Deal and Dash
Toward adopting novel, seemingly scary technology.
The story we tell about how emerging technology found its place in 2026 should not forget a very major detail. Any technology that’s won a seat at important tables couldn’t have happened without people choosing to have hard conversations about confusing tech and negotiating deals to cement them in society.
The moment even one person sees value in something, the deal begins.
It’s big players (and unlikely ones) that have begun to see value in today’s most contentious technology and are headed to the negotiation table, like:
President Donald Trump and his piqued interest in Anthropic
Door Dash’s new payout process through stablecoins
KelpDAO’s recent hack, which is a reminder that the technology still has vulnerabilities to work through.
[Anthropic’s Big Shape Up🛡️]
Reports that a potential Anthropic–Department of Defense deal may be underway, highlight the accelerating integration of frontier AI into national security infrastructure.
The Context 🧑💻:
President Donald Trump said AI company Anthropic is “shaping up” and indicated a potential deal could be reached for Department of Defense use of its systems, signalling renewed openness to collaboration.
The remarks suggest a de-escalation in tensions between the U.S. government and Anthropic after earlier friction involving Pentagon-related concerns over AI deployment and oversight.
Trump also emphasised that the U.S. and Anthropic will “get along,” framing recent disagreements as resolved or moving toward resolution, with defence-sector cooperation back on the table.
While the previous Pentagon-Anthropic dispute created ripples across Silicon Valley, the latest developments point to a shift toward rapprochement and possible formal engagement with the Department of Defense.
The Coverage 📰:
”Trump says Anthropic is shaping up and a deal is ‘possible’ for Department of Defense use” (CNBC)
”Trump Says US Will Get Along With Anthropic After Pentagon Spat”(Bloomberg)
”Trump says Anthropic is ‘shaping up,’ open to deal with Pentagon” (Reuters)
”NSA Is Using Anthropic’s Powerful Claude Mythos AI as CEO Meets With White House: Report” (Decrypt)
PR Perspective 🔎:
As AI becomes more embedded across society, it was increasingly inevitable that government entities would seek access to frontier systems for defense and intelligence use. While this could benefit the Department of Defense in areas like analysis and operational speed, Anthropic’s evolving stance toward government partnerships is still a notable signal for the industry. The company has previously emphasised limits on high-risk uses like autonomous weapons and mass surveillance, highlighting the need to balance safety commitments with national security demand. This reflects the broader normalisation of AI systems as part of government infrastructure. At the same time, this integration raises longer-term risks around over-reliance, accountability gaps, and institutional lock-in as AI systems become embedded in intelligence and decision-making workflows.
[Crypto and Dash]
Doordash can now pay its staff in stablecoins.
The Context 🧑💻:
DoorDash will use Tempo’s payments and a blockchain to pay its delivery workers in stablecoins to its delivery workers across 40 different countries.
The DoorDash and Tempo integration has a threefold priority including payout speed, which will give merchants and dashers quicker access to their pay; cross-border cost, which removes barriers like intermediaries and the cost it takes to move money across borders; and transaction flexibility, which means things like order modifications and refunds require less manual steps.
Stripe, Coastal Bank and Latin American fintech ARQ are also set to run payment operations on Tempo’s stablecoin rails.
The Coverage 📰:
“DoorDash to Pay Delivery Workers in Stablecoins via Stripe’s Tempo Blockchain”(Decrypt)
“DoorDash is bringing stablecoin payments to masses with Stripe-backed blockchain”(Coindesk)
“Popular food delivery app plans crypto payouts for employees” (The Street)
PR Perspective 🔎:
Online marketplaces often show where digital finance is headed because it’s where human discomfort shines brightest. What happens when our Uber driver is late, and what do we do when the refund we expected after our online order just doesn’t come through? It’s this that exposes the practical value that DoorDash recognised when choosing stablecoins as the next move to make their employees happy. Blockchain technology has often been seen as distant, confusing and hard to understand, but when it starts touching everyday lives (in this case DoorDash drivers and merchants) it all starts to seem more simple. This might be the moment where blockchain technology earns its place not as a concept to be explained, but as a solution people simply experience.
[The Kelp DAO Shockwave 💥]
The Context 🧑💻:
A major Kelp DAO exploit drained roughly $292M–$300M and set off a wider DeFi panic, because the stolen rsETH ended up sitting inside lending markets rather than staying isolated at the protocol level.
The real shock was contagion: Aave and other big DeFi lenders saw huge withdrawals, with Aave alone losing around $10B in deposits and hitting liquidity pressure as users rushed to exit.
Bloomberg’s angle is that this exposes DeFi’s recursive leverage problem, like looping trades, restaking, and collateral reuse, making returns look attractive, but they also stack hidden dependencies that can unravel fast when one assumption breaks.
The broader message across is a confidence event, with investors reassessing whether DeFi’s highest yields are really compensation for systemic fragility.
The Coverage 📰:
“Crypto’s Looping Trade Hack Shows DeFi Is Eating Its Own Tail”(Bloomberg)
“DeFi is dead’: crypto community scrambles after this year’s biggest hack exposes contagion risk”(CoinDesk)
“Investors pull $15bn from DeFi as latest hack sparks security fears”(DL News)
PR Perspective 🔎:
As DeFi becomes more embedded in crypto markets, the Kelp DAO exploit serves as a credibility test for the entire sector. The fallout shows how quickly trust can unravel when restaking, bridges, and lending are tightly connected, and it raises the bigger PR question of whether high yields are being reclassified as compensation for hidden structural risk rather than genuine innovation. It also gives critics fresh ammunition to argue that DeFi’s composability is now a source of systemic fragility, which could push the market toward tighter risk controls and more conservative design choices.
[Tweet of The Week]
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The usual disclaimer: This newsletter collates the main themes and headlines of the week in DeFi/crypto/metaverse/Web3/NFT land and tries to provide unbiased context. It’s aimed at anyone who wants to keep an eye on the space. It’s put together by a team at YAP and doesn’t contain any promotion of our clients (if one is mentioned, we’ll flag that).
The team: Founder Samantha Yap, Samvidha Sharma, Sofia Anderson, Meghna Dembla, Abby Rose Notarnicola, Shajar Qureshi, and TJ Thomas. Your feedback is, as always, welcome. Ping us at thecontext@yapglobal.com. Old newsletters can be found here.
This newsletter is prepared by YAP Global, a financial and technology PR consultancy that advises companies in the digital assets, fintech, stablecoins, AI, and agentic finance sectors. Find out more about us here.