Kraken parent Payward to buy Reap in $600M stablecoin payments push
Kraken parent Payward agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies for up to $600 million, expanding into stablecoin payments and B2B financial infrastructure. The deal, combining cash and stock at a $20 billion valuation, adds card issuance and cross-border payment capabilities to Payward Services platform. Expected to close mid-2026, this marks Payward's largest Asia infrastructure acquisition amid growing stablecoin adoption among fintech firms and businesses.
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Polygon reduces block time to 1.75 seconds as payments push accelerates
Polygon reduced its block time to 1.75 seconds, the first decrease since genesis, enabling 14% higher payment throughput and positioning the network for institutional stablecoin adoption. The upgrade supports high-frequency applications like payments and DeFi trading. Polygon also introduced privacy features for stablecoin transactions using zero-knowledge proofs and expanded Visa integration for faster settlement infrastructure.
Tether's Medical AI Runs on Your Phone and Outperforms Models 16x Its Size
Tether launched a medical AI model that runs efficiently on smartphones, outperforming systems 16 times larger. The breakthrough demonstrates stablecoin platforms expanding into artificial intelligence beyond financial services. This positions Tether as infrastructure competitor in AI, potentially opening new revenue streams. For Indian crypto investors, it signals major blockchain platforms diversifying into enterprise applications beyond trading and DeFi protocols.