Ethereum Foundation forms AI research team to blend blockchain, AI

Cointelegraph

The Ethereum Foundation announced a new AI-focused research team, aiming to blend the censorship-resistant power of blockchain with one of tech’s hottest fields.

Davide Crapis, a research scientist with the Foundation, said Monday that the new team will focus on developing an AI economy on Ethereum and a decentralized AI stack for developers.

“Ethereum makes AI more trustworthy, and AI makes Ethereum more useful,” Crapis said on X. “The more intelligent agents transact, the more they need a neutral base layer for value and reputation. Ethereum benefits by becoming that layer and AI benefits by escaping lock-in to a few centralized platforms.”

The Ethereum Foundation is staffing its newly created dAI team and is seeking an AI researcher and a project manager to drive coordination.

The team will continue work initially done on ERC-8004, a proposal authored by Crapis, Marco De Rossi and Jordan Ellis that would extend the AI agent-to-agent (A2A) protocol into a trust layer for discovering and interacting with AI agents.

The Foundation will support projects seeking to turn Ethereum into an ecosystem involving AI and humans, with Crapis leading the new team.

AI agents have become a focal point in integrating blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. They are programs that make decisions and operate with minimal human supervision, executing transactions and functioning on behalf of their programmers. Blockchains with programmable features, like smart contracts, have become havens for these programs.

AI can help manage settlements, the final step in a transaction in which assets are transferred between two parties. According to blockchain analytics company CryptoQuant, Ethereum daily smart contract calls reached 12 million on Thursday, reinforcing the blockchain’s role as a programmable settlement layer.

“Network activity is in expansion mode,” CryptoQuant said. “Ethereum’s total transactions and active addresses have reached record highs, highlighting expanding adoption across DeFi, stablecoin transfers, and token activity.”

AI moves across blockchains

According to a tech researcher, blockchain technology can shore up the weaknesses of artificial intelligence by providing decentralization, immutability and identity verification, among other features.

Different Web3 organizations are working on blending the two technologies. In 2024, Matchain announced the launch of its decentralized AI blockchain, and in February 2025, KiteAI announced the debut of an AI-driven blockchain in the Avalanche ecosystem.

According to Arunkumar Krishnakumar, head of institutional growth and RWAs at Kamino Finance, AI agents and blockchain technology could redefine the digital economy.

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REX Shares says XRP ETF is launching this week, marking a first of its kind using unique legal framework

The Block

Investment company REX Shares and Osprey Funds are launching an XRP exchange-traded fund, marking the first of its kind to debut in the United States.

In a post on X, the firms said the REX-Osprey XRP ETF, with the ticker symbol XRPR, is coming this week. The fund is different from other XRP ETF proposals that have been floated by other firms, as it is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 — a federal law that regulates investment funds that pool capital from investors to pursue a common investment strategy in an effort to protect investors from conflicts of interest and fraud.

XRPR uses a similar legal structure as the REX Osprey SOL Staking ETF when it launched in June. The latest REX Osprey ETF filings tracking XRP and DOGE use some workarounds when compared to other XRP ETF proposals, said Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst James Seyffart.

The Rex-Osprey XRP ETF will mostly hold XRP directly and will invest at least 40% of its assets into shares of other ETFs related to XRP, according to a prospectus.

Meanwhile, a Dogecoin ETF from REX and Osprey was expected to start trading last week, but was ultimately pushed. Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas said the DOGE ETF could launch on Thursday.

Dozens and dozens of proposals have been filed for several types of crypto ETFs over the past year, from ones tracking DOGE to LTC to SOL. The SEC has taken a friendlier stance toward the crypto industry, specifically toward crypto ETFs. In July, the agency voted to approve orders to allow in-kind creations and redemptions by authorized participants for crypto ETFs. The agency also then allowed applications looking to list and trade spot bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, as well as options on "certain spot bitcoin ETPs."

During the Biden administration, the SEC greenlighted spot bitcoin ETFs and later Ethereum ETFs, following a pivotal court ruling brought by Grayscale.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

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Marinade to Start Migrate Boost Program

Coindar

Marinade has launched its SOL migration campaign, running from September 15 to 30. Users who migrate their staked SOL into Marinade Native will receive over 4% APY in MNDE rewards for three months. The bonus applies only to the first 1 million SOL migrated.

MNDE Info

Marinade.Finance is a non-custodial liquid staking protocol built on Solana.

Marinade helps users to stake Solana without locking in liquidity by turning SOL into mSOL — tokenized version of staked SOL. This way users can both secure the network by staking SOL, and use your mSOL as the ultimate unit in Solana DeFi ecosystem. To provide liquidity, deposit in lending protocols and even buy NFTs.

The MNDE token serves as a governance mechanism for Marinade, a DAO operating on the Solana blockchain. Launched in October 2021 without an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) or Venture Capital allocation, the MNDE token empowers holders to participate in decision-making processes, such as voting on proposals and influencing delegation strategies. A distinct feature of MNDE is its role in directing 20% of the total SOL in the Marinade Stake Pool, thereby offering influence over validator selection. It also supports tools like the MNDE calculator to assist users in estimating expected ROI. Furthermore, holders of locked MNDE tokens can exercise governance over the protocol’s treasury and influence its development.

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NEAR Protocol to Launch NPRO Pre-Staking

Coindar

NEAR Protocol announced that NPRO pre-staking goes live on September 15, inviting over 2 million users to stake and receive a share of $NPRO. The token is backed by NEAR staking and powers NEAR Intents within the mobile app.

NEAR Info

NEAR Protocol is a decentralized platform for application development. The platform was created to facilitate the development and usage of decentralized applications (dApps) and is built on blockchain technology.

NEAR Protocol utilizes sharding technology, which enables the network to process large volumes of transactions without compromising speed. This technology makes Near an ideal solution for building blockchain applications that can handle a significant number of users and complex operations.

One of the key features of NEAR Protocol is its focus on making blockchain interaction more user-friendly and accessible for both regular users and developers. The platform allows developers to create applications that look and behave similar to traditional web applications, with the same level of security and transparency provided by blockchain technology.

The NEAR token (NEAR) serves as the primary unit of digital asset on the platform. NEAR tokens are used for transaction payments, staking, voting, and other operations within the NEAR network.

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HOH Becomes Official IOTA Validator Node

Coindar

HOH announced that it has officially joined the IOTA network as a validator node, contributing to decentralization and the growth of an open community ecosystem. Users can view the validator details and participate in IOTA staking through the provided explorer link.

IOTA Info

IOTA is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that uses a unique directed acyclic graph (DAG) architecture called the Tangle. It enables decentralized, secure, and direct data and value transfers without traditional blockchain limitations. IOTA’s open-source tools support Web3 applications for individuals, businesses, and institutions.

IOTA’s mechanism of operation relies on the Tangle, which allows parallel transaction processing and overcomes scalability issues found in traditional blockchains. Unlike standard blockchains, IOTA operates without miners or validators, ensuring transactions are fee-free and efficient. This structure enhances operational efficiency and security, making it suitable for handling high volumes of transactions.

MIOTA is the native token of the IOTA network, used to facilitate transactions and interactions within the ecosystem. Its fee-less nature enables cost-effective transactions, supporting IOTA’s mission of enabling scalable and secure decentralized applications.

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DIA Partners With SurvivFun

Coindar

DIA announced a partnership with SurvivFun to provide verifiable asset pricing for its Web3 survival gaming ecosystem on Somnia Network. The integration uses DIA’s oracle technology to deliver reliable data infrastructure for the play-and-earn gaming economy.

DIA Info

DIA (Decentralised Information Asset) is a pioneering open-source oracle platform that facilitates the sourcing, supply, and sharing of trustworthy data amongst market participants. Positioned as an ecosystem for transparent financial data, DIA aims to form a synergistic environment that binds together data analysts, providers, and users. Essentially, DIA acts as a robust and verifiable conduit linking off-chain data derived from disparate sources to on-chain smart contracts. This infrastructure empowers the development of a diverse range of financial decentralized applications (DApps), thereby transforming the landscape of fintech innovation.

The DIA token is utilized for platform governance, including voting on data verification, directing project development, and integrating with other platforms and services. It serves as a means of managing the platform while leveraging crypto terminology and adopting a business-style approach.

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Nano to Release Electrum v.28.2 Upgrade

Coindar

Nano announced the launch of Electrum v.28.2, focusing on stability improvements and bug fixes. The update enhances database handling and improves bootstrapping reliability. Users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest version through the official documentation.

XNO Info

Nano (XNO), originally known as RaiBlocks, is a lightweight cryptocurrency launched in 2015 designed to enable secure, instant payments without fees. It positions itself as a solution to the limitations of traditional financial systems and many modern cryptocurrencies, emphasizing its suitability for the modern digital economy.

Nano operates on a peer-to-peer platform using a unique block-lattice data structure, which allows users to transfer value directly to each other, bypassing centralized intermediaries. Instead of the conventional proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, Nano employs Open Representative Voting (ORV). In ORV, account holders vote for representatives who confirm transaction blocks, making Nano highly energy-efficient and an eco-friendly alternative to PoW-based cryptocurrencies.

The Nano token, XNO, is designed for rapid transactions, typically achieving finality in less than a second. This speed, combined with fee-less transactions (as representatives aren’t financially compensated), makes Nano particularly suitable for commercial payments and micro-transactions. Nano’s architecture is based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG), differing from traditional blockchain technology. This structure supports scalability and high transaction throughput (up to 1,000 tps) and maintains integrity without an energy-intensive mining network.

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