Industry News

Tracks company news, strategic changes, funding activities, and personnel adjustments across the blockchain and crypto industries, delivering a full-spectrum industry overview for our users.

Anthropic Removes Claude Code from Pro Plan, Developer Community Erupts, OpenAI Seizes the Opportunity to Strike

Anthropic has removed its coding agent, Claude Code, from the $20/month Pro plan, triggering strong backlash from the developer community. The change was reflected in updated pricing pages and documentation, which now state that Claude Code is only available to Max plan subscribers, starting at $100/month. Anthropic’s growth lead, Amol Avasare, described the move as a "small-scale test" affecting only 2% of new users, but the broad updates to public documentation contradicted this claim. He later acknowledged that rising computational costs due to increased usage made the previous pricing structure unsustainable. Developers expressed frustration on platforms like Hacker News, Reddit, and GitHub, with some calling it a reason to switch to local or open-source models like Llama or Mistral. In response, OpenAI quickly emphasized that its competing product, Codex, remains available in both free and $20/month Plus plans, and reaffirmed its commitment to transparent communication with users. Google’s Gemini CLI remains free, adding further competitive pressure. The incident highlights growing tension between AI service affordability and the high compute costs of advanced coding assistants.

marsbit04/22 04:23

Anthropic Removes Claude Code from Pro Plan, Developer Community Erupts, OpenAI Seizes the Opportunity to Strike

marsbit04/22 04:23

IOSG Founder: The Most Dangerous Prisoner's Dilemma in DeFi History

IOSG Founder: DeFi's Most Dangerous Prisoner's Dilemma A $230M bad debt remains unresolved, with Aave Collector holding over $200M in liquid assets and LayerZero recently raising $120M—both fully capable of covering the losses. Aave has lost $8.45B in TVL in under two days, while the entire DeFi ecosystem has bled $13.2B. The silence from all parties involved is exacerbating the crisis. The author recalls the DeFi spirit of 2020, when MakerDAO faced collapse during the March 12 crash but took responsibility by auctioning MKR to cover bad debt. Today, in contrast, there is only silence. Users are withdrawing funds not just from Aave but from Spark and other DeFi protocols, voting with their feet. This loss of trust threatens the entire ecosystem. This is not just Aave’s problem. Spark, MakerDAO, and all Ethereum DeFi protocols must coordinate. Trust, once broken, affects everyone. Time is critical—every hour of silence leads to more capital leaving permanently. The author urges Aave’s Stani Kulechov, Vitalik Buterin, AaveDAO, KelpDAO, LayerZero, and RuneKek to communicate publicly and reassure the market. Silence is the worst option.

marsbit04/22 04:07

IOSG Founder: The Most Dangerous Prisoner's Dilemma in DeFi History

marsbit04/22 04:07

XRP Ledger Transactions Are Surging Again, Here Are The Numbers

XRP Ledger is experiencing a significant surge in activity, particularly in AccountSet transactions, which are used to configure account settings and indicate backend or institutional activity rather than simple transfers. These transactions recently hit an all-time high of over 120,000, reflecting infrastructure development. This is part of a broader increase in network usage, with daily transactions reaching nearly 3 million in 2026, up from around 1 million in mid-2025. The number of non-empty wallets has also surpassed 7.7 million. Despite this growth, the price of XRP remains below its 2025 peak, with analysts suggesting regulatory clarity, such as the CLARITY Act, may be needed for a price repricing.

bitcoinist04/22 04:02

XRP Ledger Transactions Are Surging Again, Here Are The Numbers

bitcoinist04/22 04:02

VCs on 2025 Crypto Investments: 84% of 118 Tokens Break Issue Price, Only One Type of Company is Quietly Making Money

Crypto investor Ching Tseng categorizes the market into four quadrants based on two axes: crypto-native vs. traditional finance (TradFi)-oriented, and having traction vs. no traction. In 2025, 84.7% of 118 tracked token launches fell below their issuance price, with a median fully diluted valuation drop of 71%. Crypto-native projects without traction are experiencing massive capital destruction, often relying on speculative narratives without sustainable revenue or user retention. Crypto-native teams with traction, often built in prior cycles, generate real revenue but face structural challenges with their tokens lacking direct value capture mechanisms. While some have implemented successful buyback programs, the core issue remains finding growth beyond crypto volatility. TradFi-oriented startups without traction face long, costly enterprise sales cycles but benefit from a robust M&A environment, with crypto acquisitions reaching a record $8.6 billion in 2025. The current winners are TradFi-oriented companies with traction, particularly in the Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization space, which grew from $5.5B to $18.6B in 2025. They are winning through enterprise sales, building alliances, and improving unit economics on established compliance stacks. Their main risk is being bypassed by large incumbent institutions building their own infrastructure. The overarching theme is market maturation, where narrative alone is insufficient for long-term success.

marsbit04/22 03:44

VCs on 2025 Crypto Investments: 84% of 118 Tokens Break Issue Price, Only One Type of Company is Quietly Making Money

marsbit04/22 03:44

To Counter Chinese Models, Silicon Valley's Big Three Even Formed an 'Avengers Alliance'?

In a rare move, Silicon Valley's AI giants—OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google—have formed a coalition called the "Frontier Model Forum" to combat what they term "adversarial distillation." This practice involves companies, particularly Chinese firms like DeepSeek, Moon Dark Side, and MiniMax, allegedly using massive API interactions to extract and replicate the capabilities of advanced models. Anthropic's report claims these firms engaged in over 16 million interactions, copying logic, reasoning chains, and model behaviors to train their own systems at lower costs. While distillation is a known technique, the alliance argues it threatens both commercial interests and safety, as distilled models may bypass critical risk assessments. However, the accusations are met with skepticism, citing hypocrisy, as these giants themselves face lawsuits over unauthorized data scraping. The debate highlights the unresolved ethical and legal gray areas in AI development.

marsbit04/22 03:13

To Counter Chinese Models, Silicon Valley's Big Three Even Formed an 'Avengers Alliance'?

marsbit04/22 03:13

Booking.com Founder Jeff Hoffman: How Web3 and AI Are Reshaping the Trillion-Dollar Social Travel Market

Booking.com co-founder Jeff Hoffman discusses how Web3 and AI are set to reshape the multitrillion-dollar social travel market. Hoffman, who co-founded Priceline and helped build Booking.com into a global giant, emphasizes that the current travel industry remains fragmented and inefficient. He argues that Web3 introduces structural disruption by enabling direct connections, transparent economics, and faster settlements, while AI powers personalization and smarter recommendations. Hoffman highlights key trends driving this shift: travelers demand flexible, authentic rewards instead of expiring points; digital and borderless payments are becoming standard; and people trust communities more than ads. He joined Staynex not for its Web3 label but because it aligns with these trends—integrating booking, rewards, AI, and payments into a seamless ecosystem. Looking ahead, Hoffman predicts travel will evolve from transactional to relational, with blockchain enabling transparent rewards and cross-border payments, and AI delivering hyper-personalized experiences. He believes the most valuable platforms will own the network around payments, loyalty, and community, making social travel one of the most underestimated opportunities in Web3.

marsbit04/22 02:02

Booking.com Founder Jeff Hoffman: How Web3 and AI Are Reshaping the Trillion-Dollar Social Travel Market

marsbit04/22 02:02

Cook's Curtain Call and Ternus Takes the Helm: The Disruption and Reboot of Apple's 4 Trillion Dollar Empire

Tim Cook has officially announced he will step down as CEO of Apple in September, transitioning to executive chairman after a 15-year tenure during which he grew the company’s market value from around $350 billion to nearly $4 trillion. He will be succeeded by John Ternus, a 50-year-old hardware engineering veteran who has been groomed for the role through increasing public visibility and internal responsibility. Ternus’s appointment signals a strategic shift toward hardware and engineering leadership, with Johny Srouji—head of Apple Silicon—taking on an expanded role as Chief Hardware Officer. This consolidation aims to strengthen Apple’s core technological capabilities. However, Cook’s departure highlights a significant unresolved issue: Apple’s delayed and fragmented approach to artificial intelligence. Despite early efforts, such as hiring John Giannandrea from Google in 2018, Apple’s AI initiatives—particularly around Siri—have struggled with internal restructuring and reliance on external partnerships, including with Google. The transition comes at a critical moment as Apple faces paradigm shifts with the rise of artificial general intelligence (ASI). The company’s closed ecosystem of hardware, software, and services—once a major advantage—now presents challenges in adapting to an AI-centric world where intelligence may matter more than the device itself. Ternus must quickly articulate a clear AI strategy, possibly starting at WWDC, to reassure markets and redefine Apple’s role in a new technological era. His task is not only to maintain Apple’s operational excellence but also to reinvigorate its capacity to innovate and lead in the age of AI.

marsbit04/22 00:08

Cook's Curtain Call and Ternus Takes the Helm: The Disruption and Reboot of Apple's 4 Trillion Dollar Empire

marsbit04/22 00:08

W3.io and Space and Time Collaborate to Launch Verifiable AI Finance Infrastructure

W3.io and Space and Time have partnered to launch a verifiable AI finance infrastructure designed to address the accountability gap in autonomous financial operations. The collaboration combines W3’s platform for creating and automating agent-powered financial workflows with Space and Time’s verifiable data blockchain, ensuring end-to-end proof from execution to settlement. This two-layer verification system processes over 200,000 operations daily and has been validated in production by Creatorland, a platform serving 100,000 content creators. The partnership enables businesses to deploy multi-vendor financial processes quickly and auditably, with support from integrations including Circle, Stripe, and PayPal. The system provides a trust layer for autonomous financial movements, ensuring data integrity and operational transparency beyond traditional cloud databases.

TheNewsCrypto04/21 21:19

W3.io and Space and Time Collaborate to Launch Verifiable AI Finance Infrastructure

TheNewsCrypto04/21 21:19

Crypto Extortion Hits Strait Of Hormuz As Scammers Exploit Shipping Crisis

An emerging crypto extortion scam is targeting shipping companies with vessels stranded near the Strait of Hormuz, according to maritime risk firm Marisks. Criminals posing as Iranian security officials are sending fraudulent messages offering safe passage in exchange for transit fees paid in Bitcoin or Tether. The scam exploits desperation amid the ongoing regional conflict, which has severely restricted movement through the critical waterway. Victims are instructed to submit documents and pay a cryptocurrency fee to secure transit. However, the messages are not from Iranian authorities. Paying could not only result in financial loss but also potentially violate international sanctions, as any crypto transfer linked to Iranian entities may be considered material support. Legal risks remain even if companies are defrauded. The scheme appears to capitalize on earlier reports that Iran was considering a real crypto-based toll system.

bitcoinist04/21 17:01

Crypto Extortion Hits Strait Of Hormuz As Scammers Exploit Shipping Crisis

bitcoinist04/21 17:01

Coinbase Launches Crypto-Backed USDC Loans For UK Users In Latest Expansion

Coinbase has expanded its crypto-backed USDC lending service to UK residents, allowing them to use Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Coinbase Wrapped Staked Ether (cbETH) as collateral. Powered by the on-chain protocol Morpho on the Base network, the service enables users to borrow up to $5 million in USDC without selling their crypto holdings. Collateral is locked in a smart contract until the loan is repaid, with liquidation triggered if the loan-to-value ratio exceeds a threshold. This follows the service’s successful US launch, where originations surpassed $2.17 billion. The move is part of Coinbase’s broader expansion in the UK, including savings accounts and DEX trading, and aligns with its efforts to integrate crypto into traditional finance, such as recently offering crypto-backed mortgages.

bitcoinist04/21 14:01

Coinbase Launches Crypto-Backed USDC Loans For UK Users In Latest Expansion