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Senate confirms Kevin Warsh to Fed board ahead of expected Chair vote

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Senate confirms Kevin Warsh to Fed board ahead of expected Chair vote

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on Tuesday, moving President Donald Trump’s pick one step closer to becoming the next chair of the U.S. central bank.

Lawmakers approved Warsh in a 51-45 vote. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to support the nomination.

Warsh still must win a separate Senate vote to become Fed chair, which is expected Wednesday. Governors serve 14-year terms while the chair serves a four-year term.

If confirmed as chair, Warsh, 56, will replace Jerome Powell, whose eight-year term leading the Fed ends Friday. Powell, however, has said he plans to remain on the board until a federal probe into renovations at the Fed’s headquarters concludes.

Warsh enters the role as policymakers face renewed inflation concerns tied to the war in Iran and rising energy prices. Investors are also watching for signs of how the Fed may approach interest rates and financial market regulation under new leadership.

The former Morgan Stanley banker has drawn attention for his ties to the crypto industry. Financial disclosures filed with the Office of Government Ethics showed Warsh held investments in blockchain and digital asset companies tied to decentralized finance, crypto payments and tokenized networks through venture funds and private entities.

The holdings included exposure to firms connected to Bitcoin infrastructure, Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchain networks and prediction markets. Warsh pledged to divest most of those investments if confirmed.

His prior investments suggest familiarity with crypto markets at a time when the Fed is weighing stablecoin regulation, bank crypto custody rules and research into digital payment systems.

Foundation unveils new ‘Clear Signing’ standard to stop users from approving malicious crypto transactions

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Foundation unveils new ‘Clear Signing’ standard to stop users from approving malicious crypto transactions

The Ethereum Foundation and a group of major crypto wallet developers are rolling out a new security standard designed to stop users from accidentally signing away their funds, a problem that has fueled some of the industry’s biggest hacks and scams.

The initiative, called “Clear Signing,” aims to replace the confusing walls of code users currently see when approving Ethereum transactions with simple, human-readable explanations of what they’re actually agreeing to.

The effort comes after years of phishing attacks and wallet drains that often boil down to the same issue: users unknowingly approving malicious transactions they don’t understand. The Ethereum Foundation pointed to incidents like the Bybit hack as examples of how attackers exploit “blind signing,” where users approve transactions filled with unreadable technical data.

Right now, signing a crypto transaction can feel like clicking “accept” on a terms-of-service page written in another language. Wallets often display long strings of code that only highly technical users can decipher, leaving everyday traders vulnerable to fake apps, malicious links and compromised websites.

The new system would instead let wallets display clearer prompts such as what assets are moving, who is receiving them and what permissions are being granted before users hit approve.

The framework relies on a proposed Ethereum standard called ERC-7730 and a public registry where transaction descriptions can be reviewed and verified by independent security researchers. Wallets can then choose which trusted sources to use when presenting information to users.

The Ethereum Foundation’s Trillion Dollar Security Initiative said it plans to oversee the infrastructure behind the registry while encouraging wallets and developers across the ecosystem to adopt the standard.

The push highlights a growing realization inside crypto that better security may depend less on smarter code and more on making sure users actually understand what they’re signing.

“We welcome the Ethereum Foundation’s Clear Signing standard as a critical security advancement for our entire industry. This addresses a fundamental vulnerability that has plagued cryptocurrency users for years, blind signing. When users can’t understand what they’re signing, security becomes much more difficult. This standard changes that, and every wallet provider should embrace it,” said Tomáš Sušánka, chief technology officer of Trezor, in an email sent to CoinDesk.

Read more: Vitalik Buterin pushes ‘DVT-Lite’ to make Ethereum validator setup easier

A-Cube Raises €4million to Accelerate European Digital Tax Compliance

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A-Cube Raises €4million to Accelerate European Digital Tax Compliance

A-Cube, an innovative technology partner specializing in automated digital tax compliance, has successfully secured a €4million investment round. The funding round was led by P101 SGR, a prominent Italian venture capital firm with an international focus, which will also provide strategic operational support as the startup embarks on its next phase of development. Sella Direct Ventures, an investor specializing in fintech and financial services technologies, also participated in the round and intends to leverage its global network to further accelerate A-Cube’s scale-up efforts.

This new capital injection is designed to consolidate A-Cube’s footprint across key European markets while accelerating the technological development of its API-first platform. Specifically, the company plans to integrate new Artificial Intelligence models and expand its product offerings into solutions adjacent to digital tax reporting. This expansion aims to meet the rapidly evolving regulatory framework and compliance needs of multinational companies operating in complex, multi-jurisdictional environments. Since 2019, A-Cube has already processed over 70 million invoices, currently serving more than 450 customers across over 10 countries.

Navigating a shifting regulatory landscape
Antonino Caccamo, co-founder and CTO of A-Cube

The investment arrives as the European regulatory landscape becomes increasingly defined by harmonization and digitalization. The upcoming VIDA (VAT in the Digital Age) directive, set for 2028, is estimated to generate over €110billion in additional VAT revenue over the next decade. Alongside the steady rollout of continuous transaction control models, this shift is driving the rapid, widespread adoption of e-invoicing and real-time tax reporting across the continent.

Antonino Caccamo, co-founder and CTO of A-Cube, noted that global taxation is undergoing a radical shift as regulatory changes and technological innovation converge toward increasingly digital and integrated reporting models. Caccamo highlighted that while Italy has been a pioneer in this space, the trend is now sweeping across Europe, making real-time tax reporting the standard. He stated that in this evolving scenario, A-Cube wants to provide the essential infrastructure capable of supporting companies through complex multi-country environments, ultimately turning compliance into an integrated and strategic process.

Giuseppe Donvito, partner at P101

For P101 SGR, the transaction represents a deepening commitment to the regulatory technology sector, marking its second investment in the Regtech industry following its backing of Aptus AI in 2023. The venture capital firm plans to guide A-Cube’s product development toward new application areas, evolving the platform into a comprehensive enabler of financial, tax, and operational processes.

Giuseppe Donvito, partner at P101, emphasized the strategic importance of the sector, noting that electronic invoicing is projected to be adopted by 90 per cent of European companies by 2030, creating a market valued at over €20 billion. Donvito explained that a profound technological transformation is currently underway where tax data are becoming strategic assets within emerging systems that tightly integrate digital tax reporting and digital trade. He added that through AI integration, A-Cube will bring greater automation, enhanced data quality, and powerful predictive capabilities to its growing client base.

Labor Unions Join Banking Industry In Opposition To Senate Crypto Bill, The Clarity Act

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Labor Unions Join Banking Industry In Opposition To Senate Crypto Bill, The Clarity Act

Five of the nation’s largest labor organizations are urging the Senate to vote against a pending cryptocurrency market structure bill, warning that the legislation would expose retirement accounts to digital asset volatility ahead of a key committee vote Thursday.

The AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sent letters and emails to Senate Banking Committee members, according to CNBC, which obtained the correspondence first.

The crypto industry takes ‘risks’

The groups wrote that the bill “jeopardizes the stability of workers’ retirement plans, including public pensions, and introduces significant volatility to retirement savings accounts.”

“This legislation invites the cryptocurrency industry to take outsized risks, knowing that if those risky bets do not pay off, it is working people and retirees, not crypto billionaires, who will pay the price,” the unions wrote in a joint letter to all senators.

The AFL-CIO, in a separate email to Banking Committee members, warned that “absent sufficient regulation, embedding cryptocurrencies and other digital assets into the real economy will have a destabilizing effect, while benefiting issuers and platforms at the expense of working people.”

The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to mark up and vote on the bill Thursday. Despite months of bipartisan talks, it remains unclear whether any Democrats on the committee will vote in favor of the measure. Several lawmakers say the bill needs more work on ethics, conflict-of-interest, and security provisions.

Labor groups are not the sole source of opposition. The American Bankers Association has also pushed back on updated language in the bill concerning stablecoin holdings. ABA CEO Rob Nichols wrote to bank executives on May 10 that a provision barring cryptocurrency firms from paying yield on payment stablecoins remains a threat to traditional bank deposits, arguing it would “unnecessarily incentivize the flight of bank deposits.” 

The crypto industry, in contrast, has backed the revised language, with Coinbase voicing support for the restriction.

Michael Saylor chimes in

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor took a position in favor of the legislation. In a post on X, Saylor wrote that the bill “would unlock the next wave of Digital Capital, Digital Credit, and Digital Equity in the U.S. and globally,” calling it a framework for “STRC-powered digital yield markets” and a signal of “institutional validation for BTC.”

The crypto industry has identified the bill as its top legislative priority this session. Whether that momentum carries through committee — and into a full Senate vote — now depends on resolving opposition from organized labor, traditional banks, and a block of Senate Democrats who have yet to commit their support.

Privacy emerges as crypto’s next ‘killer app’, according to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan

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Privacy emerges as crypto’s next ‘killer app’, according to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan

Arc, Canton and Tempo, three blockchains focused on stablecoins and tokenization, have raised more than $1 billion combined, highlighting rising institutional demand for privacy-focused crypto infrastructure, according to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan.

Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) recently raised $222 million at a $3 billion valuation for Arc, while Digital Asset is reportedly raising $300 million at a $2 billion valuation for the Canton blockchain. Tempo, backed by Stripe and Paradigm, previously raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation.

In a Tuesday blog post, Hougan said the fundraising wave reflects three trends: clearer U.S. regulation, growing demand for private blockchain transactions and rising competition from corporate-backed crypto networks.

Blockchains have long faced a trade-off between speed, cost and security: faster, cheaper networks often make compromises on decentralization or resilience, while more secure chains can be slower and more expensive to use.

That tension is especially important for stablecoins and tokenization, where institutions need transactions to be fast and affordable, but also private, compliant and secure enough for real-world finance.

Hougan said privacy could emerge as a “killer app” for crypto as businesses and consumers become less comfortable with fully transparent blockchains like Ethereum and Solana.

“If you’re a business broadcasting every trade before it’s complete, or a worker whose paycheck is visible to anyone with a block explorer, that transparency is a bug, not a feature,” Hougan said.

He added that the fundraising boom also reflects growing confidence after Congress passed the Genius Act in 2025, giving institutions a clearer regulatory footing to invest in crypto infrastructure.

Read more: ‘Bitcoin transactions can be monitored’: Ray Dalio explains why central banks won’t touch BTC

Clear Signing: Making Transaction Approvals Safer on Ethereum

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Clear Signing: Making Transaction Approvals Safer on Ethereum

An Ethereum Working Group consisting of wallet developers, security firms and the Ethereum Foundation’s Trillion Dollar Security Initiative today launched an open standard designed to end blind signing — a structural flaw that has contributed to billions in user losses, including the Bybit hack. Ethereum Foundation’s Trillion Dollar Security Initiative is taking an active role as a credibly neutral steward of the Clear Signing registry.

Across major exploits in crypto and blockchain applications, the final step often isn’t a bug in code, but a user approving a transaction. Even when phishing or an infrastructure compromise initiates the breach, the last step is typically a confirmation the user cannot meaningfully understand. Approving a transaction is meant to be the last line of defense when exercising control over what happens to your assets on the blockchain. When it is done blindly, that defense does not hold.

For users and institutions to feel comfortable storing and interacting with assets on Ethereum that amount to trillions, “What You See Is What You Sign” (WYSIWYS) must be our goal, and Clear Signing must be the default.

Today, approving a transaction often means trying to understand what you’re about to do based on information that isn’t designed for people to read. In higher-risk situations, users may rely on a separate device to double-check the details, especially if the app they’re using could be compromised. In practice, this information is often shown in low-level, machine-readable formats that are accurate but difficult to interpret without technical expertise.

What is needed is a way for both existing and new applications on Ethereum to provide clear, human-readable and structured descriptions of what a transaction will do, so that wallets can present this information consistently and reliably to users. Achieving this requires a shared format for these descriptions (ERC-7730), a registry to store and distribute them, a way to verify that they are accurate, and tools that make it easy for wallets and developers to adopt this approach, alongside a credibly neutral party to support the infrastructure.

Anyone can contribute descriptors to this system. Their accuracy is verified through independent reviews and attestations, and wallets decide which sources they trust. While these descriptors are provided alongside the transaction, rather than embedded directly in it, this approach makes it possible to support both existing and new applications, while still allowing their accuracy to be independently verified.

Ethereum Foundation’s One Trillion Dollar Security Initiative is committed to hosting this infrastructure and supporting its development, with tooling built and maintained by contributors across the ecosystem, and adoption encouraged through clearsigning.org, to help make Clear Signing the default on Ethereum.

We encourage wallet developers to adopt this approach and integrate support for clear, human-readable transaction confirmations. Developers building applications are encouraged to provide accurate descriptions of what their transactions do, and security experts are encouraged to review and attest to their correctness. Information about available tooling, including Rust and TypeScript libraries funded through 1TS, can be found on clearsigning.org.

By moving to Clear Signing, we are strengthening the last line of defense and making the Ethereum ecosystem safer, more accessible, and better prepared for the next wave of users and institutional adoption.

We want to credit and acknowledge Ledger for initiating ERC-7730 and early tooling, infrastructure, and educational efforts. This is a deliberately multi-party effort with contributions across research, library development, audits, and coordination, involving teams such as ZKnox, Sourcify, Cyfrin, Zama, WalletConnect, Fireblocks, Trezor, Keycard, MetaMask, Argot, and independent contributors across the ecosystem.

Consumer habits hold steady as payment options grow

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Consumer habits hold steady as payment options grow

Consumer payment behaviors, including cash use, reflect three years of stability

For about 1 in 7 payments, consumers still pay with cash despite the growing proliferation of digital payment options, according to the 2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (Diary), the annual survey from Federal Reserve Financial Services measuring the evolving role of cash in the U.S. economy.

Now in its 10th year, the national survey revealed that U.S. consumer payment use remained largely consistent over the past three years. Cash remained the third-most-used payment instrument among consumers for the sixth year, with credit and debit cards accounting for two-thirds of all payments. Findings continue to demonstrate more gradual shifts in consumer habits when compared to the advancement of payment technologies and increased payment options.

“The consistency of cash and card use over the last three years suggests cash remains a stable payment method amid the rise in digital options,” said Kathleen Young, executive vice president and chief of FedCash® Services. “Cash continues to remain a primary payment method for some, while serving as a key backup payment option and store of value for many Americans. This points to the importance of consumer payments choice.”

The survey also revealed generational and demographic trends in payments. Households earning less than $25,000 per year and adults 55 and older relied more on cash than other cohorts. Rural residents tended to use cash more than their urban and suburban counterparts — making an average of nine cash payments per month, compared to six cash payments made by consumers in suburban and urban areas.

Other key findings included:

  • In recent years, U.S. consumers’ preferences for in-person payment methods have stabilized, though the survey also reveals noticeable shifts over the past decade. More consumers now say they prefer using credit cards in person (38% compared to 24% in 2016), nearly equal to the amount who say they prefer debit (40%).
  • Most consumers (76%) carried cash in their pocket, purse or wallet in 2025, with the average amount totaling $69. Nearly half (45%) of consumers stored an average of $364 in cash elsewhere for savings or emergency purposes.
  • Four out of five consumers used cash in the last 30 days, and 90% plan to continue using cash in the future.

Since 2016, the Federal Reserve has conducted this annual consumer survey each October to better understand the payment habits of U.S. consumers. Participants report all payments over a three-day period, the value of their cash holdings, payment instruments used and their preferences for various types of payments.

Osero raises $13.5M in round led by Sky Ecosystem

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Osero raises $13.5M in round led by Sky Ecosystem

Osero, a stablecoin yield infrastructure project incubated by Stablewatch and Soter Labs, raised $13.5 million in a round led by the Sky Ecosystem and co-led by Plasma.

The round included angel investors representing USDT0, Maple, Accountable, Four Pillars, RedStone, The Rollup and Kairos Research, according to an announcement.

Stablecoins have grown to more than $300 billion, according to DeFiLlama data. Most yield from the assets backing those stablecoins still goes to issuers like Circle and Tether, leaving holders with no direct return and fintech firms with limited ways to offer stablecoin savings products without managing assets themselves.

Osero is launching three products. Osero Earn which lets wallets, neobanks, custodians and exchanges embed the Sky Savings Rate into their own interfaces. Osero App, which gives users direct access to the rate across chains, and Osero Foundry, which gives asset managers and structured product issuers a way to bring yield products onchain.

Osero Earn is meant to be integrated with roughly 10 lines of code, according to the company. The product routes deposits into the Sky Savings Rate while Osero handles the underlying asset-management, routing and risk infrastructure.

Osero Foundry will provide up to $2.5 billion in allocation capacity for anchor funding, swap liquidity and lending liquidity. Each deployment will go through a Basel III-inspired risk review, Osero said.

The $13.5 million raise will fund capital requirements for Osero’s first Foundry allocations. The capital will be used to underwrite the first cohort of deployments under the risk framework used for the Sky Protocol’s assessment process.

Sky, formerly MakerDAO, has been expanding the balance sheet and distribution network around USDS and sUSDS. Sky received a B- rating from S&P last year, in the first credit rating assigned by the agency to a DeFi protocol.

Sky-backed projects have also pushed into yield-bearing real-world asset products. Obex said in March it was spreading $1 billion across credit, energy and AI assets to expand stablecoin yield.

Plasma, which co-led the round, is building a stablecoin-focused blockchain. Its token sale drew $373 million last year in an oversubscribed sale.

The CFTC is in talks with every major pro sports league to crack down on insider trading

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The CFTC is in talks with every major pro sports league to crack down on insider trading

Chairman Mike Selig of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said his agency is in talks with all major U.S. professional sports leagues as federal regulators deepen oversight of sports-related prediction markets.

The regulator is seeking broader cooperation with leagues to monitor insider trading and market manipulation tied to event contracts, Selig said Tuesday at the annual FINRA conference in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, following an earlier CFTC announcement of a data-sharing agreement with Major League Baseball in March.

“We’ve entered into a memorandum of understanding with Major League Baseball, and we’re in talks with all the professional sports leagues,” Selig said at the event, hosted by the brokerage industry’s self-regulatory organization.

The CFTC agreement with baseball was its first formal information-sharing deal with a professional sports organization. The arrangement comes as federally regulated prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket move deeper into sports contracts, triggering disputes with state gaming regulators over who controls the sector.

Selig took an aggressive stance on that legal fight. He said the CFTC has already sued “about five or six states” over attempts to block federally regulated event contracts and pledged the agency would continue bringing cases against states that challenge the commission’s authority. Under U.S. law, derivatives listed on CFTC-regulated exchanges fall under federal oversight rather than state gaming laws, he’s repeatedly argued.

“Different products, parallel regimes,” he said, comparing sports prediction contracts with traditional casino betting.

The chairman also outlined how the agency is approaching insider trading in prediction markets, an area regulators have only recently begun confronting.

Selig cited a case policed by the platform Kalshi involving YouTube creator MrBeast in which an employee allegedly traded ahead of market-moving information tied to online content releases. He also described hypothetical sports-related scenarios, including trainers or team staff trading on nonpublic injury information before games.

The exchanges themselves remain the “first line of defense,” Selig said, because they conduct know-your-customer and anti-money laundering checks that can help identify suspicious activity.

The CFTC also expects prediction markets to spread into mainstream investment products.

Selig said regulators are reviewing exchange-traded products and funds linked to prediction-market strategies and are coordinating oversight with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). SEC chair Paul Atkins is scheduled to speak at the conference later this afternoon.

Selig’s remarks signal a broader shift at the CFTC under the Trump administration, which has embraced prediction markets and crypto-linked financial products after years of regulatory resistance toward the sector.

Startup That Aims to Widen Access to Compute Draws $1.3B

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Startup That Aims to Widen Access to Compute Draws $1.3B

A company that aims to develop an “AI grid” that will make compute capacity more widely available, has attracted $1.3 billion in funding.

Amp, which is based in Menlo Park, California, is the brainchild of Anjney Midha, a tech entrepreneur who was previously a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Midha says Amp’s approach is required because so much of the computing power necessary for AI is being gobbled up by tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Meta and well-funded startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, who have repeatedly shown they are prepared to spend billions of dollars on AI data centers.

Where that leaves those without such deep pockets is Amp’s concern. Its aim is to acquire extra compute capacity from data center operators — in both the U.S. and further afield — and make it available to those who need it for their own AI projects, but can’t afford it.

This would be done by creating a pool of chips that could be used by those without extensive funding or resources, such as universities or small startups.

Related:Nscale Gets $790M in Financing for Norway AI Buildout

Amp is a public benefit corporation. Among those already intrigued by Midha’s vision are Andreessen Horowitz and startup incubator Y Combinator, which contributed to the funding.

“Some companies just can’t get the computing power they need. The world’s wealthiest and most powerful companies are hoarding the infrastructure for themselves,” as Midha told the New York Times, which, along with The Information, reported the funding.

In practical terms, Amp said it will used the funding to purchase capacity, which will be added to a pool made available to organizations or startups that choose to join the “coalition” the company is putting together.

The aim is to mirror the concept of an electrical grid, where power is shared among various customers.

Members of the coalition will also be encouraged to contribute funds, or, underscoring the collective nature of the enterprise, share other useful resources. These could be the data used to train models, or even the models themselves.

Among the founding grid members, according to Amp, are France’s Mistral, voice AI vendor ElevenLabs, and Germany’s Black Forest Labs, while the company is targeting a pool of 1.9 gigawatts over the next five years, with 200 megawatts online by the end of 2026.

Separately, Amp’s goal to ensure the benefits of AI are more widely distributed extends to the foundation of a public wealth fund, which will provide backing to local communities affected by the transition. Amp says it plans to put aside up to $500 million of Amp’s profits through 2030 for the fund.

Related:Once Trendy Shoe Company Allbirds Pivots to AI Infrastructure

 

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