On April 2 in New York, the Linux Foundation said it created the x402 Foundation and accepted Coinbase's contribution of the x402 protocol to set up neutral, open-source governance for a proposed "payments over HTTP" standard. The protocol is intended to embed payments into web interactions so apps, APIs, and AI agents can exchange value within typical HTTP-based workflows. The announcement was made at the MCP Dev Summit North America.

Coinbase said Thursday it received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust company charter tied to Coinbase National Trust Company. The structure would be a non-insured national trust focused on custody, staking, and related fiduciary services, and Coinbase said it already holds more than $245 billion in assets under custody. The company must still meet OCC pre-opening requirements before it can begin operating under the charter.

Wallet in Telegram has launched in-app perpetual futures trading for its 150M+ users via an integration with Ethereum-based DEX Lighter. Users can take leveraged long or short positions on 50+ assets and place trades inside Telegram with up to 50x leverage. Availability is not global, with access restricted in jurisdictions including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Wallet in Telegram, a third-party wallet embedded in Telegram, is introducing perpetual futures trading through the Lighter DEX, letting users take leveraged long or short positions inside the app. The rollout, set to launch Thursday, supports up to 50× leverage across more than 50 assets spanning crypto (including Bitcoin and Toncoin) plus tokenized stocks and commodities.

On Thursday, SoFi Technologies launched SoFi Big Business Banking, enabling U.S. enterprises to hold deposits, move money, and settle in fiat, SoFiUSD, and select cryptocurrencies 24/7 from SoFi Bank, N.A. The company says the platform combines a nationally chartered bank’s regulatory framework with API-based rails designed to reduce settlement delays tied to traditional banking hours.

On April 2, Binance announced a national program in Ukraine called the Digital Resilience Lab to support local Web3 projects through grants, mentorship, and ecosystem access. The initiative includes a grant pool of up to $500,000, with leading teams eligible for up to $25,000 each, and is open to students, veterans, and entrepreneurs.

Drift Protocol suspended deposits and withdrawals after an exploit drained about $280 million via admin-level access. The Solana-based DEX said the attacker took over Security Council permissions using pre-approved transactions, then removed withdrawal limits and added a malicious asset. The incident underscores how governance, multisig approvals, and signing workflows can become key DeFi attack surfaces.

Ripio founder and CEO Sebastián Serrano argues that tokenization delivers the most value when applied to already-liquid, high-demand assets such as US dollars, government bonds and major financial instruments. He says USD-backed stablecoins succeeded because they upgraded existing rails where trillions already move, while pilots for tokenized Treasury bills, currencies and stocks follow the same logic. By contrast, he contends that illiquid, bespoke assets like many NFTs and niche RWAs struggle to generate deep markets, reliable collateral use and broad network effects.