Cas Abbé

My first reaction was to be surprised when Binance announced on 30 January 2026 that the entire Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) will be transferred off stablecoins and into bitcoin.  SAFU is not a conjectural treasury; it is an insurance fund to compensate the customers, in case of a disaster that occurs on the exchange.  Replacement by the most volatile crypto asset of this safety net of low-volatility stablecoins was like replacing a life raft with a surfboard.

The blockchain reveals that Binance moved 1,315BTC (approximately 100 million dollars) to the SAFU wallet.  This is not a promise but some evidence of execution.

The deeper I excavated the story, the more I saw that it is more subtle.  It is a risky move by Binance on the long-term viability of bitcoin, which it is using as a marker of responsibility following a turbulent year.  This paper will discuss what SAFU is, why Binance is actually switching, and what it will involve both to the users and the market at large.  I have added charts and data where it is necessary to aid the visualization of the trends.

What is the SAFU fund?

To provide customers with security against disastrous failures of exchanges Binance had designed SAFU.  The business makes some investment of trading commissions in the fund and holds the assets in cold storage, not in the operational wallets of the exchange.  SAFU is a self-insured pool; in case of hacking or other damages on Binance, the fund will be able to compensate consumers.  With the exchange rate, the fund has been held at around $1 billion over the years, and increased when the markets are unstable.  The reserve so far had a diversified portfolio comprising of US dollar pegged stablecoins and a little bit of bitcoin and BNB.

The name SAFU is also based on the meme funds are safu, a pun on safe.  The phrase was popularized by Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in the course of a maintenance issue, and the community adopted it as the short term definition of reliability.

The conversion announcement

On 30 January 2026 Binance released an open letter to the crypto community stating that it was going to trade the entire 1b SAFU reserve of stablecoins to bitcoin within the next 30 days.  The trade positioned the action as the component of the greater dedication to transparency and resiliency in the industry: “Bitcoin is the cornerstone of the crypto ecosystem and long-term value, the letter explained.

The plan involves the purchase of bitcoins daily as opposed to a big trade.  This strategy restrains disruption of the market and it is consistent.  With about 33 million dollars per day approximated to be converted, the conversion would be estimated to take 30 days hence about 11,900 BTC would have been purchased by early March.  Another promise made by Binance is the rebalancing mechanism: once the value of a fund is reduced to less than 800 million dollars due to fluctuation in the price of bitcoin, the exchange will add more BTC to restore the reserve to the 1 billion goal.  This is to say that Binance is vowing to purchase the dip with the help of its own revenues in the event of markets plummeting.  The SAFU wallet address is transparent and therefore anyone can monitor the conversion process and ensure that the money is kept in segregation.

Why go all‑in on bitcoin?

It is possible to recognize multiple reasons that Binance makes this daring transition:

Signalling reliability and congruence. The exchange must restore credibility after a tumultuous 2025 that saw a 19 billion liquidation cascade and the Binance exchange being accused of having a monopoly on the market.  Turning SAFU into bitcoin will put Binance on par with the industry, having its insurance fund concurrent with the asset that the majority of its users trust.  It also demonstrates that Binance has a vested interest in the game, that is, in case bitcoin crashes, the fund is hit in the same way as users.  In this regard the move is more of a PR message than a monetary one.

Transparency in terms of on-chain audit.  Stablecoins are opaque - users trust the assertions of issuers concerning reserves.  On-Chain verification A bitcoin-only fund can be verified on-chain.  The SAFU wallet may be viewed by anyone, kept track of incoming transactions and ensured the balance does not drop below the $800 million mark.  This openness overcomes the doubt over exchange proof -of-reserves and demonstrates that Binance cares about accountability.

Bitcoin as a store of value over a long time period.  Binance is convinced that bitcoin is an improved long-term reserve compared to dollar-pegged tokens due to its hard-capped supply, and increased institutional adoption.  The exchange notes that users are starting to view stablecoins not as long-term cash analogs but as an exchange rail and trading chips.  By engineering the conversion of the fund to bitcoin, Binance implicitly bets on the future value of BTC which increases the insurance pool.

Possible threats and objections.

Although the benefits of signalling are obvious, the conversion brings in new threats:

- It is volatile which diminishes reliability. The insurance funds are intended to finance any losses in case of crisis but crisis usually accompanies bitcoin sell-offs. According to CryptoSlate, a fund in the same falling asset may end up being a weaker backstop at the time when it is needed the most. Should bitcoin decline by 20 per cent, the SAFU fund will soon drop to the US800 million bottom, compelling Binance to inject cash at a time when liquidity is tight.

- Pro‑cyclicality. Writing a put option on bitcoin Binance is essentially committing to top up the fund in case the prices decline. During a market crash, the exchange is forced to purchase additional BTC to replenish the fund which increases its exposure. Pro-cyclical insurance structures may enhance stress on failure to fulfill promise.

- Governance and centralization. Binance, a privately owned company controls the SAFU wallet. Opponents believe that on-chain transparency will never reduce the custodial risk of a centralized fund. In addition, such conversion does not transform Binance into a publicly held company that is a bitcoin treasury; SAFU is a user-protection fund, not a corporate treasury.

- Market impact. Other analysts thought that the announcement would increase the BTC prices. Practically, bitcoin failed to spike.
According to BeInCrypto, the prices remained lower than they had been recently and the news penetrated the market relatively quietly. Constant daily buying can be slightly supportive, but it has not caused a situation of a rally.

The contextualisation and visualisation of the SAFU conversion.

In order to be more aware of magnitude and consequences of the SAFU conversion, I referred to multiple charts. Such images provide rough or idea values to emphasize fashions and not hard market information.

Composition of the SAFU fund

The former chart is a comparison of the composition of the fund prior to the conversion and after. Prior to the announcement, SAFU had nearly a hundred percent of stablecoins (USDC) and a minor quantity of BTC. Once the conversion, it will be 100 per cent BTC.

Conversion progress
Binance is converting the fund at a rate of 30 days. The chart below represents an estimated BTC buying history, where the accumulation is in shapes of a step as the exchange makes daily purchases.

Bitcoin price pre-announcement.
The price of Bitcoin did not spike when the announcement was made. Indeed it went over sideways and even a little down in the first days of the conversion. The figure below illustrates a rough price movement towards the end of January and the first half of February 2026.

Wider market trends: tokenized assets and stablecoins.

Even though the SAFU conversion is about bitcoin, it is worth getting the bigger picture of the market. This supply of stablecoins has steadily increased over time, with the amount of coins in circulation of approximately US220 billion in January 2025, and estimated amounts of US320 billion in January 2026, as payment rails and an interface between fiat and decentralised finance. Meanwhile, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) have grown at a rapid pace during just under US5.5 to over US24billion in the market in the same period. These tendencies show how on-chain assets become diversified and tokenisation gains more significance.

Advantages and disadvantages of the conversion.
In order to sum up the discussion, the chart below assigns some of the perceived advantages and dangers of the topic subjectively. Although the move obviously has excellent points on trust and transparency and moderate points on price support, it presents significant risks on volatility and liquidity management.

Rebalancing scenarios
The last chart shows the possible reaction of the fund value in cases of variation in the prices of bitcoins. At 20 percent loss in BTC, the fund will devalue to the US$800 million bottom and needs to be replenished. In case bitcoin does not increase, the value will remain at the vicinity of US$1billion. A 20 per cent jump would propel the value of the fund to about US 1.2 billion, which will provide Binance with more buffer.

Conclusion
The move by Binance to transform its stablecoins insurance fund into bitcoin in a move to convert the insurance fund is a sensational action. On the one hand it highlights the confidence of the exchange in the bitcoin as the foundational asset of the crypto ecosystem and is a signal of trust after a very difficult year. The shift further makes the fund auditing on-chain and puts the interests of Binance in line with those of bitcoin holders. Conversely, it brings volatility to an insurance pool that ought to be reliable in times of crisis and pro-cyclical commitment to acquire additional BTC at times of market stress.

In my opinion, conversion is not as much about seeking profits but rather about accountability and optics. It is Binance speaking by saying that it will put its money where its mouth is, meaning that its insurance fund is pegged on the same asset that its users have. The fate of this bet will be determined by the direction of the price of bitcoin and the capacity of Binance to meet the promise to replenish when it comes to pressure. At present, the SAFU fund is just an experiment to use blockchain transparency and create trust, which is going to be closely monitored by the whole crypto community within the next month.

Lots of blockchains take pride in their immutability, and they state that it is a virtue in and of itself. As a matter of fact, though, change is not the difficult part of real finance: immutability is. Regulations change every month, risk groups change limits, the regulators change wording and what was okay yesterday may no longer be the case today. Even in one firm, the policies change due to an interchange in markets, change in patterns of fraud or the opening of a new region.

The distinctive angle does not look like the standard-type fast chain rhetoric when I look at Vanar. Vanar views a blockchain as a system that can be changed safely and will not undermine trust. That is what finance requires not flawless code but an upgradeable policy with a testable record.

The inherent issue with smart contracts is that it is too final to the operations of institutions. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have become fond of the notion that a contract cannot be altered, yet the bank-and-mortar institutions do not operate in such a way. Banks are signing policies, which are living rules and constantly updated as the living rules. The conventional smart contracts make one make an agonizing trade-off. Any real-world change needs a redeploy; upgrading is mandatory, and the users are scared of the administration keys and secret modifications. In any case, government is slipshod.
This is why the concept of dynamic contracts is important. It is not of adding features but it is of cost of compliance being less in the long run.

Contracts that are dynamic are framed by Vanar V23 as a library of templates, rather than as a festival of rewrites. V23 presents a dynamic contract-engine which operates with an library of rule-templates and parameter-specification. This allows institutions to modify the rate of pledges, the level of risk and the compliance terms without having to re-deploy the whole contract. It transforms the meaning of upgrade: a brand-new contract is not shipped to one number, but the structure remains intact, and only the approved parameters are transferred. In normal software we differiate between code and config, what is adjustable and what is running. Vanar introduces that discipline to smart contracts. This method can even cut the costs of multi-scenario adaptation (V23 write-up) by approximately 60 percent to tokenize RWA, since you do not need to re-write everything and re-build everything when you need a new rule. What matters more is the direction: consider policy change to be a first-class feature.

The most important thing about this to RWA: the rules that are associated with real-world assets never cease motion. RWA tokenization sounds easy until you enumerate the alterations that occur in practice: a lender adjusts collateral regulations when volatility increases; a jurisdiction alters what qualifies as accredited; a compliance department introduces a provision when an audit occurs; a product expands to a new area and requires new limits. In an ordinary world where contracts are immutable, every of those forms a complex fork. You face an option of redeploying and redeploying or you create a haphazard upgrade system that frightens users. A less-corrupted middle-ground is provided by Vanar in his template + parameter strategy. It considers changes as anticipated, limited and verifiable. The contract is not a rock that is not moving; it is a machine whose dials can be adjusted and everybody is aware of what dials are available.

The real world is being automated through what is known as policy as code. The further idea behind Vanar is that compliance and risk could be manifested as logic. Represent rules as structured parameters and then open up the possibilities that are not possible in a manual operation. A rule change can be rolled out everywhere rather than ten departments. Before application you can simulate with what would happen should we increase this threshold? To customize your product to various regions, you do not need to fork the whole product but create various policy sets. It is the same transition that has allowed software to be measured and repeatable in all other industries, and Vanar seeks to introduce the same shift to on-chain finance.
The missed advantage: the reduced number of redeploys implies the reduced number of attack moments. Each redeploy is a risk instant; each migration brings in bewilderment; each new contract address provides a new avenue of errors, fraudulence, and integration failures. When a protocol is able to modify rules without retracting underlying logic, then it lessens the number of times that the ecosystem goes through such precarious transitions. That does not mitigate risk- it contains it. The scoped changes are parameterized to transform, rather than a new system of contract. This is a big deal to any team building actual financial products. They desire the freedom, yet not anarchy.
Governance is no longer an ambiguous community ritual, but the rule approval layer.

A dynamic system requires some valid method of making decisions on what can be changed.
Vanar has addressed Governance Proposal 2.0 to enable the token holders to make ecosystem decisions, such as the parameters of AI models and other system-level rules.
Although nothing might be live now, at least it is a direction. When the network is interested in serving institutions, it should have the clear story that there are parameters that are altered, by whom, and how that change of parameters is documented.
In the ideal form of that, it is not drama of government. Governance is a book of rules that is signed.
Businesses reason this way: not who screamed, but what was passed, when, and by whom.
An example in point: a lending product that remains constant and rules change.
As an example, consider a lending product that is constructed on-chain.
The code establishes the product logic: the way loans are issued, the way collateral is monitored and the way the repayments occur. That code should be stable.
However, they may be modified: loan-to-value, risk level, acceptable collateral, region limits, and compliance inspections.
When using the template approach, you are able to make changes to the policy parameters and keep the product the same. The user does not need to be transferred to a new contract each time there is change in policy. Auditors will be able to trace the changes and their time. Developers will not need to rebuild integrations on a monthly basis.
This causes on-chain finance to cease as an experiment and more as an infrastructure.
Elements that make me consider this to be the adult account of Vanar.
The majority of crypto stories seek novelty. Vanar pursues in his dynamic-contract framing something more uncommon, operational maturity.
This does not mean that we do not change. It is saying “we change safely.”
That is consistent with the functioning of banks, payment networks and controlled systems. They change constantly, yet they do it in a structured manner in terms of policy changes, flow of approval and audit trails.
By continuing to develop towards this model, Vanar is in a position to market itself as a chain that can accommodate financial products that can last the long run, as opposed to seasons.
Conclusion: the chain that can adapt will continue to live in the chain that only promises.
Individuals tend to mix up immutability and trust in crypto. The belief in real systems is based on effective reliability: predictable behaviour and visible change.
V23 story by Vanar presents a conceptual notion of smart contracts into the real world: dynamic contracts are made up of stable templates and adjustable rules. Such a change would allow RWA and regulated finance to be much more realistic on-chain, as it is closer to the real world of rule development.
Assuming Vanar makes changes confined, approval-based and audits, then it is not merely a chain being built. It is creating a platform on which actual finance is accelerating without going astray.
#Vanar $VANRY @Vanar

The concept of stablecoins is very effective, but that generates a reputation issue: transactions are immediate and irreversible. Merchants are fond of it since it removes chargebacks, yet common consumers also ask themselves: what happens in case something goes wrong?

In the case of card payments, individuals are interested in protection, and not settlement. They are aware that they can challenge an account and that a bank can undo the charge, and that there is customer service services, even though it is usually slow or annoying.

Stablecoins eliminate that intermediary, and therefore, nobody to compel the turnaround. What comes out is the low cost clean transactions and also the disappearance of the familiar undo button many users have become used to.
Thus, it is not speed or fees but trust that is the key obstacle to the adoption of stablecoins. The typical factor of trust in payment systems is simply the issue of refunds.
The hypothesis: the stablecoins will become mainstream when final payments do not feel unfair.
In case the everyday money is to be substituted with stablecoins, users must get the daily safeguards that they are used to. This does not imply the duplication of chargebacks. Chargebacks are clunky, contribute to fraud, harm merchants, foster abuse, and accrue billions of fees and operation inconvenience.
However, not paying attention to the problem of refund is no longer an option either. When the payment of the stablecoins cannot be refunded regardless, many consumers will never be comfortable to use the coins to make real purchases.
The chance is to create a system in which deals are done but reasonably, without returning to the nightmare of chargebacks.

Plasma is applicable since it is constructed on the foundations of stablecoins, thus it inherently pays attention to consumer-grade payment behaviour - not simply the movements of money but also what comes after it.

The reason why chargebacks are the nightmare of the merchant and the safety net of a consumer.

It is important to consider both substances in order to comprehend the effect.

To consumers, the chargebacks give them a feeling of safety. On a situation where an item is not delivered they are able to argue with it and the bank may take back the payment. It is not perfect, but it makes one feel safe again.

In the case of merchants however, chargebacks are usually a source of chaos. They generate unforeseen losses, may be misused, tie up money, make merchants demonstrate their innocence, introduce additional charges, and even result in the extension of a ban on the account in case of too many disagreements.

This will appeal to merchants to use stablecoins. A reversal cannot be forced by any outside body with regard to stablecoin payments. That eliminates a substantial source of fraud, minimizes the uncertainty, and allows merchants to operate in a less corrupt manner upon settlement.

But finality is in itself not enough. In case the consumers do not have a sense of protection, they will be reluctant to pay.

The most effective value proposition that plasma can make to merchants and consumers is that stablecoins are not final, but they can be final without being unfair.

The difference between refunds and chargebacks lies in the difference between the two.

A chargeback is an involuntary reversal that is initiated by a bank and a refund is an involuntary correction that is initiated by the merchant. That distinction matters.

Refunds when properly organized, keep merchants under control. To the consumer, refunds will be optimum where they are transparent, quick, and legal.

The Stablecoin payments are inherently compatible with the refund model. The missing element is a refund logic that can be easily provided by merchants and easily consumed by the consumer.

Here programmable money ceases to be a buzz word and becomes a tool. Each payment in a stablecoin may include so-called rules in the funds, specifying the refund timeframes, partial refunds, cancelation processes, and dispute routes.

This is not a science fiction concept, but a real-world method to use stablecoin payments as something normal in common business.

The actual design problem: How to put protections on without a new bank middle man?

When you introduce refund guarantees through payment reversals to a centralized company, you are more or less re-creating the old system. The user can be safe, but you have forfeited the benefit of stablecoins in the first place, which is neutral settlement.

The design dilemma would therefore be to introduce protective measures without becoming custodial and transparent.

A sound stablecoin payment system can provide such things as:
- A limited escrow period, during which the money is kept in lock and only when the goods have been delivered it is released automatically.
- A refund facility that is merchant controlled and is simple to activate and produces a clear records.
- Refund policies based on time were incorporated into payment system hence the buyer is fully aware of the rules prior to paying.
- Conflict resolution based on express agreement and not reversals of contests in the last minute.

These trends allow the buyer to feel safe without allowing one side to have unlimited authority.

This is the major point: stablecoins do not have to have chargebacks. They are in need of contemporary refund design.

The angle of plasma: a stablecoin business made to feel like an adult.

The public education of plasma on stablecoin chargebacks is important than it appears. When a network makes it clear that stablecoin payments lack the traditional chargebacks, it makes the right expectations. Misplaced expectations destroy trust. When individuals think that they have chargebacks and later find out that they do not, they get deceived.

But Plasma also foreshadows the next stop stablecoin payments can enable flexible refund functionality which can be used in a clean way by merchants. How mainstream retail applications can be unlocked without bringing the worst of card disputes in-house.

Here the wider design options of Plasma also come into play. A network centered around stablecoin-first flows simplifies developing wallet and merchant workflows centered on norms of stablecoins: immediate settlement, transparent history and basic post-payment operations such as refunds.

The next secure currency transaction application is not send USDT and hope. It is pay, keep track, refund, as any payment system presently.

Why refund design is also a compliance win also.

Customer experience is not the only thing about refunds. They also help compliance.

Transaction audit is easier where there are clear refund trails. When one of the customers is refunded, a clean record is made. In case a payment is challenged and adjudicated, it will be a clean record. That reduces ambiguity.

Uncertainties are what regulators despise. It is also the hate of finance teams. Properly designed refund procedures generate formal records, which simplify presentations by merchants, platforms, and payment providers of what transpired.

In stablecoin business, structured records can be the distinction between a rail that is adopted and a rail that is a niche.

So they are not a nice feature, refunds. They belong to the construction of a payment rail that the businesses can rely on.

The reason this is important most to e-commerce and services, and not crypto-native users.

You may not be preoccupied with refunds when you simply consider the crypto users. Several users of crypto have treated transfers as cash. However, stablecoin payments are not only used by crypto users, but they are used in everyday business.

E‑commerce needs refunds. Services need refunds. Travel needs refunds. Businesses that are subscription-centered require refunds. Marketplaces need refunds. Restaurants need refunds. The simplest retail system must be able to undo a transaction at will in a clean manner.

Should one of the stablecoins wish to go that world, they must have fast, transparent, and simple to implement refund logic.

This is why I consider the refund layer to be one of the largest silent unlocks to adopt stablecoins. It is not a social media trend, but it alters the behavior of buyers.

How successful Plasma can be in this refund-first story

When Plasma inclines towards this rightly, victory will be in readable payments of coin like cash in real life.

A customer will make a payment using stablecoins and receive a transparent receipt.

One gesture can enable a merchant to issue a refund and the customer can see it immediately.

The policy of refunds is not concealed somewhere in a help center at the time of purchase.

Disputes don’t become chaos. They get organized streams of which both parties are aware.

Merchants are no longer afraid of chargeback fraud, and consumers are no longer afraid of having no protection.

That is the happy medium: amicable final settlement.

The great point: when stablecoin payments cease to act like transfers and begin to act like commerce, they gain.

The last transition is an attitude change.

A transfer consists of nothing more than money moving.

Commerce is money in transit with anticipations: delivery, service, guarantees and reversals in case of failures.

The most promising opportunity of plasma is to ensure that stablecoin payments move past the category of fast transfer, to actually becoming commerce rails. Refunds are not a side topic. Refunds are the bridge.

And in case Plasma is able to clean and decipher that bridge, it will not be another stablecoin chain. It will be a part of the moment when stablecoins will be finally indeed usable money that can be used in the daily life.

#plasma $XPL @Plasma

Perpetual-swap decentralized exchanges, abbreviated as Perp DEXs, previously appeared to be a niche in crypto. Several years ago, it was necessary to open a perpetual Bitcoin or Ether trade at a centralized exchange (CEX) like Binance, Bybit or OKX. The market was still dominated by those venues, however, in 2025 -26 something different happened. New decentralized derivatives exchanges such as Hyperliquid and Aster grew in a short amount of time. They offer profound liquidity, elevated throughput and liquid-staking collateral and cross-margin. Being a person who had been trading on CEXs since he was young, I was very much observing this transition and was surprised by the speed with which perp DEXs are closing the gap.

The comparison between the action of perp DEXs and CEXs

CEXs play a role of conventional brokers. They provide custody of your crypto, you put your money in, and you trade it on perpetual contracts on order books operated by the exchange. There is low legitimacy to charges and enormous volumes since all traders have a common ledger. The negative is trust, in case the platform is compromised or not able to appropriately handle risk, you may lose money.

Perp DEXs reverse this model. They operate on blockchains and operate on smart contracts to run positions. The traders store their crypto in wallets and interface directly with the protocol. The trading can be on-chain and/or off-chain and can be settled transparently. Users are provided with comparatively high fees and reduced speed in order to ensure transparency and self-custody. This performance gap is being bridged today by the best perp DEXs.

The volumes maturing and open interest.

Overall 24 hours trading volume of all perp DEXs is approximately $19.2billion according to the CoinGecko derivatives dashboard.

That amount is still lower than tens of billions that are traded on CEXs daily but it is substantial enough. Hyperliquid is an Ethereum-based protocol, which is top with approximately $5.3 billion and open interest of $4.7 billion. Aster that supports several chains takes its place with a volume of $3 billion and an open interest of 1.8 billion. GRVT, Lighter and edgeX are other platforms which are rapidly expanding.
Perp DEXs Daily trading volume on major perp DEXs.

The above bar chart indicates that Hyperliquid, Aster and other platforms rank above each other. Although Hyperliquid is the leader, share in Aster has increased at a rapid rate. The competition is healthy since it makes DEXs become innovative.

Open interest in leading perp DEXs.

The total values of the outstanding position are measured by open interest. The open interest of Hyperliquid is bigger than the daily volume with the ratio being approximately 287%. According to the atomic wallet, this ratio is high implying that most traders use Hyperliquid to hedge their long term investments and not speculate in the short term. The ratio of Aster is just approximately 12 percent, which means it is more favored by short-term investors.
CEXs still dominate… for now
Most of the derivative volume is still processed by centralized exchanges with these gains. CEXs have been estimated to constitute about 80 percent of the entire crypto derivatives trading, and DEXs comprise 20 percent or lower. This gap is visualized below.

Why do CEXs still dominate? They provide the lowest liquidity and the best spreads and can cross-margin trades in most markets. The comfortable interface and the possibility of using fiat on -ramps are popular among most professional traders as well. Nevertheless, the question of trust still stands, which the downfall of FTX in the end of 2022 still teaches.

Inventions that can assist DEXs in being caught up.

Perp DEXs have become much better during the last year. Hyperliquid has a rate of more than 200,000 orders per second and has an efficient off-chain order matching to enable near-instant execution. Cross-chain deposits can be made simple by Aster- traders do not have to deposit assets using complex bridges. Professional traders are more likely to use Hyperliquid due to its one block confirmation and stable spreads whereas cross-chain users tend to use Aster.

Cross-margin is currently supported by many DEXs, enabling users to collateralize a number of positions. They also take other forms of collateral such as liquid-staking tokens, which receive staking yield even when they are being used as margin. Such innovations are used to make DEXs competitive to CEXs in terms of capital efficiency. It is depicted in the line chart below that the DEX trading volume is increased since early 2025 to early 2026.

The best of DEXs and CEXs.
As volumes and features are convergent, the user experience is different. DEXs are transparent and self-custodial, and CEXs convenient and liquid. The following is my personal comparison of major features with my experience:

Cross-margin and variety of collateral: DEXs are now able to use cross-margin and accept liquid-staking tokens, leaving CEXs behind.

Liquidity depth: CEXs continue to enjoy a deeper book because of their high number of users and market-maker incentives.

Custody control: DEXs enable you to hold your money in your wallet, removing the custody risk.
Slippage & spreads: CEXs typically have lower slippage particularly on large orders but DEXs are improving rapidly.

KYC: A majority of DEXs do not enforce any know-your-customer checks, whereas large CEXs do.

Closing thoughts

Being a client of both kinds of platforms, I am excited about the emergence of perp DEXs. These figures are not big enough to compare with CEXs, yet they are not insignificant anymore. The most advanced DEXs will support billions of dollars of volume each day with more sophisticated strategies like cross-margin and hedging in 2026. Such innovations as the possibility of liquid-staking tokens on a pledge and a one-block confirmation decrease the performance difference with CEXs. These platforms are worth trying, in case you attach importance to transparency and self-custody. To the extent that it requires high-frequency trading and maximum liquidity, CEXs remain king- however, the boundaries are becoming blurred rapidly, which is an indicator of a well-established, immature market.

The majority of blockchains are casino-speaking, in that it is rapid, noisy, and constantly in search of the next big thing. Instead, Dusk is meant to be the converse: a market infrastructure that can be run on daily basis without any surprises. When you require regulated assets, real settlement and real participants, then “boring is a feature. It is not a question of whether the chain can do it or not. It is, will it act like that tomorrow, when it is pressured, when auditors are watching it?

Dusk takes a different path. Rather than screaming about privacy, it is about predictable operations: how messages travel over the network, how money is sent, how validators are reconciled, and how the smart-contract engine is architected like a regulated runtime, as opposed to a hectic sandbox.
Uncertainty Begins with the Way a Network Speaks.

Dusk relies on the use of Kadcast which is an ordered form of broadcasting that directs messages through structured routes rather than raw gossip flooding. The overarching concept is straightforward you do not desire possibly it to every one. You desire a less uncontrollable propagation pattern. The whitepaper of Dusk refers to Kadcast as the system that transmits messages within the protocol. The academic literature also provides Kadcast as a structured broadcast protocol over blockchain networks.
Such a decision is an indication of something significant: Dusk views networking as infrastructure, but not vibes. In the case where a chain is aimed at market use cases, predictable message flow is important since it has an impact on the rate at which the system can reach an agreement and the perceived fairness of the experience among participants.
Fees That Act Like Billing.
Fees are another cause of instability in most chains. In many cases, the user is buying the pandemonium of the moment and not the labor itself. That is all right when speculation is the chief game but that is risky when it is settlement or regulated trading.
Dusk formalizes the fee model in a way that is quantifiable. Transactions use gas; a gas limit and gas price are set and a user is charged a gas used X gas price. This gas price is represented in LUX, 1 rupt LUX is equal to 10 -9 DUSK. This is the most boring type of framing. It is a bill, this is what you have required the system to do, and this is the price of it.
It is a predictable behavior even in cases where something fails. In the event that a transaction is run out of gas execution, it is reverted but the gas used is still billed. It is not punishment, it is just a fee to use the system resources. No platform is as treating compute in this way.
Discipline the Void of Fear Culture.
A chain demanding the real markets requires having a responsibility of the validators, yet it is essential to punish softly. When punishment is excessive in brutality or drama, smaller operators are forced out. The system might seem to be safe, yet few of the large players can overcome the social and financial stress.
The coming of dusk emphasizes non-malicious failures which can be soft-slashing. The engineering updates refer to soft slashing as a reaction to less serious infractions with examples such as not broadcasting a block candidate when a block generator. The slashing milestone write-up is another way of thinking of soft slashing as taking place when a node does not issue a block- bad in the network, but not necessarily malicious.
This is important because it is a regulation you can communicate to professional operators: “When you fail repeatedly on duties, you get no rewards temporarily. Such a mentality is more like the SLA than the death penalty. It encourages credibility without transforming the network into a social battlefield.
A Smart-contract Engine Implemented as a Runtime.

This is disregarded by the majority: the runtime of a blockchain gives it its feel. A delicate runtime causes all that lies above it to be delicate. A managed runtime provides the ability to reason about it as an engine.

The ecosystem of Dusk inclines itself towards WASM as the platform on which it runs its smart-contracts. The documentation describes that Dusk VM is optimized on Wasmtime, a WASM runtime. It is ZK-friendly and it treats memory unlike most other blockchain VMs.

On the tooling level, this level of engineering is evident. The Rusk repository lists such requirements as Rust nightly and wasm-pack to build WASM contracts. The release notes of Dusk release 3.1 explicitly deal with language selection by even favoring the word contract, although all contracts are technically WASM modules. Minor word decisions show a team that is concerned with clarity in developers.

This is a big deal when it comes to the institutional use. Cool is not something picked up by institutions. They adopt “controllable.” A more serious software mindset of the correctness, testing and upgrades would better suit itself with a WASM-based execution mindset, which is supported by real tooling discipline.

The reason behind this boring stack being a competitive edge.

When you zoom out, you can see that Dusk is constructing something that is explainable to risk teams many chains do not build. Predictability is the goal of Kadcast, rather than going viral. The fee model is based on a unit of clear (LUX) and a standard gas methodology which acts as metered compute. Validator discipline also places more emphasis on soft slashing of operational reliability as opposed to the catastrophic punishment. The execution environment is biased towards WASM runtime thinking and has the real developer tooling.

The mixture of it forms a silent change in narrative: Dusk is not attempting to be noticeable. It’s trying to win trust. Trust is never achieved through an assurance of freedom but it is achieved through day-in day-out behavior, with the same rules, and under pressure.

The most significant Dusk story is not about the privacy. It is its operational predictability. In the real markets, loudest systems are not the best. Their architecture resembles plumbing: message flow is organized, costs are metered, operators are disciplined, and the runtime is reasonable.

In case Dusk is successful, it will not have been the case that it was able to make people speculate differently. It will be due to the fact that it made builders and institutions believe that on-chain finance can act like infrastructure: silent, quantifiable, and predictable enough to support real value without theatrics.

#Dusk @Dusk
$DUSK

Plasma is not a faster or cheaper blockchain.
It begins with a simple question: why relocating stablecoins is a difficult task?

When transferring a stablecoin over most networks you need another token, the gas token, make a guess on the fee, hope the network is not overloaded and make another attempt in case of a failure. Even such a simple act as payment or even a money transfer to another country becomes a technical-fuss. Plasma questions: what happens when transmitting digital dollars was as easy and as texting?

A chain constructed about stablecoins but not coins.

The ground-up construction of plasma is done in the case of stablecoins. Stablecoins are not the only possible application of blockchains which are compatible with numerous tokens, games, and dApps.
Plasma makes the twist: Stablecoins become first-class citizens
Design decisions, which seem self-evident to look at. As an illustration, with Plasma, users can send USDT without leaving their own gas bill. Paymaster node pays the fee, which only covers simple transfers, rates, and identifies the sender to limit abuse
The consequence is that a person can attach a wallet, fill it with USDT and begin transferring money without purchasing another token.
Such minor enhancement is significant.
It does away with intellectual obstacles to non-technical users and promotes micro-transactions that are otherwise not cheap, at a few dollars apiece.
Merchants are guaranteed of low prices, predictability and customers do not have to carry around several tokens.
This is viewed by the creators of plasma as the foundation of turning stablecoins into a true medium of exchange rather than a speculative asset.
Sub-second finality and EVM integrity.

Plasma employs PlasmaBFT to transfer funds instantly and this takes less than a second to settle a transaction.

It is compatible with EVM and thus Solidity code will execute identically on Plasma.

Financial facilities and systems Immediate settlement and known tooling reduce the switching cost of wallets, payment processors, and DeFi platforms.

The broader Ethernet code and tools can be reused and developers do not need to learn a new language.

The implementation engine is light and effective and it is based on Reth project.

It has the capacity to process thousands of transactions per second which makes it appropriate in running high volume payments like small e-commerce payments, in-game payments or payroll

Plasma also enables users to make payments using a variety of assets, which include Bitcoin and USDT, among other advanced transfers.
This is flexible, and it is what matters to the users: their assets, rather than the native token of the network.

A rich liquidity plan since the beginning.

The majority of new chains are launched, after which they are hoping that people will deposit and create an ecosystem

Plasma flipped that order

By the time its mainnet was launched in the end of September 2025, it was already able to provide billions of dollars in liquidity to over a hundred DeFi partners. That was not mere hype; the users were able to lend, borrow and trade stablecoins in tight spreads and depth.

In a week, the amount of money locked had gone over 5 billion.

Aave partnership saw more than 6.5billion in deposits come in, thus Plasma became the second largest market on Aave.

It is not just about bragging rights.
Stablecoins should become money, which is easy to spend, invest and convert. Deep pools decrease swings in prices during bulk transfer and draw more protocols and enterprises and generate a virtuous network effect. The very users and institutions of the stablecoin infrastructure of Plasma maintenance is strengthened by them.

The actual products such as Plasma One.

A blockchain can only be useful when people gain advantages of it

That is why the team introduced Plasma One, a neobank that is based on a stablecoin.
It provides the aspects that most consumers require: putting money in a wallet, getting interest, spending it with a card that is accepted in millions of shops and transferring money without charges instantly

Plasma One boasts of over 10% and 4% cashback on card usage and places itself as a high yielding alternative to traditional banks.
The target product location is any place with limited access to dollars, or fluctuating local currencies, such as Istanbul or Buenos Aires, and will be expanded to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Plasma One demonstrates that the infrastructure of Plasma allows new services.
Due to the fact that USDT can be transferred free of charge, small daily payments will be feasible.

Through a payment processor integration, customers will be be able to use stablecoins to pay local merchants and the merchant receive local currency.
In due course, Plasma One will be used to pay bills, top-up and remittances through mobile phone.

It is not only a demonstration of a concept but also a legitimate business, which proves that stablecoin rails are capable of providing complete banking services.

The opportunities and challenges in 2026.

At the onset of 2026, Plasma is at a very exciting but demanding crossroads. It controls a strong portion of the DeFi lending business outside Ethereum owing to its emphasis on stable-coins and significant liquidity. The number of users is increasing and off-chain products such as Plasma One are drawing in new customers. However, there are two significant challenges that the network will encounter. Massive unlocking of XPL tokens will occur in July of 2026. The price may wobble in case the early investors and team members sell them off rather than stake them. Plasma has created a staking system, which has an inflation reward schedule to promote holding. The actual issue is to know whether the number of token holders who will stake enough will be made.

Second, the amount of transfers being made every day is growing, and a significant number of users still only make simple transfers with Plasma and do not use it to make high-frequency payments or perform more complex DeFi operations. In order to continue to expand, the network needs to enhance its practical applications. It is planned to roll out Plasma one to other territories, introduce the native Bitcoin bridge (pBTC) to enable Bitcoin holders to transfer their assets into Plasma, and constantly enhance the underlying technology.

An inter-city payment rail.

The fact that Plasma has a technology and a philosophy is what makes it interesting. It does not claim to be the one that does everything to everybody, or follows hype cycles or other short-term focuses. Rather, it has a single objective, and that is, to transfer digital dollars as cheaply, rapidly and reliably. They will help to feel like real money by removing gas complications to simple transfers, reducing settlement times, establishing deep liquidity in day one, and backing the products such as Plasma One. It is a risk, there is no guarantee but should Plasma win its future will not be counted by the imagined heights, but by the very simple fact that payments in stable-coin will be normalized and are here to stay.

#plasma @Plasma
$XPL

A Life-Infrastructure based on Memory and Micro-Payments.
According to Vanar builders, their network is a living infrastructure. The chain involves big amounts of data, minor transactions and ongoing interactions between AI-agents.

Settlements are made within approximately three seconds and charge a fixed amount of approximately half-cent. That pricing model remains fixed even in cases of demand hikes. Micro-payments are viable owing to the predictability of the same. How about a smart meter that can pay your electricity bills one second at a time or an artificial intelligence buying your data. Fees do not increase significantly and thus the charges on these small transactions remain insignificant.

Vanar is also aware of the environment. The units that operate as validator nodes are powered by renewable energy via their cooperation with Google Cloud, and the network compensates any unimpeded emissions. Its infrastructure is built around NVIDIA and the CUDA accelerated AI stack to do heavy computation demonstrating that sustainability and high performance are compatible. Such decisions render Vanar appealing to business firms and regulators who are concerned with energy use.

A Hybrid Storage Model: Fast but Secure

The Neutron layer has a hybrid form of storage that makes Vanar different to the classic blockchains. Seeds are defaulted to offchain storage to ensure that the system is fast. The users may anchor seeds on-chain to enable auditability and ownership. On-chain anchoring stores unalterable metadata and encrypted files hashes but keeps secret content, as the owner is the only one that has access to the decryption key. AI embeddings are considered as a type of seed so that they can be searched by meaning. This forms a living memory layer on which autonomous agents have access to and can perform actions on data. It goes beyond a fixed documentation to an active knowledge system.

Kayon AI: Harnessing the Data of the Many Different Places

The Vanar stack has a brain known as Kayon AI. It integrates with popular business tools including Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, Notion, Salesforce, and others, and converts very fragmented files, messages, and spreadsheets into an organized knowledge base. Users decide on signing in and what sources of data to connect. Everything is encrypted and it is processed and integrations may be removed anytime and thus the user has all the control. After being connected, Kayon then allows natural-language queries over all sources, e.g.: find all documents about our Q3 roadmap, or summarise the last conversation with a client. Responses are properly cited and placed. Kayon has APIs, which developers can use to build applications on this structured data. Kayon can become a universal productivity AI backend in the future with future expansions to Jira, HubSpot, and Stripe.

Personal AI Agents and Universal Memory.

MyNeutron projects this intelligence to individuals. MyNeutron, which is introduced in October 2025, allows one to create personal AI agents, which are capable of remembering interactions between tools. These agents not only communicate but purchase and sell items in the game, organize activities according to what you have already done and what you prefer. The memory layer makes them not have to begin every time. In case you post meeting notes, they can be remembered by an AI later on when writing an email or making a choice.

Pilot is another experiment Vanar does with natural-language wallets. Pilot allows users to tell the wallet to transfer tokens or mint NFTs or work with smart contracts in simple phrases. This reduces the non-technical barrier and introduces the convenient voice assistant experience to blockchain communication. It illustrates how memory and thinking can be bundled to normal applications.

Monte Video as a Testbed in AI Interaction.
In the World of Dypians game, it is possible to see how the stack by Vanar can be helpful in creating AI-driven experiences. It is a massive multiplayer game that occupies more than 2,000 square kilometres in a metaverse space and which operates on Vanar and has more than 30,000 active players and a total of over 155 million on-chain transactions. It also has AI-driven non-player characters dynamic to player behaviour, exhibiting real-time reasoning on the chain. Vanar provides Unreal and Unity developer-friendly APIs, micro-payments on in-game purchases, and social interaction and quests modules. This infrastructure demonstrates that AI-native features are no longer a concept in theory but are implemented in an environment where the consumer uses it practically.
Partnerships Global and Enterprise Grade.
A number of high-profile partnerships give Vanar credibility. NVIDIA has been providing acceleration of AI, which allows the network to execute heavy computations. Validators are operated by Google Cloud and BCW Group using renewable energy, which exchange billions of fiat-to-cryptocurrencies. Worldpay integrates Vanar into the payment rails and allows on-chain assets to be purchased in more than 150 currencies with a success rate of more than 99 percent. Emirates Digital Wallet, which is owned by fifteen banks, implemented Vanar infrastructures in the Middle East to serve over 13 million customers. Viva Games Studios, creators of Disney and Hasbro games, is introducing its portfolio of games to Vanar, with actual content pipelines. Such deals demonstrate that Vanar is not a white paper, it is a part of financial and gaming ecosystems.
Beyond Speculation Token Utility.
The price of VANRY exceeds transaction charges. The advanced functionality of Neutron and Kayon will be paid with VANRY starting Q1 2026, and this will establish a subscription format referencing the usage directly. Validators post tokens as a security to the network and get rewards. VANRY will be burnt by some of its operations, putting deflationary pressure on supply. This design will help to link the value of the token to the adoption of the platform, as opposed to speculation.
Outlook: Quantum Research and Market Reality.
Vanar is studying quantum resistant encryption to secure the future attack by quantum computers which have the potential of breaking the current cryptography. These are futuristic and not operational yet and exhibit the long-term focus of the team on security. Today, VANRY is trading at a small size relative to their technological prospects. The innovation disparity and market acceptance is a norm in crypto. The increase in the value of the token will depend on the rate at which the AI functionality of the network is adopted. Vanar thinks that AI agents will become an important economic participant and that a memory and reasoning chain will be a necessity. The market will challenge this vision as enterprises, gamers and developers embrace the stack.
Summary: A Platform of Autonomous Economies.
Vanar Chain will combine and offer hybrid storage, intelligent querying, progressive decentralisation and low cost transactions in a single platform. Not only is it made to store but also to understand and act on data, but it is perfectly suited to an age of AI agents and constant micro-transactions. Everything at Vanar, including gaming and metaverse experiments, supply-chain tracking, payments, and personal AI assistants, is undergoing testing in a wide variety of areas. These experiments may or may not turn into a dominant infrastructure, it will depend on the market adoption, acceptance of the regulations, and the rate of the development of AI. One thing is apparent: Vanar is developing a full stack to a future when data can speak itself and smart contracts can make decisions based on this in real-time.
#Vanar @Vanarchain
$VANRY

Introduction
Dusk Network is not trying to be just another privacy coin. Its goal is much bigger. Dusk wants to build the basic infrastructure that real financial systems can use on a public blockchain. On January 7, 2025, Dusk launched its main network after more than six years of work. The team sees this launch not as the finish line, but as the starting point for a new kind of financial system.

In this system, payments, asset issuance, and settlement can all happen on-chain while keeping sensitive information private and still allowing audits when needed. After the launch, Dusk focused on several major upgrades: regulated payments, an Ethereum-compatible smart contract layer, new staking models, and a system for tokenizing real-world assets. By breaking the blockchain into separate parts and adding cross-chain connections, Dusk aims to serve developers and institutions that need both privacy and legal clarity.

Dusk Pay – regulated payments on blockchain

One of Dusk’s first major upgrades after launch is Dusk Pay. This is a payment system designed to follow financial rules while running on a blockchain. It is built around a digital token that represents real money, similar to a regulated stablecoin.

Dusk Pay is designed so individuals and institutions can make payments that are legally recognized. This makes it suitable for everyday use under European financial laws. By combining blockchain transfers with legal recognition, payments can be faster and cheaper than traditional systems.

At the same time, Dusk Pay uses Dusk’s privacy features. This means normal payment details can stay private, while regulators can still check the system when required. In simple terms, people get privacy, and authorities still get oversight.

Lightspeed – smart contracts that work like Ethereum

Dusk created Lightspeed to make it easy for developers to build on the network. Lightspeed is compatible with Ethereum’s smart contract system, which means developers can use familiar tools and programming languages.

Instead of creating a completely new system, Dusk chose compatibility to reduce friction. Smart contracts run on a layer that handles execution, while the main Dusk chain handles settlement, security, and privacy. This separation allows the system to evolve without breaking everything.

Lightspeed uses a modern design that allows data to be handled efficiently and upgraded over time. Right now, transactions finalize after a short delay, but future updates aim to make final settlement almost instant.

For developers, this means they can deploy Ethereum-style contracts while gaining privacy features. Contracts can stay private by default and reveal information only when proof is needed, such as for regulators or business partners. With future cross-chain connections, assets on Dusk can also move between Ethereum, Solana, and Dusk’s own smart contract layer.

Hyperstaking – easier and smarter staking

Most blockchains require users to manually stake tokens or delegate them to validators. Dusk simplifies this with a system called hyperstaking. In hyperstaking, smart contracts can handle staking automatically.

This allows new services like staking pools, where users deposit tokens and let a contract manage everything. Users can still earn staking rewards while keeping access to their funds through derivative tokens. This improves liquidity and makes staking easier for everyone.

Hyperstaking also allows new models, such as reward-sharing systems where users earn extra benefits by bringing new participants. These features turn staking into a flexible financial tool rather than a technical chore.

Dusk still keeps traditional staking rules. Users need a minimum amount of tokens to stake, but there is no maximum limit. Staked tokens become active after a short period, and users can unstake without penalties. New tokens are released slowly over decades, with rewards reducing every few years. Validators who misbehave are temporarily suspended instead of permanently punished. This design encourages long-term participation and network stability.

Zedger – tokenizing real-world assets
Dusk is not only about payments and staking. It also focuses on tokenizing real-world assets like stocks, bonds, and property. This is where Zedger comes in.

Zedger is designed for assets that must follow strict laws. Unlike simple tokens, Zedger tokens know who is allowed to own them and who is not. Transfers are restricted, investor identities are checked, and rules are enforced directly by smart contracts.

Real-world assets often need special actions like dividends, voting, or court-ordered changes. Zedger includes these features by design. If someone loses access to their wallet or a legal authority orders a change, authorized parties can move tokens safely. Only approved investors can hold or trade these assets. This turns tokenized assets into fully usable financial instruments, not just digital representations.

Two transaction types – public and private on the same chain
At the same time, Dusk Pay uses Dusk’s privacy features. This means normal payment details can stay private, while regulators can still check the system when required. In simple terms, people get privacy, and authorities still get oversight.

Lightspeed – smart contracts that work like Ethereum

Dusk created Lightspeed to make it easy for developers to build on the network. Lightspeed is compatible with Ethereum’s smart contract system, which means developers can use familiar tools and programming languages.

Instead of creating a completely new system, Dusk chose compatibility to reduce friction. Smart contracts run on a layer that handles execution, while the main Dusk chain handles settlement, security, and privacy. This separation allows the system to evolve without breaking everything.

Lightspeed uses a modern design that allows data to be handled efficiently and upgraded over time. Right now, transactions finalize after a short delay, but future updates aim to make final settlement almost instant.

For developers, this means they can deploy Ethereum-style contracts while gaining privacy features. Contracts can stay private by default and reveal information only when proof is needed, such as for regulators or business partners. With future cross-chain connections, assets on Dusk can also move between Ethereum, Solana, and Dusk’s own smart contract layer.

Hyperstaking – easier and smarter staking
Most blockchains require users to manually stake tokens or delegate them to validators. Dusk simplifies this with a system called hyperstaking. In hyperstaking, smart contracts can handle staking automatically.
This allows new services like staking pools, where users deposit tokens and let a contract manage everything. Users can still earn staking rewards while keeping access to their funds through derivative tokens. This improves liquidity and makes staking easier for everyone.
Hyperstaking also allows new models, such as reward-sharing systems where users earn extra benefits by bringing new participants. These features turn staking into a flexible financial tool rather than a technical chore.
Dusk still keeps traditional staking rules. Users need a minimum amount of tokens to stake, but there is no maximum limit. Staked tokens become active after a short period, and users can unstake without penalties. New tokens are released slowly over decades, with rewards reducing every few years. Validators who misbehave are temporarily suspended instead of permanently punished. This design encourages long-term participation and network stability.
Zedger – tokenizing real-world assets
Dusk is not only about payments and staking. It also focuses on tokenizing real-world assets like stocks, bonds, and property. This is where Zedger comes in.

Zedger is designed for assets that must follow strict laws. Unlike simple tokens, Zedger tokens know who is allowed to own them and who is not. Transfers are restricted, investor identities are checked, and rules are enforced directly by smart contracts.

Real-world assets often need special actions like dividends, voting, or court-ordered changes. Zedger includes these features by design. If someone loses access to their wallet or a legal authority orders a change, authorized parties can move tokens safely. Only approved investors can hold or trade these assets. This turns tokenized assets into fully usable financial instruments, not just digital representations.

Two transaction types – public and private on the same chain
Dusk supports two ways to move assets. One is fully transparent, where balances and transfers are visible. The other is fully private, where transaction details are hidden using cryptography.

In private mode, the sender, receiver, and amount are hidden, but the system still proves that everything is valid. Users can share specific details later if needed, such as during an audit.

Both transaction types exist on the same blockchain. Assets can move between public and private modes without leaving the network. This allows Dusk to support open systems that need transparency and regulated products that need confidentiality, all in one place.

Bridges and cross-chain connections

As Dusk moves toward a modular design, bridges become important. Users can move tokens between Dusk’s settlement layer and its smart contract layer. Tokens used for private transactions must first be made public before moving across layers.

Once bridged, DUSK tokens are used to pay transaction fees and run smart contracts. Future upgrades allow assets to move across different blockchains using secure cross-chain technology. This lets Dusk assets interact with Ethereum and Solana ecosystems.

When Dusk launched its main network, older tokens from other chains were burned and replaced with native tokens. This ensured a clean supply and allowed all tokens to participate in the new system. With Ethereum compatibility, Dusk aims to attract developers who want privacy without giving up existing tools.

Why all this matters

Finance needs privacy to protect users and markets, but it also needs rules and proof. Dusk is built around this balance. Users can choose privacy or transparency depending on the situation. Payments and smart contracts follow regulations. Staking becomes flexible and liquid. Tokenized assets follow real laws. Cryptography ensures everything works securely.

By separating settlement from execution, Dusk can upgrade parts of the system without disrupting everything else. This mirrors how traditional finance separates roles like exchanges and clearing systems. With cross-chain connections, assets created on Dusk can eventually work with the wider blockchain world.

Conclusion

Dusk Network is not just another blockchain. It is building a private, compliant, and flexible financial infrastructure. Through regulated payments, Ethereum-compatible smart contracts, advanced staking, real-world asset tokenization, and privacy-preserving transactions, Dusk creates tools that both institutions and developers can use.

Privacy is built in, but proof is always possible. As cross-chain connections improve and adoption grows, Dusk could become a meeting point between traditional finance and decentralized finance. Whether this vision succeeds depends on real usage and regulatory progress, but the foundation built in 2025 and 2026 shows a serious effort to create the future rails of on-chain finance.

#Dusk @Dusk
$DUSK

The decentralization of blockchain projects is frequently touted as a strength of the project, at the cost of regulation. Plasma moves in another direction. Its founders realize that it can only be adopted in reality once it becomes stable and compliant. They view stablecoins as a linkage between crypto and conventional finance and they think that the linkage needs to comply with the rules. This article discusses the process through which Plasma is developing its payments infrastructure by licensing, partnership and a strategy that would make regulators nod their heads.
Owning the regulated stack

In October 2025 plasmas stated that it has purchased a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licensed entity based in Italy and established a compliance center in the Netherlands. It is not a mere formal legalism. New Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in Europe entails the licensing of service providers. Plasma is enabled to offer custody and exchange services on a harmonized basis through a VASP license. The team is also seeking an Electronic Money institute (EMI) license. With an EMI license they would be allowed to issue stored-value accounts and payment cards, be directly integrated with bank rails and deal with fiat on and off-ramps. In brief, Plasma desires to manage the storage of stablecoins through issuing debit cards in an entirely regulated setting.

Why is this significant? Since controlling the stack eliminates the reliance on the payment processors and banks as third parties. It reduces the expenses, accelerates the product launch, and provides the company with greater control. It also provides users with confidence that Plasma works under strict standards of compliance. These licenses are essential to a network that wants to be the foundation of payments using global stablecoins. They enable Plasma to facilitate large partners, i.e. payroll companies, fintechs, and remittance providers, who cannot operate without compliance.

Compliance as a product but not a burden

Regulation usually appears to be like putting a restraint on innovation. Plasma has a different description: compliance may be an aspect. One of the partnerships that the network entered into in December 2025 saw it collaborating with a company known as MassPay to provide near-immediate payouts to over 230 nations. In this collaboration, the clients of MassPay will be able to repay in USDT in the Plasma and exchange the money when necessary into the local currencies. More importantly, all payouts will be vetted through anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) checks. The network is connected with the third-party compliance systems such as Elliptic to screen transactions. That is, the rails of Plasma are made to facilitate high-volume low-cost payouts without compromising legal protection. This is attractive to businesses that require speed and compliance (gig-economy platforms, ecommerce marketplaces, payroll services, and so on).

An opt-in confidentiality module of transfers using USDT was also implemented by plasma. It employs cryptography to conceal transaction information to the general population without allowing the authorized groups to inspect the information. It is not a complete privacy chain, but rather, it is meant to provide a balance between user confidentiality and the necessity of regulators and partners to track flows. This is an intermediate ground that is vital to the companies dealing with the sensitive financial information and requiring them to pass audits.

Entering into cross-chain liquidity pools

One of the pieces of the puzzle is regulation. The other one is interoperability. Plasma was also integrated with NEAR Intents in January 2026, a cross-chain liquidity protocol, which will transfer large amounts of USDT. The integration introduces the native token of Plasma, XPL, and USDT0 (the omnichain version of USDT by Tether) into a pool shared among over twenty-five blockchains. It is that users can exchange assets between Plasma and networks such as Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Avalanche without bridging assets. In case of business, this increases the stack of regulated payments of Plasma. Indicatively, an organization might compensate freelancers on Solana with money on Plasma without accessing several networks.
Plasma will become the conforming clearinghouse of the stablecoin economy by using regulatory qualifications and cross-chain connectivity. It uses the liquidity of other networks together with providing an institutional settlement backbone that is stable and compliant. This approach is specially applicable because global regulators are more concerned with stablecoins. Businesses desire associates that are capable of integrating into old systems and meeting the compliance requirements of regulators. The cross-chain integration of plasma demonstrates that compliance and openness are non-oppressive.
One licensed neobank Plasma One.
All these licenses and integrations culminate to Plasma One, which is a neobank created by the company on the basis of its payments stack. Plasma One comes with a wallet which contains USDT, is an interest-generating wallet, offers a debit card and does instant transfers. It is not a normal bank; it is a financial technology. Nevertheless, the intention to obtain EMI and other licenses will allow Plasma One to have access to card networks and bank rails on a legal basis. This assists it in its activities in territories where crypto only products would be restricted. Plasma One offers an array of cashbacks, high-yield, and the 24 hours access to funds. In the countries with weak currencies or minimal banking facilities, this yield, liquidity, and compliance package is appealing to a user.
In the view of Plasma, Plasma One is a showcase and an experiment. The company has control of the entire stack, which includes licensing, compliance, technology, and it is able to iterate faster and provide a product that can be replicated by other builders. Over time, one use of the licensed infrastructure of Plasma would be by third-party developers to create their own neobanks or payment apps. This network effect may be valuable as the core chain itself.
Future outlook: Regulation as an asset.
With the current trend of increasing supply of stablecoins and governments around the world responding to it, two categories of stablecoin infrastructure will probably emerge: those that comply and those that do not. Plasma is placing a bet with clarity on the former group. Its licensing business in Europe, its moves into new areas and its compliance with the changes in laws provide it with the way to mainstream adoption. Although the crypto world takes regulation and red tape as synonyms, the attitude of Plasma is another tale: the ability to follow regulations opens up the previously closed markets. In order to turn digital dollars into business and consumer transactions, they must have rails of which regulators have faith. Plasma aims to be that rail.
#plasma $XPL @Plasma

An Upgrade: The V23 Protocol.

In 2025 Vanar achieved an upgrade to the V23 a significant overhaul where Stellar SCP was merged with Vanar architecture.
The new system employs federated Byzantine agreement allowing the nodes to verify one another automatically. Consensus is still achieved even with the failure of some nodes making the network more resilient. An open-port verification system gives security a boost: every node should complete IP and port checks, which prevents malicious actors and false contributions. Performance also rises. Smart memory and dynamic block sizes reduce the latency with block time being three seconds. Now users do not have to update manually; changes in ledger only enter the book within a few seconds and the validation of changes take just a few minutes.

These enhancements led to practical use. The V23 jump shot on-chain nodes to a new high of approximately 18,000 and the success rate of the transaction was 99.98. It was clearing over nine million transactions daily, and the transactions were completed without congestion. Such reliability is very important in finance, gaming and business.

A Token Economy of the Community.

Designed in conjunction with the V23 upgrade, the token design of Vanar is limited to a total of 2.4 billion VANRY. Half of them were issued to replace the original TVK token. The rest of the 1.2 billion tokens are allocated out over a period of two decades so as not to cause immediate inflation and to tie the rewards to long term growth. Validators receive tokens eighty-three percent of which promotes network security. The thirteen percent is used in continuous technological development, and the four percent is the contribution to community event and airdrops. There are no tokens on the founding team, which reduces the possibility of massive sell-offs. The more the network is used, the more VANRY is burned, their supply is decreased, and there is a loop of use-burn-scarcity.

Vanar will soon implement Governance Proposal 2.0, which will allow the holders of the tokens to vote on the settings of the AI models, rules of incentives and fees charged by smart-contract. That will provide the community with a first-hand influence in the direction of the protocol. A fixed fee system makes the costs predictable and reasonable even when the demand is high.

Gaming: A Gateway to Adoption

Following the upgrade, the VGN gaming network at Vanar went up. Soroban contracts make it possible to create advanced in-game economies that have dynamic pricing, rewards powered by AI, and cross-chain transactions. One of its flagship games, Jetpack Hyperleague, introduced an on-chain AI task system; players receive NFTs and VANRY through personal missions. By early 2026, the in-game trade had reached over 1.2 billion dollars and the number of registrations reached 15 million. More than 60 percent were legacy gamers and this is a confirmation that low prices and immediate finality is an attraction to mainstream users. The network introduced eleven or twelve new games that year and increased its developer base by 89 percent and was able to build a diverse library

Brand Partnerships and Metaverse.

Beyond gaming Vanar Virtua metaverse is an emerging virtual-real community. The virtual brand showrooms and cross platform identity allow users to interact with brands in immersive environments. In one of its most recent collaborations with fashion house Valentino, a virtual fashion show was hosted; viewers could watch, purchase co-brandied merchandise and receive a discount on physical products. During the initial month the event attracted more than three million participants and 180million collectibles sold. The identity system allows the free movement of avatars and NFTs across VGN and partner sites to create a single Web3 identity and enhance the engagement.

PayFi and Real-Life Applications.

In 2026, Vanar strengthened the relationship with Worldpay. Customers have the option to purchase on-chain assets in 150 fiat currencies and it has a success rate of over 99.

The transition is a bridge between conventional banking and blockchain that facilitates the access of new users. Vanar provides visibility in supply chains: AI and smart contracts check production, transportation, and sales, increasing the traceability by 60 0.01 and reducing the risk of counterfeit by approximately 50 percent. In an attempt to encourage corporate adoption, Vanar introduced a $50M Web3 Brand Accelerator. It has added 27 brands in fashion, cosmetics and consumer goods, which receive tech support, marketing and access to the ecosystem.

Another Differentiation in Layer 1 Competition.

Layer-1 chains are clogging the 2026 Web3 space. Vanar seeks to distinguish itself on the basis of three pillars which are architecture, ecosystem and token design. It incorporates the FBA consensus of Stellar, AI-native and open-port checks into a scalable and secure core. It has gaming, metaverse, brand, and business services and thus has more applications near gaming compared to narrow chains. Its token model, whose release schedule is long, no team members are assigned and there is community governance creates trust and draws institutions. Vanar intends to expand globally, especially in quickly expanding Web3 regions like Southeast Asia and Middle East, and expects to hit fifty million users.

Losing the Digital Age to the Physical.

The 202526 story by Vanar demonstrates how a blockchain can shift to an entertainment industry-wide ecosystem and not just a gaming hub. AI-assisted compliance, low charges, and high throughput allows users to lock legal agreements, provide records and branded tales to the chain. Cutting the entry cost of developers and users, providing real-world incentives with tokenomics and partnerships makes Vanar the infrastructure of mainstream adoption. It depends on whether these real-life connections will sustain demand; though the momentum gathered to date is suggesting a sunny road ahead.

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