Autor Cointelegraph By Ezra Reguerra

The European Central Bank (ECB) said Friday it has signed agreements with three European standards bodies to reuse existing open payment standards for digital euro transactions, as it seeks to reduce integration costs for banks, merchants and payment service providers. According to the ECB, the agreements with the European Card Payment Cooperation, Nexo standards and the Berlin Group will allow the ECB to use standards covering contactless tap-to-pay payments, merchant-to-payment-provider connections and alias-based payments, such as transactions using a mobile phone number.The ECB said using existing open standards would minimize adoption costs for the market and help create a uniform digital euro user experience across the euro area. However, the standards agreements remain a cost-mitigation step, not confirmation that the digital euro will be cheap to implement.An earlier ECB analysis reported by Reuters estimated that the digital euro could cost European Union banks between 4 billion euros and 6 billion euros over four years.The agreements show that the ECB is trying to reduce one technical barrier to digital euro adoption. However, the move does not directly resolve the broader cost question facing banks that may still need to spend billions of euros preparing systems, staff and compliance processes for a possible launch.The standards to be included. Source: ECBECB prepares technical layer ahead of pilotThe ECB said the agreements are intended to encourage early coordination among payment service providers, standardization bodies and other market participants before a possible digital euro launch.The central bank said Europe currently lacks a universally available open standard supported across payment terminals and remains heavily dependent on proprietary standards owned by international card schemes and global digital wallets.Related: ECB backs tokenized EU capital markets with strict guardrailsThe standards push follows earlier signals that the ECB wants the digital euro’s technical framework clarified so banks and merchants can begin preparing their systems. On March 25, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the central bank expected to announce key technical standards by the summer.The ECB is also separately recruiting payment service providers for a 12-month digital euro pilot expected to start in the second half of 2027. On Feb. 18, the ECB said the pilot will involve a limited number of payment service providers, merchants and Eurosystem staff, with PSPs playing a central role in digital euro distribution.Magazine: Ripple joins Singapore sandbox, Bhutan’s big Bitcoin selloff: Asia ExpressCointelegraph 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.

Cryptography company Succinct has launched Zcam, an iPhone camera app that cryptographically signs photos and videos at the moment of capture to help prove their authenticity.The company said Thursday that Zcam embeds a tamper-evident record linking media to the device that captured it, allowing viewers to verify that content was not digitally altered or generated by artificial intelligence. How the Zcam application works. Source: SuccinctAccording to Succinct, the app works by hashing raw image data and signing it using keys generated inside Apple’s Secure Enclave, a hardware-based security module. The resulting signature, along with capture metadata and attestation, is embedded into the file using the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard, a framework for attaching tamper-evident provenance data to digital media.Standards such as C2PA are designed to establish the origin and edit history of digital content by embedding signed provenance metadata into files. According to the C2PA, its open technical standard lets publishers, creators and consumers establish the “origin and edits” of digital content. It allows users to record how the content was created, which tools were used and how it changed over time.Related: Spain seizes crypto cold wallets in illegal manga piracy raidThe launch pushes Succinct’s applied cryptography work beyond blockchain infrastructure and into media provenance, as companies look for ways to authenticate digital content at creation rather than rely only on after-the-fact AI detection tools.The launch comes as security concerns in crypto increasingly include AI-driven fraud. On Thursday, blockchain security firm CertiK warned that deepfakes, phishing attacks and AI-assisted social engineering are likely to drive some of the largest crypto hacks in 2026. The report highlighted how attackers are using convincing synthetic media to deceive users and bypass security checks. Crypto security expands beyond code as AI threats riseSuccinct said Zcam is an early step toward broader adoption of cryptographic provenance tools, which could be used in areas such as journalism, insurance claims and identity verification, where trust in digital media is increasingly critical.The company acknowledged limitations in its current implementation, noting that the Zcam software development kit is unaudited and not production-ready. It also said secure enclaves have been compromised in the past and that ensuring a fully tamper-proof capture-to-signing process remains an active area of research.Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act nowCointelegraph 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.

Cryptography company Succinct has launched Zcam, an iPhone camera app that cryptographically signs photos and videos at the moment of capture to help prove their authenticity.The company said Thursday that Zcam embeds a tamper-evident record linking media to the device that captured it, allowing viewers to verify that content was not digitally altered or generated by artificial intelligence. How the Zcam application works. Source: SuccinctAccording to Succinct, the app works by hashing raw image data and signing it using keys generated inside Apple’s Secure Enclave, a hardware-based security module. The resulting signature, along with capture metadata and attestation, is embedded into the file using the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard, a framework for attaching tamper-evident provenance data to digital media.Standards such as C2PA are designed to establish the origin and edit history of digital content by embedding signed provenance metadata into files. According to the C2PA, its open technical standard lets publishers, creators and consumers establish the “origin and edits” of digital content. It allows users to record how the content was created, which tools were used and how it changed over time.Related: Spain seizes crypto cold wallets in illegal manga piracy raidThe launch pushes Succinct’s applied cryptography work beyond blockchain infrastructure and into media provenance, as companies look for ways to authenticate digital content at creation rather than rely only on after-the-fact AI detection tools.The launch comes as security concerns in crypto increasingly include AI-driven fraud. On Thursday, blockchain security firm CertiK warned that deepfakes, phishing attacks and AI-assisted social engineering are likely to drive some of the largest crypto hacks in 2026. The report highlighted how attackers are using convincing synthetic media to deceive users and bypass security checks. Crypto security expands beyond code as AI threats riseSuccinct said Zcam is an early step toward broader adoption of cryptographic provenance tools, which could be used in areas such as journalism, insurance claims and identity verification, where trust in digital media is increasingly critical.The company acknowledged limitations in its current implementation, noting that the Zcam software development kit is unaudited and not production-ready. It also said secure enclaves have been compromised in the past and that ensuring a fully tamper-proof capture-to-signing process remains an active area of research.Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act nowCointelegraph 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.

Flying Tulip, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform founded by DeFi developer Andre Cronje, has added a circuit breaker that can delay or queue withdrawals during abnormal outflows, as April DeFi losses climbed amid a string of major exploits. According to Flying Tulip’s documentation, the mechanism is designed to slow funds leaving the protocol if outflow capacity is exceeded, giving the team time to investigate suspicious activity and limiting how much an attacker could drain in a worst-case scenario.Flying Tulip said the circuit breaker works differently across products. In the first version of the circuit breaker, used in its Perpetual PUT product, withdrawals can revert and users must retry later. In the second version, used in Flying Tulip’s stable asset and settlement currency, ftUSD, withdrawals are queued and become claimable after a delay instead of being rejected outright.Flying Tulip said the circuit breaker is built with a “fail-open” design, meaning transactions would still be allowed if the safety mechanism itself were to malfunction. The platform said users can track the feature through a dedicated status page. The design adds a new layer of protection for the DeFi platform as recent industry exploits exposed risks that extend beyond smart contract code. Circuit breaker definition. Source: Flying TulipRecent exploits put broader security failures in focusThe added attention to outflow controls comes as recent exploits underscored vulnerabilities tied to signers, infrastructure and collateral design rather than only smart contract bugs. Amir Hajian, a digital assets researcher at trading firm Keyrock, said the biggest failures in April were increasingly linked to operational and infrastructure weaknesses, including compromised multisigs, configuration flaws and key leaks. The new mechanism deployed by Flying Tulip is designed to slow abnormal outflows and give the protocol time to respond when losses stem from failures outside of the smart contract itself. Related: Phishing, deepfakes, supply chain attacks to fuel 2026’s biggest crypto hacks: CertiKHajian highlighted April’s DeFi losses, which reached over $600 million in the first 18 days of the month, with two incidents accounting for 95% of the damage. On April 2, Solana-based decentralized exchange Drift Protocol suffered an exploit, with estimated losses at about $280 million. On April 19, liquid restaking platform Kelp was exploited for about $293 million, prompting lending protocol Aave to freeze rsETH markets on V3 and V4. Magazine: 53 DeFi projects infiltrated, 50M NEO tokens could be ‘given back’: Asia ExpressCointelegraph 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.

US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said the agency is nearing the release of an exemption that would allow market participants to trade tokenized securities onchain within a compliant framework. Speaking at the Economic Club of Washington on Tuesday, Atkins said the SEC is close to introducing what he described as an exemption aimed at enabling limited activity in tokenized markets while the agency develops longer-term rules.“We are on the cusp of releasing what I call an ‘innovation exemption,’ which will provide market participants with a cabined framework to begin facilitating the trading of tokenized securities onchain in a compliant fashion as the Commission works toward long-term rules of the road,” he said. The exemption would provide a structured pathway for companies seeking to facilitate trading of blockchain-based securities, an area that has remained constrained in the US due to the absence of clear frameworks. The innovation exemption has been under discussion at the SEC for months as part of efforts to accommodate tokenized securities and blockchain-based markets. In July 2025, Atkins said the agency was considering targeted relief to support tokenization and new trading methods. In March, Commissioner Hester Peirce said staff were still developing the exemption as a way to allow limited experimentation with tokenized securities while assessing how existing securities laws apply to onchain markets.Related: SEC crypto guidance marks ‘final nail’ in Gensler era: AnalystExemption builds on SEC’s recent crypto classification pushThe comments build on the SEC’s recent efforts to clarify how digital assets are treated under federal securities laws. On March 17, the agency issued interpretive guidance outlining a token taxonomy that groups digital assets into categories such as digital commodities, collectibles, tools and stablecoins, with only tokenized securities falling under its core jurisdiction.Related: One year under Paul Atkins, SEC’s crypto stance shows break with pastThe interpretation was positioned as a bridge ahead of potential market structure legislation and aimed to provide clearer lines between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.In his speech, Atkins described the taxonomy as “long overdue,” framing it as a step toward clearer rules for digital assets.On March 24, the SEC sent the proposed interpretation to the White House for review, marking a further step toward formalizing its approach to crypto classification and oversight. As of Wednesday, government records showed the proposal as still “pending review” by the White House. [embedded content]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. Read our Editorial Policy https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy