Moody’s Brings Credit Ratings On-Chain, Bridging TradFi and Blockchain

Ripple's president told investors on Mar 17, 2026 that Fortune 500 companies are poised to adopt XRP as a corporate liquidity "gold standard," noting roughly 60% of major tech firms are already experimenting with blockchain. He framed current trials as signs of a larger adoption wave once integration and regulatory hurdles are cleared.

Aster Chain went live on March 17, 2026, combining zero-knowledge encryption for private trades with gasless transactions and a claimed 100,000 TPS throughput. The launch aims to deliver ultra-fast, low-cost execution while keeping position data confidential.

Ripple is moving to offer custody, payments and brokerage services in Brazil as it prepares to seek approval from the central bank, signalling a push into digital asset management and tokenization. The move could accelerate institutional on‑ramp and XRP utility in Latin America.

Google, IBM and Deutsche Telekom are converging on Hedera’s public ledger, signaling growing enterprise confidence in HBAR’s technology for regulated, high-throughput use cases. This move matters as retail attention shifts to AI tokens while institutions prioritize stability and scalability.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said on March 15 that proof-of-stake's mix of staking costs, slashing penalties, and the threat of community-led forks gives Ethereum stronger protection against attacks than proof-of-work. He argued these mechanisms align incentives and raise the cost of malicious behavior.