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May 2026 | End-of-Month Report

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May continued the pattern April established: permanent storage finding its way into new categories, the developer experience getting sharper, and the network’s reach extending into ecosystems where the liquidity and activity are. Engineering made steady progress across the protocol stack, a new integration partner joined the ecosystem, and the Subspace Foundation remained focused on stakeholder unlock preparation. This report outlines the material progress made in May and the momentum carrying into June.

Engineering & Protocol

  • Automated upstream library tracking is now live for the node software, with the first batch of security patches applied.
  • A second timekeeper was deployed on Chronos to improve Proof-of-Time redundancy.
  • The chain indexer was patched to retry cleanly when its upstream connection is briefly interrupted.
  • Test coverage for the Domain fraud-proof system was added, and stale entries in the consensus database were pruned.
  • The first draft of the Data Domains design is complete and in feedback review.

Ecosystem & Developer Momentum

Pay with AI3 in the Auto SDK

Full Pay with AI3 support is now available in the Auto SDK starting with @autonomys/auto-drive v1.6.10. Rather than expecting developers to reverse-engineer payment flows from the API, the entire Pay with AI3 experience has been packaged into four guided SDK function calls, making permissionless permanent storage straightforwardly accessible for both experimentation and production use. Read more.

Solana Bridge

The Autonomys bridge, built with Hyperlane by Protofire, added Solana as a destination on mainnet, joining Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain. Solana received the top share of votes in a community poll, and its addition gives builders and users on both networks direct access to one of the most active ecosystems and the liquidity within it. Read more.

Auto Drive S3 Enhancements

S3 compatibility enhancements to Auto Drive were completed in May with an announcement made on June 1st. This release closes multiple important gaps, so the tools and workflows developers already use can point at permanent storage without changing a thing. Read more.

New Integration: Crypto Inheritance Protocol

Crypto Inheritance Protocol (CIP) is a multi-chain, privacy-first inheritance infrastructure for digital assets, enabling programmable inheritance plans that execute automatically without intermediaries. CIP has integrated Auto Drive at two specific points in its execution lifecycle: when an executor uploads proof of a principal’s condition, and when a beneficiary files a dispute. In both cases, those documents are written permanently to Auto Drive, creating timestamped, tamper-proof records that exist outside of CIP’s own infrastructure and remain independently verifiable across however many years an inheritance plan may be active. Read more.

Community & Foundation

Stakeholder Unlocks

Preparation for upcoming stakeholder token unlocks remained the Subspace Foundation’s primary focus in May. Stakeholders can expect continued updates in the coming weeks on mechanics and any additional required actions.

Grants

The Subspace Foundation Grants Program received 15 new applications in May, bringing the total to 72, with several projects currently in active review. Builders working on permanent storage, agent infrastructure, or data availability are encouraged to apply: https://subspace.foundation/grants

ICYMI: Content Published in May

Metrics: May Snapshot

Staking: A new all-time high of 41,253,261 staked AI3 (representing over 40% of circulating supply) was reached May 19th (+1,286,171 from April)
Auto Drive Files Uploaded: 593 (May) / 130,294 (All time)
Auto Drive Downloads: 2,724 (May) / 17,704 (All time) (+474 from April)
Auto Drive Users: 703 (+30 from April)
Total Announced Partnerships: 65 (+1 from April)
Announced Auto Drive Integrations: 10 (+1 from April)
Total Grant Applications: 72 (+15 from April)

Looking Ahead

In June, we anticipate sharing further details on multiple integrations underway, continued stakeholder unlock preparation, and further enhancements to Auto Drive to make permanent storage more accessible on your own terms.

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