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According to Fortune magazine, the publicly traded cryptocurrency company AI Financial (formerly Alt5 Sigma), linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's family, reached a $43 million deal last week to acquire the cryptocurrency infrastructure company Block Street.Company records show that Block Street was registered in Nevada only in late October. Matthew Morgan, an advisor to AI Financial and also the CEO and largest shareholder of Block Street, stated that he founded the company about 16 months ago. Morgan indicated that the acquisition of Block Street was not a self-dealing transaction.

Special Purpose Acquisition Company Forefront Tech announced the completion of its initial public offering (IPO) pricing, with a total size of $100 million, and will be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "FTHAU." It is reported that the funds raised will be used to explore merger and acquisition opportunities in the fields of blockchain, fintech, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.

Bitget, through the Blockchain4Her program, continues to promote the popularization of Web3 women's education and community building in emerging markets such as the Philippines. This program focuses on providing a systematic blockchain knowledge framework for women and youth, helping them participate in the long-term development of Web3 with a solid understanding and gain more substantial opportunities within the industry.To achieve this goal, Blockchain4Her has supported several grassroots initiatives led by local female advocates. These include: transforming blockchain technology into practical development opportunities for underdeveloped communities; developing exclusive learning materials titled "Young Learners' Encyclopedia" for youth; and building a learning community focused on risk control and trading discipline. These initiatives not only help local beginners avoid misinformation and establish a rational understanding of Web3 but also align closely with Bitget's partnership with UNICEF in promoting digital skills and blockchain education globally.Bitget CEO and Blockchain4Her founder Gracy Chen stated, "Our original intention is to provide a more equal and open environment for women to explore Web3. Seeing more and more outstanding women engaging in community building shows us how true industry inclusivity takes root and flourishes from the grassroots."

One of South Korea's largest credit card companies, Shinhan Card, announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the Solana Foundation to jointly build a stablecoin payment system on the Solana blockchain.As part of the collaboration, Shinhan Card is conducting a high-level proof of concept this year, focusing on simulating real-world payment scenarios between customers and merchants on the Solana testnet. Shinhan Card's Executive Vice President Kim Young-il stated, "Based on Solana, we plan to carefully examine the practical applicability of blockchain technology and actively explore next-generation financial models." One of the core elements of the proof of concept is to verify the security and stability of non-custodial wallets, so that Shinhan Card can deploy this technology on a large scale in the future. Both parties will also explore a "hybrid financial model" that combines the reliability of traditional finance with the efficiency of DeFi. Shinhan Card plans to utilize oracle technology to build its own DeFi service environment, deploying smart contracts while ensuring operational stability. Shinhan Card will assess the outcomes of these projects in conjunction with the evolving regulatory environment in South Korea and the Asia-Pacific region. Notably, South Korean lawmakers are currently drafting the "Basic Law on Digital Assets," which is expected to be finalized within this year. Under the anticipated legislation, several South Korean financial institutions, including KBank, have recently begun collaborating with global blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.

Special Purpose Acquisition Company Forefront Tech Holdings Acquisition Corp announced the completion of its initial public offering (IPO) pricing, with a total scale of $100 million, and will be listed on NASDAQ under the ticker "FTHAU." It is reported that the funds raised will be used to explore merger and acquisition opportunities in the fields of blockchain, artificial intelligence, fintech, and other emerging technologies.

Bitcoin recently rebounded to a high of $79,477 before falling back, currently hovering around $77,000. Data from the options market shows that traders are intensively positioning around the $80,000 line, creating what analysts call the "electric fence" effect—between $80,000 and $82,500, a large number of short positions have accumulated, forming strong resistance; while the $76,000 to $77,000 range is a concentrated area of liquidation risk for bulls, putting the price in a state of dual pressure.From a fundamental perspective, the market is not lacking in support for long positions: net inflows into Bitcoin spot ETFs exceed $2 billion, Strategy has repurchased 34,000 BTC in a single month, and an ETF under Morgan Stanley has attracted $153 million within two weeks of its launch. USDC reserves on Binance have risen from a low of $3 billion in March to $7.5 billion. However, macro pressures have not yet cleared. The expectation for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve is nearly zero, and geopolitical situations continue to disturb risk appetite, with the cumulative funding rate still close to -4.5%, indicating an overall bearish sentiment in the derivatives market. Analysts judge that $80,000 is not a valuation anchor, but rather a liquidity threshold built up by leveraged positions. Whether it can be effectively broken will largely depend on this week's Federal Reserve meeting and inflation data as catalysts.

According to CNBC, the crypto data and research platform Blockworks announced the completion of its Series A extension financing, with a post-money valuation of $192 million. This round was co-led by Parafi Capital and Reciprocal Ventures, with participation from several institutions including Coinbase Ventures, Advancit Capital, and MoonPay. Over 20 founders and operators from projects such as Solana, LayerZero, Pyth, EigenLayer, Kraken, Arbitrum, and Polygon also participated personally, though the specific financing amount has not been disclosed.The company stated that the crypto market has grown to a trillion-dollar scale without the infrastructure of traditional capital markets, but still faces issues such as data fragmentation, inconsistent disclosures, and a lack of communication mechanisms for investors. Blockworks aims to fill this gap through a "data + disclosure + investor relations" integrated framework.

According to CoinDesk, Galaxy Digital led a $20 million financing round for fintech company Fence, with participation from Parafi Capital and Crane Ventures. Fence plans to utilize blockchain, smart contracts, and tokenization technology to transform the backend processes of the $6 trillion asset-backed finance market.This round of financing will primarily be used for Fence's expansion in the U.S. market and product development. Reports indicate that a large number of structured credit transactions still rely on manual processes such as Excel, PDF, and email to complete loan tracking, collateral verification, and cash flow processing, which are inefficient and have limited transparency. Fence aims to achieve real-time data updates and automated settlements through a unified system.It is reported that Fence obtains loan data via API and uses smart contracts to automatically execute payments and cash flow distribution once conditions are met. Additionally, the company can tokenize loan shares within financing vehicles, allowing investors to transfer positions, collateralize financing, or automatically receive payments.Currently, the Fence platform manages approximately $1.5 billion in assets, with partner institutions including BBVA, BlackRock, and Fortress Investment Group. The company states that compared to the traditional processing cycle of several months, its system can complete new transaction launches within weeks.

Some observers view Morgan Stanley's entry into the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this month as a catalyst to end the current crypto bear market, citing the large distribution capability of the Wall Street giant's $8 trillion wealth advisory network. However, Blockstream CEO and early Bitcoin community contributor Adam Back stated that "it won't happen that quickly."Back was recently speculated by The New York Times to be the anonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, which he denied. Back indicated that from a positive market signal perspective, the Bitcoin ETF could be the most significant development in recent times, even more important than a pro-crypto U.S. government, but this process is slower than most people realize.Back stated, "I think one thing people might be miscalculating is that institutional adoption is very slow. So the ETF has been bought, but when BlackRock suggested allocating 2% to 4% in its general stock portfolio, fund managers had not done that yet. They will, but slower than people expect." He mentioned that investors will not rush in overnight, and the accumulation process could take a year or even 18 months.Regarding prices, Back noted that the cyclical nature of Bitcoin's four-year halving cycle needs to be considered. He pointed out that even if some commentators believe the four-year cycle is breaking down, "people expect it to happen, so they sell to make it actually happen," and a decline could still occur. This logic will only change when people see the market strengthen, which is currently manifesting in the form of institutional capital inflows.Back stated that regarding recent comments about the accelerated development of quantum computing hardware potentially threatening Bitcoin's cryptography, institutions are more systematic in risk management and will focus on tail risks, while retail investors view it as a distant future risk.

According to official news, Monad's official X account (@monad), which was banned yesterday, has now been restored.ChainCatcher previously reported that Monad co-founder Keone Hon posted on the X platform stating that the Monad account was frozen without any warning, and he speculated that it was due to a system error. Monad did not engage in any abnormal operations or violate API usage. They have contacted the X platform support team through various channels and expect the account to be restored soon.

According to Bloomberg, JPMorgan Chase has appointed former Goldman Sachs executive Oliver Harris as the head of its blockchain division Kinexys.Harris officially joined the bank earlier this month and will primarily be responsible for advancing the commercialization of applications under Kinexys and deepening partnerships with institutional clients.

Jack Dorsey's Block Inc has purchased an additional 114.89 bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 8,998.Bitcoin ranks 14th.

According to Arkham data, the suspected Block Street team address transferred tokens to the Bybit deposit address (0xEcB8...0D51) in the past two hours, totaling 5 million BSB tokens, with a total value of approximately $3.6534 million.The tokens from the sending address previously originated from the BSB team's multi-signature address. Currently, the circulating supply of BSB is 207.75 million tokens, and the total amount received by this address accounts for about 2.41% of its total circulating supply. BSB is currently priced at $0.7595, with a 24-hour decline of 9.11%, and its circulating market capitalization is approximately $15.78 million.

Nasdaq-listed company Republic Power Group Limited announced the completion of a definitive transaction, having acquired a 10% stake in NVC Partners Limited, and entered into a technical service and platform cooperation agreement with NVTH Limited and its affiliate NVTHK Limited, officially entering the RWA tokenization and blockchain infrastructure market.According to the agreement, RPGL will gain access to real-world asset tokenization systems, secondary trading infrastructure, and related technology development, support, and maintenance services. The company stated that this move will promote its expansion of institutional-level digital finance and capital market solutions, leveraging its customer base in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia to advance the implementation of related applications.

According to official news, Block has released a proof of reserves, stating that by the end of the first quarter of 2026, the company holds a total of 28,355.05 bitcoins, valued at approximately 2.2 billion dollars. Among them, customer holdings are 19,357.16 bitcoins (approximately 1.5 billion dollars), and the company's treasury holds 8,997.89 bitcoins (approximately 696 million dollars).

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour cited a Bloomberg report on X stating that Kalshi has completed its first customized block trade, with Jump Trading providing liquidity support for the transaction. This trade was facilitated by Greenlight Commodities this month, representing an environmentally-focused hedge fund based in Houston that seeks exposure to a contract tracking whether a specific price will be realized in the carbon emissions allowance auction taking place in California in May.Mansour stated that the institutional application of prediction markets could be a $10-15 trillion market, with even greater growth potential depending on how widely they are adopted compared to products currently exclusive to Wall Street.

According to Blockchain for Europe, the European Blockchain Association, in collaboration with Dr. Ulrich Bindseil, former Director General of Market Infrastructure and Payments at the European Central Bank, and Erwin Voloder, Director of Research and Strategy at the Association, jointly released a report titled "Reforming MiCA to Support Euro Stablecoins."The report recognizes the significance of MiCA as a milestone regulatory framework, but also points out that some of its design choices may place Europe in the unfavorable range of the regulatory "Laffer curve"—excessively stringent requirements could weaken the EU's market competitiveness and drive related businesses outside the EU.The report proposes a series of targeted and pragmatic reform suggestions aimed at fostering a more competitive, resilient, and globally influential euro stablecoin ecosystem under MiCA, and calls on policymakers, industry participants, and various stakeholders to actively engage in discussions to jointly promote the continuous improvement of the MiCA framework.