News linked to both this project and an event.
John Wang, Head of Crypto Business at prediction market platform Kalshi, stated on X that it is widely believed Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was a "top-tier venture capitalist" who successfully invested in star projects like Anthropic and Cursor. However, Wang argued this narrative is inaccurate. The real "core figure" driving these investment strategies and early resource allocation was actually "AI stock guru" Leopold Aschenbrenner, not SBF himself.Analysis suggests that this remark has sparked discussion within the crypto and venture capital circles, once again bringing the attribution of SBF's influence on early-stage investments in Silicon Valley and the crypto industry into the spotlight. It is reported that the AI fund Situational Awareness, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has grown to over $20 billion in scale, with quantitative giant Jane Street making a rare capital injection. Situational Awareness has achieved a year-to-date return rate of 270% and cumulative returns exceeding 1,000% since its inception. Equity bets on Anthropic have contributed the most successful returns, accounting for one-fifth of its assets. Beyond public markets, Situational Awareness also co-led an investment round in AI chip company MatX with Jane Street and participated in the latest funding round of AI cloud computing provider Fluidstack.
According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, Chinese AI large-model company StepFun is expected to file its IPO application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as early as June 8, with a valuation of approximately $12 billion assigned by its major investors. The IPO aims to raise roughly $500 million, and the company has already begun consultations with multiple financial advisors regarding the listing. Previously, StepFun had initiated the dismantling of its offshore VIE structure to pave the way for its Hong Kong listing.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Morgan Stanley predicted in a research report distributed to top-tier investors that SpaceX—owned by Elon Musk—could generate $3.4 trillion in revenue by 2040, setting a $1.77 trillion valuation target for its IPO. The report notes that banking professionals are presenting this valuation rationale to investors based on SpaceX’s long-term growth prospects.
According to the Wall Street Journal, AlphaSense, an AI-powered market intelligence platform, has raised $350 million in funding, achieving a new valuation of $7.5 billion—marking a significant increase from its previous round in 2024, which valued the company at $4 billion. Investors in this round include Accenture and the asset management division of JPMorgan Chase. Jack Kokko, CEO of AlphaSense, stated that the company may pursue an initial public offering (IPO) in the future.
: VanEck's tokenized U.S. Treasury fund, VBILL, has officially launched on the DeFi lending protocol Euler. The fund is issued and tokenized by Securitize. Investors can now use tokenized Treasury bonds as collateral for on-chain lending and liquidity operations, while meeting compliance restrictions.This move reflects that DeFi protocols are accelerating their transition towards institutionalization and compliance to attract traditional financial capital into the on-chain market. Data shows that the market size of tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds has surpassed $15 billion, growing approximately 150% over the past year. Traditional asset management giants such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Janus Henderson have all launched on-chain treasury or money market products.Euler has previously integrated Securitize's DS Protocol to support the inclusion of tokenized securities with investor qualification restrictions and transfer rules into its lending market. DeFi protocols like Aave are also expanding into institutional-grade RWA businesses.Institutions estimate that the market size for asset tokenization could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033. A Securitize executive stated that as traditional financial institutions enter the crypto space, DeFi protocols must find a balance between openness and compliance requirements. (CoinDesk)
Guy Wuollet, General Partner at a16z Crypto, wrote that the financial industry is undergoing a “digital migration” analogous to the cloud computing era—and blockchain is emerging as the core infrastructure driving this transformation. Wall Street’s adoption of blockchain is not motivated by the ideology of “decentralization,” but rather by practical needs: mitigating counterparty risk, improving settlement efficiency, and ensuring fair ordering mechanisms. “Digital assets,” in essence, represent the migration of the financial system’s underlying architecture onto blockchains—akin to how enterprise IT systems shifted from on-premises deployments to cloud services. When financial assets run on programmable, shared infrastructure, they unlock “composability”—a defining advantage enabling assets to be freely combined and extended like software. This significantly reduces development costs and boosts overall innovation efficiency across the financial system. This trend will propel traditional finance from “closed reconciliation systems” toward “on-chain coordination networks,” and blockchain technology will gradually become a standard component of the financial infrastructure layer.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Anthropic disclosed to investors that its revenue for Q2 2026 is expected to surge 130% year-on-year to $10.9 billion, marking its first-ever operational profitability. These figures were released as part of the company’s ongoing new funding round; upon completion, Anthropic’s valuation is poised to surpass that of OpenAI. Analysts note that this earnings outlook challenges the widespread skepticism about AI companies’ ability to achieve short-term profitability amid substantial expenditures.
According to CoinDesk, cryptocurrency custody firm Copper is seeking to sell the company at a valuation of approximately $500 million and has engaged Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald to assist with the transaction. Copper’s core asset is its ClearLoop custody-based settlement system, which enables institutional clients to execute delivery versus payment (DvP) transactions without moving assets on-chain, effectively eliminating settlement risk. The company currently boasts over 1,000 active counterparties and processes over $50 billion in notional trading volume monthly. Copper had previously considered an IPO, but the broader crypto IPO market has entered a wait-and-see phase amid sluggish Bitcoin prices and the capital-attracting effect of the AI sector.
Moment, an AI fintech company founded by former Citadel Securities quantitative traders and researchers, has announced the completion of a $78 million funding round, led by Index Ventures with participation from existing investors including a16z and Avra. Moment has established partnerships with institutions such as Edward Jones, LPL Financial Holdings, and Hightower Advisors, primarily providing AI automation infrastructure for fixed income and equity trading. The new capital will be used to accelerate the deployment and product expansion of AI in Wall Street trading systems. (Bloomberg)
According to The Block, three Wall Street firms—Benchmark, TD Cowen, and Mizuho—maintained “Buy” ratings on four crypto-related companies—Bitdeer, DeFi Technologies, Strive, and Gemini—on Monday, noting that the market continues to value these platforms, which have pivoted toward AI infrastructure, capital markets tools, and structured financial products, using trading-business valuation multiples. Benchmark analysts reiterated their “Buy” rating on Bitdeer and $27 price target, highlighting its global power asset portfolio of approximately 3.0 GW and the growth of its AI cloud business’s annual recurring revenue—from roughly $10 million at the end of January to approximately $69 million by the end of April. TD Cowen raised its price target for Strive to $30, forecasting a 26.1% Bitcoin yield for the company in 2026. Mizuho maintained its “Outperform” rating on Gemini but lowered its price target from $12 to $10, noting that although Q1 trading volume declined by over 50%, trading revenue remained largely flat—reflecting higher fee rates and an optimized revenue mix.
SpaceX plans to proceed with its initial public offering (IPO) next month. If successfully listed, it could unlock an equity return opportunity of approximately $20 billion for D1 Capital Partners, a Wall Street institution founded by Dan Sundheim. The estimate is reportedly based on assumptions of SpaceX’s latest valuation, reflecting its high ownership concentration in the private market and potential paper gains for institutional investors. (Financial Times)
According to The Wall Street Journal, Anthropic—an AI startup that long trailed its competitors—is rapidly rising to become a leader in the artificial intelligence field. With its deep focus on enterprise users and programming use cases, Anthropic’s growth has continued to accelerate this year; the latest data shows its momentum is still intensifying, while OpenAI’s growth appears to be plateauing. In terms of fundraising, Anthropic’s latest round of financing values the company at over $90 billion—potentially surpassing OpenAI. Founded jointly in 2021 by siblings Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at OpenAI, Anthropic has evolved from a former industry follower into the strongest competitor.
According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI allowed each employee to sell up to $30 million worth of shares in its recent funding round, making them among the early beneficiaries cashing out amid the current AI boom. The report states that in October last year, over 600 current and former employees collectively sold shares worth $6.6 billion; approximately 75 of them hit the $30 million cap. Employees had previously waited about two years before being granted the opportunity to sell their shares.
Odaily AI Financial (formerly Alt5 Sigma), a publicly listed crypto company linked to the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, has announced it will acquire crypto infrastructure startup Block Street for up to $43 million. Block Street was founded by Matthew Morgan, who currently serves as an advisor to AI Financial and is also its CEO and largest shareholder.According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the deal was reached last Monday. Block Street was registered in October 2025, but Morgan stated that its business operations had started about 16 months prior.The acquisition has raised market concerns about potential conflicts of interest, as Morgan is both an advisor to AI Financial and the founder of the acquired company. He was briefly nominated for the position of Chief Investment Officer in a previous cooperation deal between AI Financial and World Liberty Financial, but the role was later adjusted to an unpaid advisor position.In August, AI Financial reached an agreement with World Liberty Financial to include approximately $1.5 billion in crypto assets on its balance sheet, in exchange for equity and a board seat. This collaboration also positioned the company as part of the "Trump family crypto ecosystem."In interviews, Morgan has denied that the transaction constitutes self-dealing, stating that Block Street focuses on tokenization and ICO infrastructure capabilities, areas AI Financial is looking to enter. He claimed to have pitched the asset to several other public companies and turned down acquisition offers with higher valuations.However, since establishing ties with the Trump family crypto project, AI Financial's stock price has fallen by over 90%, reflecting ongoing market skepticism toward the "crypto reserve public company" model.This transaction has also reignited controversy over insider transactions and governance structures within public companies. Similar cases have frequently emerged in the crypto industry recently, with multiple listed companies criticized for mixing assets with related-party transactions, raising investor concerns about the risks of conflicts of interest. (Fortune)
Caixin published an article titled "SpaceX's $1.75 Trillion IPO Approaches: Who Can Buy and Is It Worth It?", which points out: Wall Street has never encountered a listed company with such a massive IPO scale while simultaneously having such a complex relationship with the U.S. government. Nasdaq has previously passed a new "Fast Entry" rule, allowing newly listed companies with a market capitalization ranking among the top 40 of the Nasdaq 100 Index to be quickly included in the Nasdaq 100 within 15 trading days after listing. This rule will officially take effect on May 1, 2026, and is also considered to be designed for the upcoming SpaceX IPO, while potentially paving the way for the listings of OpenAI and Anthropic, which may occur in 2026 or 2027.Assuming SpaceX lists with a $1.75 trillion valuation and a free float ratio of 25% to 30%, the free float market cap on the first day of the IPO would be approximately between $440 billion and $530 billion. Based on the weight calculation of the Nasdaq 100, SpaceX would directly enter the top ten weighted stocks. According to market sources, the S&P 500 is also evaluating some form of "fast inclusion" plan, though details have not yet been disclosed. (Caixin)
According to The Wall Street Journal, Parallel Web Systems—an AI startup founded by former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal—has raised $100 million in its Series B funding round, led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures, and Khosla Ventures. The company’s valuation has risen to $2 billion, bringing its total funding to $230 million. Parallel focuses on building web search infrastructure for AI agents, supporting in-depth research use cases such as investment research, insurance claims processing, and government contract analysis. Over 100,000 developers are already using its platform, with customers including legal AI company Harvey. Proceeds from this round will be used to expand the sales team and strengthen R&D efforts.
Odaily News SpaceX will hold a three-day closed-door analyst meeting in the United States this week to present its business and strategy to Wall Street institutions in preparation for a potential IPO. Informed sources stated that the company aims to raise approximately $75 billion, with a valuation potentially reaching $1.75 trillion, and plans to go public as early as June.The meeting will cover SpaceX's Starbase launch site in Texas and its data center project in Tennessee. Participating analysts are required to surrender electronic devices to ensure information confidentiality. This roadshow is a key part of the IPO process, and subsequent model explanation meetings will be held to further disclose financial and growth expectations.Furthermore, the company plans to reserve approximately 30% of its shares for retail investors and expand into global markets. Several Wall Street investment banks have already participated in underwriting arrangements. (Reuters)
According to an official announcement, cryptocurrency futures exchange KieDex has raised $3.5 million in funding, led by Marqel Capital. The company stated that the funds will be used to build the KieDex platform and develop a next-generation cryptocurrency futures exchange focused on fast, secure, and incentive-driven trading experiences. Supporting partners include Hidden Street Capital, Caviar, CSP DAO, Solulu Club, Rocket, TPC, Devmons, and TATATU.
According to Bloomberg, cryptocurrency hedge funds are extending their trading activities into traditional commodities and stock indices. Previously, these funds operated in the cryptocurrency markets—long overlooked by Wall Street—trading tokens on 24/7, clearinghouse-free, and unregulated platforms. Now, traditional assets such as crude oil, copper, and the Nasdaq-100 Index are increasingly appearing on these platforms, signaling that cryptocurrency trading infrastructure is penetrating mainstream financial assets.