Finance

Trillion-Dollar Fusion: AI And Crypto Rewiring Finance

Published

10 months ago

March 12, 2025

Press Room

Trillion-Dollar Fusion: AI And Crypto Rewiring Finance

human hand taking bitcoin from robotic hand

getty

Your money never sleeps. Before the world wakes, artificial intelligence (AI) driven systems are already scanning markets, seizing opportunities, and securing profits. This isn’t the future—it’s happening now.

AI and blockchain—the twin engines of autonomous finance—aren’t just digitizing money; they’re rewiring finance itself. Blockchain is the trust engine, enforcing transparency and enabling atomic settlement—no middlemen required. AI is the intelligence engine, continuously learning, predicting, and executing trades in real time through autonomous agents.

These agents optimize capital flows with unmatched speed, but their rapid evolution introduces structural risks—algorithmic instability, security vulnerabilities, regulatory blind spots, and the potential for cascading failures if safeguards aren’t in place. Retail investors now tap into hedge-fund-grade strategies—but they’re also vulnerable to flash crashes that can erase savings in an instant.

The result? A financial system that never stops learning, adapting, and executing—reacting to market shifts at speeds no human can match.

Finance’s power dynamics are shifting as Wall Street titans and nimble disruptors leverage these technologies to gain an edge. Institutional investors deploy algorithms that execute optimum trades, while tech-first banks dramatically cut operational costs. Traditional wealth managers accustomed to relationship-driven finance must now adapt to a world where algorithms make split-second decisions.

Trillion-Dollar Upheaval

The financial services market is staggering: $100 trillion in asset management, $240 trillion in global payments, $200 trillion in banking, and trillions trading in repo markets daily. AI is surging toward $1.8 trillion, crypto is cementing its $2 trillion foothold, and tokenization is set to unlock $16 trillion in liquid assets by 2030.

At this scale, efficiency gains—such as instant settlements and the removal of intermediaries—don’t just cut costs. They create new profit centers for incumbents and unlock high-value opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs, reshaping the financial landscape.

For centuries, financial power was concentrated in the hands of a few—banks with rigid hours, brokers with steep fees, and investment firms with high barriers to entry. That dominance is fading. AI and blockchain aren’t just making finance faster; they’re making it accessible. Hedge fund-grade strategies, real-time insights, and automated portfolio management are no longer reserved for institutions. From fraud detection to high-speed execution, intelligent systems eliminate inefficiencies and redefine financial participation. The gates are no longer locked—anyone with an internet connection can enter.

Industry Giants Are Paying Attention

Traditional finance (TradFI) sees the shift—AI and blockchain are no longer experimental; they’re becoming the backbone of financial infrastructure. But adoption isn’t instant. Financial institutions, entrenched in compliance and legacy systems, must tread carefully—yet they aren’t sitting idle. They recognize the potential and are actively integrating AI’s paradigm-shifting capabilities in advanced analytics and dramatic operational efficiency gains while methodically exploring blockchain for settlement and tokenization.

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley’s tech titans—Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Nvidia—are unleashing powerful AI innovations, building the infrastructure they believe will underpin entire industries, finance included. With total investments approaching the trillion-dollar mark, these tech giants are betting big on AI’s transformative potential across the entire economy.

BlackRock, managing a jaw-dropping $10 trillion, sent shockwaves through Wall Street by launching its first tokenized fund on Ethereum. Suddenly, blockchain wasn’t just for crypto diehards—it was institutional finance’s next big move. Fidelity and Schwab are building institutional crypto custody and trading services. Meanwhile, crypto’s early disruptors like Coinbase and Kraken have evolved into AI-powered financial powerhouses, integrating real-time fraud detection and high-speed execution that outpaces legacy markets.

The Living Market: Finance’s New Nervous System & Digital Workforce

Together, AI and blockchain create an ecosystem where automation isn’t just about speed but about trust, security, and predictive intelligence. A new financial nervous system is emerging—one that doesn’t just automate but actively thinks, learns, and adapts. This evolving network integrates security, adaptability, and intelligence seamlessly. Blockchain serves as the backbone, while AI functions as the cognitive layer—transforming static rules into dynamic learning. This isn’t just a faster version of today’s financial systems; it’s an entirely new species.

Traditional finance relies on centralized controls and human intervention. This new ecosystem makes autonomous decisions, self-corrects vulnerabilities, and optimizes in real-time. The implications extend beyond efficiency—we’re entering an era where capital moves with real-time intelligence, reacting instantly to opportunities and risks.

This shift isn’t about 24/7 markets—it’s about superhuman markets. AI-driven trading reads millions of signals at once, hedges risks in milliseconds, and fine-tunes strategies faster than any human trader could dream of.

Fintech world map

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The AI-Blockchain Nexus: Reshaping Financial Infrastructure

The convergence of AI and blockchain isn’t just an incremental upgrade—it’s a fundamental shift in finance. At their intersection, these technologies unlock capabilities neither could achieve alone, reshaping trading, payments, security, and infrastructure.

Trading & Investment Platforms
Coinbase and Kraken use machine learning to detect fraud in microseconds while analyzing complex market patterns beyond human capability. Fidelity is expanding institutional-grade custodial and trading services, while Charles Schwab’s blockchain-backed ETFs offer mainstream investors a gateway to digital assets. SoSoValue, an AI-powered trading platform, launched SSI on Base Chain, enabling users to hold algorithmically rebalanced crypto baskets, like on-chain ETFs. With 30M registered users and 1M DAUs in 2024, it hit $200M TVL within weeks of staking launch. Its top index tokens, MAG7.ssi and USSI (hedged MAG7.ssi for funding rate earning), rank among Uniswap Base’s top 5 liquidity pools.

Payment & Settlement Systems
AI-driven fraud detection and transaction optimization are transforming payments. PayPal’s AI systems have cut fraud rates by 30% while processing over $1.5 trillion annually—all without customers noticing. Stripe enhances payment routing with machine learning, reducing costs for merchants. Visa is piloting AI-powered cross-border settlements, while Ripple’s AI-enhanced payment systems analyze transactions in real-time, improving security and slashing settlement times.

Security & Risk Management
Aave and Compound use AI-driven predictive models to dynamically adjust lending rates and mitigate liquidity risks. OKX integrates multi-party computation (MPC) wallets, reinforcing cryptographic security. Layer-2 networks like Polygon and Optimism are experimenting with AI-enhanced smart contract audits, minimizing vulnerabilities in decentralized applications. WhiteBIT is a thoroughly audited crypto exchange, with security certification (CCSS Level 3) and PCI DSS certification. Security measures include multi-user approval protocols, cold storage for 96% of funds, and advanced encryption for private keys. CER.live includes it among its top five exchanges for security. Through institutional partnerships and its Barcelona sponsorship, WhiteBIT continues advancing mainstream crypto adoption.

Infrastructure & Development
JPMorgan is deploying AI-driven analytics to optimize blockchain-based settlements, while Goldman Sachs is exploring AI applications in tokenized asset management. ConsenSys and Polygon are developing AI-enhanced smart contract infrastructure to improve governance efficiency and scalability in decentralized ecosystems. Meanwhile, Circle is embedding AI into compliance systems, simplifying regulatory processes for digital assets. ForU AI pioneers Real-World AI (RWAI), enabling users to create AI-DIDs and train autonomous AI Agents for on-chain economies. These agents, guided by goals, KPIs, and tokenized incentives, drive real economic activity while ensuring transparency and accountability. By merging AI with blockchain’s decentralized coordination, ForU AI is redefining automation—empowering communities to govern, build, and optimize shared financial and social ecosystems.

The shift from human-managed finance to AI-powered financial ecosystems is no longer theoretical—it’s already in motion. The future of finance isn’t just about speed—it’s about autonomy, adaptability, and continuous evolution.

The AI-Blockchain Dilemma: Hype Meets Hard Reality

AI and blockchain are rewriting finance, but they come with real risks.

Regulators struggle to keep up with borderless AI-driven markets, where oversight gaps can allow hidden risks to pile up. Algorithmic volatility is another wild card—just look at the 2010 Flash Crash when high-frequency trading erased nearly $1 trillion in minutes. Regulators worldwide, from the SEC to the European Commission, are actively assessing how to oversee AI-driven markets, but no global framework yet exists.

And while blockchain promises decentralization, AI’s massive computing demands could shift power to those with the biggest infrastructure, reinforcing financial gatekeeping instead of breaking it.

The biggest unknown? Financial stability. Traditional markets have circuit breakers and central banks to stop crises from spiraling out of control—but in AI-powered, blockchain-driven finance, who steps in when things go wrong?

These challenges aren’t theoretical—they’re already shaping global regulatory debates. The future of AI-driven finance depends on how we balance innovation and control.

Your Place in the Financial Revolution

Finance is at an inflection point, undergoing an infrastructure overhaul with profound, far-reaching effects. For centuries, financial expertise has been locked behind exclusive credentials and privileged access. AI and blockchain are dismantling these walls, making advanced financial tools available to everyone. Make no mistake: this isn’t some distant future to contemplate—it’s a financial tsunami already reshaping the shore. Finance is diverging: the old system, built for a slower, human-driven market, and the new frontier—optimized for instant, AI-powered decision-making.

As you read this, billions are flowing through AI-driven systems—relentless, autonomous, and unstoppable. The tide is shifting. Ride the wave, or get left behind.

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Finance

Mike Burkhold: A Blueprint for South Carolina’s Financial Future – FITSNews

Published

2 hours ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Mike Burkhold: A Blueprint for South Carolina’s Financial Future – FITSNews

“I am running because the system needs to be fixed and I have the skills and mindset to do it…”

by MIKE BURKHOLD

***

Earlier this month, at the invitation of Virginia Secretary of Finance Steve Cummings, I spent a full day in Richmond meeting with leaders from across that state’s financial infrastructure. These were not ceremonial handshakes. These were working meetings — substantive, focused and highly instructive.

I met with teams overseeing budgeting, taxation, regulatory oversight, accounting and administration. What I found was a modern, integrated and disciplined approach to managing public money. And it made me even more certain of one thing: South Carolina is ready for change.

***

TEAMWORK AND TALENT MATTER

What stood out most in Virginia was the cohesion. From top to bottom, everyone I met shared the same mission — being responsible stewards of the taxpayers’ money. No silos. No blame games. Just a united focus on efficiency, transparency and performance.

That mindset doesn’t happen by accident. It is baked into the culture. The Secretary of Finance meets quarterly with department heads to review budgets, resolve audit findings and keep teams on track. There is accountability at every level. And it works.

That is what I want to bring to South Carolina. As Comptroller General, my job is to revitalize and modernize a critical finance function and to do it in close partnership with the legislature, the governor and the treasurer. I want to build an office that operates with precision, earns trust and gives lawmakers the clarity they need to govern wisely.

***

THIS IS BIGGER THAN ONE SEAT

I am not running for this office because I want a long political career. I am running because the system needs to be fixed and I have the skills and mindset to do it.

If part of that fix means rethinking whether this seat should remain an elected position then I welcome that conversation. In other states like Florida, voters elect a Chief Financial Officer with broad oversight. In Virginia, the Secretary of Finance is appointed by the governor and oversees all fiscal functions. Either model can work – but both reflect a commitment to modern coordinated financial management.

What matters most is that we have a structure that delivers results and earns the public’s trust. That structure needs to be part of a bigger conversation focused on delivering value to citizens – not maintaining fiefdoms or political turf.

***

RELATED | S.C. ‘REPUBLICANS’ REBUFF TRUMP ON REDISTRICTING

***

PUBLIC SERVICE STARTS WITH LEADERSHIP

One of the most inspiring parts of my trip was seeing the caliber of leaders who had left high-paying private sector roles to serve the people of Virginia. They brought with them a culture of excellence and a belief that good government is possible when the right people step forward.

We have that kind of talent in South Carolina. We just need to encourage more of it. I am stepping up because I believe in servant leadership. I see a seat that has not been led this way in a long time and there is a lot to fix. Not just the systems and operations but also the teamwork and coordination across agencies.

My goal is not what is best for Mike. It is what is best for South Carolina. I want to rebuild the Comptroller General’s office into a trusted partner, a respected institution and a model for modern financial leadership. Then I want to help figure out what structure will best serve the next generation.

***

A MOMENT OF OPPORTUNITY

The recent $3.5 billion error exposed just how outdated and fragile our current systems are. But we are not starting from scratch. We are starting from a place of strength. We have smart people, a strong economy and the will to do better.

Now we need to modernize our expectations. We need to align talent. We need to redesign the systems that manage $40 billion of taxpayer money. And we need leadership that sees the big picture, listens well and gets the details right.

South Carolina’s future is full of promise. But to get there, we need to treat government finance with the same rigor, discipline and urgency as any top-performing business.

That is why I am running. Not to keep a seat – but to serve the mission.

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Mike Burkhold is a Republican candidate for comptroller general of South Carolina.

***

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Finance

Why investing in a Trump Account could complicate your taxes

Published

14 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

Why investing in a Trump Account could complicate your taxes

Julie Zauzmer
| The Washington Post

Parents who put money into their children’s “Trump Accounts” might face a headache come tax time: Even the smallest contributions may require them to fill out a little-used gift tax form that can take hours to complete.

Several tax experts have raised concerns about the new savings vehicles, which were created in Republicans’ massive tax and spending bill this summer, and have urged Congress to pass a new law so that families who use it won’t have to file gift tax returns.

“It’s going to create a compliance nightmare,” said Amber Waldman, senior director for estate and gift tax for RSM US, a tax and consulting firm.

Under the terms of the One Big Beautiful Bill law that created it, the federal government will seed each Trump Account with $1,000 for every U.S. citizen born from 2025 through 2028. Much like an individual retirement account, the money will be invested in funds that track the stock market. The idea is that children’s growing pot of money will eventually help them pay for education or a home purchase when they become adults.

Parents, relatives, employers and nonprofits also can contribute to the accounts. Businessman Michael Dell and his wife Susan have pledged to put $250 in each of the accounts of 25 million children who are younger than 10 today.

But some tax experts think lawmakers overlooked a tax requirement that could make the accounts too burdensome for most parents.

A contribution to a child’s Trump Account is a taxable gift, which requires the giver to fill out one of the IRS’s more complicated tax forms, Form 709. The 10-page document takes the average filer or their accountant more than six hours to complete, and the government has only accepted mailed submissions; that changes this coming tax season, when e-filing will become available.

It’s used by fewer than 225,000 households a year, federal data show, and is so obscure that commercial tax software like TurboTax doesn’t include it.

“If you want to apply for the $1,000 because your kid was born within the time period, fine. If your employer wants to make a contribution or you qualify for a contribution from a charitable organization … fine. But don’t put your own money in until this is clarified,” said Susan Bart, a lawyer who specializes in estate and gift tax.

Most gifts aren’t nearly this complicated. Under long-standing law, most people can give cash gifts to one another tax-free. But if it’s a sizable amount – more than $19,000 – the IRS requires the donor to file Form 709. Over time, if those gifts add up to more than $15 million in the giver’s lifetime, they need to pay certain taxes. The whole system is meant to prevent very wealthy people from doling out large cash gifts during their lifetimes so their heirs can avoid estate taxes later.

But because there’s no provision for contributions to Trump Accounts to count as exempt gifts under current tax law, donors would have to declare every contribution, several tax experts say. This applies whether the donation is $25 or as much as the $5,000 annual cap. That’s because to be considered a tax-exempt gift, the recipient has to be able to access the money right away. Trump Account beneficiaries cannot withdraw the money until they turn 18.

Asked whether Trump Account contributions are required to be reported, an IRS spokesman referred questions to the Treasury Department, where several officials did not answer questions from The Washington Post.

The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a lawyers group, sent a letter raising the issue to the congressional tax-writing committees last month. The group’s Washington affairs chair Kevin Matz said his group received no answer beyond acknowledgment that the letter was received.

Congress has dealt with a problem like this before. Lawmakers approved a clause exempting 529 accounts – the tax-advantaged savings accounts for a child’s education – from the requirement that the recipient have present use of the gift. That means parents, grandparents and others can put money in 529 accounts without filing gift tax returns.

The experts who raised the issue are calling on Congress to make the same legislative fix for Trump Accounts.

“It seems like legislators accidentally left that out,” Waldman said.

The 10-page tax form asks a series of questions that are nearly indecipherable to the uninitiated. It distinguishes gifts that are “generation-skipping” – such as a grandparent giving money to a grandchild. When a married couple makes a gift, it probes whether the amount can legally be considered split between them, or attributable to just one.

Even experts scratch their heads. “Not all accountants necessarily have the experience and background to be able to complete it without extensive study,” Matz said.

Bart agreed: “It’s not a DIY form by any means.”

She said she’s seen lawyers befuddled by Form 709 before. “Sometimes my partners in other practice areas who are very, very smart people, they think: I can do this for my own kid or grandchild. They come running back after they look at the form a while. You need to be a specialized attorney with a lot of experience in the area.”

Many people might contribute to Trump Accounts without knowing that they are supposed to file Form 709, and aren’t likely to file it. But experts believe that skipping the form could create problems for the parents if they’re ever audited. Or if tax software like TurboTax starts including Trump Account questions, the taxpayer might not be able to submit their returns through the software if they indicate that they gave to the accounts.

Parents can still create Trump Accounts for their children to receive money from the government and charities like Dell’s without triggering the tax form problem.

“Of course if the government’s giving you a free $1,000, go ahead and take it. That’s not going to hurt you,” Waldman said. “If you’re thinking about personally contributing, consider your other options.”

Even without the tax-filing complications, Trump Accounts might not be the best way for most parents to save money for their children, experts say. The 529 plans offer much better tax benefits – unlike Trump Accounts, parents can often take some state tax deductions when they put money into the account, and if the child uses the money to pay for education, the earnings inside the account are never taxed.

If parents want a multipurpose savings vehicle for their kids that is not just limited to education spending, an ordinary taxable brokerage account might also be a better choice, tax professionals say. Trump Accounts are untaxed during the beneficiary’s childhood, when the money is growing in the account, unlike a brokerage account that could require paying taxes on any dividends. But the tax treatment when the child does withdraw the money could be much more favorable on the brokerage account – that money gets the lower capital gains tax rate, while Trump Account withdrawals are taxed at the same rate as ordinary income, and even come with a 10 percent tax penalty if the child doesn’t use the money for a qualified purpose. And the brokerage account offers a much wider range of investment options.

“As a tax-advantaged account, it’s a terrible tax-advantaged account,” said Greg Leierson, senior fellow at New York University’s Tax Law Center.

Finance

Israel’s Cabinet approves 19 new settlements in West Bank, finance minister says

Published

1 day ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

Israel’s Cabinet approves 19 new settlements in West Bank, finance minister says

Israel’s Cabinet approved a proposal for 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, the far-right finance minister said on Sunday.

The settlements include two that were previously evacuated during a 2005 disengagement plan, according to Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, who has pushed a settlement expansion agenda in the West Bank.

It brings the total number of new settlements over the past two years to 69, Smotrich wrote on X.

The approval increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50% during the current government’s tenure, from 141 in 2022 to 210 after the current approval, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group. Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law.

The approval comes as the U.S. is pushing Israel and Hamas to move ahead with the new phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect Oct. 10. The U.S.-brokered plan calls for a possible “pathway” to a Palestinian state — something Smotrich says the settlements are aimed at preventing.

The Cabinet decision included a retroactive legalization of some previously established settlement outposts or neighborhoods of existing settlements, and the creation of settlements on land where Palestinians were evacuated, Peace Now said.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 war. It has settled more than 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, in addition to over 200,000 more in contested east Jerusalem. About 15% of settlers are Americans.

The United Nations calls the settlements, which are scattered inside the West Bank and East Jerusalem, illegal.

Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Smotrich and Cabinet Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.

According to the U.N., settler expansion has been compounded by a surge of attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in recent months.

During October’s olive harvest, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks daily, according to the United Nations humanitarian office, the most since it began collecting data in 2006. The attacks, the U.N. reported, continued in November, with the agency recording at least 136 more by Nov. 24.

Palestinian officials said settlers burned cars, desecrated mosques, ransacked industrial plants and destroyed cropland. Israeli authorities have issued condemnations of the violence, but made few arrests.