Meituan has quietly rolled out LongCat-2.0-Preview without a press release or open-source release. The model targets AI agents, supports a 1M-token context window, and was reportedly trained entirely on domestic compute clusters using 50,000 to 60,000 accelerator cards.
LayerZero has announced a partnership with Keeta to support the movement of tokenized commercial bank deposits across Keeta Network, Ethereum, Solana, and Base. The companies said the setup is designed as cross-chain settlement infrastructure for institutional users. According to the announcement, LayerZero’s omnichain interoperability protocol will be combined with Keeta’s compliance infrastructure to support treasury management and payment use cases. The product, branded as Keeta Stablecoins, is backed by commercial bank deposits held in custody by Bivo, a U.S.-licensed fintech platform. The companies said this structure differs from traditional stablecoins because the tokens correspond to real commercial bank deposits. Issuers will also be able to retain control of their contracts through LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token, or OFT, standard. Keeta Stablecoins are scheduled to launch later this month, with U.S. dollar support first, followed by euro, yen, yuan, pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Mexican peso, UAE dirham, and Hong Kong dollar.
The U.S. federal government entered a partial shutdown on Jan 31, 2026, due to delayed appropriations for key departments. DHS received only a two-week extension. The House is expected to reconvene on Feb 2, and the shutdown may last only a few days.
Hex Trust and LayerZero launched wXRP on Solana, allowing 1:1 wrapped XRP for trading, lending, and liquidity on the network. XRP briefly hit $1.50 before settling at $1.47. Market sentiment is constructive, though sustained demand remains to be seen.
Tether has made a strategic investment in LayerZero Labs, linking the deal to USDt0’s cross-chain expansion. The company said USDt0 has handled over $70 billion in transfers in less than 12 months.
Boltz unveiled a non-custodial USDT swap service on March 18, 2026, enabling instant exchanges between Lightning Network sats and USDT across multiple chains without KYC or custody.
Bybit becomes one of the first exchanges to support USDT0 deposits and withdrawals on Mantle, making Mantle the largest exchange-linked L2 by TVL. USDT0 uses LayerZero's OFT standard for 1:1 omnichain stablecoin.
Google officially launched Gemini Omni, a multimodal video model, at I/O 2026. It generates video from text, images, and audio, and allows conversational editing via natural language. Flash version is live for paid users today; free integration into YouTube Shorts arrives this week.
