US nonfarm payrolls revealed that the economy added far more jobs than expected in April, despite ongoing inflation pressure thanks to the Iran war.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 115,000 jobs — far beyond the expected 65,000.
“The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised down by 23,000, from -133,000 to -156,000, and the change for March was revised up by 7,000, from +178,000 to +185,000,” an accompanying news release stated.
“With these revisions, employment in February and March combined is 16,000 lower than previously reported.”
US civilian unemployment rate. Source: BLS
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.3%.
Bitcoin initially fell on the numbers, as outperformance implied less need for the Federal Reserve to relax financial policy.
As Cointelegraph reported, the Fed made it clear at its latest meeting on interest rates that conditions were conducive to tightening, and that rate cuts were unlikely.
The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool reflected market expectations of a potential rate hike at the Fed’s next meeting on June 17.
Fed target rate probabilities for June 17 FOMC meeting (screenshot). Source: CME Group
BTC price sees “healthy bullish backtest”
Among traders, the mood was one of cautious optimism with acceptance that recent gains may not hold for long.
Related: Bitcoin Bollinger Bands push key breakout as creator acts on positive signal
“Retesting the highs from the previous consolidation,” Daan Crypto Trades summarized in his latest X analysis.
“Good bounce so far but this is a key level for the bulls to hold.”
Decentralized finance protocols are reevaluating their blockchain oracle providers’ security after the fallout from the $293 million Kelp DAO exploit last month. Several protocols have announced migrations to Chainlink infrastructure in recent days, citing security concerns around third-party oracle and bridge providers.
On Thursday, Bitcoin DeFi platform Solv Protocol announced it would migrate to Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) and replace LayerZero bridges, citing an “extensive security review” concluding that CCIP provided the “strongest security assurances.”
A day earlier, liquidity protocol Tydro also said it was moving to Chainlink after its previous oracle provider, Chaos Labs, suffered an incident that prompted Tydro to pause markets over concerns about inaccurate price feeds.
LayerZero, however, said on April 20 that the exploit resulted from a single point of failure in Kelp DAO’s implementation, which relied on a single LayerZero DVN as the only verified path despite prior warnings against that configuration.
DeFi protocols review oracle security after Kelp exploit
The Kelp DAO exploit triggered a “wake-up call” for DeFi providers, according to Zach Rynes, strategic initiatives lead at Chainlink Labs.
Rynes told Cointelegraph that DeFi teams conducting security reviews are increasingly deciding to replace older oracle and bridge systems with Chainlink infrastructure to strengthen baseline security protections, and multiple other DeFi protocols are discussing potential migrations to Chainlink following the exploit.
Oracle providers with long operating histories and strong reliability are becoming increasingly important as hacks continue across the sector, Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder of RedStone, the fourth-largest blockchain oracle provider, told Cointelegraph, adding that RedStone has also kept a “fully reliable track record.”
Redstone was also contacted by Tydro as an emergency measure after the Chaos Labs oracle attack and provided support to help restore oracle feeds for the protocol.
Oracle consolidation raises new questions for DeFi
Following the Kelp DAO exploit, only a smaller group of specialized providers may be able to meet the “demand and reliability requirements” created by growing institutional participation in DeFi, Kazmierczak said.
“A smaller set of trusted oracles is forming in the market,” he said, adding that as capital concentrates around providers with proven track records, the risk of oracle-related exploits could decline.
When asked about the risks of multiple DeFi protocols depending on fewer providers, Rynes said Chainlink’s infrastructure was designed to withstand extreme market conditions.
He pointed to periods including the 2020 Covid market crash, the 2022 FTX collapse and major volatility events in 2025, saying Chainlink continued operating throughout those disruptions.
Nik Kunkel, founder of Chronicle, the second-largest oracle provider, said that an overreliance on a single infrastructure provider will always present additional risks.
“There are risks anytime a large portion of an ecosystem depends on a single piece of infrastructure,” Kunkel told Cointelegraph, adding that reducing those risks also requires data infrastructure to remain independently transparent and verifiable.
Top Oracle providers by market share. Source: DefiLlama.com
Chainlink remains the largest oracle provider with a 58% market share and more than $32 billion in value secured, according to DefiLlama. Chronicle ranks second with $7.6 billion in total value secured, while RedStone holds fourth place with $3.7 billion, representing a 6.7% market share.
Nearly half of US voters are willing to cross party lines to get clear crypto regulation off the ground, while public support for the CLARITY Act could bring an electoral benefit for politicians, according to a new survey from HarrisX.
The poll included responses from 2,008 registered voters from May 1-4. It found that 52% of respondents support the CLARITY Act, with just 11% opposed.
About half, or 47%, said they would consider voting for a candidate outside their preferred party if that candidate backed the bill and their own party did not. Among crypto users, that number jumped to 72%.
“Passing the CLARITY Act is a bipartisan, winning issue,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on X on Thursday. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev added: “There’s real momentum now to finally get CLARITY across the finish line. One more small push and we establish the legislative foundation to ensure American dominance in digital finance.”
The crypto industry has been waiting for the CLARITY Act to move through the US legislative process. It is expected to provide long-awaited regulatory clarity for crypto and could help the country become a major hub for crypto and digital finance.
The HarrisX poll also highlighted strong bipartisan support for the bill, with 55% of Democrats, 58% of Republicans and 42% of independents supporting it. Public support for the bill could also give senators a 20-point electoral advantage, it said
Some predict the CLARITY Act will receive additional markups as soon as next week.
Speaking at the Consensus 2026 crypto industry conference in Miami on Wednesday, Coinbase’s vice president of US policy, Kara Calvert, said her “prediction is that we have a markup next week” from the Senate Banking Committee.
Calvert stressed that bipartisan support will get the bill across the line, saying it needs at least 60 votes to pass the Senate, but she is unsure how things will unfold in the coming days.
“That means you need Democrats. You need a bipartisan bill, and we have all been working really hard to make sure that bipartisanship holds. I think the big question is, how do these votes shape up over the next few days?”
The timeline for a vote may still be months away, however. US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand recently suggested additional markups are required before the bill can progress, predicting a Senate vote in August.
Account Abstraction is a technical upgrade that converts traditional crypto wallets into programmable smart contracts. By implementing the ERC-4337 standard, the blockchain can treat user accounts like intelligent software rather than simple private key pairs, significantly simplifying the user experience.
The Problem with Traditional Wallets
Currently, most users interact with the blockchain through Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs), such as a standard MetaMask wallet. These accounts are controlled by a single private key. If you lose your seed phrase, you lose your funds forever. Furthermore, every action requires the user to hold the network’s native token (like ETH) to pay for “gas” fees, which is a major barrier for beginners.
How Account Abstraction Changes the Game
Account Abstraction “abstracts” the account away from the private key. Instead of a simple address, your wallet becomes a Smart Account. This allows for several “bank-like” features that were previously impossible on-chain:
Social Recovery: You can designate “guardians” (friends or other devices) to help you regain access to your wallet if you lose your credentials, eliminating the stress of managing a 24-word seed phrase.
Gas Flexibility (Paymasters): Users can pay for transaction fees using stablecoins (like USDC) instead of the native network token. In some cases, decentralized apps (dApps) can even “sponsor” the gas, making the transaction free for the user.
Transaction Bundling: Instead of signing multiple individual permissions to swap a token or provide liquidity, Account Abstraction allows you to bundle several actions into a single click.
ERC-4337: The Standard for Everyone
ERC-4337 is the specific standard that brought these features to Ethereum and its compatible layers without requiring a fundamental change to the underlying blockchain code. It uses a separate “mempool” where user operations are gathered and processed by “Bundlers,” making the transition to smart accounts seamless for the entire ecosystem.
FAQ
1. Does Account Abstraction make my wallet less secure? On the contrary, it can enhance security. Because the wallet is programmable, you can set “security rules,” such as daily spending limits or requiring multi-signature approval for transfers to unknown addresses.
2. Can I use Account Abstraction on my current MetaMask? Standard EOAs like your current MetaMask do not natively support all account abstraction features yet. However, many new “Smart Contract Wallets” are being built specifically to leverage ERC-4337, and existing providers are working on integrating these capabilities.
3. What is a “Paymaster” in ERC-4337? A Paymaster is a specialized smart contract that handles the payment of gas fees. It allows developers to subsidize user fees or enables users to pay for gas using any supported ERC-20 token rather than being forced to use the chain’s native currency.
Blockchain layer-2 (L2) network Polygon reduced its average block time by 250 milliseconds to 1.75 seconds, marking its first block-time reduction since genesis as the network pushes deeper into stablecoin payments and settlement infrastructure.
Polygonscan shows that the latest blocks on the network were created in 1.75 seconds. The upgrade means that Polygon can process around 14% more payments per second, reaching a maximum theoretical throughput of about 3,260 transactions per second (TPS), according to Polygon software engineer Lucca Martins.
Shorter block times can help transaction backlogs clear faster, reducing the duration of network congestion and subsequent transaction fee spikes, which is particularly important for high-frequency use cases such as payments, stablecoins or decentralized finance (DeFi) trading.
The upgrade comes as Polygon makes efforts to position itself for use cases targeting more institutional adoption, such as private stablecoin payments. On Tuesday, Polygon introduced a new wallet feature that enables users to privately route stablecoin transactions through a shielded pool verified by zero-knowledge proofs.
The upgrade is part of the Polygon Improvement Proposal PIP-86, a two-step motion that seeks to further reduce block time to 1.5 seconds and scale down checkpoint rewards to maintain the Polygon (POL) token emissions at the target 1% after the block time reduction.
Polygon blockchain explore, latest blocks, production time. Source: Polygonscan
Cointelegraph reached out to Polygon for comment on its block time reduction plans, but had not received a response by publication.
Polygon targets private stablecoin payments to onboard institutions
Polygon’s new wallet feature is part of an aim to onboard more institutional users as it hides senders, receivers and amounts onchain while maintaining compliance through Know Your Transaction (KYT) screening and auditable files.
The feature introduces more privacy for businesses transacting with stablecoins, according to Polygon community lead Smokey.
Despite the upgrade, Polygon’s (POL) token remained stagnant over the past 24 hours and traded at $0.09 at the time of writing. The token is down 54% over the past year, CoinMarketCap data shows.
POL/USD, one-year chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
Polygon has also integrated with large credit card providers. On April 29, global payments giant Visa expanded its stablecoin pilot to include support for Polygon Base, the Canton Network, Arc and Tempo.
Launched by Visa in 2023, the pilot allows partners to settle transactions through stablecoins rather than traditional banking rails, to evaluate whether stablecoins can offer faster settlement.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Core Scientific (CORZ) reported a $347.2 million first-quarter net loss as its Bitcoin self-mining revenue fell sharply and high-density colocation became its largest revenue source.
In its earnings report published Wednesday, the company reported a net loss of $1.06 per diluted share for the quarter. A year earlier, Core Scientific reported diluted earnings of $1.24 per share.
Core Scientific said the loss included $266.5 million in non-cash impairment charges and a $30.8 million non-cash loss from changes in the fair value of warrants and contingent value rights.
Revenue rose to $115.2 million from $79.5 million a year earlier, but fell short of analyst expectations. Zacks Equity Research said analysts expected $120.2 million in revenue, with Core Scientific’s results coming in about 4.1% below expectations.
The results show Core Scientific’s transition from a Bitcoin miner into an AI infrastructure company, with high-density colocation now generating most of its revenue. The shift gives the company a larger business, but it also highlights how its legacy mining operations have weakened.
Bitcoin mining revenue falls
Core Scientific’s digital asset self-mining revenue fell to $30.1 million from $67.2 million a year earlier, with the company mining 279 Bitcoin (BTC) during the quarter, down 45% from the same period in 2025. According to its 10-Q filing, Core Scientific sold 2,385 Bitcoin during the quarter for $208.3 million to fund planned capital expenditures and other cash needs.
Despite the weaker mining results, Core Scientific’s shares have gained over the past six months. Yahoo Finance data shows CORZ closed at $24.63 on Wednesday, up about 19.6% over six months, before falling 7.43% to $22.80 in pre-market trading at the time of writing.
In a separate announcement, Core Scientific said it plans to scale its Muskogee, Oklahoma, campus to about 1.5 gigawatts of gross power, or about 1.0 gigawatt of leasable power, partly through the planned acquisition of Polaris DS. The company has also started construction on a second, unleased 82.5-megawatt building at the campus.
Core Scientific expands AI-linked colocation business
Core Scientific’s first-quarter growth came from high-density colocation rather than Bitcoin production, with the company’s mining revenue and Bitcoin output falling while its AI-linked hosting business generated most of its revenue.
The company said its colocation revenue rose to $77.5 million in the first quarter from $8.6 million a year earlier, driven by additional billable customer power capacity delivered during the quarter.
The company said it was billing for 243 megawatts of capacity as of March 31, representing about $350 million in average annualized colocation revenue.
The revenue shift follows a series of hosting agreements with CoreWeave. In June 2024, Core Scientific said it signed 12-year contracts to deliver about 200 megawatts of infrastructure to host CoreWeave’s high-performance computing operations.
The companies later expanded the relationship. In an SEC filing in February 2025, the companies said CoreWeave’s total contracted high-performance computing infrastructure with Core Scientific had increased to about 590 megawatts across six sites.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Aave liquidates Kelp DAO hacker’s rsETH collateral on Ethereum and Arbitrum, recovering $30M. DeFi United inches closer to restoring rsETH backing.
Aave Labs has successfully liquidated the Kelp DAO hacker’s remaining rsETH collateral across Ethereum and Arbitrum, recovering approximately 13,000 ETH worth $30.2 million. This liquidation represents a significant milestone in the DeFi United recovery effort aimed at restoring the backing for Kelp DAO’s restaked ETH (rsETH) token and compensating affected users.
The Kelp DAO exploit on April 18, which involved the minting of unbacked rsETH tokens, resulted in $293 million in losses. The attacker used these tokens as collateral on Aave to borrow wrapped Ether (wETH), creating over $190 million in bad debt and triggering a wave of withdrawals. Aave’s total value locked (TVL) plummeted by $12 billion in the days following the breach, though data from DeFiLlama indicates that Aave’s TVL has since stabilized, recovering to over $15 billion as of May 6.
DeFi United, which is spearheading the recovery of rsETH, has now closed 90% of the gap required to fully back the token, according to Thaddeus Pinakiewicz, VP of Galaxy Digital’s research team. However, an additional 30,765 ETH remains frozen by Arbitrum DAO, currently subject to legal proceedings. Aave has filed an emergency motion to lift a restraining notice placed on these funds by the U.S. law firm Gerstein Harrow LLP. Meanwhile, Arbitrum DAO’s governance vote on whether to release the frozen ETH is ongoing, with over 90% of participants reportedly in favor. Voting is set to conclude on May 8.
Market Context: rsETH and DeFi Recovery
rsETH, a liquid restaking token launched by Kelp DAO in 2023, allows users to restake Ethereum or liquid staking tokens (LSTs) and earn additional rewards while maintaining liquidity. The recent exploit has shaken confidence in the token and the broader DeFi ecosystem.
As of May 7, rsETH is trading at $2,415.32, reflecting a 3.18% decline over the past 24 hours. Its market cap stands at $1.39 billion, underscoring the token’s importance in the DeFi space despite the exploit’s fallout. Aave’s swift liquidation of the hacker’s collateral is seen as a critical step toward restoring trust in both rsETH and the wider DeFi market.
Pinakiewicz highlighted that DeFi United is seeking commitments from key stablecoin issuers, including Circle, Ethena, and Frax, as well as Kraken’s Ethereum Layer 2 project, Ink, to finalize the recovery plan. “These commitments are essential to plug the remaining hole and fully restore rsETH’s backing,” he said.
Aave’s Resilience Post-Exploit
While the Kelp DAO exploit significantly impacted Aave, the protocol’s insurance mechanism, Umbrella, was not engaged during the liquidation process. Aave has reassured users that no direct funds were affected, a move likely aimed at maintaining user confidence.
Following the exploit, Aave has taken a proactive approach to mitigate further risks and stabilize its platform. Net outflows have eased in recent weeks, and the protocol’s TVL has rebounded from a local low of $14.2 billion to over $15 billion.
The recovery of $30 million from the hacker’s collateral provides a financial boost to DeFi United’s efforts and signals a turning point in the aftermath of one of 2026’s most significant crypto exploits. However, the legal and governance hurdles surrounding the frozen ETH on Arbitrum could still pose delays to a full recovery.
All eyes are now on Arbitrum DAO’s final vote and the outcome of Aave’s emergency court motion. A resolution on these fronts could pave the way for a more robust recovery of rsETH and potentially restore market confidence in liquid restaking tokens.
The pair made fresh gains amid reports of a 14-point ceasefire agreement potentially coming into effect — one that would include resumption of oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Hours later, however, US President Donald Trump said that Iran’s agreement to the terms of the truce was “perhaps, a big assumption.”
“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” he added in a post on Truth Social.
Source: Truth Social
Bitcoin reacted by erasing its upside to circle $81,500 at the time of writing, still up around 1% on the day.
Oil also saw volatility, with WTI dropping over 10% in a matter of hours before rebounding to $96 per barrel.
CFDs on WTI crude oil one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Commenting on X, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter reported what it called “unusually large” short interest on WTI, which totaled nearly $1 billion, immediately before the drop.
Light crude oil futures chart. Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X
BTC price focus switches to $78,000 and higher
Bitcoin traders, meanwhile, looked to patches of potential liquidations on exchange order books for clues as to where price might head next.
“Above, the $82.4K area still has some left. But price did take out most of the local liquidity from the past day. With price at 3 month highs, we would need to zoom out to see the other major levels,” trader Daan Crypto Trades told X followers.
“Below, the $80.1K & $78.2K levels are good to watch if price were to trade into them.”
Crypto liquidation history (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass
Data from CoinGlass put total crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours at more than $550 million, with shorts accounting for $400 million of the total.
Trader CrypNuevo called BTC/USD “overextended” on short time frames, seeking a retracement to the 50-period simple moving average (SMA) on the four-hour chart. That stood at $78,432.
“Ideally it continues pushing straight higher without any exhaustion signs and it will overextend price even more so the short will be more atractive and worth it when we see those signs at higher prices,” he wrote on X.
BTC/USD four-hour chart with 50SMA. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on concerns that historical precedent called for the failure of Bitcoin’s current breakout attempt.
This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.
As the UK considers options to attract and develop the crypto industry at home, the Bank of England (BOE) has put forward several proposals for how it might regulate stablecoins to mitigate perceived financial risks.
These have included a ban on custodial wallets for stablecoin holdings. The UK crypto industry, from stablecoin issuers to Bitcoin hardliners, has predictably taken issue with the ban.
“This would be a serious misstep for the UK, risking long-term damage that is hard to unwind,” said Benoit Marzouk, CEO of stablecoin issuer tGBP told Cointelegraph.
Ban could hamper operability and competitiveness
At the heart of the BOE’s approach to stablecoins, which it recently discussed in a series of inquiries before the House of Lords, is protecting the UK banking system.
The bank argues that unhindered access to stablecoins, which can offer higher yields than traditional banking products, could lead to a run on deposits, and therefore on credit availability from UK banks.
In March, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden told the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee that BOE is “open to other ways of achieving the objective” of credit availability.
Breeden speaks before Parliament. Source: Parliament
“But I think you would expect us as the financial stability authority to ensure that there isn’t a precipitous drop in credit to the businesses and households in the UK,” she said.
One way it believes it can affect this is through banning unhosted wallets. “There is this concept of an unhosted wallet, where you haven’t got a wallet provider who is a regulated entity ensuring that AML [Anti-Money Laundering], KYC [Know Your Customer] criteria are complied with. Unhosted wallets will not be permissible in the UK. They are permissible in the US regime,” Breeden told the committee.
For the crypto industry, it would be two steps backward. According to Marzouk, it would “wipe out hard-earned network effects.”
“If transfers are limited to registered VASPs or custodial wallets, existing GBP stablecoins […] would become in breach of regulations with holding on self-hosted or issuers would be forced into whitelisting models and re-issuing new tokens.”
Joey Garcia, chief strategy, policy, and regulatory affairs officer at Xapo Bank, told Cointelegraph that, instead of being an update to the financial system, “this ban essentially restricts any attempt to understand and mitigate the perceived risks.”
“This would be interpreted as a signal of a hostile regulatory environment, discouraging developers and investment in the UK’s fintech sector.”
Marzouk said that it also undermines an important use case for stablecoins, namely remittances. Under the BOE’s regime, “recipients couldn’t access funds unless fully onboarded with a regulated exchange.”
“A plane without wings is no longer a plane. Likewise, a stablecoin or blockchain asset that can only be transferred to a predefined list of wallets is not truly blockchain, it is effectively e-money within a closed ecosystem and then you don’t need a separate regulation.”
Garcia also said that the utility of stablecoins would be diminished as they “derive much of their value from the ability to be held and transferred on a peer-to-peer basis on open networks.”
“This is particularly relevant for the unbanked and underbanked around the globe, for whom self-custodial wallets and regulated on-ramps can be a primary gateway into digital financial services, and access to digital dollars or digital pounds.”
Curbing such a major use case for stablecoins “kills a major strategic opportunity: Positioning the Pound Sterling, one of the strongest and most trusted currencies, as a credible alternative to USD stablecoins,” said Marzouk.
Crypto industry questions feasibility of wallet ban
Beyond the issue of competitiveness is the feasibility of implementing an unhosted wallet ban.
Susie Violet Ward, the director and co-founder of Bitcoin Policy UK, said that these rules would do little to address real illicit flows, but would rather “expand data collection, erode privacy, impose costs, and add friction and limit access through banks and intermediaries.”
Freddie New, chief policy officer at the Bitcoin Policy UK, said that the proposed policy from BOE was of “such monumental, such overweening, stupidity, that it is hard to formulate a sensible response.”
New said, “let everyone in the UK simply continue to use their ‘self-hosted wallets’ (ie ‘wallets’) without paying them a second’s more attention.”
It may not be as simple as that. The central bank does have some levers it can pull that would be particularly relevant for stablecoins. But even then, “this is extremely challenging to monitor, let alone enforce,” said Garcia.
The BOE could focus on Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs). Marzouk said that the bank could limit the issuance of new stablecoins into registered VASPs like crypto exchanges. In turn, these would only allow transfers to other VASPs or custodians “through the validation of existing tools that have been created for the Travel Rule regulation.”
But even this, per Marzouk, stretches the intended purpose of the Travel Rule. “The Travel Rule is designed to enable VASPs to exchange information if there’s some complaints from clients of identity theft, for example: It was not intended to restrict or prohibit self-custody.”
For Garcia, it’s neither “necessary nor feasible.” The underlying technology behind crypto wallets means that anyone can create one. “As long as the internet and public blockchains exist, a direct ban on wallet creation and use is not practically enforceable.”
It’s distinctly possible that the ban will not make it into the final version of the Bank of England’s regulations. The bank’s latest Consultation Paper on stablecoins, published in November, does not propose one explicitly.
Any changes would have to go through the standard process, led by the Treasury under the Financial Conduct Authority’s framework as defined by the 2023 Financial Services and Markets Act. “This involves formal consultation, industry input, and iterative rulemaking before any measures can be finalised,” said Garcia.
The best the industry can do to circumvent a ban is to continue engaging with policymakers, per Garcia.
“As participants within the sector, we must demonstrate the benefits of this technology clearly to address the concerns and risks that have been identified, to strengthen the case for proportionate regulation.”
Samsung SDS, Samsung’s information technology services subsidiary, will reportedly build a token securities platform for the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), moving South Korea’s central securities depository closer to operating blockchain-based securities infrastructure as the country prepares a legal framework for tokenized assets.
Samsung SDS won a contract to build and operate the platform for KSD, according to local reports from Yonhap News Agency and The Korea Times. The project is expected to be completed by February 2027 and will convert a technology verification testbed into a formal system capable of stable service operations.
KSD plans to link its existing electronic securities account system with blockchain-based distributed ledger data to strengthen tokenized securities issuance and rights management, according to the reports.
Samsung SDS previously worked on KSD’s tokenized securities efforts, including function-analysis consulting in 2024 and testbed platform construction in 2025, Seoul Economic Daily reported.
The news comes as South Korea is preparing the market infrastructure needed to support tokenized securities once its incoming legal framework takes effect.
South Korea prepares its tokenized securities framework
On Jan. 15, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said amendments to the Electronic Registration Act and the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act had passed the National Assembly, paving the way for the issuance and circulation of security tokens.
The FSC said the amended Electronic Registration Act legally recognizes blockchain-based distributed ledgers as securities registries. The regulator also said token security issuers will be required to follow legally mandated procedures and apply for electronic registration with KSD, placing the depository at the center of South Korea’s future token securities infrastructure.
On March 4, the FSC launched a public-private consultative body on security tokens. The consultative body will work on rules and infrastructure for security tokens across four areas: technology and infrastructure, issuance, circulation and payment and settlement.
In the announcement, the FSC also said that the framework is scheduled to take effect on Feb. 4, 2027, after updates to subordinate rules and the setup of relevant infrastructure. That timing closely matches Samsung SDS’s reported February 2027 target for completing the KSD platform.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
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