Tag: money

Nigeria Tightens Crypto Tax Rules by Linking Transactions to TIN and NIN

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 06:57:15 +0000

The post Nigeria Tightens Crypto Tax Rules by Linking Transactions to TIN and NIN appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Nigeria is taking a firm step to bring cryptocurrency activity under its tax system through the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025. The new law allows tax authorities to track crypto transactions by linking them to real-world identities using Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) and National Identification Numbers (NINs).

This is a major shift for Nigeria, one of the world’s largest crypto markets, where digital asset activity has largely remained outside direct tax oversight.

Instead of tracking blockchain activity itself, the government is focusing on identity-based monitoring. By connecting crypto transactions to verified taxpayer records, authorities can compare digital asset income with declared earnings and existing tax data.

How TIN and NIN Enable Crypto Transaction Tracking

Under the NTAA 2025, crypto transactions become traceable once they are linked to a user’s TIN and NIN.

The TIN, issued by the Nigerian Revenue Service and the Joint Revenue Board, is used to track individuals and businesses for tax purposes. The NIN is Nigeria’s primary identity number, connected to personal and biometric information.

Crypto platforms will be required to collect and report these details. This allows tax authorities to see when crypto funds enter the formal financial system and check whether related income has been properly declared. As a result, crypto activity will no longer operate anonymously for tax purposes.

Nigeria Aligns Crypto Tax Rules With Global Standards

Nigeria’s new approach follows international tax compliance standards, including the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which comes into effect on January 1, 2026.

CARF is designed to reduce tax evasion by giving authorities access to data on both local and cross-border crypto transactions.

This move places Nigeria alongside countries like the United Kingdom, where crypto firms already collect detailed personal and tax information from users. It signals that Nigeria plans to treat crypto income the same way as other taxable financial earnings.

New Reporting Rules for Crypto Exchanges and Platforms

The NTAA 2025 introduces strict reporting requirements for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs). Crypto exchanges and platforms must submit monthly reports that include:

Customer names and contact details
Residential addresses
TINs and NINs
Transaction dates and asset types
Transaction values and services provided

Tax authorities can also request additional data from crypto firms at any time, with or without prior notice, giving regulators broader visibility into crypto-related activity.

.article-inside-link { margin-left: 0 !important; border: 1px solid #0052CC4D; border-left: 0; border-right: 0; padding: 10px 0; text-align: left; } .entry ul.article-inside-link li { font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; font-weight: 600; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0; display: inline-block; } .entry ul.article-inside-link li:last-child { display: none; }

Also Read :
Dubai Tightens Crypto Regulation as DFSA Bans Privacy Tokens in DIFC
,

Crypto AML Rules and Stronger Enforcement Measures

Nigeria is also expanding crypto oversight under its anti-money laundering (AML) framework. VASPs must report large or suspicious transactions to tax authorities and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.

Crypto platforms are required to keep KYC and transaction records for at least seven years.

Earlier efforts to tax crypto, including a 10% levy introduced in 2022, struggled due to weak enforcement. The new identity-linked system, backed by penalties such as heavy fines and possible license suspension, marks a much stricter approach.

With an estimated $92.1 billion in crypto transactions flowing through Nigeria annually, the government is making it clear that digital asset income will no longer stay outside the tax system.

Never Miss a Beat in the Crypto World!

Stay ahead with breaking news, expert analysis, and real-time updates on the latest trends in Bitcoin, altcoins, DeFi, NFTs, and more.

Subscribe to News FAQs Who will feel the impact of Nigeria’s crypto tax reforms first?

Active traders, high-volume investors, and businesses using crypto for payments are likely to be affected first. Casual users may notice changes gradually as exchanges tighten onboarding and reporting processes.

What does this mean for Nigerians using foreign or offshore crypto platforms?

Using offshore platforms does not automatically remove tax obligations. If crypto income is linked to Nigerian bank accounts or identity records, authorities may still assess tax exposure.

How could these rules change the way crypto platforms operate in Nigeria?

Platforms may limit services, raise compliance costs, or exit the market if requirements are too burdensome. Others may strengthen local partnerships to stay compliant and retain users.

What should crypto users expect next after NTAA 2025 is implemented?

Users should expect clearer tax guidance, audits focused on digital assets, and increased data sharing between agencies. Public awareness campaigns and enforcement actions may follow in 2025–2026.

Why Iran’s Currency Collapse to ‘Zero’ Could Push Bitcoin Back Above $100K

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 06:48:30 +0000

The post Why Iran’s Currency Collapse to ‘Zero’ Could Push Bitcoin Back Above $100K appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Iran’s national currency, the rial, has fallen to levels many citizens describe as practically worthless. The collapse is not the result of a single event. Economists say it reflects years of high inflation, weak growth, sanctions, and limited access to foreign currency. What is failing now is something more fundamental: trust in money itself.

As the rial loses purchasing power, the crisis is reigniting global discussions around alternatives such as Bitcoin — not as an endorsement, but as a reflection of how people behave when confidence in fiat money breaks down.

A Slow Breakdown of Confidence

In Iran, inflation has eaten into wages for years, while sanctions restricted oil revenues and cut the country off from much of the global banking system. Official exchange rates no longer reflect reality, forcing businesses to rely on informal dollar pricing.

Households respond defensively. Many try to convert their salaries into dollars, gold, or durable goods as soon as they are paid. This behavior accelerates the decline of the rial, creating a feedback loop: the less people trust the currency, the faster they abandon it.

This is a common pattern in currency collapses worldwide.

Why Bitcoin Enters the Conversation During Currency Crises

When trust in a national currency erodes, public debate often widens to include financial alternatives. In Iran, that debate has increasingly mentioned Bitcoin and stablecoins because they operate outside domestic banking systems.

This does not mean they are safe or suitable for everyone. Volatility, regulatory risks, uneven access to technology, and legal uncertainty remain major barriers. But during periods of severe monetary stress, people tend to look at all available options, even imperfect ones.

Iran’s situation fits a broader historical pattern.

Also Read :
Iran Economic Crisis: [Live] Updates and Impact on the Crypto Market
,

Lessons From Past Financial Crises

Similar discussions emerged during earlier crises:

In 2013, a banking crisis in Cyprus led to government seizures of large bank deposits. Fear of losing savings pushed people to explore alternatives outside traditional banks. Bitcoin hit a record high of almost $147 in 2013 during this crisis.
In countries such as Argentina, Lebanon, and Turkey, repeated currency devaluations brought cryptocurrencies into public discussion.

In each case, interest in digital assets rose alongside fear — though outcomes varied widely and risks remained high.

Why Markets Watch Iran Closely

Iran’s currency collapse alone is unlikely to determine Bitcoin’s price direction. However, it contributes to a larger global theme that investors track: fiat currency stress.

Currently, Iran is facing:

A sharp decline in its national currency
Rising economic hardship
Social unrest and protests
Tighter financial and communication controls

Historically, these conditions have coincided with increased attention toward non-traditional financial tools, not because they are ideal, but because confidence in existing systems weakens.

Never Miss a Beat in the Crypto World!

Stay ahead with breaking news, expert analysis, and real-time updates on the latest trends in Bitcoin, altcoins, DeFi, NFTs, and more.

Subscribe to News FAQs Why is Iran’s currency, the rial, collapsing?

The rial is weakening due to years of high inflation, sanctions, weak growth, and limited access to foreign currency, which have steadily eroded public trust.

How does inflation affect daily life in Iran?

High inflation reduces purchasing power, forcing households to spend quickly or convert wages into dollars, gold, or goods to preserve value.

Could Iran’s situation influence other countries’ monetary policies?

Neighboring countries and emerging markets may monitor Iran for lessons on inflation control and crisis management. Policymakers may adjust currency stabilization strategies to prevent similar trust breakdowns.

Who is most affected by the rial’s decline, and how can they protect themselves?

Households with limited savings and small businesses face the biggest impact. Many try to preserve wealth by converting cash into foreign currency, gold, or durable goods, though this carries financial and legal risks.

A Non-Existent ‘Stranger Things’ Secret Episode Briefly Broke Netflix

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 04:04:45 +0000

The story of Netflix these past several years has been a fairly consistent one, told primarily across a few main pillars. The company has begun hitting subscriber adoption issues as it raised prices, raised them some more, and then raised them even further, all as the company attempts to gobble up more live content, largely sports streaming, all while experiencing occasional service failures with the backend not being able to keep up with the usership. It’s a strange confluence of events, with Netflix clearly attempting to build up more content, particularly live content, all while not having enough beef behind the platform to support peak usage despite consistently raising prices.

But it’s one thing to occasionally experience usage disruption in the middle of a massive live event, such as the Mike Tyson fight from a few months ago. It’s an entirely new level of embarrassing when content that doesn’t exist causes service disruption, as just happened briefly this past week.

If you have no idea what “Conformity Gate” is, I’m both jealous and curious how you ducked it. Netflix recently aired the series finale of Stranger Things. It got mixed reviews, but a very vocal crowd had major problems with it and explained it all away with the idea that it was a fake ending (I won’t go into details, it’s all out there for you to find if you like) and that a secret new ending episode would be dropped on January 7th. While Netflix was mostly silent on this theory that exploded throughout social media and the internet, the show’s stars and creators were fairly vocal about how the theory wasn’t true. Enough people didn’t belive them, however, such that on January 7th the platform briefly had trouble keeping up with the number of people attempting to log in and find this non-existent episode.

Netflix experienced a service disruption on January 7, 2026, at around 8 p.m. ET, which coincided with the time fans anticipated a secret ninth episode of Stranger Things 5 dubbed “Conformity Gate.”

The theory, widely circulated on platforms like TikTok and Reddit, falsely claimed that the finale released on December 31 was a decoy and that a real ending would be revealed in a surprise episode. “Netflix crashed after many fans thought a secret final episode of ‘Stranger Things’ was dropping tonight,” posted Culture Crave on X (formerly Twitter). Pop Base confirmed, “Netflix crashed as ‘Stranger Things’ fans anticipated a secret ninth episode of the final season. Nothing dropped.”

Again, we have a confluence of failures here that all contributed to this. Netflix clearly didn’t invest enough of its price-hike money into its platform to be able to handle peak load generally for situations like this. The platform also didn’t do nearly enough to temper the public’s expectations as speculation and this Conformity Gate conspiracy theory ran wild. Netflix did finally put some messaging out with a vague confirmation that all of the series episodes were currently live for streaming. That obviously wasn’t enough.

Was this a huge deal? Probably not. Was it a prolonged outage? Not really. But it’s an event that exposed where Netflix has placed its priorities when it comes to its streaming platform and how it has spent the millions of extra dollars it has raked in through price hike after price hike.

And if the company really wants to expand into more and more live streaming events, it’s not a great sign that a non-event could crash the platform like this.

HSBC Establishes Asset Management Business in UAE

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 02:16:50 +0000

HSBC has launched a United Arab Emirates (UAE) asset management business that it said will play a key role in its Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT) wealth franchise.

The bank also announced that it registered 10 new onshore investment funds with the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority, it said in a Monday (Jan. 12) press release.

The new onshore funds will offer retail and institutional investors access to globally diversified strategies domiciled in the UAE and managed by HSBC Asset Management’s network of investment specialists, according to the release.

HSBC also announced that it appointed James Grist general manager of the UAE entity. In that role, Grist will be responsible for leading the growth of the onshore funds platform and broader investment capabilities in the UAE, per the release.

The bank’s establishment of this business was driven by the UAE’s regulatory reforms designed to encourage global asset managers to establish domestic funds in the country and deepen local capital markets, as well as the UAE’s status as one of the world’s fastest-growing wealth destinations, the release said.

“Establishing our onshore fund platform in the UAE is a major milestone in HSBC’s strategy to support the country’s ambition to be a critical wealth hub in our international network,” Mohammed Al Marzouqi, CEO, UAE, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, said in the release. “By building an asset management business and funds capability here onshore, we are giving investors more choice, more transparency and more ways to grow and protect their wealth in the UAE, into the region and around the world.”

Other companies have been growing their businesses in the UAE as well.

When Visa began the rollout of Visa Private in the UAE, the company said that the country was forecast to see a net inflow of about 9,800 millionaires in 2025.

Revolut said in September that it had been granted in-principal approval for licenses from the Central Bank of the UAE and that this was a pivotal step for the company in the region.

Mastercard and Worldpay teamed up in August to streamline money movement for consumers and businesses in the UAE.

The post HSBC Establishes Asset Management Business in UAE appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

The best robot vacuums we’ve tested for 2026

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:04:56 +0000

Robot vacuums are impressive devices that will clean your floors well and — thanks to bigger batteries and better robot brains — rarely get tired of doing their job. Over the last few years, these floor-sweeping bots have gone from utilitarian devices to full-fledged home robots that vacuum and mop your home, clean themselves, and trundle off to prepare themselves for the next run.

I’ve been testing robot vacuums for over 7 years and have run more than 80 of them throughout my house. This guide features my top picks if you’re looking for the best: a robot vacuum that can do it all with limited intervention from you.

Along with my top picks, I have options to fit specific needs, such as mopping, besting pet hair, shopping on a budget, and bots for small spaces. The good news is that there are many great robot vacs out there, so whether you have a 3,000-square-foot home and three shaggy dogs or a small, stylish apartment you share with a goldfish, there’s a robot vacuum to suit your needs.

Best robot vacuum Matic Score: 9ProsCons

Excellent mapping and navigation
Kept my floors spotless
Rarely gets stuck
Maps and processes data locally
Mops up large wet spills
Quiet (55dB)
Cute design, no big dock

Proprietary, expensive bags
Can’t get under low furniture
Baseboard cleaning is spotty
Can’t mop and vac simultaneously

Where to Buy:

$1245 at Matic

Multifunctional dock: No, charging only / Mapping: Yes, camera-based / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 3,000Pa / Remote check-in: No / Brush style: Single rubber / Mop style: Roller / Mop washing: Yes / Mop lift: Yes / Edge cleaning: Yes, mop extension / Works with: No smart home integrations

The Matic is a complete rethink of the robot vacuum and my new favorite bot. It has excellent camera-based SLAM navigation, superb obstacle avoidance, rarely gets stuck, and is super quiet. Combined, this means that 99 percent of the time, it will finish the job.

All this makes it my top pick because, despite their attempts to better navigate our homes — from AI-powered computer vision to arms that pick up clutter — traditional disc-shaped bots are still prone to getting stuck. If you want a robot vacuum that just gets the job done, get the Matic.

Instead of a multifunctional dock, Matic carries a large 1 liter dust and dirty water bag and 600ml water tank around with it." data-portal-copyright="" />

It kept my floors and carpets spotless; its large rubber roller brush and suction system demolished most of my tests, and its superb mopping cleaned up wet spills and targeted dried stains. However, some aspects of its cleaning prowess aren’t as good as those of the flagship bots from Roborock and Dreame. Its height means it can’t get under low furniture or clean baseboards as closely (although its big wheels can tackle almost every transition). It’s also very slow to finish a job, as it vacuums first, then goes back to mop with its self-cleaning roller mop. It’s super quiet, so you can easily run it while you’re home.

Matic can operate fully without a Wi-Fi connection, a big bonus compared to the competition, and all data, including maps of your home, is stored locally on the robot. However, it doesn’t currently support any smart home integrations. At $1,245, it’s expensive, especially since it doesn’t come with a multifunction dock (instead, it carries its disposable bin bags and water tank on the bot). But that also means you don’t have to deal with that eyesore in your living room.

The compromises Matic makes to provide a better experience overall are worth it in my opinion — it’s like the iPhone of the robot vacuum world.

Read my full Matic review. Runner-up best robot vacuum Roborock Saros 10 Score: 8ProsCons

Excellent vacuuming
Superb ‘sonic’ mopping
Good navigation
Automatic mop removal
Dock design much improved
Retractable lidar tower gets under low furniture

Expensive
Large and bulky bot
Edge cleaning not as good as others

Where to Buy:

Multifunction dock: Yes / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 22,000Pa / Remote check-in: Yes / Brush style: Single rubber bristle hybrid / Mop style: Flat pad / Mop washing: Yes / Mop lift: Yes, 18mm, plus automatic removal / Edge cleaning: Yes, mop extension / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts, Matter (including Apple Home)

If Matic’s compromises don’t suit you, Roborock’s Saros 10 is the bot you should get. An upgrade to my previous pick for the best overall robot vacuum, the S8 MaxV Ultra, the Saros 10 is similar to the Saros Z70, minus the robotic arm and the eyewatering price tag.

A combo vacuum and mop, the Saros 10 uses Roborock’s unique sonic mopping system, which I’ve been a fan of since it launched on the S7. Its siblings, the Saros 10R and Saros Z70, use spinning mop pads, but I prefer the 10s flat pad mopping combined with vibration, which I find very effective and far less likely to get stuck on things like rug tassels. The 10 can also automatically remove its mopping pad before cleaning carpet, a great feature first seen on Dreame vacs, and now on all three Saros models.

The Saros 10 features a retractable lidar tower and superb navigation." data-portal-copyright="" />

The Saros 10 navigated really well, moving smoothly, dodging obstacles, and avoiding the most common robot traps thanks to its ability to lift itself up 10mm and cross thresholds of up to 4cm. Its retractable lidar tower means it can get under furniture as low as 8cm.

The bot’s 22,000Pa suction and new single Duo Divide brush did an excellent job in my dried oatmeal and Cheerio tests, getting up all the fine debris. It also excelled at removing pet hair from my thick, high-pile rug. Plus, after months of testing, there was no hair tangled in it.

In a sea of complicated, buggy mobile apps, Roborock’s is easy to use and offers lots of features and customization options for ample control over your cleaning. The Saros 10 also has a built-in voice assistant, which makes getting the bot to clean the mess your kid made after dinner as easy as saying, “Rocky, clean here.” Dreame and Ecovacs also have this, but I found Roborock’s the most responsive.

Best budget robot vacuum Tapo RV30 Max Plus Score: 8ProsCons

Cheap, even with the auto-empty dock
A dual mop and dustbin means no swapping
Room-specific cleaning
Carpet boost

Short battery life
Slow to recharge
Docking can be spotty
Basic obstacle detection

Where to Buy:

Multifunction dock: No, auto-empty only / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: No / Suction power: 5,300Pa / Remote check-in: No / Brush style: Single rubber bristle hybrid / Mop Style: Flat pad with tank / Mop washing: No / Mop lift: No / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts, Matter

This capable robot vacuum and mop has some key features usually only found on vacuums more than twice its price: lidar mapping, room-specific cleaning, multiple suction and water levels, smart lidar-based navigation, and an auto-empty dock. With brands like Ecovacs and Roborock, you’re often paying double for the privilege of not having to empty the bot’s bin.

The Tapo RV30 Max Plus includes a compact auto-empty charging dock." data-portal-copyright="" />

The Tapo RV30 did an excellent job of navigating my house, cleaning the perimeters of the rooms, and then using a mesh grid to clean inside. I had to tidy up before it ran, as there’s no AI-powered obstacle detection — so cables and socks will trip it up.

Its 5,200Pa suction power is impressive on a bot at this price, and it ably sucked up Cheerios and dry oatmeal on hard flooring. It left some of the finer dust and debris, as its single bristle/rubber brush isn’t super effective. It fared less well on carpet. However, in the app, I could set it to clean a room three times per job, after which it generally picked up all visible debris.

Mopping was better than average for a mop with no pressure or oscillation. It has a wide pad and a big 300ml tank (which also incorporates a 300ml dustbin), so it applies enough water to do a good surface clean. There’s no carpet sensing, so you need to tell it where carpets are in the app if you don’t want it to mop them. Its small, 2,600mAh battery meant it had to recharge in order to clean my entire 800-square-foot downstairs. For around $80 less, you can get the RV30 without the auto-empty dock.

Read my roundup of the best budget robot vacuums for more on the Tapo and some other options. Best robot vacuum / mop hybrid Deebot X8 Pro Omni Score: 8ProsCons

Self-cleaning roller mop
Extendable mop
Excellent obstacle avoidance
Smaller, sleeker dock

Limited mop lift
Heavy, struggles with transitions
Single roller brush

Where to Buy:

Multifunctional dock: Yes / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 18,000Pa / Brush style: Single rubber/bristle / Mop style: Roller / Mop washing: Yes / Mop lift: Yes, 10mm / Edge cleaning: Yes, mop extension / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts, Matter (including Apple Home)

Ecovacs’ Deebot X8 Pro Omni is the best roller mopping bot I’ve tested, and at $1,099, it is one of the least expensive flagship models — Dreame’s roller mops start at $1,600, and Narwal’s Flow is $1,500.

The X8 did an excellent job on my milk, OJ, and dried ketchup tests, absorbing the small spills with one or two passes. It covered the floors evenly, without leaving any streaks or gaps, unlike spinning mop pads. Its edge cleaning is superior to the Matic’s, as when it encounters one, it extends its mop to clean right up against it.

Like the Matic, its self-cleaning brush system kept the bot from smearing spills, but its dock offers the option of auto-dispensing cleaning solution, whereas you have to add it to the Matic’s water tank manually.

The ozmo roller mop can extend outwards.

" data-portal-copyright="" />

As a vacuum, it excelled in my Cheerio and dried oatmeal tests and tackled most rugs. Its relatively small, single-rubber-roller brush is less effective than Roborock’s duo-divide brush. The newer X9 addresses these issues with a redesigned roller brush and a new suction system it calls BLAST (Boosted Large-Airflow Suction Technology), but I don’t think it’s a big enough improvement to be worth the extra money over this model.

With lidar and a 3D camera for mapping and obstacle detection, which is very good, the X8 easily navigated fake dog turds and cables, and its multifunction dock is sleek and attractive, especially compared to the one on the newer X11, which is a bulky monstrosity.

The downside of most roller mop bots is that they are big and heavy: the X8 weighs a whopping 12 pounds. Despite its ability to lift itself to clear thresholds, the X8 isn’t as agile as smaller, lighter robot vacs and is more prone to getting stuck under chair legs. It can only lift its mop up 10mm, which isn’t going to work for the fluffiest rugs. The X8 has carpet sensors, so it automatically avoids them, passes over them, or just vacuums them. But its best carpet feature is the option to have it vacuum the carpets first, then mop everywhere else.

Read my roundup of the best robot vacuums and mops for more on the X8 and some other options. Best robot vacuum / mop for hard floors and carpets Dreame X50 Ultra Score: 7ProsCons

Excellent mopping and vacuuming
Can climb over high transitions
Spinning mopping pads extend under cabinets
Automatic mop removal
Dual rubber roller brushes
Retractable lidar tower

Expensive
Navigation can be funky
App can be flaky
Large and bulky

Where to Buy:

Multifunction dock: Yes / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 20,000Pa / Remote check-in: Yes / Brush style: Single, rubber / Mop style: dual spinning / Mop lift: Yes, 20mm, plus automatic removal / Mop washing: Yes / Edge cleaning: mop extension / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts

The Dreame X50 Ultra is a big upgrade to my previous favorite mopping bot for hard floors, the X40 Ultra. The major change is the addition of a “motorized swing arm” that functions like a leg, allowing it to maneuver over higher thresholds (up to 6cm) thanks to a new leg-style mechanism. This means it can get into more spaces – like from my bedroom into my bathroom, and more easily tackle obstacles like high-pile rugs.

It also has higher suction power and a much-improved brush system that uses dual rubber rollers. It did an excellent job in my oatmeal-on-carpet tests, sucking up every last flake.

The Dreame’s wheels can lift up using two “legs” to get over small steps and high transitions between rooms." data-portal-copyright="" />

The X50 maintains the X40’s excellent mopping capabilities, including automatically extending its dual-spinning mops pads and swinging them to get under your cabinets and consoles. Its dual oscillating mop pads are more effective than Roborock’s thin microfiber pad on hard floors; however, if you have lots of high-pile rugs with tassels, go with the Roborock, since the X50’s spinning pads are more prone to getting stuck on rugs.

Like the Roborock, the Dreame can remove and reattach its mop pads, depending on whether it’s vacuuming or mopping, so your rugs don’t get wet. It also has a retractable lidar tower to help it get under low furniture. However, Roborock’s app is much better, more stable, and easier to use than Dreame’s, which often crashes and can take a while to load.

The X50 has good AI-powered obstacle detection, although Roborock’s is just a bit better. But both still get tripped up occasionally by pencils and other small items — something that never happens with the Matic.

Best robot vacuum for pet hair on hard floors Narwal Freo Z10 Narwal’s Freo Z10 is a great choice for homes with pets and hardwood floors, one that excels at sucking up hair without getting tangled. Its uniquely shaped, dual-sided brushes do an excellent job of picking up pet hair, while also delivering superb edge cleaning. It’s also an impressive mopping bot. Score: 7ProsCons

Excellent at sucking up hair without getting tangled
Very good mopping
Superb edge cleaning
Dual-sided brushes help get more hair

Obstacle avoidance is spotty (no camera)
Not as effective on carpet
Giant dock
Mopping pads can get stuck on rugs

Where to Buy:

Multifunctional dock: Yes / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 15,000Pa / Remote check-in: No / Brush style: Single, rubber/bristle / Auto-refill mop: Yes / Mop-lift: Yes, 12mm / Mop washing: Yes / Edge cleaning: Yes, mop extension / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts

While my top picks, the Matic and Roborock, are great for pet hair on all surfaces, Narwal’s Freo Z10 is a good option if you have pets and hardwood floors. This bot is specifically designed for households with lots of long hair, making it a good, lower-cost option for families and pet owners. Its uniquely shaped, dual-sided brushes sweep long hair directly into the cone-shaped roller brush, which funnels it down into the vacuum and leaves no tangles.

The Narwal’s unique brush system does a good job at sweeping up hair and funneling it into the vacuum." data-portal-copyright="" />

The Freo is also an excellent mopping bot, a category Narwal has long excelled in. Its triangular mopping pads get into corners and crevices very well and can extend to better clean along baseboards, as well as move backwards and forwards to simulate scrubbing — great for muddy paw prints. In my flour test, it mopped up 90 percent of the white mess from the base of my blue cabinets. Better than the Matic and the Saros 10.

The downsides are that its dock is huge and it only lifts its mops by 12mm, which is not ideal for high-pile carpets. Its vacuuming is also not as effective on carpets. But the dock does have a large on-board bag to store all the hair it collects (some Narwals don’t have auto-empty bins).

There’s no camera on the bot, so its obstacle detection isn’t great. It dodged socks and shoes, but cables and shoe laces proved problematic, as did fake pet poop. If you want more accurate obstacle avoidance, which you might need if your pet has accidents, upgrade to the Freo Z10 Ultra. It costs $200 more but adds dual HD cameras for AI-powered detection.

Best robot vacuum for small spaces/apartments Switchbot K11 Plus The Matter-compatible SwitchBot K11 Plus is ideal for small apartments, bedrooms, and home offices. It can easily navigate around chair and desk legs, and into tight spaces that most other bots miss. It also features a commendable 6,000Pa of suction power — which is great for this price point — and works well on both hardwood and carpet. Score: 7ProsCons

Smallest robot vacuum you can buy
Nice-looking dock
Good navigation
Integrates with other SwitchBot products

No obstacle avoidance (no camera)
Mopping is lacking

Where to Buy:

Multifunction dock: No, auto-empty only / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: No / Suction power: 6,000Pa / Brush style: Single rubber / Mop style: Disposable pad / Auto-refill mop: No / Mop lift: No / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts, Matter (including Apple Home)

This sub-$400 bot is a great solution for small apartments, bedrooms, or home offices. Its compact size means it can easily get around chair and desk legs and into tight spaces most other bots miss.

An upgrade to the K10 Plus, a previous pick for the best robot vacuum for small spaces, its 6,000Pa suction did a great job for this price point on both hardwood and carpet in my tests. The charging dock squeezes in a 4-liter dust bag while staying under 10 inches tall, shorter than a 500ml water bottle.

The mini robot uses a rubber roller brush and a single side brush (not pictured)." data-portal-copyright="" />

There’s no AI-powered obstacle avoidance, and the mopping function is more like swiffering with a baby wipe than mopping, but for a small home with lots of carpet, or for upstairs bedrooms, it’s a great option. It’s also very quiet and surprisingly quick, and its charging dock has an attractive wooden top that fits into these rooms better than most.

Other robot vacuums to consider Dyson’s newest robovac claims to have double the suction power of any other robot vacuum." data-portal-copyright="" />

My previous top pick, the $1,799.99 Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, is an exceptional vacuum cleaner and a very good mop for a very good price. Its dual rubber roller brushes and 10,000Pa suction make it great on carpets; its sonic mopping is excellent on hard floors, and its AI-powered obstacle detection is very good. The Saros 10 is an improvement in every way, but consider this if you’re looking to save money. Read our review.
A previous pick for best mopping bot, the $899.99 Narwal Freo X Ultra, is still a good choice. Like the Freo Z10, it has spinning triangular mop pads and the ability to swing slightly to get closer to baseboards. Its large charging dock holds two big water tanks, but doesn’t have an auto-empty dustbin; instead, Narwal’s disposable onboard bin compresses the dust. There’s no loud noise when it returns to the dock, which is a bonus. There’s no camera, so its obstacle avoidance is spotty. Its anti-tangle brush and 8,200Pa suction did a good job on most carpets, but its 12mm mop lift isn’t effective on plush carpets.
The $999.99 Dyson 360 Vis Nav is a powerful beast and the best robot vacuum for carpets I’ve tested. But its navigation needs a lot of work. It’s worth considering if you have a simple floor plan with a lot of carpets, but the short battery life and lack of an auto-empty dock are major cons. Read our hands-on impressions.

What I’m testing and what’s coming next Robot vacuum testing involves all members of my household." data-portal-copyright="" />

Eufy’s $1,399.99 Omni E28 is a self-emptying, self-refilling, and self-washing robot vacuum with a roller mop that can go over tough stains a second time if needed. The charging dock also includes a built-in deep cleaner that sprays water to tackle stains before sucking the mess into a separate wastewater tank.
The Ecovacs X11 OmniCyclone is a $1,499.99 bagless robot vacuum mop with a multifunction dock, a roller mop, and a whopping 19,500Pa of suction power, alongside Ecovacs’ new BLAST tech designed to improve debris removal. The mop can extend up to 15mm to reach corners. It can also tackle transitions better than the X8 and X9, thanks to “mechanical climbing levers.”
The Narwal Flow ($1,499.99) features the company’s first roller mop, which can also extend. It uses a multifunction dock for emptying the bin and refilling the water, and has a deep carpet boost mode.
The Eureka J15 Max Ultra ($1,199) is an upgrade to the J15 Pro Ultra ($999.99). A robot vacuum and mop, it can accurately spot liquids and automatically rotate its body to tackle wet spills with its dual spinning mopping pads, while avoiding getting its vacuum duct wet. Something few mopping vacs can do.
The Switchbot S20 ($799.99) is the second generation of our previous pick for the best mopping vacuum, the Switchbot S10. It adds an extendable roller mop/side brush, 15,000Pa of suction power, and the option of a multifunction dock if you don’t like the split dock design of the S10.
SharkNinja’s PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro 2-in-1 robot vacuum mop ($999.99) can lift itself up to 20mm to get over rugs and transitions. Its multifunction dock doesn’t require bags, either.
The Roborock Q10 S5 Plus ($549.99) has an impressive 10,000Pa of suction power for a budget bot and uses Roborock’s sonic mop system, vibrating 3,000 times per minute to scrub the floors. It comes with a 2.7-liter self-emptying base that can hold up to 70 days’ worth of debris, or you can get it without for less.
The Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai Robot is its first combo robot vacuum and mop. It uses a roller mop, lidar navigation, and Dyson’s first multifunctional dock. There’s no pricing or release date yet. Read our hands-on impressions.
DJI’s first robot vacuum, the Romo, comes in three configurations, with the flagship model being the transparent Romo P for €1,899 (around $2,200). Then there’s the Romo A for €1,599 (around $1,700), and the more affordable Romo S, at €1,299 (around $1,500). They are currently only available in Europe. All three have multifunction docks and use wide-angle dual-transmitter solid-state lidar for navigation — the same tech found in DJI’s flagship drones — along with a pair of fish-eye vision sensors for obstacle detection.
The $1,599.99 Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller Complete features a roller-style mopping system that continuously cleans itself in real time. Its companion model, the Aqua10 Ultra Track Complete, adds hot-water mopping and automatically adds cleaning solution as it moves about, so you don’t have to stop and refill anything.
The $1,999.99 Dreame Matrix 10 Ultra comes with a multi-mop switching multifunction dock that automatically swaps between nylon scrub pads, sponge pads, and thermal mop pads based on where it’s cleaning. Its three-solution compartment also holds separate cleaners for tackling pet odors, wood floors, and general messes, which the robovac will dispense on its own depending on the situation.
Roborock’s Saros Rover, which we named one of the best smart home gadgets at CES 2026, is the world’s first robot vacuum capable of climbing — and cleaning — stairs, thanks to set of articulating legs. The robot moves in a smooth, frog-like manner, taking just under three minutes to climb a five-step staircase. It can navigate slopes, hop between steps, and quickly change direction; however, Roborock hasn’t shared pricing or a release date yet.
Roborock also introduced the Saros 20 and Saros 20 Sonic at CES, both of which feature an upgraded chassis that automatically adjusts the robot’s height to better handle different carpet types. Each model can climb over thresholds up to 3.3 inches tall, but the upgraded model features an improved sonic mop that extends into baseboards and offers customizable water flow and vibration settings. Both robot vacuums are slated to arrive later this year, though Roborock has yet to share pricing details.
In addition to the aforementioned Rover and S20 models, Roborock recently introduced the Qrevo Curv 2 Flo, which is the company’s first robovac to feature a self-cleaning roller mop. It boasts AI-powered dirt detection, 20,000Pa of suction power, and Matter support, as well as a multifunctional dock that cleans the mop and auto-empties the bin. It will retail for $999 when it launches on January 19th.
The recently introduced Narwal Flow 2, the successor to the edge-mopping Flow, also made its debut at CES. It can detect dropped valuables like phones and keys, avoid them while cleaning, and alert you via an app with a photo and their location. It also offers new cleaning modes tailored for pets and children, including a deep-clean setting for areas where pets spend the most time and the ability to automatically switch to a quieter cleaning mode when approaching a crib. Additional upgrades include up to 30,000Pa of suction power — up from 22,000Pa — and 158°F hot-water mopping. The Flow 2 is slated to launch in April, though pricing hasn’t been announced yet.
Anker’s forthcoming Eufy S2 is a robot vacuum and mop hybrid that stands out for its built-in “aromatherapy system,” which is designed to leave your home smelling fresh as it cleans. Other highlights include a self-cleaning roller mop, powerful 30,000Pa suction, and AI-powered obstacle detection.
Ecovacs just announced the Deebot X12 OmniCyclone, the successor to the X11, which can pretreat stains and includes a smart cover to keep carpets dry. The company also debuted the midrange T90 Pro Omni, a successor to the T80 Omni that allows the robot to recharge whenever it returns to the base to clean itself. Pricing and release details for both models haven’t been shared yet.

How I test robot vacuums

Alongside everyday use, I put robot vacuums through a gauntlet of specific tests. I test object detection and avoidance with phone chargers, socks, a pencil, and fake pet poop. I throw in Cheerios or popcorn to see if they know to vacuum that up rather than avoid it. I run them over oatmeal and flour to see how well they pick up fine debris and have them tackle both thick and low-pile carpets. I monitor how they handle rug tassels, my high pile living room rug, skinny chair legs, and room transitions.

For mopping, I test on hardwood and tile floors with dried milk, fresh OJ, and ketchup. I monitor how quickly they fill up their bin / auto-empty dock and how efficiently they use water and clean their mop pads. I set schedules, hook them up to voice assistants, and play with the app’s advanced features.

I evaluate navigation by running them on all three floors of my house and evaluating how well they map and how easy the maps are to edit and use. I also test any advanced features, such as home security camera capabilities, AI cleaning programs, and automatic mop removal.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Update, January 12th: Adjusted pricing / availability and added details regarding several new models introduced at CES 2026. Sheena Vasani also contributed to this post.

Betterment Says Social Engineering Attack Enabled Data Breach and Unauthorized Messages

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:56:53 +0000

Investing and savings app Betterment said Monday (Jan. 12) that a social engineering attack led to its customers receiving an unauthorized message promoting a crypto-related promotion and to an unauthorized individual gaining access to customer information.

Betterment had told its customers Friday (Jan. 9), in the first security update about the incident, that they may have received a message about the promotion earlier in the day and that the message was not real and should be disregarded.

The company said the unauthorized message was sent via a third-party system it uses for customer communications.

In a Saturday (Jan. 10) update, Betterment said an unauthorized individual gained access to some of the company’s systems and was thereby able to claim to represent Betterment while sending the fraudulent promotion.

The company said that the unauthorized access had been removed, there was no sign that the individual gained access to Betterment customer accounts, and the security of those accounts was not compromised if customers clicked on the notification offer.

In its Monday update sharing that the incident was enabled by a social engineering attack, Betterment said this means “the individual used identity impersonation and deception to gain access, rather than compromising our technical infrastructure.”

The company said that the unauthorized access involved third-party platforms it uses to support its marketing and operations, that it launched an ongoing investigation, and that a leading cybersecurity firm will help with that investigation.

It added that while no customer accounts were accessed and no log-in credentials were compromised, it believes the unauthorized individual accessed customer information such as names, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers and birthdates.

Betterment said that it will provide more details when it is able and that customers should be cautious of unexpected communications and should remember that Betterment will never ask them to share their password or sensitive personal information.

The company added that it is “reviewing and strengthening our controls and training to further protect against social engineering attempts.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Vendors and Vulnerabilities: The Cyberattack Squeeze on Mid-Market Firms“ found that social engineering attacks are a growing problem for middle-market companies.

Another PYMNTS Intelligence report, “The State of Fraud and Financial Crime in the U.S. 2024: What FIs Need to Know,” found that social engineering fraud had increased 56% in the previous year.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) cautioned the public in November that cybercriminals are impersonating financial institutions to steal money or information from individuals, businesses and organizations.

The post Betterment Says Social Engineering Attack Enabled Data Breach and Unauthorized Messages appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

B2B Payments Make the Leap to Real Time in Latin America

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:51:16 +0000

Digital payments in Latin America are transforming commercial transactions, as faster payment rails originally designed to broaden consumer access increasingly support business-to-business payments and deepen engagement with bank accounts.

The region’s instant payments story has garnered the most digital and newspaper ink, with a focus on households. Central banks and policymakers promoted real-time transfers to reduce cash use, expand financial inclusion and lower the cost of everyday transactions. Brazil’s Pix and Mexico’s CoDi were launched with visible fanfare to address consumer and person-to-person needs.

That consumer-led adoption has now created the conditions for commercial use. As faster payments become ubiquitous, businesses are embracing the same rails to move money with greater speed, certainty and visibility.

Consumer Adoption Builds the On-Ramp

Fast payments have spread quickly in Latin America because they remove friction. Transfers clear in seconds, operate 24/7 and typically cost little or nothing for individuals. According to the World Bank, fast payment systems are now a central driver of digital payments growth across Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting for a sharply rising share of overall digital payment volume and surpassing card payments in several markets.

As these systems became embedded in daily financial behavior, they naturally extended into small business use. The landscape is largely untapped. As reported here, “When it comes to B2B payments in emerging markets, one very interesting thing is that currently more than 70% of all companies are buying online, but just 30% of the payments are done digitally,” Eduardo de Abreu, VP of product at EBANX, told PYMNTS.

In many Latin American economies, consumers are also micro-entrepreneurs or merchants. The same bank accounts and digital wallets used for personal transfers are often used to receive customer payments or pay suppliers.

Brazil provides the clearest view of how faster rails mature into economic infrastructure. As PYMNTS Intelligence has detailed, Brazil is at the forefront of the digital shift, with an embrace of digital wallets, for example, that spans demographics.

Pix, launched by the Central Bank of Brazil in late 2020, supports instant transfers among individuals, businesses and government entities on a single interoperable platform.

Year-over-year growth is evident when comparing December data. According Pix statistics sourced from the Banco Central do Brasil, there were more than 263 million B2B transactions in December 2025, where that tally had been 175 million in December 2024. As measured in trillions of Brazilian reals, December marked 1.5 trillion reals, up from about 1 trillion reals last year. This December-to-December comparison matters because it smooths seasonal effects and highlights structural adoption across the economy.

What Faster B2B Payments Change

For businesses, real-time settlement addresses long-standing friction. Faster payments reduce receivables delays, improve liquidity management and eliminate uncertainty around when funds will be available.

Research from the Bank for International Settlements provides firm-level evidence of this shift. Studying Pix adoption across Brazilian municipalities, the BIS finds that Pix increased both the number of transactions and the value transacted among firms, while complementing — not replacing — other payment methods such as wires and payment slips. In other words, Pix added a faster option to the B2B toolkit rather than displacing existing rails.

One of the most important consequences of faster payments in Latin America is their effect on bank accounts. The World Bank reports that across Latin America and the Caribbean, digital payments per account holder increased sharply, with 61% of that growth attributable to fast payments systems. The finding points to deeper and more frequent account use rather than disintermediation.

The BIS paper on Pix quantifies this effect in Brazil. It finds that a 1% increase in active Pix users led to a 0.8% increase in people opening bank accounts for the first time, along with higher active use of existing accounts by both individuals and firms.

As B2B payments move onto real-time rails, businesses have stronger incentives to maintain active balances, optimize accounts and engage with banks for complementary services.

PYMNTS Intelligence data reinforce the operational shift. Merchants increasingly plan to use digital wallets and mobile payment tools to improve cash flow visibility, reduce payment delays and streamline operations.

Beyond the traditional banks, for example, Nubank participates in Pix as a regulated financial institution, enabling customers and businesses to send and receive real-time payments; overall deposits were about $38.8 billion at the end of the September quarter vs. $28.9 billion at the end of last year.

As far as business accounts, the company’s 20-F details that its PJ business accounts grew by 31% in 2024 vs. the prior year to 4.7 million small business customers. Faster payments in Latin America are moving beyond a consumer inclusion story into a commercial one as real-time rails are becoming core infrastructure for business payments.

The post B2B Payments Make the Leap to Real Time in Latin America appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Sen. Lummis Unveils Bipartisan Act to Protect Crypto Builders as Clarity Act Delays

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:57:58 +0000

The post Sen. Lummis Unveils Bipartisan Act to Protect Crypto Builders as Clarity Act Delays appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

After weeks of waiting, the United States Senate is preparing to adopt the Clarity Act in 2026. The need for regulatory clarity in the United States remains unprecedented as the crypto bull stalls due to bipartisan delays.

Crypto Regulatory Talks Gain Traction in the U.S.

Pro-crypto U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has introduced a bipartisan act to protect blockchain developers from being lynched by the money transmitter licenses. She joined forces with Senator Ron Wyden to unveil the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act.

“Forcing developers who write code to follow the same rules as exchanges or brokers is technologically illiterate and a recipe for violating Americans’ privacy and free speech rights,” Wyden said.

Clarity Act Markup Further Delayed

The expected markup for the Clarity Act this week has been pushed to the last week of January. According to an announcement from John Boozman, the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture nutrition and Forestry, more time is needed to finalize the remaining details.

Meanwhile, Patrick Witt, president’s council of advisers for digital assets, has urged the crypto community to practice patience as the Clarity Act is on the horizon.

“Don’t be a panican. Stay engaged, and trust the process. CLARITY is near,” Witt posted on X.

What’s the Expected Market Impact?

The rising momentum for crypto regulatory clarity in the United States is a trigger for a bullish outlook in 2026. Furthermore, the stablecoin industry has surged to over $315 billion following the enactment of the Genius Act in the United States in 2025.

According to Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson, the crypto market will experience a bull run once President Donald Trump signs into law the Clarity Act.

Ethereum’s hidden ‘death spiral’ mechanic could freeze $800 billion in assets regardless of their safety rating

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:45:47 +0000

An Ethereum price collapse could break the blockchain’s ability to settle transactions and freeze over $800 billion in assets, a Bank of Italy research paper warns.

The paper, authored by Claudia Biancotti of the central bank’s Directorate General for Information Technology, outlined a contagion scenario where ETH's price collapse degrades the blockchain’s security infrastructure to the point of failure.

Such a breakdown, the report argues, would trap and compromise tokenized stocks, bonds, and stablecoins that major financial institutions are increasingly placing on public ledgers.

Essentially, the paper challenges the assumption that regulated assets issued on public blockchains are insulated from the volatility of the underlying cryptocurrency.

According to the report, the reliability of the settlement layer in permissionless networks like Ethereum is inextricably tied to the market value of an unbacked token.

The validator economics trap

The paper's core argument rests on the fundamental difference between traditional financial market infrastructure and permissionless blockchains.

In traditional finance, settlement systems are operated by regulated entities with formal oversight, capital requirements, and central bank backstops. These entities are paid in fiat currency to ensure trades are finalized legally and technically.

In contrast, the Ethereum network relies on a decentralized workforce of “validators”. These are independent operators who verify and finalize transactions.

However, they are not legally mandated to serve the financial system. So, they are motivated by profit.

Validators incur real-world costs for hardware, internet connectivity, and cybersecurity. Yet, their revenue is denominated primarily in ETH.

The paper notes that even if staking yields remain stable in token terms, a “substantial and persistent” drop in the dollar price of ETH could obliterate the real-world value of those earnings.

If the revenue generated by validating transactions falls below the cost of running the equipment, rational operators will shut down.

The paper describes a potential “downward price spiral accompanied by persistent negative expectations,” where stakers rush to sell their holdings to avoid further losses.

Selling staked ETH requires “unstaking,” which effectively deactivates a validator. The report warns that in an extreme limit scenario, “no validators means that the network does not work anymore.”

Under these conditions, the settlement layer would effectively cease to function, leaving users able to submit transactions that are never processed. So, assets residing on the chain would become “immovable,” regardless of their off-chain creditworthiness.

When security budgets break

Meanwhile, this threat extends beyond a simple halt in processing. The paper argues that a price collapse would drastically lower the cost for malicious actors to hijack the network.

This vulnerability is framed through the concept of the “economic security budget”— defined as the minimum investment required to acquire enough stake to mount a sustained attack on the network.

On Ethereum, controlling more than 50% of the active validation power enables an attacker to manipulate the consensus mechanism. This situation would enable double-spending and the censorship of specific transactions.

As of September 2025, the paper estimates Ethereum’s economic security budget was approximately 17 million ETH, or roughly $71 billion. Under normal market conditions, the author notes, this high cost makes an attack “extremely unlikely.”

However, the security budget is not static; it fluctuates with the token's market price. If ETH’s price collapses, the dollar cost to corrupt the network falls in tandem.

Simultaneously, as honest validators exit the market to cut losses, the total pool of active stake shrinks, further lowering the threshold for an attacker to gain majority control.

The paper outlines a perverse inverse relationship: As the value of the network’s native token approaches zero, the cost of attacking the infrastructure plummets, yet the incentive to attack it may increase due to the presence of other valuable assets.

The trap for ‘safe’ assets

This dynamic poses a specific risk to the “real-world” assets (RWAs) and stablecoins that have proliferated on the Ethereum network.

As of late 2025, Ethereum hosted more than 1.7 million assets with a total capitalization exceeding $800 billion. This figure included roughly $140 billion in combined market capitalization for the two largest dollar-backed stablecoins.

In a scenario where ETH has lost nearly all its value, the token itself would be of little interest to a sophisticated attacker.

However, the infrastructure would still house billions of dollars in tokenized treasury bills, corporate bonds, and fiat-backed stablecoins.

The report argues these assets would become the primary targets. If an attacker gains control of the weakened chain, they could theoretically double-spend these tokens by sending them to an exchange to be sold for fiat while simultaneously sending them to a different wallet on-chain.

This brings the shock directly into the traditional financial system.

If issuers, broker-dealers, or funds are legally bound to redeem these tokenized assets at face value, but the on-chain ownership records are compromised or manipulated, the financial stress transfers from the crypto market to real-world balance sheets.

Considering this, the paper warns that the damage would not be confined to speculative crypto traders, “especially if issuers were legally bound to reimburse them at face value.”

No emergency exit

In conventional financial crises, panic often triggers a “flight to safety,” in which participants shift capital from distressed to stable venues. However, such a migration may be impossible during a collapse of blockchain infrastructure.

For an investor holding a tokenized asset on a failing Ethereum network, a flight to safety could mean moving that asset to another blockchain. Yet, that presents significant obstacles to this “switch in infrastructure.”

First, cross-chain bridges, which are protocols used to move assets between blockchains, are notoriously vulnerable to hacks and may not scale to handle a mass exodus during a panic.

These bridges could come under attack, and further rising uncertainty could cause assets to be “speculated against,” potentially causing “weaker stablecoins” to de-peg.

Second, the ecosystem's decentralized nature makes coordination difficult. Unlike a centralized stock exchange that can halt trading to cool a panic, Ethereum is a global system with conflicting incentives.

Third, a significant portion of assets may be trapped in DeFi protocols.

According to DeFiLlama data, about $85 billion is locked in DeFi contracts at the time of writing, and many of these protocols act as automated asset managers with governance processes that cannot respond instantly to a settlement-layer failure.

Furthermore, the paper highlights the lack of a “lender of last resort” in the crypto ecosystem.

While Ethereum has built-in mechanisms to slow the speed of validator exits — capping processing to about 3,600 exits per day — these are technical throttles, not economic backstops.

The author also dismissed the idea that deep-pocketed actors like exchanges could stabilize a crashing ETH price through “massive buys,” calling it “very unlikely to work” in a true crisis of confidence where the market might attack the rescue fund itself.

A regulatory dilemma

The Bank of Italy paper ultimately frames this contagion risk as a pressing policy question: Should permissionless blockchains be treated as critical financial market infrastructure?

The author notes that while some firms prefer permissioned blockchains run by authorized entities, the allure of public chains remains strong due to their reach and interoperability.

The paper cites the BlackRock BUIDL fund, a tokenized money market fund available on Ethereum and Solana, as a prime example of early-stage traditional finance activity on public rails.

However, the analysis suggests that importing this infrastructure comes with the unique risk that the “health of the settlement layer is tied to the market price of a speculative token.”

The paper concludes that central banks “cannot be expected” to prop up the price of privately issued native tokens simply to keep the settlement infrastructure secure. Instead, it suggests that regulators may need to impose strict business continuity requirements on issuers of backed assets.

The most concrete proposal in the document calls for issuers to maintain off-chain databases of ownership and to designate a pre-selected “contingency chain.” This would theoretically allow porting assets to a new network if the underlying Ethereum layer fails.

Without such safeguards, the paper warns, the financial system risks sleepwalking into a scenario where a crash in a speculative crypto asset halts the plumbing of legitimate finance.

The post Ethereum’s hidden ‘death spiral’ mechanic could freeze $800 billion in assets regardless of their safety rating appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The 3 Horsemen of B2B Progress: APIs, Data and AI

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 21:53:30 +0000

The B2B payments playbook has historically revolved around winning on cost. This made the landscape, in many ways, relatively transactional and adversarial.

Buyers wanted the lowest cost per transaction; providers competed on price, volume discounts and reliability. Differentiation was thin, and switching costs, while operationally annoying, were rarely strategic.

But global supply chains, real-time commerce and platform-based business models have changed the stakes. A payment is no longer just the end of a transaction in today’s B2B world. It is a data event, a risk signal, a reconciliation artifact, and when done right, a source of insight that can compound over time.

This, in turn, has shifted the operational focus from fees to flow: how fast payments move, how rich and usable the data is along the way, and how effectively risk can be managed across entire networks.

In today’s environment, the question is no longer how cheaply can B2B payments be sent but how intelligently can firms and providers orchestrate value across the entire lifecycle of a payment. And that orchestration increasingly depends on three interlocking capabilities: application programming interfaces (APIs), data standardization and artificial intelligence (AI).

Call them the three horsemen of B2B payments progress.

More here: Why Messy Merchant Data Could Make B2B Payments More Expensive

From Cost Wars to Flow Wars

APIs are often described as plumbing, but in B2B payments they are more like a nervous system. They transform static rails into programmable infrastructure, allowing money movement to be embedded directly into business workflows rather than bolted on at the end.

With modern payment APIs, a procurement system can trigger a payment the moment goods are confirmed. A treasury platform can query liquidity in real time. A marketplace can embed compliance, payouts and FX directly into its core product. The payment becomes a function call—repeatable, observable and composable. Payment APIs are a key function of embedded finance innovations, too.

Findings in the report, “B2B Platforms Expand Embedded Finance to Enhance Customer Experience, Drive Revenue,” a December PYMNTS Intelligence data brief produced in collaboration with Marqeta, reveal that 54% of all B2B platforms surveyed report direct revenue increases from embedded finance, with platforms generating more than $1 billion annually far more likely to see material gains.

APIs alone, however, are not enough. Without shared data standards, they may simply accelerate operational fragmentation.

B2B payments generate enormous volumes of metadata: invoice numbers, purchase orders, tax details, shipping references and contractual terms. Historically, this data has been fragmented across formats, fields and systems. The result is a reconciliation tax that grows with scale and can silently erode margins.

Zach Lynn, head of customer data and insights at Boost Payment Solutions, wrote in the PYMNTS eBook “Headlines That Will Shape the Close of 2025” that data exchange has become non-negotiable in the payments industry.

“In today’s environment, seamless, secure data flows between buyers, suppliers and financial institutions are essential,” Lynn wrote. “Whether it is enabling real-time reconciliation or supporting advanced analytics, the ability to move and leverage data is now table stakes for any organization serious about optimizing working capital.”

Standardized data can enable straight-through processing, reduce manual intervention and dramatically shorten cash cycles. More importantly, it can allow value to compound. Each transaction enriches the dataset, improving forecasting, working capital optimization and supplier intelligence.

Why the Horsemen Matter More Together Than Alone

If APIs are the nervous system of B2B payments modernization, and data standards the shared language, AI is the brain.

Artificial intelligence can change what is possible in B2B payments by shifting risk management, fraud detection and decision-making from reactive to predictive. Instead of flagging problems after they occur, AI models can anticipate them across entire networks.

Crucially, AI thrives in ecosystems where data is both abundant and high-quality, a state only possible when APIs and standardization are in place. As B2B networks digitize, the feedback loops become more powerful. Each transaction not only moves money, but also trains the system to become smarter, faster and with more predictive skill.

In this world, payments are no longer just executed. They are interpreted. In the not-so-distant future, CFOs and treasurers could spend less time troubleshooting payments and more time orchestrating liquidity, optimizing working capital in real time and unlocking new financing models.

As these three horsemen reshape the landscape, they are also redefining what it means to be a B2B payments company.

Investing in APIs without addressing data standards creates technical debt. Standardizing data without leveraging AI leaves insight on the table. Deploying AI without real-time, high-quality inputs produces noise, not intelligence.

The traditional model of processing transactions and charging a fee is giving way to something closer to network orchestration where value accrues not from moving money, but from optimizing how money, data and risk move together.

“In the payments industry today, innovation is not a luxury; it’s a lifeline,” Nilesh Dusane, global head of institutional payments at AWS, told PYMNTS in July.

“Legacy infrastructure simply can’t keep up,” he added. “And the traditional model … those cycles are now too long and too costly.”

The post The 3 Horsemen of B2B Progress: APIs, Data and AI appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

WEX and Health-E Commerce Team to Ease HSA and FSA Reimbursements

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 21:53:20 +0000

Consumer health and wellness online retailer Health-E Commerce has launched a partnership with WEX.

This collaboration will integrate the company’s FSA Store (flexible spending account) and HSA Store (health savings account) offerings into the WEX benefits portal, the companies said in a Monday (Jan. 12) news release.

The goal here is to counter the “fragmentation and confusion” that account holders experience and make the FSA/HSA reimbursement process easier, the release added.

“Our stores are built on the belief that benefits should be easy to use and relevant to real life, and by delivering greater personalization, convenience and security, we’re removing barriers to utilization and helping consumers benefit better from their tax-free funds,” said Zack Peckham, CEO of Health-E Commerce.

The release noted that FSA Store and HSA Store were the first — and still leading — online stores that only sell products and telehealth services that are eligible expenses in accordance with IRS regulations for tax-free healthcare accounts.

“This removes the guesswork of spending FSA/HSA funds, ultimately giving account holders and TPAs peace of mind that they are using their funds correctly and reducing the potential for FSA forfeitures,” the release added.

With this integration, account holders can access FSA Store and HSA Store directly from their WEX benefits portal and gain capabilities such as the ability to pay for eligible items directly from their FSA/HSA account with a single click, doing away with the need to enter card information every time they use their funds.

The partnership comes as younger consumers are finding it harder to pay for healthcare, as recent PYMNTS Intelligence research shows.

The report “Economic Pressures Split the Generations as Each Rethinks the Basics” found that insurance does not insulate members of Generation Z and younger millennials from strain, with premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket payments increasingly clashing with early-career incomes, lower savings and fewer job-related benefits.

While these consumers are less likely to have chronic conditions, they are more likely to pay directly when they seek care. By contrast, older consumers are more likely to have comprehensive coverage through Medicare or long-established employer plans, lessening their exposure even as they require more overall care.

“That imbalance helps explain why younger adults respond to rising costs by delaying or avoiding treatment rather than absorbing higher bills,” PYMNTS wrote. “Out-of-pocket payments are not occasional exceptions for these consumers. They are a routine part of accessing care, which turns even preventive visits into financial decisions.”

The post WEX and Health-E Commerce Team to Ease HSA and FSA Reimbursements appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Senators move to shield crypto developers as lawmakers race toward advancing sweeping digital asset bill

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 21:49:21 +0000

Senators introduced a bill that clarifies that software developers who do not control users' funds are not considered money transmitters.

Ripple Approved in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority as EMI

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 20:50:34 +0000

Digital asset firm Ripple has been approved in the UK as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The firm was approved on January 9, 2026, under RIPPLE MARKETS UK LTD. Via a post on X, Ripple said that it had... Read More

Will Perpetual Futures Define Financial Infrastructure 2.0

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 20:48:58 +0000

HodlX Guest Post Submit Your Post

For a long time, traders and investors treated ‘perps’ (perpetual futures) as one of the riskiest instruments, characterized by high leverage and constant volatility.

But as trading matured, those same mechanics started to connect among markets, turning perps from a niche derivative into the backbone of crypto liquidity.

Today, they account for roughly 68% of all Bitcoin trading volume in 2025, while spot markets make up less than a third.

Given this dynamic, it’s no surprise that perps no longer follow prices – they set them.

But setting prices isn’t the same as earning the market’s trust.

What’s keeping perps from being recognized as true financial infrastructure instead of just another high-risk trend?

The answer lies in how perps actually work, how they’re integrating into broader market plumbing and what’s still holding them back.

The mechanics that make perps work

A perp is a futures contract without an expiry date. This is what makes it different from traditional futures that settle every month or quarter.

So, instead of closing and reopening contracts every time they expire, traders exchange a small funding rate which keeps the perp’s price close to the spot market.

In simple terms, perps are a way to trade the future value of an asset continuously – and because execution, hedging and even sentiment all start here, this is where the capital flows first.

That’s why perps now define crypto’s real-time price.

It sounds mechanical, but it has changed market behavior. Since positions don’t expire and leverage builds up over time, the funding rate becomes a live signal of market mood.

When that rate spikes, positioning itself – not headlines – is responsible for moving the prices. In this sense, perps have changed the market’s core mechanics long before most realized it.

Still, scale alone doesn’t make a system infrastructure. What defines infrastructure is reliability or the ability to move capital safely across assets and participants without fragmentation.

In fact, perps are already moving toward that standard as exchanges begin connecting collateral, risk and liquidity within unified systems.

From trading tool to market plumbing

Connecting all those pieces together is what allows markets to operate as one coherent, continuous system and what makes perpetual futures start to resemble true infrastructure. The transition is already in motion.

For example, one major exchange merged its dollar-denominated markets into one unified order book, which let previously chaotic liquidity circulate in a single stream.

The same logic now affects other platforms that link collateral and risk management across products, allowing a position in Bitcoin to offset exposure in Ethereum or even in a tokenized treasury.

On the regulated side, another huge exchange has recently introduced perpetual-style contracts under CFTC oversight.

This makes it clear that continuous settlement design is moving into mainstream markets – because the contracts now follow federal rules on margin and reporting.

Taken together, these cases show that shared collateral programs and unified risk engines change how capital moves, and exchanges no longer lock funds in isolated pools but develop toward the most efficient use.

As a result, liquidity deepens, price discovery becomes faster and leverage is visible in real time instead of through end-of-day reports.

Is it limited only to DeFi (decentralized finance)? Not at all.

Traditional institutions such as Franklin Templeton or J.P. Morgan are also expanding tokenized bonds and money-market products that could eventually clear through similar continuous frameworks.

Integration, then, is more than a trading venue feature – it’s the architecture through which traditional and digital markets are beginning to align.

The risks still holding perps back and what to change

We’ve seen how perps evolve into market infrastructure – but every system that connects faster also breaks faster.

So, the same mechanics that make them work seamlessly can turn a local move into a market-wide shock.

When one asset fails or a tokenized bond loses its peg, the pressure spreads through the entire order book, forcing liquidations way beyond where the problem initially started.

A recent liquidation cascade, labeled as ‘crypto’s Black Friday,’ showed this perfectly.

One mispriced collateral module (USDe) triggered billions in forced sales across unrelated pairs within minutes, leading to a chain reaction that drained liquidity and froze market makers.

Then comes the institutional barrier, as 24/7 contracts that pool collateral from all users still leave open questions about asset segregation, loss waterfalls and jurisdictional enforcement.

These are exactly those pieces that keep larger capital on the sidelines. Still, the good news is that all these risks are surmountable – but only via thorough design.

Cross-margin can work if risk limits adjust dynamically and are visible in real time.

In turn, liquidation flows need transparency with pre-funded insurance pools that actually absorb stress instead of spreading it.

Finally, collateral systems need layered tiers, with cash and treasury bills as the safest base – and exchanges should allow volatile tokens only with tight limits on how much they count toward margin.

Yet, even with better design, one factor matters most – trust. Perps have earned it by becoming the market’s main pricing tool, but it’s still fragile.

The October 2025 cascade showed how quickly confidence can fade when operators lose control.

So, to strengthen it, exchanges could make trust measurable through transparent risk data, shared audits and real-time collateral visibility.

To my mind, if exchanges close these gaps, perps could become the financial system’s next backbone, ‘the infrastructure 2.0’ – liquid, integrated and self-balancing across assets and time zones.

If not, the market will keep repeating the same cycle of growth and self-correction, and the 68% share of Bitcoin trading will be the peak – not the beginning – of their maturity curve.

Arthur Azizov is the founder and investor of B2 Ventures, a private fintech alliance encompassing a portfolio of financial and technology companies, including B2BROKER and B2BINPAY. A serial entrepreneur with over a decade of experience, Arthur has been at the forefront of financial technology innovation, transforming liquidity, trading and payment services.

Check Latest Headlines on HodlX

Check out the Latest Industry Announcements

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Sensvector/Sergey Nivens

The post Will Perpetual Futures Define Financial Infrastructure 2.0 appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Stablecoins – Can You Be a Good Runner, Flyer and Swimmer at the Same Time?

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 20:44:32 +0000

HodlX Guest Post Submit Your Post

Stablecoins are having their “boring is beautiful” moment. While the headlines bounce between memes, ETF flows, and the latest L2 drama, the most important product-market fit in crypto keeps compounding quietly: dollar tokens that move at internet speed.

That success creates a question outsiders often ask with genuine confusion: why are there so many stablecoins? If the goal is “$1 on-chain,” shouldn’t one or two do the job?

In practice, stablecoins aren’t a single invention. They’re a family of designs attempting to solve a three-way tension—what I’d call the Stablecoin Trilemma: peg stability, decentralization, and scalability. Get two right and the third starts to squeal. According to CoinGecko, there are now 300+ stablecoins in circulation, and that number is less a sign of redundancy than of engineering reality: different issuers are optimizing for different constraints.

A useful analogy is biology. No creature is the best runner, swimmer, and flyer at the same time. The anatomy that makes a cheetah fast is a liability in water; the wings that make a hawk dominant in the air don’t help it sprint. Stablecoins face the same physics. Every design choice—collateral, redemption logic, liquidity venues, governance—pushes the system toward one strength while pulling it away from another.

So the proliferation isn’t noise. It’s evolution.

Why So Many Stablecoins?

Most stablecoins cluster into three major camps. They look similar on the surface—one token, one dollar—but their internal “organs” differ.

1) Fiat-backed (USDT, USDC and friends)

These prioritize peg strength and scale. They are easy to understand, easy to integrate, and usually the most liquid instruments in crypto markets. When a venue needs a quote currency that traders trust, it reaches for the stablecoin with the deepest liquidity and the tightest spreads.

The trade-off is obvious: centralization. A fiat-backed stablecoin is ultimately a promise made by an issuer, supported by off-chain reserves and subject to the rules (and whims) of the jurisdictions those reserves live in. That’s not inherently bad—finance is built on legal agreements—but it is a different risk model than “pure” crypto.

2) Crypto-collateralized (DAI, LUSD)

This camp leans into on-chain transparency and censorship resistance. The collateral is visible, the rules are encoded, and the system can function without a single company holding the keys.

But decentralization has a price tag: capital efficiency. These systems typically rely on over-collateralization, which means you lock up more value than you mint in stablecoins. It works, and it’s elegant in a “crypto-native” way, but scaling it is slower and more expensive. It’s the difference between building a bridge out of steel versus building one out of gold: both can hold weight, but only one is cheap enough to replicate everywhere.

3) Algorithmic or hybrid (FRAX-style designs)

These aim for scalability and often capital efficiency, reducing reliance on fully reserved models. In theory, this is the category that tries to look like the future—lighter collateral footprints, market-driven stabilization, adaptive mechanisms.

In practice, it’s also the category that depends most on something finance rarely likes to name: confidence. Peg stability here is not just a function of assets held, but of market structure, liquidity depth, reflexivity, and the credibility of the stabilization mechanism under stress.

Different points on the triangle. Different failure modes. Same ambition: “$1, always.”

Stablecoin Growth: The Winners and the Gravity

Stablecoins have grown from a DeFi curiosity into core infrastructure. DeFiLlama data shows a rise from roughly $128B to $300B+ over the last couple of years, with USDT and USDC still commanding the lion’s share—around 80% in many snapshots.

That dominance is not accidental. Centralized stablecoins are winning today because they are optimized for the two things markets reward most in a unit of account: liquidity and reliability. Traders don’t philosophize about decentralization during a liquidation cascade. They want the peg to hold and the exit to be open.

Regulation reinforces that momentum. Most regulatory frameworks naturally prefer entities they can license, audit, and supervise—issuers with corporate structures and identifiable reserve custodians. Meanwhile, ideas being floated in policy circles—like Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller’s comments around “skinny” banking concepts and access to certain reserve-like structures—hint at a future where some stablecoin issuers could be even more tightly integrated into the traditional financial system.

If that path materializes, centralized stablecoins don’t just win market share. They begin to look less like “crypto tokens” and more like new payment rails for the dollar.

And that’s where the conversation gets uncomfortable—because scale changes the risk profile.

Why Stablecoins Can Be Risky

At small scale, a stablecoin can behave like a simple product: mint, redeem, keep reserves, earn some yield, repeat. At large scale, a stablecoin starts resembling a familiar institution: a money-like liability issued against a portfolio of assets.

And whenever you issue money-like liabilities, a temptation appears: fractional behavior.

Even if an issuer is fully reserved on paper, the reserve composition matters. If you know not everyone redeems at once, you can invest a portion of reserves into longer-duration or higher-yield assets to boost profitability. That’s rational. It’s also where fragility creeps in.

When markets are calm, this works fine. When markets are stressed, redemption demand clusters. Liquidity becomes the only metric that matters. If a stablecoin cannot meet redemptions quickly with truly liquid assets, you invite the oldest dynamic in finance: a run.

The irony is sharp. Crypto was, in part, a reaction to a system that requires central-bank backstops. But if stablecoins become systemically important—and if their reserve management drifts toward duration and yield—then in a true crisis the only credible backstop may be… the same kind of intervention crypto wanted to route around.

That doesn’t mean stablecoins are doomed. It means stablecoins are becoming finance, and finance comes with rules of gravity.

The Future of Stablecoins: Why This Still Wins

Despite the risk, stablecoins remain one of the clearest upgrades to how money moves. They are not perfect money, but they are better rails—and rails shape economies.

Here are four dimensions where stablecoins are already outperforming legacy systems:

Speed
Stablecoin settlement can be seconds on chains like Ethereum L2s, Tron, or Solana. Even “instant” bank transfers can be instant in user experience yet slow in finality, cut off by batch windows, compliance holds, or cross-border correspondent banking.

Accessibility
If you have a phone and an internet connection, you can hold and send stablecoins. No branch visit. No minimum balance. No permissioned onboarding to move value across borders. That matters—not as a slogan, but as a practical unlock for global commerce.

A Different Insurance Model
Banks are insured (to a limit) because banks take maturity and credit risk. Stablecoins, ideally, shouldn’t need to. The real risk moves from market exposure to operational and technology risk: smart contract vulnerabilities, custody risks, issuer governance, and reserve transparency. In principle, those risks can be engineered down—and, in some cases, insured in ways that look more scalable than the traditional $250k-per-depositor regime.

Yield and the End of “Dead Money”
Stablecoins are evolving from payment instruments into programmable balances. Many already touch on-chain lending markets, and the frontier is obvious: tokenized money market funds and cash-like instruments that keep a stable $1 price while earning yield. It’s a fair question: why shouldn’t everyday payments run on a token that behaves like dollars and carries a built-in, transparent yield mechanism?

That last point is where things get politically and economically interesting. If stablecoins become the default way value moves, the fight won’t just be about crypto market structure. It will be about who gets to issue “dollars on the internet,” under what constraints, and with whose permission.

Stablecoins aren’t multiplying because builders can’t agree. They’re multiplying because the problem has no single optimum. You can be a great runner, flyer, or swimmer—but you can’t max out all three. The stablecoin trilemma forces choices, and those choices produce different winners in different environments.

In the near term, centralized stablecoins will likely keep dominating because they’re built for liquidity and scale. In the long term, the market will keep carving out niches for decentralized and hybrid designs—especially where censorship resistance, transparency, or composability isn’t a preference but a requirement.

The real question isn’t “Which stablecoin wins?” It’s what kind of financial system we’re quietly rebuilding on-chain—and whether we’re honest about the trade-offs before stress tests force the lesson.

Gleb Kurovskiy, Luminary Chief Digital Officer

Gleb Kurovskiy is a leading fintech innovator and Chief Digital Officer at Luminary Bank, specializing in blockchain, AI, and payments. With 8 years of experience in finance, including a tenure as Lead Economist at the Central Bank, and a PhD from EPFL, one of the world’s top technical universities, Gleb combines deep academic expertise with hands-on experience in building high-impact financial systems.

As a forward-thinking leader, Gleb has successfully driven the implementation of crypto lending, staking, and blockchain protocol integrations, achieving in months what traditional banks often take years to build. He believes in leveraging the best of traditional finance and blockchain to create efficient, interoperable systems, redefining the way modern financial infrastructure is designed and operated.

Gleb is widely recognized for his vision at the intersection of finance and technology. A finalist of the Econometric Game — World Championship in Econometrics, he continues to shape the future of digital finance, exploring the programmability of money and building next-generation financial systems that are fast, yield-bearing, and reliable.

Gleb has a publication at Swiss National Bank FinTech Conference on Cryptoassets and Financial Innovation: “How algorithmic stablecoins fail”.

Check Latest Headlines on HodlX

Check out the Latest Industry Announcements

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Tithi Luadthong/Natalia Siiatovskaia

The post Stablecoins – Can You Be a Good Runner, Flyer and Swimmer at the Same Time? appeared first on The Daily Hodl.