The post Base x402 protocol adds batched settlement to enable sub-fraction-of-a-cent AI payments appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Base creator Jesse Pollak announced on May 13 that the x402 payment protocol now supports batched settlement, in an X post. x402 now supports batched settlement this unlocks many many tiny tiny payments (<$0.0001) which is perfect for paying for just in time resources like compute and inference https://t.co/V6Kjz9jqHQ — jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) May 13, 2026 The update bundles many transactions together before settling them on-chain, spreading the blockchain fee across multiple payments. Per-transaction settlement on Base already costs fractions of a cent, but batching makes sub-fraction-of-a-cent pricing economically rational for high-frequency AI workloads. As Cryptopolitan reported last week, Amazon Web Services launched AgentCore Payments using x402, with USDC settling in roughly 200 milliseconds on Base. Batched settlement layers on top of that
The post Thorchain Exploited? Trading Paused Amid Risk of Enormous Attack appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
DeFi security is in trouble Guidelines for users Cross-chain DeFi protocol THORChain has suspended trading, following what appears to be a significant multi-chain exploit that may have depleted over $10 million in cryptocurrency assets. Suspicious withdrawals involving Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Base-linked assets have been reported by security researchers and on-chain investigators such as PeckShield. Early tracking data indicates that the attackers allegedly took about 36.75 BTC, or about $3 million, along with an additional $7 million in assets that were bridged across several chains. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum-compatible networks’ publicly known wallet addresses were linked to the stolen funds. Following the incident, THORChain stopped trading, probably to avoid further liquidity drains or cascading exploits across linked pools. Because THORChain serves as essential
The post Thorchain Loses Nearly $11M as Attackers Poison Vault Churn Process Across 4 Chains – Bitcoin News appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Key Takeaways Thorchain lost approximately $10 to $11 million across Bitcoin, Ethereum, BSC, and Base on May 15, 2026. ZachXBT flagged the exploit publicly as RUNE dropped 12 to 15% within hours, falling to roughly $0.50. Node operators triggered a global emergency halt; a full post-mortem from Thorchain is still pending. Thorchain Funds Compromised Onchain investigator ZachXBT first flagged the incident via his Telegram channel, placing initial losses above $7.4 million before revised estimates pushed the total higher. The breach hit vaults on Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Base. The attack method centered on a vault churn, a standard Thorchain process in which node operators rotate in and out while assets are redistributed using threshold signature schemes. Attackers appear to have injected malicious addresses into that process, tri
The post Rune tanks 11% after attackers move $10M in THORChain exploit appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
THORChain, one of the leading decentralized cross-chain DEXs, is the latest victim of a major hack across several blockchain platforms. As per the security warnings issued on May 15, 2026, THORChain suffered losses of about $10 million in cryptocurrencies. The attack targeted the BTC, ETH, BNB Chain, and Base blockchains, with the stolen crypto coins swiftly transferred into certain wallets. So far, the THORChain team has not issued an official comment. Hackers targeting crypto grow bolder Approximately $25 million has been lost to hacks in the crypto space since the start of May. Today’s hack targeted THORChain’s cross-chain liquidity services, enabling unauthorized token withdrawals from pools on the Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain (formerly BSC), and Base blockchains. While initial estimates pointed to losses of more than $7.4 million, the latest data from security firm PeckShi
The post THORChain loses nearly $11 million in suspected exploit as RUNE tumbles 13% appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
THORChain, the decentralized cross-chain liquidity protocol that enables swaps between major blockchain networks, appears to have been exploited for approximately $11 million across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Base, according to on-chain investigator ZachXBT. Trading on the protocol was paused following the incident. The project has yet to respond publicly to reports of the suspected exploit. The breach, which surfaced in the early hours of Friday, is at least the fourth major security incident for the protocol in recent years. The first widely recognized exploit took place in July 2021, leading to losses estimated between $4.9 million and $5 million from liquidity pools. A second major incident followed during the ChaosNet era later that year, when attackers drained approximately 4,000 ETH from Ethereum-linked liquidity before the treasury reimburse
Public Bitcoin miners spent years racing to add more hashrate to the network. In the first quarter of 2026, many of them did the opposite. This article first appeared in Miner Weekly, a weekly newsletter by Blocksbridge Consulting curating the latest news in energy, compute, infrastructure, and data analysis from The Energy Mag. The original […]
The post Coinbase Launches x402 Batch Settlement to Advance AI Payments appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Coinbase-backed x402 has added batch settlement, a feature designed to reduce the cost of high-frequency AI agent payments by allowing many small transactions to settle later in bulk. Base creator Jesse Pollak said Wednesday that x402 now supports batched settlement, enabling very small payments below $0.0001 for on-demand resources such as compute and inference. The feature lets buyers deposit ERC-20 funds into onchain escrow and sign offchain vouchers for each paid request. Sellers can verify those vouchers quickly, serve the request and later redeem many payments together in batched onchain transactions, according to x402’s documentation. The development adds another layer to the emerging market for agent payments. It comes a week after Amazon Web Services (AWS) integrated Coinbase’s x402 payment protocol and wallet infrastructure to allow AI agents to make USDC (USDC) paymen
