News linked to both this project and an event.
: Bitcoin financial product platform Lombard Finance has announced the launch of the Bitcoin Onchain Credit Strategy, with global trading firm Flow Traders as the first pilot partner. Under this solution, Flow Traders can borrow stablecoins for market making without providing on-chain collateral. Its collateral security is provided by Bitcoin deposited in the Lombard Bitcoin Earn yield product, and underwriting is completed through the Cap private credit platform. (The Block)
According to The Block, Shuyao Kong, a core team member of Ethereum scaling project MegaETH, announced on July 16 the official closure of the flagship accelerator program Mega Mafia, which operated for two years across two cohorts. The project incubated approximately 20 teams in total, cumulatively helping them raise about $80 million in financing (covering Pre-Seed to Series A), but Kong admitted "the project was built on assumptions that no longer hold true," and most successfully incubated applications are no longer building on MegaETH. Among them, flagship project GTE chose to build its own public chain, Noise shifted to Base, HelloTrade shifted to Monad, and some projects such as Avon and Valhalla have closed. Notably, MegaETH did not hold equity or governance rights in any project during the incubation process. Kong stated that MegaETH will shift resources to "first-party application" development in the future, directly establishing relationships with end users, focusing on "OMEGA"-level consumer applications that can only be realized on MegaETH.
According to The Block, crypto liquidation platform Glacis Labs announced the completion of a $6.8 million seed funding round led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures. The financing was completed in the form of equity with token warrants.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the UK's His Majesty's Treasury have issued a joint statement and recommendations as part of the "Transatlantic Working Group for Future Markets." The working group recommends that the Bank of England, the FCA, along with the U.S. CFTC and SEC, develop regulatory frameworks for tokenized assets while requiring the FCA and SEC to explore measures to facilitate cross-border financing. In terms of specific recommendations, both the U.S. and UK propose: supporting the development of stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and similar digital assets; promoting market competition and innovation; and establishing higher standards for asset custody, reserve segregation, and consumer protection. (The Block)
Odaily Benchmark has raised its price target for Hut 8 (HUT) from $85 to $165, citing the company's accelerated commercialization of its AI data center business and a total of $16.8 billion in long-term contracts for AI infrastructure. Analyst Mark Palmer stated that the commercialization progress of Hut 8's Beacon Point AI data center campus in Texas "has changed the company's valuation logic," significantly increasing the project's value.Currently, Hut 8's stock price is approximately $97, meaning Benchmark's new target implies roughly 69% upside. The stock had previously fallen nearly 30% over the past six weeks.According to Benchmark's estimates, the redesigned first phase of the Beacon Point campus will support 352MW of IT capacity, a 57% increase from the original 224MW plan. The base term value of the lease for this initial phase is approximately $9.8 billion, with an estimated annualized net operating income of around $655 million.Additionally, the lease agreement for Hut 8's River Bend data center, signed with Fluidstack and supported by Google, is valued at approximately $7 billion. The combined base term value of the two contracts reaches $16.8 billion. If tenants exercise the included 5-year renewal options, the potential total value could rise to $42.8 billion. (The Block)
According to The Block, Japanese financial group SBI Holdings has recently made a series of aggressive moves, completing multiple major crypto investments in succession: exclusively investing $125 million in Gauntlet's Series C, $76 million in EDX Markets' Series C, spending approximately $289 million to acquire Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank, and taking a stake in Singaporean exchange Coinhako. In addition, SBI also participated in Digital Asset's $355 million financing, Morpho's $175 million token round, and Circle's $222 million token presale, and launched Japan's first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin, JPYSC. SBI stated that the company is driving the group's overall on-chain transformation, aiming to provide end-to-end services across exchanges, asset tokenization, market platforms, and other segments, to position itself ahead of the upcoming "token economy" era. Analysts point out that SBI is building Asia's first scaled on-chain asset management business; its strategic core is not purchasing crypto exposure, but controlling the infrastructure of the next-generation financial system. On the regulatory front, the Japanese parliament is advancing legislation to include cryptocurrencies as regulated financial instruments, and plans to significantly reduce the capital gains tax on crypto assets from 55% to 20% by 2028, aligning it with stocks and bonds, providing policy support for institutional entry.
Standard Chartered stated that it maintains its Bitcoin price prediction of reaching $100,000 by the end of 2026, believing that the recent market decline triggered by Strategy's (formerly MicroStrategy) related activities is not due to a deterioration in the company's balance sheet, but rather a strategic adjustment that the market has not fully understood.Geoffrey Kendrick, Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, noted in a report that Strategy's recent behavior is disrupting short-term market expectations for Bitcoin. The market had previously accepted the company's narrative of "never selling Bitcoin," but now Strategy appears to be shifting towards a more complex capital operation model. How clearly the company can communicate this change will determine when market pressure eases.Currently, Strategy holds 843,775 Bitcoins, representing approximately over 4% of the total 21 million Bitcoin supply. From 2020 to mid-2025, Strategy's mNAV (Market Value of Enterprise / Bitcoin Asset Value) was consistently above 1, allowing the company to raise funds through stock issuances to purchase Bitcoin and achieve shareholder value growth. The commitment to "never selling Bitcoin" was central to this model gaining market acceptance. However, with the current mNAV approaching 1, the leverage effect of this financing model is weakening.Kendrick believes Strategy is transitioning from a "Bitcoin accumulation tool" to a "Bitcoin credit support tool." This involves using its Bitcoin holdings as the credit basis for its perpetual preferred stock, STRC. Currently sized at approximately $10 billion, STRC is the largest financial instrument launched by Strategy, offering an annualized dividend rate of 12%, paid semi-monthly in cash, and is designed to maintain a price near its $100 par value through interest rate adjustment mechanisms.Standard Chartered indicated that STRC is currently trading around $90, while Strategy's dollar reserve for paying dividends stands at approximately $2.55 billion, covering an estimated 17.4 months of dividend expenses.Kendrick stated that Strategy's policy adjustment allowing for Bitcoin sales does not necessarily mean the company will continuously sell. He believes that as long as the market believes the new capital structure arrangement can stabilize the STRC price, Strategy may not actually need to sell Bitcoin. He compared this mechanism to a central bank's commitment to "do whatever it takes": mere restoration of market confidence may mean actual intervention never occurs. (The Block)
According to The Block, JPMorgan analysts pointed out in their latest report that although Strategy's Bitcoin selling plan has triggered market attention, it is not the core risk facing Bitcoin. The real structural threat lies in the fact that blockchain applications such as tokenization, payments, and settlements are increasingly occurring on permissioned chains (Permissioned Blockchain), rather than on public chains such as Ethereum. If this trend continues, the public chain ecosystem will face issues such as declining liquidity and weakened capital inflows, ultimately dragging down Bitcoin valuations. The analysts also warned that the proliferation of bank-built blockchain infrastructure and tokenized deposits could undermine the position of stablecoins in institutional payments; regulated alternatives such as SWIFT's blockchain plan, the digital euro, and the digital yuan also constitute competitive pressure. However, the analysts also pointed out that if hybrid public-private chain models emerge, stablecoin regulation becomes clearer, or Bitcoin continues to be held as "digital gold", the aforementioned risks may be mitigated.
According to The Block, entertainment sector on-chain clearinghouse KOR Protocol announced the completion of a $7.5 million Series A funding round at a $100 million valuation. Investors include 1kx, Blockchain Capital, as well as previous investors such as Republic Crypto, Sfermion, Alumni Ventures, and SevenX.
tokenized sovereign debt startup M1X Global has completed a $5.5 million seed funding round, led by Paradigm, with participation from Breed VC and others.It is understood that M1X Global previously collaborated with the Republic of the Marshall Islands to assist in the issuance of the on-chain sovereign debt instrument USDM1. This product is a dollar-denominated tokenized sovereign debt instrument, 1:1 backed by U.S. Treasury bonds, and natively issued on a public blockchain by a sovereign nation. USDM1 was initially issued on Stellar and is now also available on Canton and Solana.Jordan Goldman, President and COO of M1X, stated that sovereign debt is one of the largest asset classes globally, but prior to USDM1, it did not exist in a native on-chain form. The company aims to establish USDM1 as on-chain sovereign collateral and expand its use within regulated financial markets.The initial application scenario for USDM1 is domestic government aid distribution. Citizens of the Marshall Islands can receive funds via the Lomalo wallet, with payments settling in seconds, bypassing the need for traditional correspondent banking networks. M1X also indicated that its recent integration with Bank of Guam, a U.S. FDIC-insured bank, further connects USDM1 to regulated banking infrastructure. (The Block)
Odaily, Tobias Adrian, Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stated that as assets migrate to shared digital ledgers, policy choices regarding the monetary system, market infrastructure, and legal frameworks will determine whether tokenization strengthens the integration of the financial system or leads to further fragmentation.The tokenized economy is forming three types of settlement assets: tokenized bank deposits, stablecoins, and tokenized central bank reserves. Tokenization is not just about faster payments or programmable assets; it involves migrating financial assets and liabilities to a unified ledger, compressing execution, clearing, and settlement into a synchronized process driven by software. This shift may also transfer risks from the balance sheets of traditional intermediaries to platforms, code, and infrastructure providers. (The Block)
According to The Block, trading platform eToro announced on July 2 local time that it led a $12.5 million strategic financing round for the on-chain perpetual futures exchange Extended, with Jump Crypto also participating in this investment. This financing is closely tied to a strategic partnership with Zengo, eToro's self-custody wallet. Both parties will jointly explore the integration of traditional financial assets and decentralized trading environments, expanding on-chain access channels to global financial markets. Extended was founded by former Revolut employees, launched trading at the end of 2024, and is built on StarkWare's on-chain scaling engine StarkEx.
According to The Block, tokenization infrastructure company Securitize announced that its merger plan with Cantor Equity Partners II (CEPT) has been approved by shareholders, and the merger is expected to be completed this Wednesday. Upon completion, the company will operate under the name "Securitize Corp." and officially list on the New York Stock Exchange on July 2 with the stock ticker "SECZ". The merger raised approximately $400 million for Securitize, including an oversubscribed $225 million PIPE financing, with less than 30% of CEPT holders redeeming and over 71% of the SPAC trust funds retained.
According to The Block, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) stated in its *Annual Economic Report 2026* that current stablecoins fail to meet monetary standards across four key dimensions—unity, resilience, interoperability, and integrity—and their operational model resembles that of an ETF rather than a payment instrument. The report estimates that even if stablecoin market capitalization expands to $1–3 trillion, the net effect on economic output would remain slightly negative, while simultaneously intensifying banks’ funding pressures and undermining their credit capacity. The BIS also warns of “stablecoin dollarization” risks in emerging economies, which could erode their monetary sovereignty. The report proposes an alternative solution: building a “unified ledger” anchored to central bank money, incorporating both tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank money—and cites Project Agora, a cross-border payment prototype, as evidence of feasibility.
According to The Block, Cambrian, a blockchain data infrastructure startup, has announced the completion of a $6 million seed funding round co-led by Franklin Templeton and Polychain Capital. Flow Traders, Selini Capital, Paper Ventures, and Nomad Capital also participated. Angel investors include Jason Mo, Avi Felman, and Alex Lee and Willy Chuang, co-founders of TrueNorth. This round was structured as a SAFE with token warrants, and Franklin Templeton and Polychain Capital have secured board observer seats. With this round, Cambrian’s total funding raised reaches $11.9 million, including its previously announced $5.9 million pre-seed round led by a16z CSX.
According to The Block, TurboFlow, a Hong Kong-based on-chain trading platform, has raised $6 million in seed funding, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Susquehanna Crypto and Digital Currency Group. The platform offers prediction markets and perpetual contract trading, positioning itself as a localized platform for Asian users to bridge the gap between underdeveloped regional markets in the Asia-Pacific and institutional-grade liquidity provision.
Bitcoin mining company HIVE's subsidiary BUZZ High Performance Computing has signed a three-year sovereign AI cloud infrastructure contract worth approximately $220 million with Bell AI Fabric and Cohere. Under the contract, BUZZ HPC will deploy a cluster containing 2,304 Nvidia Grace Blackwell GPUs at Bell's facility in Merritt, British Columbia.Funding for the Blackwell systems comes from the $115 million convertible note financing completed in April. The deployment is expected to become operational between late 2026 and early 2027, and is projected to add approximately $70 million to the company's current $35 million in annual recurring revenue. Additionally, HIVE has received approval to acquire a 32-megawatt data center in Big Boden, Sweden, and plans to upgrade it to support enterprise-grade AI workloads. (The Block)
Range, a stablecoin compliance startup, announced the completion of an $8.3 million Series A funding round, with participation from TX Ventures, SixThirty, Maven 11 Capital, Onigiri Capital, and others. The project's total funding to date has reached $11 million.Range provides a unified platform for companies operating both stablecoins and fiat currencies. Its core products include Unify, a real-time ledger system, and Protect, an on-chain transaction screening tool. Its clients include Circle, Solana Foundation, Stellar, Squads, and Jupiter, among others. The funds from this round will be used to expand the Unify and Protect products, grow the engineering and business development teams, and increase integrations and network coverage. (The Block)
Odaily报道: Satori Finance, a multi-chain decentralized exchange backed by investors including Polychain Capital and Coinbase Ventures, has announced it will cease operations and begin the closure process. The platform stated that due to "prolonged unfavorable market conditions," its revenue is insufficient to support continued operations, leading to the decision to gradually wind down. Users must withdraw their assets before 23:59 UTC on July 16, after which the platform will no longer be accessible.In 2022, Satori Finance completed a $10 million seed funding round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Jump Crypto. The platform was deployed across multiple networks including Arbitrum, Optimism, and BNB Chain, and initially featured 25x leverage and an "points mining" incentive model. (The Block)
EarnOS, a blockchain-based digital advertising startup, has announced the completion of a $6 million Pre-A funding round, led by 1kx with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Social Graph Ventures. Additionally, EarnOS has secured a four-year, $12.5 million non-dilutive strategic investment from Verona (formerly XION) to support application verification, user onboarding, and reward distribution systems. The company also announced a brand restructuring, noting that its L1 network will provide underlying support for EarnOS, enabling large-scale user authentication and task incentive mechanisms. (The Block)