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Mizuho downgraded Circle's rating from Neutral to Underperform and lowered the target price from $85 to $50, citing increasing competitive pressure from OpenUSD.The firm stated that OpenUSD's direct pass-through model could force Circle to share more reserve income with distribution partners, thereby compressing profit margins. Mizuho lowered Circle's adjusted EBITDA forecast for 2027 to $699 million, approximately 25% below Wall Street consensus expectations, and warned that the upcoming Coinbase revenue sharing renewal could increase pressure.

According to informed sources, Tencent is in talks to become the largest shareholder of the AI entity company Manus.Most existing investors, including Tencent, ZhenFund, and Sequoia China, are discussing supporting a deal with a valuation of $2 billion to withdraw Meta's acquisition.

According to Vietnam's Youth Newspaper, the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam recently held a press conference to report the latest investigation results of the ONUS cryptocurrency platform fraud case. More than 350 kilograms of gold and silver have been seized, transactions involving 8 properties valued at 20 trillion Vietnamese dong have been frozen, and transactions of over 300 involved bank accounts have been suspended.On March 23 of this year, the police filed criminal charges against 8 defendants, accusing them of using computer networks and telecommunications networks to commit property appropriation and money laundering. Since 2018, the individuals involved have taken advantage of the public's lack of understanding of cryptocurrency, creating digital accounts through applications and packaging them as virtual currency. They established trust and attracted investment through circular buying and selling among affiliated companies, thereby committing fund appropriation, with a total sale of cryptocurrency valued at over 70 trillion Vietnamese dong from 2018 to 2021.The case involves numerous individuals and users, with approximately 5 million user accounts opened. The police have received over 2000 reports from citizens. The public security authorities are investigating the possible accomplice responsibilities of KOLs and other internet celebrities and continue to make every effort to recover the embezzled funds.

According to on-chain analyst Maartunn (@JA_Maartun) combined with CryptoQuant data monitoring, since June 29 (Monday), a total of 113,483.3 BTC (approximately $6.97 billion) has been transferred on-chain, with all transferred coins having an age of over 3 months, of which 22,921.26 BTC (approximately $1.41 billion) came from long-term addresses holding for over 2 years.

ARK Invest Research Director Lorenzo Valente commented on the OpenUSD stablecoin project launched by several institutions. He stated that, despite the strong capabilities of the participants (including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, Coinbase, etc.), OpenUSD faces multiple significant obstacles:First, there are liquidity and cold start issues; USDC and USDT have already formed strong network effects, dominating exchanges, payment processors, and brokers, making it difficult for the new stablecoin to gain trading pairs and large-scale holding willingness;Second, the decision-making speed of the alliance composed of 500 competitors will be extremely slow, lacking successful precedents, and conflicts of interest will be hard to coordinate;Third, the regulatory and antitrust risks are extremely high; the joint issuance of currency by large banks and card networks is likely to become a regulatory focus;Fourth, the revenue-sharing model results in issuers retaining too little capital, making it difficult to cover high operational and promotional expenses;Fifth, the actual commitments from partners are limited, mostly consisting of letters of intent (LOI), and parties are still supporting competitors, preferring multiple hedges rather than exclusive binding.Valente concluded that OpenUSD is essentially similar to "a DAO of multiple competitors," making it difficult to execute and make decisions quickly, and it may ultimately repeat the governance failures of early DAO projects, which could not be effectively implemented.Affected by the OpenUSD plan, Circle's stock fell over 17% in a single day, and ARK Invest took the opportunity to buy in.

According to Crowdfundinsider, Nasdaq-listed Lion Group Holding Ltd. plans to invest up to $12 million in Indonesian fintech company PT Nusantara Bumi Sangkara through Meili Capital Management Ltd., in exchange for a 10% indirect economic interest via the issuance of common stock or equity-linked securities, with no cash payment involved.Nusantara Bumi Sangkara is developing the Indonesian Rupiah stablecoin NIDR, which is pegged 1:1 to the Indonesian Rupiah and backed by reserve assets, aimed at reducing cross-border payment costs and supporting blockchain financial services. The company has received regulatory approval or confirmation from the Indonesian Financial Services Authority and is expected to become one of the first compliant stablecoin issuers in the country.

Venus Protocol announced the launch of tokenized stock (bStocks) collateral lending functionality on the BNB Chain. Users can now deposit on-chain US stock assets such as TSLAB, NVDAB, SPCXB into the Venus Core Pool as collateral, allowing them to borrow assets like USDT and USDC while maintaining exposure to stock prices, without the need to sell their holdings. This is the first time Venus supports tokenized stocks as collateral assets.With the launch of bStocks, tokenized stocks officially join the on-chain liquidity market shared by Venus with BTC, ETH, BNB, and stablecoins. Following tokenized assets like XAUm, Venus further expands the range of on-chain collateral to include stock assets, promoting the deep integration of RWA and DeFi.

According to sources, Meta Platforms' previous acquisition of the AI company Manus for about $2 billion may be reversed due to a request from relevant regulatory authorities in China to withdraw the decision on the transaction. Early investors in Manus are currently planning to repurchase company equity at the approximately $2 billion price originally paid by Meta. This development could allow some original investors to regain control of the company and potential valuation reassessment opportunities.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, in March, the attacker of the Venus THE collateral liquidation event sold 1,912 ETH for 3.26 million USDT one hour prior, to repay their loan on Aave. This loan was used to borrow collateralized ETH in March to manipulate the collateral liquidation of THE on Venus. Currently, they still have 6.78 million USDT outstanding on Aave.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Meta Platforms Inc. has completed the operational separation from Manus and has stopped data sharing between the two companies. According to informed sources, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has effectively established a firewall between itself and the Chinese company Manus. The sources stated that since the beginning of this month, Meta has prohibited Manus and its employees from accessing the internal data systems of the American company. The sources also indicated that Meta's employees are therefore unable to use Manus's tools for internal projects. Due to the involvement of internal decisions, these sources requested anonymity.An internal memo seen by Bloomberg News shows that Meta is gradually winding down Manus's operations. The memo indicates that employees have been instructed to migrate existing Manus projects to Meta's systems and not to undertake new work on the artificial intelligence platform. Informed sources stated that these measures aimed at separating the operations of the two companies mark a step forward in the eventual divestiture of Manus.

Janus Henderson Investors, managing assets of $480 billion, announced a multi-faceted collaboration with the synthetic dollar protocol Ethena.Integrating its AAA-rated collateralized loan obligation (CLO) product JAAA strategy into the USDe reserve portfolio, introducing institutional-grade credit exposure.Making a strategic investment in Ethena's governance token ENA through its blockchain investment division ANTIK, with the amount undisclosed.Committing to incorporate the staked version of sUSDe into the company's financial cash management to earn native protocol yields.Both parties will jointly develop regulated investment tools for USDe and ENA (including ETFs and ETPs), aiming for a launch in the second half of 2026.According to DefiLlama data, the Ethena protocol's TVL is approximately $4.95 billion. Following the announcement, the market reaction was muted, with ENA dropping about 7% to around $0.082, giving it a market capitalization of approximately $760 million. This collaboration makes Janus Henderson the traditional asset management company with the deepest integration with Ethena to date.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett posted on the X platform that, according to private messages made public last year by Brian Quintenz, a former CFTC chair nominee appointed by Trump, he previously refused to comment on enforcement actions related to Gemini before formally confirming the chair position.Eleanor Terrett stated that, at present, current CFTC chair Caroline Pham has aligned her position with the Winklevoss brothers, believing that the CFTC should not have sued Gemini from the beginning.She further indicated that whether to revoke the relevant consent order will be decided by a judge in the Southern District of New York. A legal expert stated that this move constitutes a "highly unusual step."

JUST's sixth anniversary × GasFree Super Carnival Month continues to ramp up. From May 25 to 31, users who create or log in to a GasFree wallet address using designated wallets (TronLink Wallet, Klever Wallet, Guarda Wallet, NOW Wallet) and transfer USDT to the GasFree address using GasFree for USDT transfers can participate in the distribution of a 10,000 USDT prize pool.The more transfers made, the higher the ranking, and the greater the chance to enjoy fee reimbursement, with a maximum refund of 66 USDT per address. Users who first use GasFree during the event and successfully qualify for reimbursement will also receive an additional 20 USDT egg reward.At the same time, the first round of GasFree's "6" Koi activity has started (May 25, 18:00 --- May 26, 18:00 SGT). Users who hit lucky numbers such as 6, 66, 166 in the transfer ranking can receive 20 USDT, and the event will continue until May 29. In addition, by following @DeFi_JUST and participating in retweet interactions, 10 users will be randomly selected to share an additional benefit of 200 USDT. Create or log in to your GasFree wallet now, start your 0 Gas fee transfer journey, and win multiple surprise rewards.

According to Bloomberg, the three founders of Manus are exploring various options to meet Beijing's demand for the withdrawal of the deal acquired by Meta, including raising about $1 billion from external investors to repurchase the China-founded agentic AI business at a valuation of at least not lower than Meta's original acquisition price of $2 billion.Insiders say that the founders may cover the gap out of their own pockets and plan to establish a joint venture with new investors in China, followed by an application for listing in Hong Kong. Negotiations are still in the early stages, with several obstacles remaining, including how to separate the deeply integrated Manus technology and team from the Meta system, as well as the specific arrangements for the deal structure.

According to the official announcement, Gate will launch a VIP trading dividend event from May 18 at 18:00 to June 17 at 17:59 (UTC+8).During the event, users who participate in contract, TradFi CFD, and spot trading and meet the corresponding trading volume thresholds will receive exclusive VIP dividend shares. After the event ends, users at VIP5 level and above will share a cash prize pool of 100,000 based on the proportion of their held dividend shares.In addition, users who complete the specified trading days task can receive additional dividend share rewards. Specifically, for contract trading, completing 15 days or 25 days can earn up to an additional 15 shares; for spot trading, completing 10 days or 15 days can earn up to an additional 10 shares. Users who meet the trading volume conditions and achieve a net deposit of 50,000 USDT during the event period and maintain it for 15 days can also receive an additional 5 dividend shares.