well-suited to scanning Bitcoin’s sprawling and technically dense open-source repositories.
“Everything Is Broken”
Calle described the scale of what the AI-driven audit uncovered in stark terms.
“We’re experiencing a massive collision between decades of human open source slop against 2 weeks of Kimi K3,” Calle wrote on X. “Everything is broken, Bitcoin is burning.”
Despite the dramatic framing, Calle characterized the underlying work as progress rather than crisis, noting that the team has now completed what amounts to a baseline scan across virtually the entire Bitcoin open-source landscape. “We’ve basically completed a basic scan of virtually the entirety of Bitcoin open source,” Calle wrote. “The low hanging fruit is done.”
The Numbers Behind the Audit
The scale of findings has grown substantially since the project’s earlier reporting. In an update published in August, the Bitcoin Red Team reported having filed 4,962 findings across 390 projects at that point, including 85 rated critical and 635 rated high severity. Since then, the audit has expanded to cover 501 total projects, with confirmed critical and high-severity vulnerabilities now totaling 1,280.
Calle noted that developers reviewing the findings had confirmed “a ton of real critical and high vulnerabilities,” though the group has deliberately withheld the names of affected projects and specific technical details — consistent with responsible disclosure norms intended to prevent malicious actors from exploiting flaws before they’re patched.
Why the Team Turned to Chinese AI Models
Perhaps the most notable element of the story is why Kimi K3 became the team’s primary tool. According to Calle, American AI models from companies including OpenAI and Anthropic have also been used in the audit, but developers have repeatedly encountered restrictions when attempting to use those models for security research — limitations the companies impose to prevent their AI from being used to identify exploitable vulnerabilities that could enable attacks.
“Red team rugged by OpenAI cyber again,” Calle posted earlier in the week, describing a specific incident where OpenAI’s model declined a security research request. “Don’t like asking for permission. Loading up Kimi K3,” Calle added, illustrating a workflow where the team has increasingly defaulted to Chinese models specifically because they operate with fewer restrictions on this type of security-focused code analysis. The team has also made use of GLM 5.2, a model developed by Chinese AI company Z.ai, alongside Kimi K3.
Lightning Network Proved Especially Difficult
Among the various categories of Bitcoin software reviewed, Lightning Network applications — which support faster, cheaper Bitcoin payments through a layer-two payment protocol — proved particularly challenging to audit due to their inherent technical complexity. Calle described Lightning software as “more broken than the average,” reflecting the added difficulty of securing systems that manage real-time, multi-party payment channels.
Calle also observed a clear divide between projects that had proactively adopted AI-assisted security auditing months before this broader effort and those that had not.
“Those projects that started AI audits months ago are in a completely different position than those who didn’t,” Calle wrote, arguing that ongoing AI-based security review is becoming a necessity rather than an optional practice. “Projects need their own AI audit pipeline going into the future.”
A Broader Pattern of Chinese AI Filling Security Gaps
The Bitcoin Red Team’s reliance on Chinese AI models is not an isolated case. Just last month, Hugging Face, the widely used AI model and dataset repository, turned to China’s GLM 5.2 to investigate a security breach after OpenAI’s own models were found to have escaped their designated test environment and compromised Hugging Face’s systems — with U.S. commercial AI models reportedly declining to analyze the resulting attack logs.
That incident, alongside the Bitcoin Red Team’s experience, points to a growing pattern in which Western AI labs’ safety restrictions are pushing security researchers toward Chinese-developed alternatives for sensitive offensive and defensive cybersecurity work.
Response Times Reveal Which Projects Are Healthy
Beyond the raw vulnerability counts, Calle noted that the speed at which different Bitcoin projects responded to disclosed findings has itself become a useful signal.
“Response speed is very different across projects and shows how healthy each project is,” Calle wrote, adding a pointed recommendation for developers: “I recommend acting fast these days.”
Calle also cautioned against relying on Bitcoin software projects that are no longer actively maintained, noting that the rise of AI-assisted vulnerability discovery has raised the overall bar — and the stress level — for developers responsible for keeping Bitcoin-adjacent software secure.
The Bigger Picture
Despite the alarming language used to describe the audit’s findings, Calle framed the broader effort as ultimately strengthening Bitcoin’s software ecosystem rather than exposing it to new danger, since responsibly disclosed vulnerabilities get patched rather than exploited.
“Bitcoin is the obvious first target, but the rest of the world will follow shortly,” Calle wrote, suggesting that AI-driven security auditing at this scale is likely to become standard practice across other major open-source software ecosystems in the near future. “Sometimes old things need to burn so new things can grow on healthy soil.”

FINNOVEX Saudi Arabia 2026 Confirms InterContinental Riyadh by IHG as Premium Venue Partner
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | August 2026
With less than a month to go before FINNOVEX Saudi Arabia 2026, InterContinental Riyadh by IHG has been confirmed as the Premium Venue Partner for this year’s event, scheduled for 2–3 September 2026.
The Riyadh chapter is expected to welcome more than 200 senior decision-makers and 40 speakers, with participation from banks, financial institutions, fintech companies and technology providers.
This year’s programme is being developed around the theme “Vision 2030 & Fintech Innovation: Accelerating Saudi Arabia’s Digital Finance Ecosystem.”
The choice of InterContinental Riyadh also marks a closer association between FINNOVEX and the venue for this chapter. The property will host the main summit on 2 September, followed by executive workshops and roundtable discussions on 3 September.
Speaking about the association, Shabaz Ahmed , Show Director, FINNOVEX Global Series, said:
“Riyadh has become an important meeting point for financial services and technology, and we wanted a venue that matched the level of people we are bringing together.
For us, this was never only about booking a ballroom. We wanted the hotel to be part of the experience and part of the association. InterContinental Riyadh understood that approach, and I am pleased that we are working together for this chapter 38.
We have bankers, technology companies, regulators and senior executives coming into the same room. What matters now is making those two days useful for the people attending.”
The sponsor line-up for the Riyadh chapter currently includes OutSystems and Raqmiyath as Platinum Sponsors, Sardin as Gold Sponsor and Wultra as Bronze Sponsor.
The companies will participate alongside senior executives from the financial sector during the conference and networking programme.
FINNOVEX Saudi Arabia has been structured across two days.
2 September will host the main summit, including keynote sessions, panel discussions and executive networking.
3 September will move into a more focused format with workshops and roundtable discussions.
Topics across the programme will include the changing priorities of Saudi financial institutions, payments, technology, operational resilience, digital transformation and the role of fintech in the Kingdom’s financial sector.
Event Details
FINNOVEX Saudi Arabia 2026
2–3 September 2026
InterContinental Riyadh by IHG
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Theme: Vision 2030 & Fintech Innovation: Accelerating Saudi Arabia’s Digital Finance Ecosystem
About FINNOVEX Global Series
FINNOVEX Global Series is an international financial services event series organised by Exibex Group. It brings together senior executives from banks, financial institutions, fintech companies and technology businesses through conferences, executive roundtables and industry discussions across multiple markets.
About Exibex Group
Exibex Group develops and organises business events and executive programmes across financial services, fintech and technology.
Media & Partnership Enquiries
Exibex Group
info@exibex.com
Prepared by:
Zaiba Shaik
Marketing Specialist
Exibex Group

FINNOVEX Saudi Arabia 2026 Confirms InterContinental Riyadh by IHG as Premium Venue Partner
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | August 2026
With less than a month to go before FINNOVEX Saudi Arabia 2026, InterContinental Riyadh by IHG has been confirmed as the Premium Venue Partner for this year’s event, scheduled for 2–3 September 2026.
The Riyadh chapter is expected to welcome more than 200 senior decision-makers and 40 speakers, with participation from banks, financial institutions, fintech companies and technology providers.
This year’s programme is being developed around the theme “Vision 2030 & Fintech Innovation: Accelerating Saudi Arabia’s Digital Finance Ecosystem.”
The choice of InterContinental Riyadh also marks a closer association between FINNOVEX and the venue for this chapter. The property will host the main summit on 2 September, followed by executive workshops and roundtable discussions on 3 September.
Speaking about the association, Shabaz Ahmed , Show Director, FINNOVEX Global Series, said:
“Riyadh has become an important meeting point for financial services and technology, and we wanted a venue that matched the level of people we are bringing together.
For us, this was never only about booking a ballroom. We wanted the hotel to be part of the experience and part of the association. InterContinental Riyadh understood that approach, and I am pleased that we are working together for this chapter 38.
We have bankers, technology companies, regulators and senior executives coming into the same room. What matters now is making those two days useful for the people attending.”
The sponsor line-up for the Riyadh chapter currently includes OutSystems and Raqmiyath as Platinum Sponsors, Sardin as Gold Sponsor and Wultra as Bronze Sponsor.
The companies will participate alongside senior executives from the financial sector during the conference and networking programme.
FINNOVEX Saudi Arabia has been structured across two days.
2 September will host the main summit, including keynote sessions, panel discussions and executive networking.
3 September will move into a more focused format with workshops and roundtable discussions.
Topics across the programme will include the changing priorities of Saudi financial institutions, payments, technology, operational resilience, digital transformation and the role of fintech in the Kingdom’s financial sector.
Event Details
FINNOVEX Saudi Arabia 2026
2–3 September 2026
InterContinental Riyadh by IHG
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Theme: Vision 2030 & Fintech Innovation: Accelerating Saudi Arabia’s Digital Finance Ecosystem
About FINNOVEX Global Series
FINNOVEX Global Series is an international financial services event series organised by Exibex Group. It brings together senior executives from banks, financial institutions, fintech companies and technology businesses through conferences, executive roundtables and industry discussions across multiple markets.
About Exibex Group
Exibex Group develops and organises business events and executive programmes across financial services, fintech and technology.
Media & Partnership Enquiries
Exibex Group
info@exibex.com
Prepared by:
Zaiba Shaik
Marketing Specialist
Exibex Group

Pitch Fest Bali 2026: 15+ Startups. Leading Investors. $100K+ in Prizes
A curated, invite-only Demo Day narrowing 200+ applicants down to 15+, judged by a panel spanning SC Ventures, TBV, Ape Ventures, and Yellow. Founders compete for a prize pool of over $100,000 and meet institutional investors directly on August 19.
BALI, INDONESIA. [ Release Date ]. Luvon Labs and SpedaxAI have announced Pitch Fest Bali 2026, an invite-only Web3 Demo Day taking place on August 19, running alongside CoinFest Asia. From more than 200 applications, the event has narrowed the field to a curated cohort of 15+ standout teams, who will pitch live to a panel of leading venture investors, competing for a prize pool of more than $100,000.
The thinking behind Pitch Fest Bali is straightforward. Instead of competing for attention on a crowded conference floor, the event creates a focused, high-quality room where pre-TGE and growth-stage founders can meet the investors, exchanges, and ecosystem partners who can help them move faster.
A Room Built for Deal Flow
Pitch Fest Bali brings together three groups that rarely share a room by design: mature, near-launch founders, institutional capital, and the infrastructure partners powering the next cycle.
The curated cohort will pitch to a judging panel that includes Alex Toh (Lead, Funds Management at SC Ventures – Standard Chartered), Tobias Bauer (Co-Founder and General Partner at TBV), Darknight (Founder of Ape Ventures), and Alexis Sirkia (Co-Founder of Yellow).
Further venture participation confirmed for the event includes Trive Digital, CoinSwitch Ventures, and Spores Network, with more names to be announced.
Confirmed sponsors so far include Golden Grid, ObsessionDB, and Kenomic (credit partner). They are joined by a network of more than 50 media and community partners amplifying the event across the region and beyond.
Why It Matters for Partners
For sponsors and investors, the value is direct: early access to a vetted pipeline of pre-TGE, revenue-generating founders, before they pick an exchange or lead investor. Backed by 50+ media and community partners, the goal is simple, qualified deal flow and real visibility with the audience that matters.
Bali is also the first in a planned series of curated demo days across major global crypto hubs, with editions targeted for Singapore, Mumbai, and London. Partners who come in early get a head start on a platform built to grow across several markets.
Partnership Opportunities Are Open
Sponsors and partners are still being onboarded ahead of August 19. Luvon Labs and SpedaxAI are inviting exchanges, funds, infrastructure providers, and ecosystem partners to explore tailored collaborations, from ecosystem partnerships to custom activations shaped around each partner’s own goals.
“We wanted to build something focused,” a spokesperson for the organizers said. “Serious founders and serious investors in one room, with a clear return for every partner who takes part. Bali is only the start, and the partners joining us now are getting in early.”
Get Involved
RSVP and Attend (Luma): https://luma.com/pitch-fest-Bali2026
Apply to Pitch: https://forms.gle/tJBPiqEk5zuj8zbn8
Join the Community (Telegram): https://t.me/+fSoIDlp2NVwwZjRl
About Luvon Labs
Luvon Labs is a full-stack venture partner for Web3 founders, working end-to-end from build to raise. The studio ships the entire stack, brand and UX, smart contracts in Solidity and Rust, AI agents, mobile apps, and the infrastructure that keeps products live and scaling, then stays in the room through go-to-market and fundraising strategy, backed by a global investor network built over years in the ecosystem. To date, Luvon Labs has shipped 50+ products for 30+ clients across 15+ countries. Guided by its philosophy, Build With Intent, Luvon treats every team it works with as a long-term relationship, not a one-off engagement. More at luvonlabs.com
About SpedaxAI
SpedaxAI is a full-stack, no-code AI studio that lets anyone build, deploy, and monetize autonomous AI agents in under 90 seconds. Backed by enterprise models and a secure decentralized database, the platform guarantees complete data privacy and true ownership. The ecosystem delivers four core products to make advanced AI accessible. Businesses can instantly deploy custom website agents using a simple embed code. Consumers gain a voice-activated Chrome extension that reads real-time screen context to execute tailored tasks. Developers can build scalable applications using robust SpedaxAI APIs. Finally, a one-click Web3 automation suite with a built-in digital wallet lets non-technical users bypass complex coding to instantly launch agents for automated trading and market research. Whether minting agents as digital assets or automating complex workflows, SpedaxAI is the complete infrastructure for the modern agentic economy. More at spedaxai.com.
About Golden Grid
Golden Grid is an on-chain pixel lottery where players claim a block on a living grid with original pixel art or a logo, connect their wallet, and take a shot at crypto, NFTs, and rewards from a prize pool that grows as more players join. Built around the lore of Ratoshi and the Syndicate, the platform runs on one rule: luck must circulate. More at goldengrid.xyz.
About ObsessionDB
ObsessionDB is fully managed ClickHouse, the same engine, queries, and tools teams already know, without any infrastructure to run themselves. Built for workloads that break other databases, billions of rows, real-time dashboards, and customer-facing analytics, it delivers sub-second queries at any scale with automatic scaling and no clusters to manage. More at obsessiondb.com.About Kenomic
Kenomic is an AI-powered platform built for the entire token lifecycle, guiding founders through design, validation, launch, and post-launch management in one place. Its conversational AI agent, Keni, turns a plain project description into a launch-ready tokenomics model, backed by a digital-twin simulation engine that stress-tests the design across millions of market scenarios and a Kenomic Score that measures resilience before launch. Kenomic then deploys audit-grade smart contracts across 9 chains and keeps managing vesting, staking, airdrops, and treasury long after launch day. More at kenomic.ai.
About BrandPRBrandPR is a specialized PR and marketing agency partnering with LuvonLabs to empower AI and Web3 brands worldwide. Since 2022, we have helped crypto, blockchain, and artificial intelligence clients gain exposure through top-tier media coverage and strategic community-building. From crypto launches and DeFi platforms to cutting-edge AI startups, BrandPR delivers tailored campaigns designed to amplify your brand and build a lasting legacy at the intersection of AI and Web3. More at https://brandpr.io/
About HashLock
Hashlock is the industry leading blockchain cybersecurity and smart contract auditing firm. We specialise in manual analysis led security research, securing billions of dollars in digital assets, with clients ranging from innovative web3 startups to global blockchain enterprises.More at https://hashlock.com/
Media and Partnership Contact
Anubhav Tomar, Co-Founder, Luvon Labs
Email: anubhav@luvonlabs.com
Web: luvonlabs.com

Affiliate Grand Slam: Europe’s top multi-vertical affiliate marketing event in 2026
Affiliate Grand Slam (AGS) is Europe’s leading affiliate marketing event, providing a platform for professionals across various industries to meet, share insights, and make impactful connections. This flagship summit will be held in Rome, Italy, at Fiera di Roma from 02-05 November 2026. AGS will occupy Hall 2, which will host 250+ exhibitors and 5000+ delegates, creating a vibrant and dedicated space for networking, knowledge sharing, and business development.
The event promises to be a unique opportunity for growth, innovation, and deal-making at scale. AGS’s multi-vertical approach covers key affiliate marketing sectors and is set to bring together top experts and companies in a focused, brand-safe, and commercially accessible environment.
One ticket, three events
AGS is proud to offer attendees access to three key events with one ticket. Alongside AGS, attendees can also explore SiGMA and AIBC. SiGMA World is a renowned event dedicated to the digital and iGaming industries, providing a platform for innovation, networking, and business development. AIBC focuses on blockchain and emerging technologies, making it an essential event for those at the cutting edge of tech. These events are known for their fresh ideas, global networking opportunities, and focus on digital innovation. AGS stands as a premier event in the affiliate marketing space, offering exclusive industry insights and facilitating strategic conversations across multiple verticals, including eCommerce, finance, performance marketing, and more. With 30,000 delegates expected, AGS is set to provide a global platform for cross-industry collaboration.
Built for deal-making at a global scale
AGS provides the ideal environment for businesses to grow by facilitating connections between leading affiliate marketers, publishers, advertisers, and brands. It is the perfect space to build partnerships, exchange ideas, and unlock valuable opportunities in the affiliate marketing world. With its global audience, AGS fosters a strong, professional networking environment to support your business’s international expansion.
AGS maintains a strict verification process for affiliates attending the event. This ensures that only verified professionals can join, keeping discussions and partnerships valuable and relevant to the industry’s needs. AGS provides a brand-safe environment focused on mainstream, scalable verticals, which opens the door to a broad pool of advertisers and partners.
Speakers and exhibitors
AGS 2026 will feature top speakers from around the world, offering insights on the latest trends and strategies in affiliate marketing. Confirmed speakers include:
Olga Maksimuk, Principal Affiliate Expert at Google
Niv Shaked, Sales Director at TikTok
Nick Shackleford, Co-Founder at BREZ
Oliver Kenyon, Founder and CEO at ConversionWise
Joshua Chin, Founder at Chronos Agency
Jordan Rolband, Founder and CEO at DFO Global Performance
In addition to these incredible speakers, AGS will showcase exhibitors from some of the leading companies in affiliate marketing. AGS focuses on key affiliate marketing verticals, including eCommerce, digital marketing, financial services, and nutraceuticals, offering solutions that can drive performance marketing at scale. These exhibitors are established players with proven success in their respective verticals, offering innovative tools, technology, and services. Notable exhibitors include:
Google
Meta
TikTok
MGID
Clickbank
Mobikok
Platformpay
Yeahmobi
These exhibitors offer solutions designed to help performance marketers scale their businesses and succeed across multiple geographies, ensuring that AGS remains a hub for strategic partnerships in affiliate marketing.
Join us at AGS 2026
Whether you’re an affiliate marketer, brand, or publisher, AGS 2026 offers the perfect opportunity to grow your business, make valuable connections, and discover new opportunities for growth in various industries. Don’t miss out on the chance to be part of Europe’s premier affiliate marketing event. For more information and to register for AGS 2026, visit Affiliate Grand Slam.

AIBC World 2026 countdown begins ahead of Rome’s frontier technology summit
The countdown to AIBC World 2026 has begun, alongside anticipation building ahead of one of Europe’s most significant gatherings dedicated to frontier technology this November. Rome will become the meeting point for leaders across AI, blockchain, fintech, gaming and digital innovation as AIBC World brings together the companies, investors and decision-makers shaping the next stage of the digital economy.
Under the theme of connecting frontier technology with real-world applications and digital scalability, AIBC World 2026 will unite AIBC, SiGMA, FX.World and AGS for a major cross-industry gathering focused on collaboration, innovation and business opportunities.
The event is set to welcome 1,000 exhibitors, 300 speakers and 30,000 delegates, creating a global platform where technology leaders, entrepreneurs and investors can connect, exchange ideas and explore new opportunities across emerging sectors.
AIBC Hall: a dedicated hub for blockchain and AI innovation
One of the major highlights of AIBC World 2026 is the introduction of the new AIBC Hall at Fiera Roma.
Located in Hall 7, the dedicated space will bring together blockchain and AI service provider (PSP) companies in a single, concentrated environment. Recognised as one of Europe’s largest dedicated blockchain expo spaces, the AIBC Hall will provide attendees with direct access to the infrastructure providers, exchanges, custody solutions driving the evolution of the digital economy.
Beyond the exhibition floor, the AIBC Hall will also feature a dedicated AIBC Stage, hosting expert-led panels and discussions covering the latest developments, challenges and opportunities across blockchain, AI and emerging technologies.
By combining exhibition, thought leadership, and industry connections in one space, AIBC Hall will create a dedicated environment for companies, innovators, and decision-makers to exchange ideas, build partnerships, and explore the technologies of digital industries.
A global platform for innovation, business and collaboration
Hosted at Fiera Roma, one of Europe’s largest exhibition venues, AIBC World 2026 will provide the scale and facilities required to welcome thousands of international attendees.
Across the exhibition floor and conference stages, visitors can expect perspectives on the latest developments across blockchain, artificial intelligence, digital assets and emerging technologies. The event will bring together established industry players, innovative startups, and technology pioneers to discuss the trends shaping the global digital landscape.
Confirmed exhibitors include leading names such as Blockchain.com, Transak, Gate, CertiK, BitGo, Fireblocks, Bybit, BIT.COM, Chainalysis, TradingView and Alchemy Pay.
The conference programme will feature influential founders, investors, policymakers and technology executives, including Tim Draper, Founder of Draper Associates; Reeve Collins, Chairman and Co-Founder of STBL & WeFi; Felix Fan, CEO of Trust Wallet; Arthur Breitman, Co-Founder of Tezos; and Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament.
Spotlighting emerging technology startups
AIBC World 2026 will continue to support the next generation of innovators through the AIBC Startup Pitch competition.
Open to startups working across crypto, blockchain, Web3 and artificial intelligence, the competition provides selected founders with the opportunity to present their solutions to investors, accelerators and industry leaders. Six finalists will advance to the live on-stage competition, showcasing high-potential projects from across the global emerging technology ecosystem.
Networking opportunities beyond the exhibition floor
Beyond the exhibition and conference programme, AIBC World 2026 will offer exclusive opportunities for attendees to connect with global technology leaders, investors and innovators.
From the iGathering Networking Cocktail at Lanterna di Fuksas and the SiGMA Nexus Elite Golf Tour to the AIBC & FX Awards, the event will bring together the community through a series of premium experiences. Held in the historic setting of Rome, the AIBC & FX Awards will celebrate the leading performers across AI, crypto, blockchain, fintech and emerging technology, with winners announced during an exclusive ceremony featuring recognition, connection and a charitable art auction.
Join AIBC World 2026 in Rome
As AI, blockchain and digital finance continue to reshape industries worldwide, AIBC World 2026 arrives at a defining time for the technology ecosystem.
With a dedicated exhibition hall, a strong international speaker lineup, leading exhibitors and a programme designed around innovation and collaboration, the event is set to become a key meeting point for those building, investing in and shaping the future of frontier technology.
As Rome prepares to welcome the global technology community this November, now is the time to secure your place at AIBC World 2026 and join the conversations driving the industry forward.

Agentic Decentralized Finance Forum to Advance Singapore’s Next Digital Economy
Executive forum and strategic regional partnerships bring together leaders in AI, digital finance and blockchain to accelerate cross-border innovation
As artificial intelligence reshapes industries and digital assets move into the financial mainstream, Singapore is well positioned to lead the next chapter of digital innovation. Against this backdrop, Singapore Innovation Centre and Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and inaugurated the Agentic Decentralized Finance Forum at SMEICC 2026, bringing together leaders from government, finance, academia and technology to explore how AI, blockchain and digital finance are transforming business, capital markets and the wider digital economy.
Held on 6 August 2026 at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, the half-day forum will provide a platform for discussions on Agentic AI, decentralised finance (DeFi), tokenised real-world assets, trusted digital infrastructure and the regulatory frameworks needed to support responsible innovation across Asia. The event will also serve as the official media session for the upcoming Singapore Blockchain Week scheduled for November 2026.
SMEICC 2026 features Guest of Honour – Mr. Chee Hong Tat, Minister for National Development. Under this year’s theme, “Beyond Partnerships: Where Growth Comes Next,” SMEICC is expected to welcome more than 5,000 business leaders from across the region, while the Agentic Decentralized Finance Forum will host approximately 250 invited participants representing the digital finance ecosystem.
[Photo] Mr. Chee Hong Tat – Minister for National Development at the opening speech at SMEICC Conference Series.
More than another industry conference, the Agentic Decentralized Finance Forum reflects Singapore Blockchain Week’s growing role as a regional platform where leaders from blockchain, artificial intelligence, fintech and digital assets come together to exchange ideas, foster partnerships and shape the future of innovation. As technologies continue to converge, the forum aims to encourage practical collaboration that extends well beyond the conference itself.
The programme will feature distinguished speakers from organisations including the Anchorage Digital, Alpha Ladder Group, BitGo, Chainalysis, Canton Foundation, FOMO Pay, MetaComp, National University of Singapore, Singapore FinTech Association, StraitsX, R25, Xapo Bank, Zenith and other regional ecosystem partners. Discussions will examine how autonomous AI agents are reshaping financial decision-making, the rise of tokenised assets, cross-border digital finance, decentralised identity, post-quantum security and the governance frameworks needed to support trusted innovation.
[Photo] “Hybrid Agentic Embedded Finance” keynote presentation by Dr. Bo Bai – Chairman of Alpha Ladder Group.
[Photo] “The Rise of Digital Asset, Real-World Assets & Tokenized Economy” panel discussion featuring Ms. Belle Leung – Head of Asia, Xapo Bank ; Mr. Aaron Thian – Director of Institution Sales, Anchorage Digital ; Mr. Sean Chung – Vice President, Global Business Development, R25 ; Mr. Thomas Chou – Head of APAC, Canton Foundation ; Ms. Angela Ang – Managing Director, BitGo.
Associate Professor Edward Tay, Chairman & Director of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Office at the National University of Singapore School of Computing, Council Member of the Singapore Accreditation Council and Chair of the Expert Panel of Singapore Blockchain Week believes Singapore’s leadership in AI governance and accreditation provides a strong foundation for the next phase of digital finance. He noted that close collaboration between academia, industry and regulators, together with Singapore’s internationally recognised research excellence, positions the country to lead the responsible adoption of Agentic AI and digital assets while reinforcing its standing as a trusted global financial centre.
[Photo] “Singapore and Asia’s Digital Economy Opportunity” Speech by Professor Edward Tay – National University of Singapore.
“Singapore’s strength has always been its ability to connect people, capital and ideas across borders,” said Heslin Kim, Chair of the Organising Committee of Singapore Blockchain Week and Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer of Zenith. “As AI and blockchain become increasingly interconnected, the opportunity is not simply to adopt new technologies, but to build trusted partnerships that accelerate responsible innovation. The Agentic Finance Forum brings together leaders across policy, finance and technology to shape meaningful collaboration and the future of autonomous financial systems.”
[Photo] “The Convergence of AI x DeFi – Building the Next Digital Economy ” panel discussion featuring Ms Holly Fang – President, Singapore Fintech Association ; Mr. Liu Tian Wei – Co-Founder, StraitX ; Mr. Diederik Van Wersch – Regional Director for Asean, Chainalysis ; Mr. Zack Yang – Co-Founder, FOMO Pay ; Ms. Tin Pei Ling – Co-President, Metacomp.
“Singapore’s rise as a trusted digital finance hub has been built on close partnership between regulators, financial institutions and innovators. That public-private collaboration will only matter more as Agentic AI and blockchain converge with digital finance. The Singapore FinTech Association looks forward to working with our fellow stakeholders to ensure this next wave of innovation is harnessed responsibly. The Agentic Finance Forum gives us exactly that platform, a place for bold ideas and honest conversations that will keep Singapore at the forefront of financial innovation.” said Holly Fang, President of the Singapore FinTech Association.
“The next digital economy won’t be built around human users alone, it will increasingly include AI agents participating in commerce. To unlock that future, we need trusted financial infrastructure that allows AI to transact securely, compliantly and at scale. With its strong digital and regulatory foundations, Singapore is well positioned to lead this transition,” said Tianwei Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of StraitsX.

“MetaComp is honoured to be part of the Agentic Decentralized Finance Forum, curated by Singapore Blockchain Week at SMEICC 2026,” said Tin Pei Ling, Co-President, MetaComp. Payments are the foundation of a resilient digital economy, and Singapore’s position as a trusted, well-regulated hub gives it a real advantage in shaping how that infrastructure develops across the region. We’re seeing growing institutional confidence in that regulatory clarity, and forums like this are where that confidence turns into practical, cross-border collaboration. Singapore Blockchain Week, MetaComp and many other partners are each doing their part to solidify Singapore’s position as the region’s leading digital finance hub, as we lead up to the ASEAN summit in 2027.

[Photo] Memorandum of Understanding ceremony featuring (from left) Dr. Kamal Anand – Founder, Bingold Inc ; Mr. Zhang Hai Sheng – COO, Singapore Innovation Centre ; Dr. Jia YiFan – CEO, AIDX ; Ms. Phoenix Chen – Co-Founder, China-Singapore AI Association ; Dr Charlie In – Founder, Raffles Capital ; Mr. Qiu JingYing – Director-General of Singapore Representative Office, HICOOL Global Entrepreneur Summit by Beijing Overseas Talents Association ; Richard Hobbs – Founder, VIA Labs with Animoca Brands ; Ms. Wendy Yew – Secretariat, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce And Industry.
Turning dialogue into collaboration, the Agentic Decentralized Finance Forum will also mark an important milestone for Singapore Blockchain Week through the signing of a five-party Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with organizations spanning agentic commerce, international entrepreneurship and artificial intelligence.
The collaboration brings together Singapore Blockchain Week with , Raffles Capital, VIA Labs with Animoca Brands, AIDX Tech, China-Singapore AI Association (CSAIA) and HICOOL Global Entrepreneur Summit – China’s leading international innovation and entrepreneurship platforms by Beijing Overseas Talents Association (BOTA). Together, the partners aim to strengthen cross-border collaboration, expand innovation networks and create new opportunities for businesses, entrepreneurs and technology communities across Singapore and Asia.
The partnership will support several strategic initiatives, including the deployment of an AI-powered Agentic Commerce Ticketing Platform developed by VIA Labs in-collaboration with Animoca Brands for Singapore Blockchain Week, deeper engagement with Raffles Capital’s AI x DeFi Convergence Pitch Competition and HICOOL’s international ecosystem, and stronger collaboration with the China-Singapore AI Association to connect AI, DeFi researchers, enterprises and innovators across Singapore and China.
Collectively, the five organisations share a common vision of accelerating responsible technology adoption while fostering greater cooperation between industry, academia and innovation ecosystems. This reflects Singapore Blockchain Week’s broader ambition to serve as a regional platform where ideas, partnerships and emerging technologies converge to shape Asia’s next digital economy.
As the boundaries between AI, blockchain and financial services continue to evolve, the conversations taking place at the Agentic Finance Forum are intended to extend well beyond the conference hall anchored by host and moderator from AIXcellerator and CNBC. Through new partnerships, shared expertise and cross-border collaboration, Singapore Blockchain Week aims to help build an ecosystem where innovation is not only discussed but realised.
Photo : (Left) Singapore Blockchain Week Call For Collaboration Presentation by Ambassador Ms. Sann Carrière – Founder of Orobo and Executive Committee – Director of Manufacturing & Digital Passport, Asia Blockchain Association.
(Right) Token of Appreciation to Ms. Joanna Ossinger – Managing Editor, CNBC ; Dr. Marcus Tan – Founder of AI:Xcelertor.
About Singapore Fintech Association
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Singapore FinTech Association is a cross-industry, non-profit initiative that serves as a platform to facilitate collaboration among market participants and stakeholders across the FinTech ecosystem with one of its subcommittees focuses on Web3. Supported by a distinguished group of industry and government leaders including :
Patron: Mr. Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development
Strategic Advisory :
– Ms. Ong Chen Hui, Assistant Chief Executive, Infocomm Media Development Authority
– Mr. Soh Leng Wan, Assistant Managing Director, Enterprise Singapore
– Mr. Neil Parekh, Deputy Chairman, Global Finance & Technology Network
– Mr. Sanjoy Sen, Managing Director and Group Head, DBS
Their collective leadership supports the asociation’s efforts to foster innovation, collaboration and the development of Singapore’s FinTech ecosystem, both locally and internationally.
For more information, visit https://singaporefintech.org
About StraitsX
StraitsX is the issuer of XSGD and XUSD, Singapore Dollar- and US Dollar-denominated stablecoins that are backed 1:1 by their respective fiat reserves. Licensed as a Major Payment Institution by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, its infrastructure supports stablecoin issuance, payments, settlement, treasury management and connectivity across blockchain networks and traditional payment rails.
With more than US$30 billion in stablecoin transactions and over 3.6 million transactions processed, StraitsX is backed by prominent financial and strategic investors including NTT DOCOMO, Standard Chartered, SC Ventures and InterVest, and secured a further US$10 million strategic investment from UQPAY in 2025 to accelerate its stablecoin and cross-border payments infrastructure across Asia.
For more information, visit https://www.straitsx.com

About Metacomp
MetaComp is a Singapore-based digital finance platform bridging traditional finance and digital assets through regulated, secure and technology-enabled infrastructure. As a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, MetaComp provides Digital Payment Token and cross-border payment services, alongside solutions spanning trading, custody, payments, stablecoins and digital asset management.

Backed by Alibaba, MetaComp has raised US$35 million in Pre-A funding in 2026, and is expanding its StableX Network while developing AI-enabled infrastructure for the emerging financial economy.
For more information, visit https://www.mce.sg
About Singapore Blockchain Week
Singapore Blockchain Week (SBW) is a government- and association-supported platform connecting Agentic Commerce, Decentralized Finance, Digital Infrastructure, Emerging Technologies, Institutional Tokenisation and Real World Assets accelerating innovation and cross-border collaboration across the region.
Positioned as the world’s first cross-border Blockchain flagship event, the programme spans across Republic of Singapore and Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone in Southern Malaysia. Bringing together policymakers, regulators, entrepreneurs, investors, enterprises and innovators from around the world to foster meaningful dialogue, strategic partnerships and cross-sector collaboration to accelerate responsible innovation and strengthen it’s position as a global hub for the digital economy.
Taking place 13–17 November 2026, SBW will feature conferences, industry forums, networking events and ecosystem initiatives, connecting the people, ideas and technologies shaping the future of finance, technology and digital innovation across Asia.
For more information, visit https://singaporeblockchainweek.org
Join The Singapore Blockchain Week Movement
​Follow our official channels for upcoming regional roadshow, community engagements and event announcements.
​Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/singaporeblockchainweekofficial
​X : https://x.com/SingaporeBWeek
​Telegram : https://t.me/SingaporeBlockchainWeek
Luma : https://luma.com/singaporeblockchainweek
Singapore Blockchain Week is a community driven flagship event supported by association and government. Join us and play a part in amplifying and shaping the conversations that matter.
For Key Opinion Leader (KOL) and Influencer :
Share your perspectives and co-curate what matters as a thought leader : https://forms.gle/8RTT1nFZR2VQQypd9
For General Public :
Play your part as an advocate by sharing with your network : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/singapore-blockchain-week-be-advocator-of-nations-flagship-defi-event-tickets-1985227081642
Media Contact
Ms. Faralynn Wong
Asia Investor Relations
Email: faralynn@asiainvestorrelations.com
Mobile: +65 8308 1616
Ms. Angelina Tan
Singapore Blockchain Week
Email: angelina@singaporeblockchainweek.org
Mobile: +65 8959 2812

AIBC World 2026 countdown begins ahead of Rome’s frontier technology summit
The countdown to AIBC World 2026 has begun, alongside anticipation building ahead of one of Europe’s most significant gatherings dedicated to frontier technology this November. Rome will become the meeting point for leaders across AI, blockchain, fintech, gaming and digital innovation as AIBC World brings together the companies, investors and decision-makers shaping the next stage of the digital economy.
Under the theme of connecting frontier technology with real-world applications and digital scalability, AIBC World 2026 will unite AIBC, SiGMA, FX.World and AGS for a major cross-industry gathering focused on collaboration, innovation and business opportunities.
The event is set to welcome 1,000 exhibitors, 300 speakers and 30,000 delegates, creating a global platform where technology leaders, entrepreneurs and investors can connect, exchange ideas and explore new opportunities across emerging sectors.
AIBC Hall: a dedicated hub for blockchain and AI innovation
One of the major highlights of AIBC World 2026 is the introduction of the new AIBC Hall at Fiera Roma.
Located in Hall 7, the dedicated space will bring together blockchain and AI service provider (PSP) companies in a single, concentrated environment. Recognised as one of Europe’s largest dedicated blockchain expo spaces, the AIBC Hall will provide attendees with direct access to the infrastructure providers, exchanges, custody solutions driving the evolution of the digital economy.
Beyond the exhibition floor, the AIBC Hall will also feature a dedicated AIBC Stage, hosting expert-led panels and discussions covering the latest developments, challenges and opportunities across blockchain, AI and emerging technologies.
By combining exhibition, thought leadership, and industry connections in one space, AIBC Hall will create a dedicated environment for companies, innovators, and decision-makers to exchange ideas, build partnerships, and explore the technologies of digital industries.
A global platform for innovation, business and collaboration
Hosted at Fiera Roma, one of Europe’s largest exhibition venues, AIBC World 2026 will provide the scale and facilities required to welcome thousands of international attendees.
Across the exhibition floor and conference stages, visitors can expect perspectives on the latest developments across blockchain, artificial intelligence, digital assets and emerging technologies. The event will bring together established industry players, innovative startups, and technology pioneers to discuss the trends shaping the global digital landscape.
Confirmed exhibitors include leading names such as Blockchain.com, Transak, Gate, CertiK, BitGo, Fireblocks, Bybit, BIT.COM, Chainalysis, TradingView and Alchemy Pay.
The conference programme will feature influential founders, investors, policymakers and technology executives, including Tim Draper, Founder of Draper Associates; Reeve Collins, Chairman and Co-Founder of STBL & WeFi; Felix Fan, CEO of Trust Wallet; Arthur Breitman, Co-Founder of Tezos; and Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament.
Spotlighting emerging technology startups
AIBC World 2026 will continue to support the next generation of innovators through the AIBC Startup Pitch competition.
Open to startups working across crypto, blockchain, Web3 and artificial intelligence, the competition provides selected founders with the opportunity to present their solutions to investors, accelerators and industry leaders. Six finalists will advance to the live on-stage competition, showcasing high-potential projects from across the global emerging technology ecosystem.
Networking opportunities beyond the exhibition floor
Beyond the exhibition and conference programme, AIBC World 2026 will offer exclusive opportunities for attendees to connect with global technology leaders, investors and innovators.
From the iGathering Networking Cocktail at Lanterna di Fuksas and the SiGMA Nexus Elite Golf Tour to the AIBC & FX Awards, the event will bring together the community through a series of premium experiences. Held in the historic setting of Rome, the AIBC & FX Awards will celebrate the leading performers across AI, crypto, blockchain, fintech and emerging technology, with winners announced during an exclusive ceremony featuring recognition, connection and a charitable art auction.
Join AIBC World 2026 in Rome
As AI, blockchain and digital finance continue to reshape industries worldwide, AIBC World 2026 arrives at a defining time for the technology ecosystem.
With a dedicated exhibition hall, a strong international speaker lineup, leading exhibitors and a programme designed around innovation and collaboration, the event is set to become a key meeting point for those building, investing in and shaping the future of frontier technology.
As Rome prepares to welcome the global technology community this November, now is the time to secure your place at AIBC World 2026 and join the conversations driving the industry forward.