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According to a report by the Wall Street Journal cited by Jinshi, Anthropic is seeking to raise $30 billion in refinancing, with the artificial intelligence lab absorbing most of the venture capital funds.

The White House is considering issuing 250 presidential pardons on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country, currently weighing the announcement of the plan on June 14 or July 4. Several defendants in the cryptocurrency field are seeking executive clemency, including Sam Bankman-Fried and Roger Ver. The U.S. president has issued over 1,600 pardons and commutations during his second term. Previously, Ross Ulbricht, the founder of BitMEX, and Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, have been pardoned. The White House has stated that there are currently no plans to pardon Sam Bankman-Fried.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York stated in a court filing on Tuesday that Roni Cohen-Pavon, the former Chief Revenue Officer of the defunct crypto lending platform Celsius, has agreed to a forfeiture judgment of $1.07 million, representing the proceeds traceable to his criminal conduct. Cohen-Pavon pleaded guilty in September 2023 to charges of fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the price related to Celsius's CEL token, and is scheduled to be sentenced this Thursday. Cohen-Pavon's lawyer previously requested a sentence of time served, citing his cooperation agreement with the government and his potential role in the guilty plea of former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 for commodity and securities fraud and agreed to forfeit over $48 million. In a letter to the judge, Cohen-Pavon stated, "I plead guilty because I am guilty. I participated in the manipulation of the CEL token. I should have stopped it but did not, I could have left but did not. I take full responsibility for this."Additionally, on Thursday, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the same court ordered that $10 million in assets associated with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried be used to fulfill his forfeiture agreement. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding FTX users and investors and is subject to over $11 billion in forfeiture. His appeal to overturn the conviction and sentence is still pending.

James Comer, the chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee and a Republican lawmaker, has written to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, requesting information regarding potential conflicts of interest related to personal investments and OpenAI. The investigation focuses on Altman's extensive personal investment network. Since Altman does not hold equity in OpenAI, his estimated net worth of approximately $3.5 billion primarily comes from his personal investment portfolio, which includes companies like Helion, Stripe, and Reddit.According to a previous report by The Wall Street Journal, Altman had pushed for OpenAI to invest $500 million in the fusion company Helion, while Altman himself has invested at least $375 million in the company. Comer stated that this has raised concerns about whether Altman is using OpenAI to enhance the valuation of his personally held companies. Additionally, attorneys general from states such as Florida, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, West Virginia, and Louisiana have also written to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, requesting an investigation into whether Altman has engaged in "self-dealing" and serious conflicts of interest.Meanwhile, Altman is set to testify in court on Tuesday and Wednesday in the case where Musk is suing OpenAI. Musk accuses Altman and OpenAI co-founders of violating the original "non-profit" commitment by shifting OpenAI to a profit-making operation. Although the conflict of interest investigation and Musk's lawsuit are independent events, Altman's personal investment issues have been raised multiple times during the trial. OpenAI board chairman Bret Taylor defended Altman in court, stating that he has been "open and transparent" regarding personal investment matters.

The BAI platform announced user data for May 11, showing that the platform gained 8,756 new users that day. While maintaining strong growth, the proportion of Stripe payments among the core paying group has risen to 69.0%, indicating a steady improvement in retention rates among traditional developers and production-level users. In terms of business structure, the DeepSeek-V4 series has contributed nearly 60% of Token consumption due to its extreme cost advantages. This series of models, with ultra-low latency, high concurrency, and high throughput capabilities, is becoming an indispensable core execution engine in the AI Agent era. The B.AI platform will continue to provide developers with efficient and economical model services, helping more AI-native applications to be implemented.

Stream Finance stated on platform X that the Stream trading protocol is seeking ways to maximize the asset value for customers and creditors, with the goal of integrating, liquidating, and distributing assets as quickly and prudently as possible. The team is currently considering several strategic alternatives that require participation from customers and creditors, and more details are expected to be provided in the coming weeks. For related inquiries, please contact Jeremiah Ledgwidge at Cooley LLP.In November last year, Stream Finance disclosed a $93 million asset loss and suspended withdrawals, after which XUSD significantly depegged.

According to informed sources, Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency platform Kraken, is conducting a new round of capital financing at a valuation of $20 billion, to which Kraken declined to comment.The company has recently significantly increased its merger and acquisition spending—acquiring the stablecoin-focused payment company Reap for $600 million and the digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for $550 million, both transactions conducted at a $20 billion valuation.Its largest transaction was the $1.5 billion acquisition of the U.S. retail futures platform and CFTC-registered futures commission merchant NinjaTrader in 2025, which provided Kraken with a significant foothold in the U.S. derivatives market.Regarding IPO progress, Payward secretly submitted an S-1 registration statement draft to the U.S. SEC on November 19, 2025. Although reports in March 2026 indicated that the company paused its IPO plans due to unfavorable market conditions, sources stated that the company still intends to go public, but may wait for market improvements.At last week's Consensus conference in Miami, Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the trading platform is "80% ready" for an IPO.Additionally, Deutsche Börse (DB1) purchased approximately 1.5% of Payward's shares for $200 million through a secondary share sale in April 2026, valuing Payward at $13.3 billion (lower than the previous financing round's valuation of about $20 billion).In November 2025, Kraken completed an $800 million financing in two tranches to push traditional financial products onto the blockchain, with investors including Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and Tribe Capital. Subsequently, Citadel Securities also made a strategic investment of $200 million at a $20 billion valuation.

According to the Daily Economic News, DeepSeek is rarely launching a massive financing plan, simultaneously attracting two major companies, Tencent and Alibaba. Previously, there were media reports that Alibaba and DeepSeek had a breakdown in negotiations. In response, an insider revealed exclusively to reporters on May 9 that Alibaba should not have been in negotiations.

DeepSeek's financing negotiations with Alibaba have broken down. DeepSeek launched a massive financing round, attracting major companies like Tencent and Alibaba to participate, but the two sides ultimately failed to reach an agreement. The core conflict lies in Alibaba's desire to strengthen its AI ecosystem through investment, while DeepSeek, as an independent model company, insists on minimizing binding terms and maintaining technological independence, unwilling to accept excessive ecosystem ties.DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has long rejected external equity financing. Although this time he has opened the door for the first time, his bottom line remains unchanged, with the most emphasis on offers with "the least additional conditions." DeepSeek's current financing round is valued at approximately 300 billion RMB (about 45 billion USD), with the fundraising focus on supplementing computing power and R&D funds, while also providing a market valuation anchor for employees to retain talent. Tencent had proposed to subscribe for up to 20% of the shares, but this was politely declined by DeepSeek as they did not want to relinquish a large proportion of control. Ultimately, the China National Investment Fund and others may lead the investment, with relatively loose terms that align more closely with DeepSeek's technological idealism.

DeepSeek plans to raise up to 50 billion yuan.Deepseek plans to release the V4 model update in June.

Coinbase released its first-quarter financial report, recording a net loss of $394.1 million, due to a significant drop in cryptocurrency prices during this period, resulting in substantial losses on the digital assets held on the exchange's balance sheet. The company reported a loss of $482 million on crypto assets held for investment purposes.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong remains optimistic, stating that "all finance" will eventually move on-chain, and the company is built to capture this transformation. Armstrong said, "Despite the downturn in the crypto market, the fundamental growth of the on-chain economy remains strong." He also mentioned that Coinbase is transitioning from a "spot-focused crypto platform" to a platform where users can trade a variety of asset classes, including derivatives, commodities, futures, and contracts for predicting market events.In the first quarter of 2025, Coinbase (COIN) recorded a net profit of $66 million. The latest quarter marks Coinbase's second consecutive quarter of net losses, with the previous quarter recording a net loss of $667 million. Coinbase's total revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was $1.41 billion, a 31% decrease compared to the same period in 2025; trading revenue fell 40% year-on-year to $756 million; subscription and services revenue saw a smaller decline, down 14% to $584 million. The first quarter experienced significant volatility in crypto prices, with the market heavily selling off, causing Bitcoin to drop from over $97,000 in January to around $63,000 in early February. By the end of the period, BTC remained below $70,000, dragging down the entire crypto market.Coinbase attempted to downplay the quarterly losses and revenue decline by highlighting some achievements during the quarter, including its global crypto trading market share reaching 8.6%. The company also recorded an adjusted EBITDA of $303 million, down from $930 million in the first quarter of 2025. According to Yahoo Finance, the company's stock price fell about 6% in after-hours trading, to $182 per share.

According to Reuters, China's largest state-supported semiconductor investment institution—the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (Big Fund)—is negotiating to lead the first round of financing for DeepSeek, which may value the cutting-edge AI laboratory at around $45 billion. The report cites four informed sources indicating that negotiations are still ongoing.

According to The Block, Michael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that the CFTC is considering establishing rules to solidify its protective stance towards non-custodial software developers. In March of this year, the CFTC issued a no-action letter regarding the cryptocurrency wallet Phantom, indicating that it would not take enforcement action for not being registered as a broker and clarified that eligible self-custody wallet software developers do not need to register as brokers. Selig mentioned that the CFTC is seeking to formally incorporate this stance into rulemaking.Additionally, Selig reiterated that prediction markets fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the CFTC and that it will continue to sue states that violate federal jurisdiction. The CFTC has previously sued Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, and New York.

According to CCTV reports, on May 5 local time, U.S. Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth stated that given the current administration's determination that the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is still in effect, President Trump does not need to seek congressional approval to continue military actions.Hegseth insisted that if Trump orders the resumption of military strikes, discussions on related matters will naturally take place at that time.

According to Business Wire, the special purpose acquisition company Quantum Leap announced the completion of a $200 million initial public offering (IPO) and will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "QLEPU." The raised funds will be used to support its pursuit of acquisition or merger transactions in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and blockchain.

Bloomberg reports that sources have revealed that Cerebras Systems is seeking to raise up to $4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), as demand for the stock of this artificial intelligence chip manufacturer and data center operator heats up.According to insiders, the company, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, has a target valuation of approximately $40 billion. As the information has not been made public, these individuals requested anonymity. There are also reports that Cerebras may launch the formal roadshow for the IPO as early as Monday. It is said that the investment banks underwriting the deal have received over $10 billion in potential subscription interest. This comes against a backdrop of significant increases in semiconductor stocks. Insiders also indicated that details regarding the offering size, valuation, and timing may still change. Cerebras declined to comment on this matter.

Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings has begun negotiations to acquire shares in the cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitbank, aiming to turn it into a consolidated subsidiary. SBI Chairman and President Yoshitaka Kitao stated that the company has submitted a letter of intent for the acquisition and has started discussions with Bitbank regarding capital and business cooperation. The specific timing and structure of the acquisition will be determined after due diligence and internal procedures are completed.Bitbank is one of Japan's major domestic cryptocurrency exchange platforms and has not experienced any hacking incidents since its establishment in 2014, with security as its core selling point. As cryptocurrency assets are gradually incorporated into Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, SBI believes that integrating Bitbank into the group will enhance its position in the Japanese cryptocurrency market. This move comes as SBI continues to consolidate its cryptocurrency exchange platform SBI VC Trade. Last month, SBI incorporated another exchange platform, Bitpoint Japan, into this department to streamline operations and improve profitability.Earlier this week, Bitbank also launched Japan's first credit card linked to cryptocurrency assets, allowing users to pay bills using assets like Bitcoin based on their exchange holdings, and offering a 0.5% cashback on cryptocurrency asset spending.

The South Korean prosecution has formally requested the court to sentence the former CEO of the cryptocurrency platform Delio, Jeong Sang-ho, to 20 years in prison, accusing him of committing large-scale economic fraud. In the closing statement at the Southern District Court of Seoul, the prosecution cited the local economic crime aggravated punishment law, directly pointing out that the suspect had long deliberately deceived and falsely advertised, causing approximately 2,800 investors' funds to be trapped and difficult to redeem.The prosecution pointed out that the defendant had a clear subjective intent to defraud, the losses involved were enormous, and he subsequently refused to cooperate with the investigation and deliberately shirked responsibility, continuously exacerbating the losses and difficulties faced by the victims. Therefore, they are seeking a strict sentence according to the law.

According to Bitcoin.com, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a notice seeking public comment on the rule change proposed by the NYSE Arca.The proposal requires that at least 85% of the assets in commodity trust shares must meet existing eligibility standards, with derivatives calculated based on nominal total value. Eligible assets include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP, which have been traded on designated markets for at least six months and have exchange-traded products providing significant exposure, while NFTs and collectibles are explicitly excluded.If the trust holds Bitcoin and over-the-counter call options on Bitcoin ETFs, only about 71% of the exposure will meet the requirements and will not be approved. The proposal aims to limit most exposure to a manageable range of assets while allowing more products to be listed. The SEC can approve, reject, or initiate related procedures during the review period.

The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone has filed a lawsuit against the penalties imposed by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea and has applied to the Seoul Administrative Court for a stay of execution, attempting to suspend the relevant measures before the sanctions take effect.The core content of this sanction is to restrict new users from depositing and withdrawing cryptocurrency assets to external exchanges. Previously, the FIU imposed a three-month partial business suspension and a fine of 5.2 billion won on Coinone for violating specific financial information laws.