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Echos, the artificial intelligence platform for agentic tokens, is shutting down. On March 27, the AI agent platform, developed by Cosmos based liquid staking platform Stride, notified its community that operations will cease on May 1, 2025. Echos, which launched in beta in November 2024, cited low adoption as the main reason for its closure. According to a notice posted on X, the experiment failed to gain meaningful traction, reflecting a broader slowdown in the crypto AI agent space. “Echos was always an experiment. Unfortunately, Echos has seen little adoption. Also, the overall AI agents market has contracted significantly,” the team stated. Echos is a Stride app built on Celestia, designed as a rollup. At launch, the Stride team envisioned Echos’ AI and memecoin focus as a potential disruptor to the future of decentralized finance . The plan was to evolve Echos from an experimental product into a full rollup ecosystem supporting various use cases within Stride’s liquid staking network. However, a lack of user traction has brought those ambitions to an end. The Echos team has urged all users to withdraw their funds before the platform shuts down permanently on May 1. According to Stride, Echos drew inspiration from Terminal of Truths, the AI agent that saw the memecoin Goateus Maximus ( GOAT ) explode in the summer of 2024. It went on to hit $1 billion in market cap . Terminal of Truths, a large language model platform backed by Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, gained notoriety after shilling the GOAT token on X—an action that sent the memecoin soaring. Stride’s vision for Echos was to create a similar AI experience, allowing anyone to launch their own Echo using just a crypto wallet and X account. While Echos failed to go beyond the first phase of its development, the AI agent sector has since seen several notable projects. Some of the top trending ones include Virtuals Protocol, ai16z, Freysa AI and Delysium.

France’s state-owned investment bank, Bpifrance, has announced plans to allocate up to €25 million ($27 million) for the acquisition of lesser-known cryptocurrencies. These purchases will be made to bolster the nation’s crypto enterprises, according to Reuters. Historically, Bpifrance has invested €150 million in blockchain-related ventures, including modest investments in cryptocurrencies. However, this marks the bank’s first initiative to establish a dedicated fund for direct crypto purchases. The bank will focus on acquiring newly issued tokens from French crypto projects before they are listed on major exchanges, according to Arnaud Caudoux, Deputy CEO at Bpifrance. Caudoux emphasized the significance of this initiative, especially as the United States accelerates its own crypto strategy. He noted that Bpifrance’s entry into the crypto space began before the recent U.S. policy shift. He also suggested that Bpifrance could help token projects secure exchange listings, giving them a stronger foothold in the global market. The resurgence of interest in cryptocurrencies has been notable since U.S. President Donald Trump’s election victory in November. Trump has expressed support for the industry, pursued policy reforms, and even introduced his own crypto products. In contrast, European finance ministers have raised concerns that the U.S.’s growing embrace of cryptocurrencies could threaten eurozone monetary sovereignty and financial stability. Caudoux remarked that current U.S. policies are drawing crypto firms overseas. He stressed the importance of retaining European engineering talent and companies, stating that a strong domestic ecosystem is “crucial for the future,” according to Reuters.

In the latest legal turn of events, Ripple dropped the cross-appeal in the ongoing case with the American U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as mentioned in our last news article. This left doubts regarding the fate of its institutional sales. Although the case is approaching its end, the fate of the injunction against the company is a significant topic of debate in the crypto world. With Ripple having abandoned its cross-appeal, attention is now on whether the SEC will proceed to vacate the injunction that currently prevents the company from selling XRP to institutions. The injunction, which resulted from Judge Analisa Torres’ conclusion that Ripple’s original sales model was an investment contract, has been a pivotal obstacle to the company’s activities in the institutional market. In an X post , XRP attorney Bill Morgan discussed the recent developments while admitting that even if the injunction is dissolved, Ripple would be required to change its sales strategy to stay within the purview of securities laws. Legal analyst Fred Rispoli concurred and said that any re-launching of institutional sales would involve keeping pace with new regulatory requirements. Rispoli then explained his stance further, saying, “So to clarify, as I understand it, there will be no more restrictions on Ripple’s institutional XRP sales. They still must conform to securities law but can now sell to, say, hedge funds or private equity firms directly instead of to OTC desks first.” This viewpoint has generated talk regarding how Ripple could modify its sales strategy in order to be compliant with regulations while still holding onto its institutional relationships. The XRP community has been watching the final stages of the lawsuit, with speculation about what this holds for Ripple’s business operations growing. One top crypto commentator, WrathofKahneman, pointed out how significant the next move by the SEC is, explaining that if the regulatory body makes a move to lift the injunction, then Ripple might start institutional sales anew under new conditions. At the same time, Rispoli asked a rhetorical question about the enforcement of securities law in the crypto space: “But if a tree sells unregistered securities in a forest and no SEC is there to prosecute it, did the tree do anything illegal?” His remark raises questions about overall regulatory clarity and the SEC’s enforcement strategy for the developing digital asset marketplace. In another controversy, IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual shows that some utility tokens like XRP could be treated as securities, as reported in our previous article. Even with the possibility of resumed sales, the firm might continue to have compliance challenges. The company will have to ensure that whatever institutional transactions are made, they comply with securities rules to prevent future legal attacks. Though Ripple’s pullback of its cross-appeal is an indicator of advancement towards settling the case, the SEC’s reaction continues to play a crucial role in deciding the firm’s future action. If the regulatory body asks the court to vacate the injunction, Ripple might get back to conducting institutional sales as long as it makes required changes in its structure of sales.

🚨 Exciting news for the crypto community! The SEC appears to be shifting its stance, dropping lawsuits against exchanges and embracing the crypto space. This could be a pivotal moment for the industry. Are we finally seeing a pro-crypto regulatory environment? #Crypto #SEC

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