On-chain data shows a transfer of 102,944,393 USDC (worth about $102,899,458) from Aave to an unidentified whale wallet.

U.S.-listed spot Chainlink (LINK) ETFs attracted roughly $400,000 in net inflows on April 13. The day's intake was modest, but the persistence stands out: since launching in December, the products have not recorded a single day of net outflows. Combined assets under management have climbed to nearly $93 million, about 1.42% of LINK's market capitalization.

Visa has joined Stripe and Zodia Custody, Standard Chartered's digital-asset custody arm, as one of the first external validators for the Stripe-backed Tempo blockchain.

CoW Swap, an Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) exchange, has paused its protocol after its website was compromised.

Boundless, a zero-knowledge (ZK) proving network that originated from RISC Zero, has integrated with the XRP Ledger (XRPL), enabling native ZK proof verification on the Layer 1 blockchain for the first time. According to the announcement, the rollout is aimed at helping institutions build financial applications on XRPL that can execute privately while still meeting regulatory requirements. XRPL is a public, open-source blockchain focused on payments and tokenized finance. The ecosystem has drawn more than $550 million in funding and lists SBI Holdings, Zand Bank, Archax, and Guggenheim Treasury Services among institutional users. Even with that traction, on-chain transparency has limited broader adoption: transaction flows, treasury tactics, and counterparty relationships are visible by default on public ledgers, raising competitive concerns and adding compliance friction. Ripple CTO David Schwartz highlighted the issue last year, saying Ripple itself could not use the XRPL DEX for payments because compliance rules clash with anonymous liquidity providers. Emiliano Bonassi, Boundless' VP of Engineering, said the integration supports use cases spanning stablecoin payments and DeFi activity. "Boundless brings scalable confidential compute directly to the XRPL ecosystem," Bonassi told The Defiant. "Institutions can settle on XRPL with ZK proofs and cryptographic attestations for compliance and privacy-preserving logic, such as sanction screening to KYC/KYT/KYB. No trust assumptions, no data exposure, and full control over what gets disclosed and to whom." The privacy capability lands as XRPL continues to broaden its institutional push. Ripple previewed major XRPL upgrades in February designed to expand XRP's role beyond payments into stablecoin settlement, tokenized assets, and lending. In November, Ripple partnered with Mastercard and WebBank to test RLUSD stablecoin card settlements on XRPL. The network's real-world asset drive has also accelerated, with Argentina's YPF Luz launching an energy tokenization platform that carries more than $800 million in tokenized assets on the ledger. "XRPL has always been built for institutional finance. With Boundless, we are making confidential, compliant execution native infrastructure on XRPL, unlocking a new category of enterprise use cases," said Odelia Torteman, Director of Corporate Adoption at XRPL Commons. The move underscores a wider industry pivot toward privacy-first design powered by zero-knowledge proofs. At Ethereum's DevConnect conference in Buenos Aires last November, ZK tooling was a central theme, with Boundless among the projects recognized for ZK-powered cross-chain infrastructure. Proof systems have progressed from experimental cryptography to what many builders now view as core infrastructure for the next wave of institutional DeFi. This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All stories are curated, edited, and fact-checked by a human.

USDC Treasury transferred 150,000,000 USDC, worth about USD 149,889,000, to Coinbase.

Tempo, a payments-oriented blockchain, said Tuesday it has added Visa, Stripe, and Zodia Custody (Standard Chartered) as its first external validators. The three collectively handle trillions of dollars in annual payment volume across almost every country. Validator nodes on Tempo verify, sequence, and finalize transactions, a role the network says strengthens operational resilience for stablecoin-based settlement. Visa said its validator was configured and is operated fully in-house after six months of joint work with Tempo's engineering team. During the initial rollout, Visa will act as an "anchor validator," according to the company. "We've spent years building our expertise in blockchain, and now we're expanding that work by running critical blockchain infrastructure ourselves," said Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto. Tempo pays validators in stablecoins when they serve as "lead validators" responsible for packaging transactions into blocks. Visa also operates as a Super Validator on the Canton Network, placing it among a small group of traditional payments companies running blockchain infrastructure on more than one chain. Tempo said it will continue adding partners to its validator set as it works toward fully permissionless validation. Institutional Momentum The validator additions follow a fast buildout for the Ethereum-compatible Layer 1. Tempo was first reported in August 2025, before Stripe and Paradigm formally introduced the project the following month. In October 2025, Tempo raised $500 million in a Series A led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks at a $5 billion valuation. It launched a public testnet in December with partners including UBS and Kalshi, then went live on mainnet in March alongside the Machine Payments Protocol, an open standard for AI agent-to-service payments co-authored with Stripe. Tempo still draws skepticism from decentralization advocates who question whether a corporate-backed L1 can deliver on permissionless ambitions. Whether expanding the validator roster with large institutions eases or deepens those concerns may hinge on how quickly participation opens beyond Tempo's initial group of partners. This article was produced with the assistance of AI workflows. All stories are curated, edited, and fact-checked by a human.

On-chain data shows 167,152,683 USDT, valued at USD 167,191,964, was transferred from OKEX to an unidentified wallet.

Rakuten will add XRP to its Rakuten Pay app, enabling about 44 million users to pay with the token at more than 5 million merchants across Japan. The rollout also brings in-app XRP spot trading and allows users to convert Rakuten Points into XRP, tying crypto payments to one of Japan's largest loyalty programs. The company has been steadily expanding its digital-asset footprint, positioning Rakuten Pay as a link between everyday commerce and crypto infrastructure. From April 15, Rakuten Pay users will be able to access XRP both as a payment option and as a tradable asset. Customers can convert Rakuten Points into XRP, store the token in Rakuten Wallet, and spend it across Rakuten Pay's nationwide merchant network. Rakuten said the integration connects XRP to a loyalty ecosystem with more than 3 trillion points in circulation, valued at about $23 billion. By supporting direct point-to-crypto conversion, the company aims to lower the barrier to entry for users new to digital assets. In-app spot trading also reduces reliance on external exchanges, potentially increasing activity and liquidity within Rakuten's platform. Rakuten previously added support for bitcoin, ether, and bitcoin cash in 2023, building out its offerings within Japan's regulated crypto market. Adding XRP reflects rising demand for payment-focused digital assets and may broaden usage beyond trading, given Rakuten's scale and brand familiarity. Market participants note that embedding XRP into routine payment flows aligns with its original role as a bridge currency, with faster settlement and lower transaction costs cited as core advantages in high-volume settings. Rakuten's broader footprint across e-commerce, fintech, and mobile services could further expand XRP's reach across multiple consumer touchpoints. Rakuten's XRP launch underscores a shift toward practical crypto use cases integrated into mainstream consumer apps.