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Lumino Ceremony: Building the Privacy Protection Infrastructure

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PlatON, a privacy AI computing network which is committed to building a decentralized collaborative artificial intelligence network and global brain, is promoting the democratization of artificial intelligence and establishing a secure general artificial intelligence. The bottom layer of its decentralized privacy protection infrastructure is based on Zero-Knowledge Proof.

What is Zero-Knowledge Proof

Zero-Knowledge Proof is a cryptographic technology to realize privacy protection authentication. The prover needs to make the verifier believe that he knows or owns a message, without disclosing any information about message which is to be confirmed. For example, if the prover wants to prove that he knows the safe box password without revealing it, he can just show some items existing in the safe box that everyone knows.

This process is Zero-Knowledge Proof. The proof needs an initial credible setting (some items existing in the safe box that everyone knows), namely a series of public parameters to help the prover build Zero-Knowledge Proof.

Deficiency of Zero-Knowledge Proof

As a cryptographic technology with both privacy protection and authentication capability, zero-knowledge proof is widely used to realize transaction verification under hidden business details in blockchain. The zero-knowledge proof system applied in the blockchain field is mainly a cryptographic algorithm called “zk-SNARKs”. At present, the existing classic zk-SNARKs algorithms include  GGPR13, PGHR13, Groth16, GM17, and new generation algorithms such as Sonic, Marlin, Plonk, which support updating public parameters. The current version of ZCash, a well-known private cryptographic currency, uses Groth16 algorithm.

From the above “safe box”, we can see that the premise for the correct operation of this kind of algorithm is existing a series of random trusted parameters. However, randomized parameters will not come out of thin air and there is no trusted third party in the blockchain. Parameters created by centralized third parties can be reconstructed in theory, and it is possible to forge proofs, which may destroy the underlying security in PlatON. Imagine that if a specific institution informed the verifier of the storage of the items in the safe box, the institution and the prover could collude and use this secret information to falsify the illusion that the prover knew the safe box password.

Therefore, it is an undoubtedly excellent idea to organize multiple participants to create these randomized parameters through Secure Multi-party Computation. In this process, single party can not reconstruct the parameters any more. Only when this activity is completed safely will the subsequent decentralized application be safe. In fact, ZCash has successfully created system parameters for Groth16 algorithm in November 2017 through its ceremony, Power of Tau.

Lumino, creating secure parameters

In order to prevent the parameters generated by the centralized mode from affecting the underlying security, PlatON started the Secure Multi-party Computation ceremony Lumino on June 21, 2021, last for   60 days. This ceremony is expected to create necessary secure parameters for the Zero-Knowledge Proof protocol.

During the Lumino ceremony, multiple participants carry out several rounds of calculation in the form of a relay, that is to say, the current participant need to use the calculation results of the previous participant as the input of this round, and the calculation output become the calculation input of the next participant as well. After a certain number of rounds, the output of the last participant is the final result of the whole ceremony, namely the system initialization parameters that Plonk thatalgorithm of PlatON will choose. Obviously, the more participants take part in the ceremony, the safer the parameters will be.

As a practical and efficient Zero-Knowledge Proof algorithm, Plonk is commonly used in PlatON projects and communities, which is characterized by a one-time initialization process, that is, running once can be used to deploy multiple applications. Providing necessary initialization parameters for Plonk algorithm through Lumino ceremony means that no one can master the secret information behind the parameters, which can be used to cheat players in the whole system. Lumino ceremony will lay a solid foundation for the security of PlatON.

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Cryptorefills launches x402 payments for AI agents, publishes agentic commerce reference

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USDC payments on Base for AI agents at checkout, alongside open-source documentation of how merchants run agent-driven commerce.

Amsterdam, May 11th 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, 15:00 CEST. Cryptorefills has enabled x402 payments at checkout, allowing AI agents to pay for gift cards, mobile top-ups and eSIMs using USDC on the Base network. The protocol, developed by Coinbase and Cloudflare, lets autonomous software settle stablecoin transactions programmatically. Cryptorefills has also published an open-source operations reference for the merchant operations layer of agentic commerce.

x402 lets a software agent receive an HTTP 402 Payment Required response from a merchant, settle the requested amount in stablecoin, and complete the transaction in a single automated exchange. For Cryptorefills, checkout becomes a programmable endpoint that agents can call directly.

The x402 launch adds a second agent-payment rail to the platform. Cryptorefills released its Model Context Protocol server in October 2025, allowing agents to discover products, build orders, and complete purchases through MCP. x402 addresses a different pattern: the agent calls a Cryptorefills endpoint, receives payment terms, settles in USDC, and completes the request in one round trip. The two rails serve different agent contexts and run in parallel. 

“We shipped x402 and open-sourced our merchant operations work in the same week on purpose. One is a payment rail, while the other is what a merchant needs around it to accept agent traffic. Agentic commerce is happening, and very little about the second part has been written down,” said Massimiliano Silenzi, CEO of Cryptorefills. “We’ve been running stablecoin checkout since 2018, and a lot of what we learned there carries over. We chose to publish what we’ve learned and continue building the rest openly.”

The reference repository, available at github.com/Cryptorefills/agentic-commerce, covers the operations surface that surrounds the protocol stack. Topics include catalogue discovery for agent buyers, settlement reconciliation across chains, quote-and-pricing handling, and delivery confirmations. Documentation is released under CC0; example code is Apache 2.0.

“In the repository we just open-sourced there are nine playbooks, the TypeScript schemas behind them, and five runnable examples. Two of them connect to our live MCP and x402 endpoints, so a developer can clone the repository and watch the agent-merchant exchange execute against production,” said Simonluca Landi, CTO of Cryptorefills.

Cryptorefills serves AI agents through three of the field’s emerging standards: MCP for context, Agent Skills for capability publishing, and x402 for stablecoin settlement. 

About Cryptorefills

Cryptorefills enables people in over 180 countries to spend cryptocurrency on everyday products and services. Categories include gift cards from over 6,600 brands, mobile top-ups across 600 operators, eSIMs, flights across 300 airlines, and stays at over 1 million hotels and properties. The platform supports stablecoin checkout across Base, Ethereum, Tron, Solana, Polygon, and other major networks, alongside Bitcoin and Lightning. It is among the first ecommerce companies to integrate AI-agent payment standards including MCP, Agent Skills, and x402.

Operating publicly since 2018 and headquartered in Amsterdam, Cryptorefills is a member of the Holland Fintech Association and Blockchain Netherlands Foundation.

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Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.

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Emicap, ICEnergy Forge Partnership to Accelerate European Carbon Capture Deployments

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Collaboration to focus on cost-effective capture and mineralization of biogenic CO₂ in Europe

Korea South, 11th May 2026, SEOUL, South Korea & KORTRIJK, Belgium – South Korea’s ICEnergy and Belgium-based Emicap have partnered to deploy cryogenic carbon capture systems targeting biogenic CO₂ in Europe. The partnership combines ICEnergy’s proprietary capture technology with Emicap’s cryogenic R&D and market access, supported by Emicap’s sister company, LM Engineering, which provides industrial engineering and execution capabilities.

Dr. Sungho Park(icenergy0805@gmail.com), CEO of ICEnergy, stated that he hopes this partnership will enable ICEnergy and Emicap to take a further step toward realizing carbon neutrality in the European market. The collaboration comes at a pivotal moment following the successful demonstration of ICEnergy’s technology. Amid a rapidly expanding European market for biogenic CO₂ solutions, early deployment is critical to secure access to high-quality feedstocks and permanent storage pathways.

ICEnergy recently demonstrated a 10 ton/day cryogenic carbon capture system for both onshore and marine applications. The system converts flue gas CO2 directly into dry ice, avoiding the need for conventional separation and liquefaction steps. A key feature of the electrically driven process is the internal recovery and reuse of cold energy. By recycling this energy, external demand is reduced and consumption is focused on CO₂ conversion, resulting in approximately 30% lower energy use compared to conventional systems, supporting a low lifecycle carbon footprint.

Emicap integrates cryogenic CO2 capture with downstream applications by coupling emission sources from Waste-to-Energy and biomass plants to the carbonation of alkaline industrial residues such as steel slags and fly ash. To ensure seamless site-specific deployment, Emicap applies its cryogenic R&D expertise to tailor ICEnergy’s capture systems for these European industrial plants. This integration enables the permanent storage of CO2 while upgrading captured emissions and industrial residues into supplementary cementitious materials for use in low-carbon construction. By operating across the full value chain, Emicap helps offset capture costs, reducing reliance on institutional subsidies.

The partners are targeting removal of up to 200 kilotons of CO₂ annually by 2035, positioning the collaboration to contribute to industrial-scale, net-negative emissions.

Media Contact

Organization: ICEnergy Co.,

Contact
Person:
Sungho Park

Website:

https://www.icenergy.co.kr/

Email:

icenergy0805@gmail.com

Contact Number: 82313307852

Country:Korea South

The post
Emicap, ICEnergy Forge Partnership to Accelerate European Carbon Capture Deployments
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It is provided by a third-party content
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Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.

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Press Release

Emicap, ICEnergy Forge Partnership to Accelerate European Carbon Capture Deployments

Published

on

Collaboration to focus on cost-effective capture and mineralization of biogenic CO₂ in Europe

Korea South, 11th May 2026, SEOUL, South Korea & KORTRIJK, Belgium – South Korea’s ICEnergy and Belgium-based Emicap have partnered to deploy cryogenic carbon capture systems targeting biogenic CO₂ in Europe. The partnership combines ICEnergy’s proprietary capture technology with Emicap’s cryogenic R&D and market access, supported by Emicap’s sister company, LM Engineering, which provides industrial engineering and execution capabilities.

Dr. Sungho Park(icenergy0805@gmail.com), CEO of ICEnergy, stated that he hopes this partnership will enable ICEnergy and Emicap to take a further step toward realizing carbon neutrality in the European market. The collaboration comes at a pivotal moment following the successful demonstration of ICEnergy’s technology. Amid a rapidly expanding European market for biogenic CO₂ solutions, early deployment is critical to secure access to high-quality feedstocks and permanent storage pathways.

ICEnergy recently demonstrated a 10 ton/day cryogenic carbon capture system for both onshore and marine applications. The system converts flue gas CO2 directly into dry ice, avoiding the need for conventional separation and liquefaction steps. A key feature of the electrically driven process is the internal recovery and reuse of cold energy. By recycling this energy, external demand is reduced and consumption is focused on CO₂ conversion, resulting in approximately 30% lower energy use compared to conventional systems, supporting a low lifecycle carbon footprint.

Emicap integrates cryogenic CO2 capture with downstream applications by coupling emission sources from Waste-to-Energy and biomass plants to the carbonation of alkaline industrial residues such as steel slags and fly ash. To ensure seamless site-specific deployment, Emicap applies its cryogenic R&D expertise to tailor ICEnergy’s capture systems for these European industrial plants. This integration enables the permanent storage of CO2 while upgrading captured emissions and industrial residues into supplementary cementitious materials for use in low-carbon construction. By operating across the full value chain, Emicap helps offset capture costs, reducing reliance on institutional subsidies.

The partners are targeting removal of up to 200 kilotons of CO₂ annually by 2035, positioning the collaboration to contribute to industrial-scale, net-negative emissions.

Media Contact

Organization: ICEnergy Co.,

Contact
Person:
Sungho Park

Website:

https://www.icenergy.co.kr/

Email:

icenergy0805@gmail.com

Contact Number: 82313307852

Country:Korea South

The post
Emicap, ICEnergy Forge Partnership to Accelerate European Carbon Capture Deployments
appeared first on
Brand News 24.
It is provided by a third-party content
provider. Brand News 24 makes no
warranties or representations in connection with it.

About Author

Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.

Continue Reading

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