Autor Cointelegraph By Helen Partz

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

S&P Global is set to acquire the blockchain security company OpenZeppelin, expanding the financial data, ratings and benchmark provider’s digital asset capabilities.The deal announced on Thursday is aimed at complementing S&P Global’s risk assessment and ecosystem development capabilities in the digital asset market, it said. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction remains subject to closing conditions.“Our digital assets strategy centers on bringing trusted data, benchmarks and transparent risk assessment to markets as they move onchain,” S&P Global ratings president Yann Le Pallec said. He added that OpenZeppelin would expand his company’s smart contract and onchain technology risk assessment capabilities.Founded in 2015, OpenZeppelin develops open-source smart contract software and provides security assessments for blockchain projects and financial institutions. Its smart contracts have facilitated more than $37 trillion in value transferred, while the company has completed over 900 security engagements, the announcement notes.OpenZeppelin said its contracts library and other open-source applications will remain free and publicly maintained on GitHub. The platform will operate as a separate S&P Global business unit, with CEO Demian Brener continuing to lead while reporting to Le Pallec.Earlier this week, S&P Global led a strategic investment in Kaiko, extending the Paris-based crypto market data provider’s Series B funding to $110 million as it expands its data infrastructure for tokenized financial markets.Related: Circle to acquire Tazapay to expand USDC cross-border paymentsCointelegraph 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.

Revolut said Thursday it had received no direct contact from those claiming responsibility for a customer data breach despite multiple public ransom demands.A group calling itself “IAmNotAVillain” publicly demanded 6,000 Monero (XMR), worth about $3 million, from Revolut within 24 hours, threatening to sell the customer records to other criminal groups, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.“Revolut has not received any direct contact or demand from the individuals or group making these claims,” a Revolut spokesperson told Cointelegraph.The public ultimatum is the latest development in a data breach Revolut first disclosed last week, with Italian authorities now widening their investigation into how a government email account was allegedly used to obtain customer data.One breach, multiple ransom demandsRevolut’s claim that it has received no direct contact adds to uncertainty over who is behind the public ransom demand, as “IAmNotAVillain” is not the only name linked to claims of responsibility for the incident. Its website, iamnotavillain.xyz, was unavailable when checked by Cointelegraph at the time of publication.An earlier group calling itself “Revolut Smilik” reportedly demanded 10,000 Bitcoin, worth about $780 million at the time, vastly more than IAmNotAVillain’s current $3 million Monero demand.IAmNotAVillain disputed the competing claim in a notice on its website, alleging that a former associate had received only a small sample of the data before taking credit for the breach. The site warned others not to deal with the rival claimant.An archived version of the IAmNotAVillain website. Source: Internet ArchiveCybersecurity-focused account Dark Web Informer also flagged another website, revoloot.lol, associated with a separate actor claiming responsibility, further complicating efforts to establish who controls the stolen customer records. The revoloot.lol website was also unavailable when checked by Cointelegraph.Italian authorities widen Revolut data breach probeItaly’s National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate is also now involved because the suspected intrusion concerns a government entity, Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday.Related: Italy investigates government email breach linked to Revolut data leakProsecutors in Reggio Calabria have opened an investigation into unauthorized access to a computer system of public interest, while investigators work to establish whether the institutional email account was breached or cloned.Italy’s privacy regulator has separately asked banks to urgently review the security of their access systems and is examining whether other banks or financial institutions may have been involved.Magazine: Revolut ID thefts highlight KYC’s dangers: Here’s how to fix it

USDC issuer Circle has launched the mainnet of Arc, a layer-1 (L1) blockchain targeting stablecoin payments and financial markets, particularly agentic transactions.Arc uses USDC as its native gas asset and offers Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility and deterministic sub-second settlement finality, according to an Arc blog post on Wednesday.The network supports more than 20 fiat stablecoins, including USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB, while tokenized assets including BlackRock’s BUIDL and Circle’s USYC are available natively on Arc. Arc also offers interoperability with more than 20 blockchains through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) and Gateway.CEO Jeremy Allaire called Arc “the single most significant launch in Circle’s history since USDC itself.”  Separately, Circle said in a post on X that Arc was built for “programmable money, global markets, and agentic economic activity,” describing the network as stablecoin-native infrastructure for developers and institutions.The launch follows Arc’s public testnet debut in October 2025, when Circle said more than 100 companies were participating, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard and Visa.Circle said in August that more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders had participated in Arc’s private mainnet ahead of the public launch.Arc said it ultimately plans to broaden participation in network operations and explore a transition from Proof of Authority to Proof of Stake in 2027. Circle also completed the genesis mint of 10 billion ARC tokens this week but said the mint does not represent a commitment to launch the token publicly.Related: Crypto stocks slide after CLARITY Act fails to advance in SenateCointelegraph 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.