On 28 February 2026, Midnight Network confirmed that Google Cloud and MoneyGram have signed on as founding federated node operators ahead of the Kūkolu mainnet launch planned for late March 2026. The network is starting with a 10-node federated model, using Zero-Knowledge Proofs to enable selective disclosure and target regulated institutional use cases.

Onchain analytics firm Bubblemaps reported that six newly active Polymarket wallets collectively locked in close to $1 million in net gains by buying "yes" shares on a contract predicting a U.S. strike on Iran by February 28, 2026. Most of these accounts were funded within a day of the attack and opened positions only hours before the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes, while another trader who had previously made about $2 million betting against such strikes lost $6.5 million in a single day when the contract resolved.

Materials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency describe how existing U.S. financial statutes are being applied to crypto custody, trading platforms, and payment stablecoins. Rather than creating new legal categories, these documents analyze custody through the Advisers Act and Investment Company Act, platform conduct through Exchange Act registration rules, and stablecoin issuance through OCC rulemaking under federal banking authority.

On February 27, 2026, MoonPay, PayPal and M0 unveiled PYUSDx, a developer framework for creating application-branded stablecoins backed by PayPal USD. Tokens are issued by MoonPay Digital Assets Limited, which holds a New York trust license, and the first live project is USD.ai, focused on machine-to-machine payments; PYUSDx tokens are distinct from PYUSD and are not usable on PayPal or Venmo.

On Feb. 26, the XRPL Foundation detailed a vulnerability in the proposed Batch amendment that was reported on Feb. 19 by researcher Pranamya Keshkamat and Cantina AI tool Apex. XRPL contacted UNL validators to vote against activation and shipped rippled 3.1.1 on Feb. 23 to mark the amendments unsupported, scheduled a Devnet reset for Mar. 3, 2026, and noted no funds were lost.

On 28 February 2026, Barclays said it is engaging technology vendors to develop a blockchain platform for payments, deposits, and settlements. The bank targets a partner decision by April 2026 and has taken a stake in Ubyx, while the stablecoin market is close to $300 billion and a tokenized sterling pilot with HSBC and Lloyds is scheduled through mid-2026.

On February 27, 2026, the OCC finalized a rule that broadens permissible activities for national trust banks, with implementation set for April 1, 2026. The update allows crypto trust banks to offer custody and safekeeping as a primary business, with firms such as Ripple, Circle, Paxos, and Crypto.com holding conditional approvals.

Alchemy has launched a self-service payment system that lets autonomous AI agents maintain on-chain wallets and purchase compute credits with USDC on Base. Using the x402 payment standard and HTTP 402 responses, agents auto-top up balances without human intervention. Developer accounts can start with as little as $1 in USDC.