News linked to both this project and an event.
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan stated that as U.S. stocks continue to rise, AI stocks attract significant capital, and the regulatory outlook for the U.S. "Clarity Act" remains uncertain, crypto assets are transitioning from past momentum trading to longer-term fundamental "contrarian bets."Hougan pointed out that against the backdrop of the Nasdaq 100 index rising 43% year-over-year and AI concepts dominating market attention, the appeal of allocating crypto assets for institutional investors has diminished. However, this does not mean the crypto industry is disappearing; rather, the investment logic is changing, requiring a longer-term perspective and stronger fundamental judgment.He also noted that the current "crypto winter" differs from the past, as funds are no longer simply flowing into large-cap assets like Bitcoin but are beginning to reward projects with independent fundamental narratives. For instance, Hyperliquid, BNB, Zcash, and Stellar have all seen notable gains recently, indicating that the market is placing greater emphasis on the actual progress and differentiated logic of specific projects.
Prediction market platform Kalshi has submitted a self-certification application to launch derivatives linked to Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Stellar, Chainlink, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Sui, Shiba Inu, Polkadot, and Hedera. This follows the CFTC's approval of Bitcoin perpetual futures last Friday. The CFTC stated that perpetual futures products that US companies intend to list, other than Bitcoin, will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and noted that the design of such derivatives may not be suitable for all asset classes. Therefore, this batch of products submitted by Kalshi has not yet been approved.
: Multiple institutions including Robinhood, MetaMask, and eToro, along with Fireblocks, Checkout.com, Cross River Bank, Securitize, Wintermute, and others, jointly announced their participation in the "Open Transaction Layer (OTL)" initiative, aimed at establishing a unified transaction coordination protocol layer for on-chain finance.OTL is positioned as an open protocol stack for coordinating identity verification, compliance validation, transaction messaging, and execution processes among wallets, institutions, and AI agents, addressing the integration fragmentation problem currently plaguing cross-institutional interactions in on-chain finance, where entities operate in silos.The current coalition members include payment companies, trading platforms, wallets, market makers, and custody and stablecoin infrastructure providers, including Robinhood, MetaMask, eToro, MoonPay, SoFi, Wintermute, among others, as well as foundations from multiple public chains such as TON, Solana, Stellar, and Polygon. (Financefeeds)
CME Group announced plans to launch Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures on June 8, 2026, subject to regulatory review. This will be its first market-cap-weighted futures contract, offered in both micro and standard sizes, and cash-settled. Final settlement will be based on the Nasdaq CME Crypto Settlement Price Index, which measures the performance of the largest and most actively traded cryptocurrencies by market capitalization—currently including BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, and XLM.
CME Group announced plans to launch Nasdaq CME Cryptocurrency Index Futures on June 8, pending regulatory review. The Nasdaq CME Cryptocurrency Index Futures will be the company’s first market-capitalization-weighted futures contract and will be available in both micro and standard contract sizes. These contracts will provide market participants with a capital-efficient way to gain exposure to the top-ranked cryptocurrencies by market capitalization through a single financially settled futures contract. At expiration, the Nasdaq CME Cryptocurrency Index Futures will settle against the Nasdaq CME Cryptocurrency Settlement Price Index, which measures the performance of the most actively traded and liquid cryptocurrencies. As of May 14, the index includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, and Lumens (XLM).
According to Cointelegraph, the Government of Bermuda has announced plans to migrate certain payment and financial services activities onto the Stellar network as part of its initiative to build a “fully on-chain national economy.” Bermuda’s Premier, David Burt, stated that, following a completed risk assessment, the government may accept and invest in digital assets, and advance the migration of select financial services onto the blockchain to address high transaction fees. Premier Burt previously revealed that the Bermuda government has established partnerships with Circle and Coinbase. Since enacting the Digital Asset Business Act in 2018, Bermuda has consistently advanced a regulatory framework friendly to the cryptocurrency industry.
Odaily Odaily, the Stellar Development Foundation and the Government of Bermuda have jointly announced that Bermuda will migrate key payment and financial services to the Stellar network, officially advancing the construction of a "fully on-chain national economy." The initiative is based on Bermuda's 2018 Digital Asset Business Act regulatory framework and aims to significantly reduce the 3%-5% (or even higher) payment processing costs currently borne by local merchants.According to the plan, Bermuda residents will soon be able to receive wages, pay for goods and services, settle government fees, and hold digital assets through digital wallets on the Stellar network. The government will pilot stablecoin payments, financial institutions will be able to access tokenized instruments, and related assets will also be used for government disbursements such as social service payments.
According to SBS Biz, South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission has completed on-site inspections of Upbit and Bithumb and is now reviewing whether the two exchanges violated regulations by transmitting users’ personal information when sharing order books with overseas platforms. Results are expected to be announced in the second half of the year. The core of the dispute lies in whether personally identifiable information was transmitted alongside order books during the sharing process. South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act stipulates that cross-border transfers of personal information require prior user consent; violations may trigger sanctions. Currently, Upbit shares its order book with Upbit APAC and Tether’s markets, while Bithumb previously shared its order book with the Australian exchange Stellar. Meanwhile, Bithumb is also engaged in a legal battle with financial regulators over alleged violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Financial Transactions. A court ruling on the validity of certain business suspension orders against Bithumb is imminent.
Odaily Planet Daily reported that Jason Karsh, the new Chief Marketing Officer of the Stellar Development Foundation, stated that for the crypto industry to achieve mainstream adoption, it must shift from short-term speculation and "hype cycles" to long-term value creation, emphasizing that "get rich slow" is the key path to building trust.Karsh pointed out that the industry's long-standing reliance on obscure jargon and technical terminology has actually widened the cognitive gap with average users. He believes that crypto "peaked too early in the public eye" due to the speculative frenzy, distorting its true value potential. He emphasized that the real opportunity lies in rebuilding the global financial infrastructure to enable more efficient value transfer and storage. Meanwhile, the Stellar Development Foundation, which has consistently focused on payment and cross-border financial applications since 2014, is now benefiting from the gradual regulatory recognition of stablecoins and tokenized assets.Karsh called stablecoins "the first killer app," but also noted that there is still a barrier to public understanding, suggesting they be redefined as "programmable dollars." He stated that the industry's future goal is to drive trillions of dollars in assets onto the blockchain, but the key lies in rebuilding trust at both the product and narrative levels, rather than relying on token issuance to drive growth. He concluded that the next wave of crypto growth will come from replacing traditional financial infrastructure, not just speculative cycles, but in the short term, the industry must first prioritize the foundational adoption phase of "attracting 100 million real users." (CoinDesk)