News linked to both this project and an event.
According to The Block, several Republican U.S. Senators sent a letter to the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), urging the establishment of a new bank capital framework for digital assets.
Odaily news, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated at a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the Treasury Department is steadily advancing the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Meanwhile, Scott Bessent urged lawmakers to support the digital asset regulatory bill "Clarity Act" and expressed hope that it would pass this summer, in order to bring US best practices home and make America the world’s innovation capital.Regarding the strategic Bitcoin reserve, Scott Bessent noted that while the process is complex, it is moving forward, ensuring the adoption of best practices amid the complexities so that it can be sustainable in the future. (The Block)
the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee stated today that the UK is lagging behind the US and the EU in stablecoin regulation. The committee urged the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to amend several proposals, including reconsidering the holding limits of £20,000 for individuals and $10 million for enterprises, the 40% non-interest-bearing central bank deposit reserve requirement, and restrictions on commercial bank issuance. It also recommended that the FCA review the k-factor capital requirements, which scale based on issuance volume rather than risk proportionality. (The Block)
According to The Block, Payward—the parent company of Kraken—announced that it will open up access to IPO offering-price subscriptions for U.S. publicly traded companies to Kraken users and select partner platform users via the xStocks framework in the coming weeks. Users may submit non-binding subscription indications prior to listing; Payward will aggregate demand and coordinate with underwriting syndicates to allocate tokenized shares at the offering price on the listing day. These stock tokens are fully backed 1:1 by the underlying equities held in custody by regulated entities and are tradable across blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, and TON. Payward stated that it plans to expand into additional markets and onboard more partners to the xStocks Alliance in the future.
xStocks, a framework under Kraken parent company Payward, will launch services allowing users on Kraken and partner platforms to participate in US stock IPOs at the offering price. Users will receive on-chain tokenized shares with a 1:1 correspondence to the underlying stock, which will be held by regulated custodians.Users can submit non-binding subscription intentions via partner platforms weeks before the IPO. Payward aggregates demand, coordinates with the underwriting syndicate for share allocation, and completes pricing, allocation, and token issuance on the listing date. xStocks tokens will be tradable across multiple blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, and TON, and can be integrated with DeFi protocols. (The Block)
According to The Block, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has sent letters to football clubs—including English Premier League clubs—warning them to exercise caution when entering into sponsorship agreements with unauthorized cryptocurrency firms, in order to protect fans from financial risks.
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.
Coinbase Ventures stated it has invested in Ethena by purchasing ENA tokens on the open market. Following the announcement, ENA rose approximately 6% over the past 24 hours.Ethena said the two parties will collaborate to advance on-chain finance and savings products. Coinbase also mentioned that they will establish closer cooperation, which involves Circle's stablecoin USDC.Ethena founder Guy Young stated that Ethena's products will be integrated with Coinbase's user base of over 100 million for the first time next week, to support its dollar savings products. The market is watching how the two parties will subsequently collaborate around USDC and Ethena's synthetic dollar, USDe. This move also comes as the US "Clarity Act" remains deadlocked in the legislative process. The bill concerns whether platforms like Coinbase can offer users rewards for holding stablecoins, while banking lobbying groups have consistently opposed similar stablecoin yield arrangements.
According to The Block, Robinhood Markets has completed its $180 million acquisition of Canadian digital asset services firm WonderFi. WonderFi operates Bitbuy and Coinsquare—the two largest regulated crypto platforms in Canada—and existing users will be invited to migrate to the Robinhood app. This acquisition pushes Robinhood’s overseas registered user base past 1 million, adding approximately 300,000 Canadian users. Robinhood stated it will continue supporting WonderFi’s partnerships with local institutions to further expand its institutional business. The deal was initially announced in May 2025 and originally slated for completion in the second half of 2025 but was delayed until now due to technical deployment and regulatory approval requirements.
According to The Block, Strategy disclosed in an SEC filing that it sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31, generating approximately $2.5 million in proceeds to pay dividends on its preferred stock. This marks the company’s first Bitcoin sale since December 2022. The disclosure sparked controversy in a Polymarket prediction market—valued at over $20 million in trading volume—that had asked whether Strategy would sell Bitcoin before May 31. The dispute centers on whether the sale qualifies: “Yes” proponents argue the sale occurred before the deadline; “No” proponents contend the information was not publicly disclosed before the market closed and therefore should not count. The market has now entered its final review phase. Polymarket added that “results confirmed outside the deadline will not be recognized,” leaning toward the “No” side. If the dispute escalates further, UMA token holders will vote to resolve it—but prior reports indicate UMA voting power is highly concentrated, with over 60% of active voters linked to Polymarket accounts, raising concerns about impartiality.
House of Doge, an organization associated with Dogecoin (DOGE), has announced a partnership with regulated stablecoin and crypto infrastructure provider Paxos to integrate Dogecoin into its enterprise-grade crypto brokerage and custody network.Paxos serves as the underlying blockchain infrastructure provider for payment platforms such as PayPal, Venmo, and Mercado Libre. These platforms leverage Paxos's capabilities to offer users crypto asset buying, selling, and custody services. This initial partnership is focused on enterprise clients, and it remains unclear whether it will expand to consumer-facing applications in the future. Marco Margiotta, CEO of House of Doge, stated that this collaboration will accelerate Dogecoin's global accessibility and provide a compliant entry path for mainstream fintech platforms.Paxos stated that the move aims to provide secure and compliant access to digital assets through its regulated infrastructure, and to support enterprise clients in expanding their crypto asset product lines. (The Block)
According to The Block, Isabel Schnabel, a member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board, stated that the adoption of stablecoins could amplify or exacerbate risks to financial stability, monetary policy, and the international monetary order. Central banks should respond to these challenges by strengthening regulation and advancing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), such as the digital euro.
: Texas Deputy Comptroller Kelly Hancock has officially appointed four external members to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee. Established pursuant to Senate Bill 21, the committee includes CleanSpark President and CFO Gary Vecchiarelli, Bitcoin mining firm Cormint founder and CEO Jamie McAvity, Southern Methodist University law professor Carla Reyes, and investment executive Laurie Dotter. They will advise the Comptroller on Bitcoin valuation, custody, and risk management. (The Block)
According to The Block, Base—the Ethereum Layer 2 network operated by Coinbase—has officially activated the Azul upgrade on its mainnet. This marks Base’s first independent network upgrade following its separation from the Optimism Superchain. The Azul upgrade introduces a multi-proof system that combines TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) proofs with zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, reducing the shortest possible withdrawal finalization time to just one day. Both proof types can independently confirm proposals; in case of conflict, permissionless ZK proofs override TEE proofs—further enhancing the network’s censorship resistance. Additionally, Azul integrates Base into a single execution client, <code>base-reth-node</code>, and introduces a new consensus client, <code>base-consensus</code>, built on OP Kona. Following the upgrade, the number of empty blocks has plummeted from approximately 200 per day to roughly 2 per day, and the network has achieved a sustained peak throughput of 5,000 transactions per second.
According to The Block, Jeffrey Sprecher, Chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), stated that ICE has met with the Hyperliquid team on multiple occasions to evaluate the possibility of entering the on-chain perpetual futures market—currently dominated by Hyperliquid—and has engaged with regulators to seek a “level playing field” for related business activities. Sprecher said ICE wants clarity on whether such business is legal; if it is, the company is willing to participate further; if not, it questions why existing participants are not subject to equivalent regulatory pressure. The report adds that ICE is also exploring potential synergies between its existing business and the on-chain perpetual futures market.
According to The Block, OKX Ventures and Korean investment securities firm KIS will each invest 80 billion Korean won (approximately $53 million), acquiring 19.6% equity stakes in South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone; the transaction is pending regulatory approval.
OKX Ventures, the investment arm of OKX, announced it will acquire a 19.6% stake in Coinone, one of South Korea's five licensed digital asset trading platforms. Coinone has signed a strategic equity investment agreement with OKX Ventures, Korea Investment & Securities (KIS), as well as Com2uS and its affiliates.OKX Ventures and KIS will each invest 80 billion KRW ($53 million). Upon completion of the investment and receipt of regulatory approval, both companies will each hold a 19.6% stake in the platform. Together, they will become the third-largest shareholders of the South Korean exchange, trailing only Coinone CEO Cha Myung-hoon (27.8%) and Com2uS Holdings and its affiliates (25%).According to the announcement, the investment will be carried out through a combination of purchasing secondary market shares from Cha and Com2uS, as well as subscribing to newly issued shares. (The Block)
According to The Block, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced that its “Project Agorá” tokenized prototype has successfully validated the feasibility of atomic settlement for cross-border wholesale transactions. The prototype adopts a layered architecture that leverages tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits to execute multi-currency, multi-jurisdiction “all-or-nothing” transaction chains, while allowing individual central banks to retain operational autonomy. Legal analysis indicates that settlement finality can be achieved across all seven participating jurisdictions, and privacy protection can also be ensured within a compliant regulatory framework. Launched jointly by the BIS and the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the project currently involves seven central banks—including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Bank of England, Banque de France, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, Banco de México, and the Swiss National Bank—as well as over 40 private-sector financial institutions. In the next phase, the Bank of Canada will officially join as the eighth central bank participant; the project will advance to real-value testing and further expand private-sector involvement.
According to The Block, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has received the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed rulemaking notice on prediction markets and is currently reviewing it. The CFTC stated it will provide further details after the interagency review process concludes. Recently, Trump publicly endorsed CFTC Chair Michael Selig’s position that prediction markets should fall under the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction. Over the past year, the CFTC has consistently reinforced its regulatory claims over prediction markets and has filed lawsuits against five states—Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, and New York—seeking to restrict Kalshi and Polymarket. TD Cowen believes Trump’s statement is unlikely to alter the legal dispute surrounding this matter in federal court.
Investment bank TD Cowen stated that as the relevant political environment continues to deteriorate, the likelihood of the US crypto market structure bill, the "Clarity Act," passing this year is declining.TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg pointed out that while the Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill earlier this month, this does not signify a substantive bipartisan agreement; rather, it merely pushes the controversy to the full Senate floor.The report indicated that the escalating controversies surrounding US President Donald Trump and his administration related to crypto in recent days are making it harder for Democrats to support the bill. If the bill does not include clear conflict-of-interest provisions, it will face even greater difficulty in gaining sufficient support in the current political environment.