Indonesia’s digital ministry has frozen World Network&#8217;s local operating license after authorities found the project was operating under a registration belonging to a different legal entity. Indonesia&#8217;s Ministry of Communication and Digital — also known as Komdigi — has temporarily…

Indonesia suspends World Network, WorldID operations over legal violations

VanEck&#8217;s BNB ETF filing could enhance crypto market legitimacy and attract 
institutional investors, potentially boosting BNB&#8217;s mainstream adoption.
The post VanEck officially files for first Binance Coin BNB ETF in US, eyes 
staking feature appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

VanEck officially files for first Binance Coin BNB ETF in US, eyes staking feature

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has partnered with STEPN in a deal 
that honors the Argentine soccer team. The partnership includes the issuance 
of Genesis NFT sneakers that will unlock real-life rewards. Argentine Football 
Association to Issue Genesis NFT Sneakers The Argentine Football Association 
(AFA) has partnered with STEPN, a Solana-based move-to-earn project, to issue 
[…]

Argentine Football Association Partners With STEPN to Launch Digital Sneakers

Tether AI, the upcoming artificial intelligence platform from the stablecoin 
giant Tether, will feature payments in major cryptocurrencies, including USDt 
and Bitcoin.
Tether CEO Paolo Adroino took to X on May 5 to tease the soon-to-come launch 
of Tether AI, the company&#8217;s new AI platform designed to offer &#8220;personal 
infinite intelligence.&#8221;
According to Ardoino, Tether&#8217;s AI platform will be integrated with USDt (USDT) 
and Bitcoin (BTC) payments, allowing users to make transactions directly 
through a peer-to-peer (P2P) network.
_Source:__Paolo Ardoino_
The initiative builds on Tether&#8217;s December 2024 announcement that it was 
developing a website for the AI tool, targeting a launch by the end of the 
first quarter of 2025.
## Support of &#8220;any hardware and device&#8221;
Ardoino emphasized that Tether AI will not use application programming 
interface (API) keys and will not depend on centralized control points.
Instead, Tether AI will offer a &#8220;fully open-source AI runtime&#8221; that will run 
on an &#8220;unstoppable peer-to-peer network,&#8221; and will be &#8220;fully modular and 
composable.&#8221;
Additionally, Tether AI will be capable of adapting and evolving on &#8220;any 
hardware and device,&#8221; he said.
## P2P crypto payments enabled with WDK
The announcement also details that Tether AI&#8217;s P2P crypto payments will be 
&#8220;infused&#8221; with its open-source wallet development kit (WDK), launched in 
November 2024.
Tether&#8217;s WDK is a toolkit that enables developers to build mobile, desktop and 
web wallet applications, enabling self-custodial, or non-custodial, holding of 
USDt and Bitcoin.
_An excerpt from Tether &#8216;s WDK announcement in November 2024. Source: Tether_
Unlike custodial wallets, self-custodial wallet solutions allow users to gain 
complete control over assets, eliminating reliance on third-party custody 
solutions for completing transactions.
## Tether doubles down on AI
Tether AI is part of a broader strategy to expand the company&#8217;s footprint in 
artificial intelligence.
In April 2024, Tether announced company restructuring to introduce new 
divisions beyond stablecoin development, launching Tether Data, a dedicated 
unit focused on AI and P2P development.
_**Related:**__**OpenAI ignored experts when it released overly agreeable 
ChatGPT**_
In February, Ardoino announced that its AI division was working on a series of 
AI apps, including AI Translate, AI Voice Assistant and AI Bitcoin Wallet 
Assistant.
_Source:__Paolo Ardoino_ _(X post translated by Google)_
According to Ardoino, Tether AI has one key goal of providing the &#8220;ideal 
technological foundation&#8221; to achieve the vision of AI described by Isaac 
Asimov, one of the most influential science fiction authors about AI, known 
for works such as _I, Robot, The Robot Series,_ and more.
&#8220;AI will, in the coming decades, become part of the very fabric of the 
universe,&#8221; Ardoino said in another X post written in Italian.
_**Magazine:**__**Bitcoin to $1M &#8216;by 2029,&#8217; CIA tips its hat to Bitcoin: 
Hodler&#8217;s Digest, April 27 &#8211; May 3**_

Tether AI platform to support Bitcoin and USDT payments, CEO says

Blockchain-focused privacy protocol COTI will collaborate with the ECB to 
implement its privacy technology for the upcoming digital euro. COTI, a 
privacy-centric layer-2 solution on Ethereum, has been selected as one of the 
pioneer partners in the European Central Bank&#8217;s…

Web3 privacy protocol COTI teams up with European Central Bank on digital euro

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has explained when he believes rollup- 
based layer-2 platforms should go decentralized, and why &#8220;as soon as possible&#8221; 
is not the correct answer.
In a May 5 X post, Buterin explained that there is a right time for rollup- 
based scalability solutions to transition to a decentralized model. This 
moment depends on how low the proof system&#8217;s failure probability has fallen 
compared with the risks introduced by centralization.
Buterin&#8217;s thread came in response to a separate post by decentralized exchange 
Loopring founder and CEO Daniel Wang. Wang explained in his thread that the 
maturity of a system matters to its security:
&gt; &#8220;Not all code is created equal. A rollup can be Stage 2, but running fresh 
&gt; code that&#8217;s never been tested under real stress.&#8221;
Rollup development is classified into stages: stage zero, stage one and stage 
two. Each stage is increasingly decentralized, with stage two being fully 
decentralized and trustless.
_**Related:**__**Vitalik Buterin &#8216;s vision for Ethereum: Pectra, Glamsterdam 
and beyond**_
## Code that experienced war
Cryptocurrency systems that manage significant assets are exposed to profit- 
motivated bad actors worldwide. Even if a project does not feature a bug 
bounty program promising payments to people who find vulnerabilities, it is 
still taken apart under a microscope &#8212; it may just pay more for found faults.
This threat is growing as nation-state-backed bad actors increase their crypto 
activity level. One such example is the Lazarus hacking group, responsible for 
many high-profile hacks in the crypto space, including the $1.4 billion ByBit 
hack.
Wang suggested introducing a new metric for veteran code that survived the 
pressure of being exposed to highly motivated advanced hackers and hacker 
groups: &#8220;BattleTested.&#8221; The BattleTested badge would be awarded to a rollup 
that consistently secured at least $100 million of assets for at least six 
months, with at least $50 million being in Ether (ETH) and a major stablecoin.
Also, this badge would be lost at every update, as the new code needs to 
survive the onslaught of attackers to earn it as well. Buterin commented on 
the analysis:
&gt; &#8220;A good reminder that stage 2 is not the only thing that matters for 
&gt; security: the quality of the underlying proof system matters too.&#8221;
Analyst at Kronos Research Dominick John told Cointelegraph that &#8220;to 
responsibly transition from stage 1 to stage 2, rollup teams must […] take a 
hard look at correlated risks like shared custody weaknesses or geopolitical 
chokepoints that can compromise the reliability of multisig security 
councils.&#8221; He said that such risks often go unnoticed until the locked value 
crosses $100 million. He added:
&gt; &#8220;The real green light for decentralization comes not when the proof system 
&gt; looks good on paper, but when it proves under real economic pressure that 
&gt; it&#8217;s more reliable than the potential for coordinated failures among council 
&gt; members.&#8221;
_**Related:**__**Vitalik wants to make Ethereum &#8216;as simple as Bitcoin&#8217; in 5 
years**_
## When to go decentralized?
Buterin explained that the best time for a protocol to go decentralized is 
when its onchain proof system is safe enough for the centralized components 
serving as a centralized point of failure or collusion risk to be the bigger 
threat. This is because until a system is proven to be secure enough, 
decentralization, which increases the reliance on this system, may end up 
making the system less secure.
_Chart showing example rollup risk analysis per stage. Source:__Vitalik 
Buterin_
Mike Tiutin, chief technology officer at decentralized compliance protocol 
PureFi, told Cointelegraph that &#8220;going decentralized too early […] can leave 
users vulnerable.&#8221; John explained that &#8220;decentralization isn&#8217;t a race, it&#8217;s a 
long-term responsibility shared by the entire ecosystem.&#8221; He explained that 
rushing to stage two puts ideology before safety and increases risks:
&gt; &#8220;In stage one, councils can step in if something breaks. In Stage 2, a 
&gt; single bug could wipe out billions with no rollback.&#8221;
While going decentralized right away is recognized as problematic, many 
experts highlight the issue of not going decentralized at all. Arthur 
Breitman, co-founder of the Tezos blockchain, told Cointelegraph that 
&#8220;prominent Ethereum L2s&#8221; are &#8220;fundamentally custodial&#8221;:
&gt; &#8220;Privileged entities control core logic, jeopardizing asset integrity; 
&gt; banking on their immunity to collusion is fragile, and failure is likely to 
&gt; be correlated.&#8221;
_**Magazine:**__**What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum &#8216;s latest 
innovation**_