Tether has formally hired KPMG to audit its $185B USDT reserves and engaged PwC to prep internal controls. The move signals a transparency push amid U.S. expansion plans and investor scrutiny.
Tether released its first self-custodial consumer wallet, tether.wallet, supporting USDT, USAT, Tether Gold and Bitcoin. Transfers use human-readable identifiers, and fees are paid in the transferred asset without holding separate gas tokens. The wallet is built on the same WDK infrastructure powering Rumble Wallet.
Microsoft has launched Microsoft Frontier Company with a $2.5 billion commitment and 6,000 specialists, aiming to place engineers inside client operations and turn enterprise AI pilots into measurable business outcomes.
Citigroup forecasts XRP at $10 by late 2026, citing easing regulations and ETF prospects. Investors eye compliant cloud mining platform BI DeFi for steady returns amid market volatility.
Tokenized assets on XRPL have surpassed $1 billion, including about $150 million in U.S. Treasury tokens. The source article says SolStaking is pitching fixed-term, rule-based participation to XRP holders seeking returns less tied to market direction.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Environment has formally issued subsidy rules tied to carbon-fee revenue, putting 15 measures into effect on July 14 and channeling NT$4.97 billion already collected this year into the Greenhouse Gas Management Fund. Under the framework, each approved project can receive up to 50% of total funding, with applicants required to cover the rest. Eligible applicants include companies, factories, private institutions, government agencies, universities, and academic research bodies. The subsidy program targets six areas: low- or zero-carbon fuels and production processes, energy-saving measures, carbon capture, utilization and storage, negative-emission technologies, responses to the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and research into emissions reduction and climate adaptation. Items deemed legal compliance obligations are excluded, and supported projects must undergo effectiveness reviews with quarterly disclosures on the ministry’s website. The report also points to a separate trend gathering pace globally: carbon-credit tokenization on blockchain. It cites PwC’s projection that the global carbon market could reach $100 billion by 2030, while rwa.xyz data shows tokenized assets had exceeded $30 billion by the first quarter of 2026. Examples mentioned include regulated carbon-market infrastructure in Brazil, hourly carbon-accounting tokens used by Microsoft and Google, and Taiwan’s earlier carbon-credit purchases and STO-based token experiments.
An NBER survey found nearly 90% of executives saw no major AI impact on jobs or productivity over three years, even as tech layoffs reached 78,557 in Q1 2026, with 47.9% tied to AI and automation.
Quranium has launched the Convergence Layer testnet, the first infrastructure purpose-built for quantum security, AI-native intelligence, and blockchain trust. It features NIST-approved quantum-resistant encryption, AI-driven smart contracts, and EVM compatibility, aiming to address the quantum cliff threat.
