Autor Cointelegraph by Christina Comben

Innovation City, a Ras Al Khaimah-based free zone focused on artificial intelligence and Web3, has launched what it claims is the first blockchain-based digital business identity system.According to a Monday release shared with Cointelegraph, every company registered in Innovation City receives a sovereign, cryptographically verifiable identity issued on OPN Chain, the public blockchain infrastructure developed by United Arab Emirates-based IOPn.The release said this turns the business license from a static PDF or database entry into a dynamic onchain asset designed to reduce reliance on centralized intermediaries and cut verification uncertainty.The move reflects a broader push in the UAE to replace traditional business registries with blockchain-based identity systems and AI-driven workflows, which proponents say could streamline verification and enable more seamless digital operations. By embedding onchain identity directly into company registration, Innovation City is testing a model that goes beyond most existing digital ID frameworks, but its impact will depend on whether external institutions adopt it.How the onchain business IDs workJimi Ibrahim, co-founder and chief operating officer of IOPn, told Cointelegraph that at launch, the onchain identity framework is intended to extend across Innovation City’s existing client base of over 1,000 companies, with immediate live utility within the free zone’s own digital ecosystem.Related: Luffa integrates OpenClaw to enable DID-based onchain identity for AI agents and governable interactionHe said the core value is not simply issuing a digital certificate, but giving each company a cryptographically verifiable business identity to use for access and verification across Innovation City touchpoints, such as the business center and selected ecosystem services, expanding to partners, such as technology, marketing and legal providers, over time.Ibrahim described OPN Chain as a public network where validator participation is open to institutions, infrastructure partners and governance-approved node operators. He said the network uses a hybrid data model that keeps core transaction data and proofs onchain while handling sensitive or large datasets offchain.He argued this setup differs from existing digital identity or verifiable credential schemes, such as Estonia’s e-residency program, because the onchain identity is established as the native business registration primitive for all companies in the free zone, rather than as an optional overlay on top of a conventional registry.However, he did not name specific banks, regulators or exchanges that currently accept or verify these onchain identities, leaving questions about external integrations, dispute resolution, and how quickly credentials can be corrected or revoked once third parties are involved.AI security and geopolitical risksRecent exploits in which AI agents were socially engineered into authorizing crypto transfers from wallets they controlled have highlighted how autonomous systems can be manipulated, raising questions about the resilience of AI-driven workflows like these.Ibrahim said that every agentic workflow built on these identities will require “human-in-the-loop authorization for consequential actions,” and that the agent layer is designed with adversarial scenarios as “a first principle, not an afterthought.”The launch also comes against the backdrop of regional conflict and fresh attacks involving the UAE on Monday. Recent eToro data cited by Cointelegraph found that UAE investors have been adding to positions in AI infrastructure, software and crypto-linked assets during the conflict rather than cutting exposure, despite the heightened volatility. An April 13 Deutsche Bank report said that the conflict is more likely to sharpen demand for AI rather than derail it.Why is the Gulf so well-suited for AI? Source: Deutsche BankIbrahim called the UAE one of the most “institutionally stable jurisdictions” and said that OPN Chain’s distributed validator network means no single regional event creates a failure point for the identity infrastructure these companies rely on.Market Moves: Why is Ethereum Foundation selling? BTC futures warning signsCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

K Wave Media, a Nasdaq-listed media and entertainment company, said it is redirecting up to $485 million in remaining financing capacity from a Bitcoin treasury strategy into an artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout, according to a Monday 6-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).The capital will be deployed into data centers, graphics processing unit (GPU) compute operations and related AI infrastructure investments under an amended securities purchase agreement with Anson Funds, the structured equity financing counterparty to the company.The amendment revises a prior $500 million equity purchase facility, which had been structured to support a Bitcoin treasury strategy, leaving $485 million available for deployment into AI infrastructure initiatives, according to the filing. The Bitcoin treasury was previously announced in 2025 as part of the company’s broader capital markets repositioning.The company said the shift forms part of a broader restructuring that also includes the planned disposition of its wholly owned subsidiary Play Co., Ltd. and the expected elimination of approximately $48 million in debt and related contingent liabilities.Related: Strategy takes Bitcoin buying breather ahead of Q1 earnings reportThe move marks a sharp strategic reversal for K Wave Media, which had only positioned itself around a Bitcoin treasury strategy in June 2025, alongside earlier initiatives tied to Korean cultural intellectual property and tokenized securities concepts. K Wave share price down ~28% pre-market. Source: Yahoo! FinanceThe company’s share price has been volatile following the announcement and was down 28.25% at the time of writing since Friday’s close, from ~$0.406 per share to ~$0.294, according to Yahoo Finance data.Board approves shift toward AI infrastructure strategy K Wave Media said in the filing that its board has approved a strategic repositioning toward AI infrastructure, including investments in data centers, GPU compute and acquisitions across the AI value chain. In a statement included in the filing, chief executive officer Ted Kim said the company aims to become “a meaningful participant in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure sector,” citing plans to build a scalable platform across compute and related technologies.The company also said it is evaluating a potential corporate rebrand, including the name “Talivar Technologies,” subject to shareholder approval at its annual meeting scheduled for early July 2026. The restructuring, including the subsidiary disposal and debt reduction, is intended to significantly de-leverage the company’s balance sheet.Cointelegraph reached out to K Wave Media for comment, but had not received a response by publication.Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter BrandtCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Solana is launching a Swiss-based research body to help financial firms interpret evolving crypto regulations, as competition intensifies between public blockchains and permissioned networks for institutional adoption.The Solana Research Institute (SRI), founded by former Euroclear executive Angus Scott, is debuting alongside a roughly 60-page report aimed at senior financial practitioners evaluating the network, according to a Thursday release shared with Cointelegraph. Contributors include the Solana Foundation, Jito, R3 and Figment.The initiative is designed to help institutions navigate frameworks such as Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework and the United States’ Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, as regulatory clarity begins to shape how firms engage with digital assets.The move is part of Solana’s broader push to expand its role in institutional markets, following the 2025 launch of the Solana Policy Institute in Washington. While that effort focused on policymakers, SRI targets firms assessing operational, risk and market structure considerations that have slowed adoption of public blockchains among regulated institutions.Ben Brophy, head of institutional growth in Europe at the Solana Foundation, told Cointelegraph that SRI aims to help institutions move from experimentation to deployment, bringing “credible analysis and informed dialogue to the forefront.”Stablecoins, RWAs and incumbentsThe launch comes as Solana reports rising usage across tokenized assets and stablecoins, including $650 billion in stablecoin transfer volume in February and more than $2 billion in tokenized real-world assets in March, according to network data.Related: Ethereum Foundation unstakes 17K ETH after nearing 70K staked ETH milestoneStill, Ethereum continues to host the deepest onchain liquidity, with over $165 billion in stablecoins and the largest total value locked among public networks in decentralized finance at around $44 billion, compared to just over $5 billion on Solana, according to DefiLlama data.Chains TVL percentage. Source: DeFiLlamaPermissioned infrastructure is also advancing. Canton Network materials say applications on the permissioned network now account for more than $6 trillion in tokenized assets, including large repurchasing agreements and securities positions, reflecting ongoing demand for privacy-preserving rails among regulated institutions.Related: BitGo expands Canton Coin services with trading, onchain settlementScott cited increased institutional participation in blockchain over the past 12 months, in the release, calling the shift “significant.” SRI says that it has convened closed-door sessions in London with participants from institutions including State Street and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, highlighting early engagement from traditional finance.Execution, infrastructure and remaining gapsFor infrastructure providers, the next phase is likely to depend on execution quality and market structure. Jito, a contributor to Solana’s staking and transaction pipeline, said institutions are increasingly focused on determinism, pre-trade privacy and best execution guarantees. “There has been a substantial shift from ‘is this viable?’ to detailed requirements-gathering around execution quality, market structure and operational risk,” Nick Almond, head of governance at Jito Foundation, told Cointelegraph, adding that regulatory clarity in the US and Europe is driving more concrete engagement.Still, challenges remain. Almond said many institutions are holding back until they are satisfied with the maturity of custody, reporting and venue connectivity infrastructure around public chains, areas he said are still in the “requirements-building” phase across the ecosystem. Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

The United Kingdom’s financial regulator has signed off on new rules and guidance for tokenized funds, aiming to make it easier for asset managers to use blockchains within the existing fund regime rather than in separate experimental structures.In a Thursday policy statement, PS26/7, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said tokenization and distributed ledger technology (DLT) could make fund management more efficient and that it wants to “support innovation in the UK asset management sector,” as part of a digital assets roadmap first outlined in a January 2025 letter to the prime minister.The changes give firms a clearer path to integrate blockchain into regulated fund operations, as policymakers seek to modernize market infrastructure without altering existing investor protection frameworks, and reflect a broader push to bring tokenized finance into the regulatory perimeter rather than allowing it to develop in parallel systems.Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said in the release that tokenization would “play an important role in asset management,” and that the regulator had delivered a practical framework to give firms confidence in how fund tokenization can operate within the FCA’s rules.How tokenized funds move into the UK rulebook PS26/7 allows firms to run investor records on DLT using the industry “Blueprint” model, confirming that onchain transaction records can serve as the primary books for unit deals without requiring a full off-chain duplicate, provided “appropriate resiliency plans” are in place.Related: Coinbase rolls out UK crypto-backed loans as FCA shapes rulesThe FCA said the Blueprint has already been used to authorize the first tokenized UK undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS), and that authorized funds can maintain their register on public DLT networks if controls meet its standards, including issuing units across multiple blockchains as long as investors’ rights and charges remain consistent. FCA guidance for fund tokenization. Source: FCAThe main rule change is an optional “Direct‑to‑Fund” (D2F) dealing model, where the fund or its depositary, rather than the manager, is the counterparty to investor trades. Deals go through a single step in which units are issued or canceled directly against cash moving between investors and the fund, a structure the FCA says is intended to make fund operations more efficient and easier to align with onchain settlement.Looking ahead, the FCA sketches a roadmap that moves from today’s tokenized funds to tokenized assets and, eventually, tokenized cash flows, including models where investors hold tokenized assets in digital wallets and managers use smart contracts to manage them. The regulator says it remains open to waivers so funds can use digital cash and stablecoins for settlement and certain expenses, and that it will seek further views in 2026 on wider use of DLT in wholesale marketsThe policy statement comes after the FCA opened a consultation on guidance for its wider cryptoasset regime earlier this month, covering stablecoin issuance, trading, custody and staking, ahead of a full framework due to take effect in October 2027.Cointelegraph reached out to the FCA for comment but had not received a response by publication.Magazine: Singapore isn’t a ‘crypto hub’ — it’s something better: StraitsX CEOCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

KuCoin EU has appointed a new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) chief and expanded its compliance team in Vienna, weeks after Austrian regulators barred the exchange from taking on new business under Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) regime.The MiCA-licensed entity named Carmen Kleinhans as its Anti-Money Laundering officer, alongside two deputy AML officers drawn from former Austrian regulators and bank compliance chiefs. According to a Wednesday release, the team will oversee AML, Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) and sanctions controls, as well as enterprise-wide risk management and regulatory engagement.The move follows a February decision by Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) to prohibit KuCoin EU from onboarding new clients or signing new contracts after finding that key AML/CTF and sanctions compliance roles were not adequately staffed, breaching internal organizational requirements.The hires mark an effort by the exchange to address those gaps and align more closely with traditional financial services compliance expectations, as regulators increasingly focus on governance and controls rather than solely technical breaches.Related: Thailand crypto platforms freeze 10K accounts in AML crackdown: ReportWider regulatory pressure on KuCoinThe new staffing push also comes against a broader backdrop of rising AML and sanctions scrutiny in crypto, with regulators increasingly willing to freeze or partially suspend business over governance and staffing failures rather than just technical breaches of securities or licensing rules.A Tuesday report by blockchain security auditor CertiK showed that KuCoin and OKX were among the exchanges hit with some of the largest AML-related penalties in 2025, highlighting how enforcement has shifted toward financial crime and controls rather than solely securities law issues. Notable AML-Related Penalties in 2025. Source: CertiKAt a group level, KuCoin has also faced regulatory action in other jurisdictions. In January 2025, it agreed to pay nearly $300 million and exit the US market for two years in a criminal resolution over unlicensed money-transmission and AML failures, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.On March 30, the parent company of KuCoin agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty to settle a case by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleging it operated an unregistered offshore commodities exchange. Earlier that same month, KuCoin received a warning from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority over allegedly offering virtual asset services in the emirate without the required local licence.Whether the hires are enough to restore normal operations under KuCoin EU’s Austrian authorization now depends on the FMA’s assessment of whether the required control functions have been fully and suitably restored.Cointelegraph reached out to KuCoin EU for comment, but had not received a response by publication.Magazine: How AI just dramatically sped up the quantum risk for BitcoinCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.