AI and crypto are converging—not as hype cycles, but as complementary building blocks of the next internet

Crypto is the currency of artificial intelligence | Opinion

CME Group has announced plans to launch XRP futures, with the derivatives 
marketplace eyeing a debut date of May 19, 2025. In an announcement, the CME 
Group said the unveiling of XRP (XRP) futures, set to offer access to both…

CME Group plans to launch XRP futures on May 19

John D’Agostino, Head of Strategy at Coinbase Institutional, revealed that 
sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors have become key drivers of 
bitcoin accumulation in April, contrasting with retail investors’ retreat from 
exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Institutional Demand and Sovereign Funds, Not 
Retail, Behind Bitcoin’s April Rally, D’Agostino Tells CNBC Sovereign wealth 
funds — state-owned investment pools […]

Sovereign Wealth Funds Bet on Bitcoin as Gold Alternative, Says Coinbase Institutional Strategist

Ondo Finance met with the U.S. SEC’s Crypto Asset Working Group to present a 
regulatory framework for tokenizing publicly traded U.S. securities. The 
meeting, also attended by lawyers from Davis Polk &amp; Wardwell, focused on how 
existing financial rules might…

SEC meets with Ondo Finance to discuss tokenizing US securities

_**Opinion by: Igor Zemtsov, chief technology officer at TBCC**_
Crypto security is a ticking time bomb. Updatable firmware might just be the 
match that lights the fuse.
Hardware wallets have become the holy grail of self-custody, the ultimate 
safeguard against hackers, scammers and even government overreach. There&#8217;s an 
inconvenient truth, however, that most people ignore: Firmware updates aren&#8217;t 
just security patches.
They&#8217;re potential backdoors, waiting for someone &#8212; whether a hacker, a rogue 
developer or a shady third party &#8212; to kick them wide open.
Every time a hardware wallet manufacturer pushes an update, users are forced 
to make a choice. Hit that update button and hope for the best, or refuse to 
update and risk using outdated software with unknown vulnerabilities. Either 
way, it&#8217;s a gamble.
In crypto, a bad gamble can mean waking up to an empty wallet.
## Firmware updates aren&#8217;t always your friend
Updating firmware sounds like common sense. More security! Fewer bugs! Better 
user experience!
Here&#8217;s the thing: Every update is also an opportunity not just for the wallet 
provider but for anyone with the power, or motivation, to tamper with the 
process.
Hackers dream of firmware vulnerabilities. A rushed or poorly audited update 
can introduce tiny, almost imperceptible flaws &#8212; ones that sit in the 
background, waiting for the right moment to drain funds. And the best part? 
Users will never know what hit them.
Then there&#8217;s the more unsettling possibility: deliberate backdoors.
_**Recent: H**_ _**ardware wallet Ledger helps competitor Trezor resolve 
security vulnerability**_
Tech companies have been forced to include government-mandated surveillance 
tools before. What makes anyone think hardware wallet makers are exempt? If a 
regulatory agency &#8212; or worse, a criminal organization &#8212; wants access to 
private keys, firmware updates are the perfect attack vector. One hidden 
function. One disguised line of code.
That&#8217;s all it takes. Still think firmware updates are harmless?
## Firmware vulnerabilities are already being exploited
This isn&#8217;t some far-fetched, doomsday scenario. It has already happened.
Ledger, one of the biggest names in crypto security, had a major security 
crisis in 2018 when security researcher Saleem Rashid exposed a vulnerability 
that allowed attackers to replace Ledger Nano S firmware and hijack private 
keys. Nearly 1 million devices were at risk before a fix was rolled out. The 
scary part? There was no way for users to know if their devices had already 
been compromised.
In 2023, OneKey suffered a similar nightmare. White hat hackers demonstrated 
that its firmware could be cracked in mere seconds. No crypto was lost &#8212; this 
time. But what if real attackers had found the flaw first?
Then came the &#8220;Dark Skippy&#8221; exploit, taking firmware-based attacks to an 
entirely new level. With just two signed transactions, hackers could extract a 
user&#8217;s entire seed phrase &#8212; without setting off a single alarm. If firmware 
updates can be manipulated this easily, how can anyone be sure their assets 
are safe?
## The hidden price of updatable firmware
To be fair, not all firmware updates are security disasters. Ledger uses a 
proprietary operating system and secure element chips for added protection 
now. Trezor takes an open-source approach, allowing the community to 
scrutinize its firmware. Coldcard and BitBox02 give users manual control over 
updates, reducing &#8212; but not eliminating &#8212; risk.
Here&#8217;s the real question: Can users ever be 100% sure that an update won&#8217;t 
introduce a fatal flaw?
Some wallets have decided to eliminate the risk altogether. Tangem ships with 
fixed, non-updatable firmware, meaning that its code can never be altered once 
the device leaves the factory. No updates. No patches.
Of course, this approach has its trade-offs. If a vulnerability is discovered, 
there&#8217;s no way to fix it. But in security, predictability matters.
## Real crypto security means taking back control
The crypto market was worth $2.79 trillion as of March 2025. With that much 
money on the table, cybercriminals, rogue insiders and overreaching 
governments are always looking for weak points. Hardware wallet makers should 
be laser-focused on security.
Choosing a hardware wallet shouldn&#8217;t feel like gambling with private keys. It 
shouldn&#8217;t involve blind trust in a corporation&#8217;s ability to push updates 
responsibly. Users deserve more than vague reassurances. They deserve security 
models that put control where it belongs &#8212; with them.
Security isn&#8217;t about convenience. It&#8217;s about control. Any system that requires 
trusting unknown developers, opaque update processes or firmware that can be 
changed at will? That&#8217;s not control. That&#8217;s a liability.
The only real way to keep a hardware wallet safe? Remove the guesswork. Strip 
away the blind trust. Always research the developers&#8217; backgrounds, check their 
track record for security incidents, and see how they&#8217;ve handled past 
vulnerabilities. Stick to verifiable facts &#8212; security should never be based 
on assumptions.
_**Opinion by: Igor Zemtsov, chief technology officer at TBCC.**_
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and 
should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and 
opinions expressed here are the author&#8217;s alone and do not necessarily reflect 
or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

The hidden risk of updatable firmware

Theo, a provider of onchain trading infrastructure, has raised $20 million 
from 17 investors to enhance its institutional-grade trading platform aimed at 
retail investors.
The funding round was co-led by Hack VC and Anthos Capital, with additional 
participation from venture capital firms Manifold Trading, Miranda Ventures, 
Flowdesk, MEXC and Amber Group, Theo disclosed on April 24.
Citadel, Jane Street, IMC and JPMorgan were listed as angel investors in the 
deal.
Created by former quant traders, Theo gives retail investors access to 
advanced strategies like high-frequency trading and market making, which are 
tools typically used by professional trading firms.
Theo&#8217;s infrastructure can be used across centralized exchanges and 
decentralized financing protocols, the company said.
The Theo network secures nearly $29 million in total value locked as of April 
23, according to industry data.
_Theo &#8216;s total value locked is down from its peak in February. Source: 
__DefiLlama_
Theo is part of a wave of blockchain protocols attempting to bridge the gap 
between institutional finance and retail. Companies like Polygon, Fireblocks, 
Ondo Finance, Lido, and BloFin have all played active roles in advancing this 
space.
_**Related:**__**Institutions break up with Ethereum but keep ETH on the 
hook**_
## Institutions are also coming onchain
While companies like Theo are working to bring Wall Street-level 
sophistication to crypto-native users, there&#8217;s strong evidence that influence 
is flowing in the opposite direction, too.
After years of speculation, institutional involvement in digital assets is now 
a reality, driven by the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the rise of 
real-world asset tokenization, the lure of onchain lending, and the growing 
dominance of stablecoins as a preferred funding method.
According to credit rating agency Moody&#8217;s, secondary markets built on the 
blockchain can streamline the investing process by removing inefficiencies and 
lowering barriers to asset ownership.
These trends are a major reason why the majority of institutional investors 
say they plan to increase their crypto allocations this year, according to a 
recent survey by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon.
The survey also determined that three-quarters of institutions could be active 
DeFi users within two years.
_**Magazine:**__**Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra &#8216;s plan to win trust: 
Hodler&#8217;s Digest, April 13 &#8211; 19**_