Cryptopolitan

MiniMax is set to experience its first-ever share unlock on July 9 following its IPO. The company is an AI startup based in China that has more than doubled its value relative to its Hong Kong debut last January. Its two major strategic investors, namely Alibaba and miHoYo, claimed that they will not sell any shares, based on a report from Cai Lian She (Financial Associated Press) on June 22.
The pledge came at a time when China’s AI industry is growing rapidly and garnering funding that would be inconceivable just two years ago. MiniMax currently has an estimated user base of 300 million worldwide and more than one million enterprise developers. The decision by two of China’s biggest technology companies to hold their stakes in MiniMax instead of cashing out after a 400% surge highlights growing confidence in homegrown AI infrastructure and the long-term potential of China’s domestic AI ecosystem.
What the Minimax lock-up entails
The July 9 unlock relates to the restrictions placed on shares of pre-IPO shareholders whose lock-up periods end on the same day. The MiniMax founders took the initiative of locking up their shares for 12 months, double the required period, meaning that their shares and those held by employees will still be under restriction, Cai Lian She says.
According to Cai Lian She, Alibaba viewed its holding of the company’s shares as an opportunity to leverage the wider revolution in which artificial general intelligence (AGI) is expected to play. It said that it planned to enhance its cooperation with MiniMax in cloud computing and enterprise services. According to miHoYo, a Shanghai-headquartered video game developer behind Genshin Impact, AGI represents “the most important technology force of the next decade” and said its investment thesis aligns with MiniMax’s full-stack approach to multimodal AI.
China’s AI edge: speed, scale, cost
From the disclosures made by Minimax, the comments made by the founder quoted by Chinese media, and reports from Reuters on the growth strategy of the company, China’s strengths in relation to AI research and development lie in three main areas, which include speed, scale, and cost.
Speed. China’s AI firms are focusing on quickly launching products and commercializing them. According to comments made by the founder of MiniMax, the company is keen to maintain its pace of developing models and deploying products. The company has assured investors of quick expansion and diversification of its products following a strong 2025 revenue growth.
Scale. China’s AI developers enjoy the benefit of having large user bases domestically and a wide range of application ecosystems. MiniMax has expressed ambitions of becoming an AI platform firm globally and has diversified from foundation models to applications, including Talkie and Hailuo AI, as well as products for enterprises in order to test and monetize products at scale. Reuters has also observed that Chinese firms are competing fiercely with firms like DeepSeek and Zhipu in a fast-growing domestic market.
Cost. Reductions in the cost of inference and deployment have become a critical competitive theme among Chinese model builders. MiniMax has emphasized efficiency-oriented architectures and open models that promise lower computing costs, while Chinese AI firms in general have positioned themselves to provide high-performance systems at a lower cost than those from leading Western competitors.
Third-party analyses have highlighted MiniMax’s pricing advantage, with one comparison estimating M2.5 input costs at $0.15 per million tokens versus roughly $5 per million tokens for Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6. Several technology publications reported that MiniMax’s M1 training run cost only about $534,700, far below estimates for training GPT-4-class models. One article characterized this as “200 times lower” than GPT-4o’s estimated training cost.
Dual listing and the STAR Market strategy
MiniMax does not intend to stop at Hong Kong. According to Reuters, MiniMax submitted an A-share listing prospectus with the Shanghai securities authorities on May 29, with CITIC Securities as its sponsor, for listing in the STAR Market. By listing both in Hong Kong and on the mainland, MiniMax will be able to reach mainland Chinese investors, who traditionally assign a premium to tech stocks compared with those listed in Hong Kong.
MiniMax is racing Zhipu AI for the distinction of becoming the first major Chinese large language model company on the A-share market, according to Nikkei Asia. Both companies face the heavy capital expenditure demands of staying competitive in the AI race, Nikkei noted, which makes access to domestic capital markets a strategic priority rather than a vanity exercise.
Cryptopolitan has previously reported on how China’s regulatory environment, once seen as a constraint on its tech sector, has shifted toward actively supporting AI development. The STAR Market’s role as a destination for AI listings reflects that pivot.
What to watch?
MiniMax introduced its next-generation flagship model, M3, with a one-million-token context window and native multimodal abilities in early June 2026, as per Cai Lian She. The firm continues to be loss-making, with a net loss of $1.87 billion in 2025, but most of it was due to changes in the value of financial assets and not due to operating cash burn, as per Reuters.
The July 9 unlock will prove the investors’ belief or disbelief regarding Alibaba and miHoYo’s confidence. Annual recurring revenue of more than $300 million on a valuation of $33 billion means the price/revenue ratio is more than 100x, as per CryptoBriefing. It will be interesting to see how fast/slow the STAR Market application can be processed by Chinese authorities.
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South Korean crypto exchanges are now processing more cross-border money transfers than traditional banks, according to data reported in local news.
South Korea’s five largest won-denominated crypto exchanges recorded 163.55 trillion won ($125.8 billion) in cross-border transfers last year, a 380% increase from 34.02 trillion won in 2022.
Why are banks investing in crypto companies?
From 2022 to 2025, South Korea’s five biggest banks only grew their foreign-currency remittance volume by 20%, reaching 159 trillion won. In the same frame of time, South Korean crypto exchanges handled 163.55 trillion won ($125.8 billion) in cross-border transfers. This is a 380% increase from 2022, when they handled just 34.02 trillion won.
This is the first time that crypto exchanges have overtaken traditional banks in the total value of cross-border transfers.
Professor Hwang Seok-jin from Dongguk University says the main reason for the change is that crypto remittance fees are much lower than what banks charge. South Koreans living abroad and traders in Southeast Asia and the Middle East are choosing these cheaper, faster options.
Rather than fight the crypto trend, major South Korean banks have decided to join it by investing in crypto exchanges and building their own blockchain systems.
KBank, the banking partner for Upbit, announced a partnership with Ripple. They have already completed testing for a wallet-app-based remittance system and are currently working on testing stability in a virtual environment for transfers to the UAE and Thailand using Ripple’s Palisade software.
Toss Bank, another digital lender with over 15 million customers, announced its own deal with Solana that focuses on using Solana’s technology for faster cross-border payments and settlements.
Hana Bank committed about 1 trillion won ($720 million) for a 6.55% stake in Dunamu, Upbit’s parent company. Hanwha Investment Securities also received approval to increase its holdings, and Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Card jointly acquired a 4% stake in the platform. Future Asset Consulting signed a deal to buy 92.06% of rival exchange Korbit.
Tiger Research’s survey of 150 institutions and 196 cooperation cases found that the companies are competing for dominance around stablecoins, security token offerings, and crypto asset custody.
Will South Korea’s new crypto rules affect banks and exchanges?
South Korea is passing laws to set comprehensive rules for the industry.
The National Assembly postponed the debate on South Korea’s new legal framework for crypto businesses called the Digital Asset Basic Act due to the June 3 local elections, and lawmakers are unlikely to revisit it until late this year.
The bill is being held up due to a dispute between the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Bank of Korea (BOK) over stablecoin oversight.
The BOK wants stablecoin issuers to operate as consortia where banks hold at least 51% ownership, but the FSC says this would suppress fintech participation and favor a more flexible approach. The two sides also disagree on reserve requirements, enforcement authority, and whether interest-bearing stablecoins should be allowed.
The Digital Asset Basic Act would require for crypto firms to comply with licensing and disclosure rules, ban insider trading and market manipulation, and create a Digital Asset Committee to oversee policy. Companies will also need at least 50 billion won ($35 million) in capital before being allowed to issue stablecoins.
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The Russian government has greenlighted a new bill designed to regulate and support the development of artificial intelligence in the country.
The legislation, which aims to promote domestic AI solutions, will not ban the use of other neural networks or the training of local models with foreign data.
Russia sets out to regulate artificial intelligence
A government commission overseeing legislative initiatives has approved a draft law that should facilitate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in Russia.
The bill was given the nod on Monday, according to a report by the Interfax news agency quoting the press office of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko.
The document is dealing with “large fundamental models with more than 1 billion parameters,” the announcement highlighted.
These have been divided into two main categories – “sovereign”, exclusively developed by Russian entities using local infrastructure, and “national,” which may partially rely on open-source components but must again be largely developed domestically.
An earlier version of the legislation featured a third category – “trusted” AI models – covering those designed to work with critical information and infrastructure, as already reported by Cryptopolitan.
The latter has now been dropped and Grigorenko explained that the proposal has been revised taking into account the suggestions of businesses.
The main focus remains unchanged – supporting Russian-made AI models, the official indicated, adding that the executive power is currently considering various incentives.
The bill creates a regulatory framework for the development of AI in Russia and provides key legal definitions such as “artificial intelligence” and “large language model,” he said and elaborated further:
“We plan to implement such [AI] solutions in the most sensitive areas, like public administration. Moreover, sovereign and national models will receive state support with priority.”
While the key goal of the law is to stimulate the development and demand for domestic solutions, it does not prohibit the use of foreign neural networks.
Dmitry Grigorenko made that clear in an earlier statement, when he also emphasized that the nation’s public sector will primarily utilize Russian-built models.
Russian AI law to enter into force by the fall
Russia does not currently have a legal framework for artificial intelligence, which it is already developing and implementing, the deputy prime minister noted.
Laws and rules are needed, however, to make any significant decisions regarding the new technology and introduce support and protection mechanisms, Grigorenko insisted.
The updated bill may be submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament in Moscow, by the end of the week, a knowledgeable source told the business daily Kommersant.
The main provisions of the future law “On Supporting the Development of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in the Russian Federation” are expected to enter into force on September 1, 2026, the newspaper unveiled.
Other texts, such as those determining the powers of government agencies and the responsibilities of developing entities, will come into force in March 2027.
The authors have significantly simplified and shortened the document, bringing it down to just 13 articles and pages.
One of the original regulations that has been scrapped is the obligation for developers to label all AI-generated content as such. The new requirement is only to provide users with this option.
Various proposals to hold AI service providers accountable for misuse of their technology have been reduced to the vague “shall be liable in accordance with Russian law.”
Texts regulating the use of copyrighted materials to train AI, as well as restrictions for so-called “cross-border” AI models, have been deleted as well.
At the same time, Russian authorities are leaving the door open to enacting additional regulations in the future that may include some of the now retracted provisions, like the rules for AI data centers.
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Ripple announced that the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has issued a Green Light Letter granting preliminary CASP approval under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. However, the approval is tentative, subject to meeting outstanding final conditions.
Ripple had already acquired the EMI License in Luxembourg, and this additional milestone allows Ripple to start scaling its regulated cryptoasset services to other financial institutions and corporates across the entire European Economic Area (EEA).
More licensing momentum!
Ripple has secured its preliminary Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license in Luxembourg, paving the way for the full rollout of Ripple Payments across the EEA and full MiCA compliance: https://t.co/APQcYnCy9c
The next wave of regulated digital…
— Ripple (@Ripple) June 23, 2026
The license comes during a week when institutional attention in Europe is unusually high as the MiCA CASP deadline looms. For Ripple, this milestone marks the end of a multi-year regulatory build-out that started with its registration of Ripple Payments Europe.
How Ripple benefits from EMI and CASP licenses
The EMI license held by Ripple covers fiat-denominated electronic money services. It allows for regulated stablecoin payments, direct debit, and e-money issuance. On the other hand, the CASP layer covers crypto-asset exchange, transfer, and custody services under MiCA’s unified rulebook.
With both licenses, Ripple can now handle the full spectrum in-house. The platform can now legally handle a customer sending euros by converting them into RLUSD or XRP, then routing the payment cross-border and issuing the local currency equivalent to the recipient.
Luxembourg has become an evident choice for crypto firms, and it’s clear this goes beyond tax efficiency. Luxembourg has become the CASP licensing hub of choice for firms that need passporting rights across all 27 EU member states.
Coinbase, Bitstamp, and Standard Chartered all chose Luxembourg as their MiCA home for the same reason. Matthew Osborne, Ripple’s UK & Europe Head of Policy, credited the CSSF for its constructive approach throughout the licensing process. Osborne also called Luxembourg’s framework “proportionate.”
MiCA enforcement deadline for CASPs nears
The MiCA enforcement deadline for CASPs falls on July 1, meaning that from next week, any crypto firm serving EU customers without a valid CASP authorization must stop operating. So far, only around 200 companies have successfully obtained CASP authorization, according to current tracking.
Ripple has been on the hunt for proper compliance since the beginning of the year. In January 2026, it secured an EMI license and Cryptoasset Registration from the UK’s FCA. Later in Feb, Cassie Craddock, Ripple’s CEO and Managing Director UK and Europe, welcomed Société Générale-FORGE’s euro stablecoin going live on the XRP Ledger, with Ripple’s custody technology powering the deployment.
In April, Craddock made the case to the XRP community that Europe has already moved past the pilot stage. She described custody as the infrastructure layer that allows institutions to launch “faster and operate with greater confidence” than anywhere else.
As for now, the final CASP approval remains conditional on meeting CSSF’s outstanding requirements.
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Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) may be considering a possible transition from Bitcoin and Ether continuous futures into perpetual type of instruments. This transition would bring a crypto-native derivatives design further into regulated U.S. markets and would result in growing competition between exchanges that target a perpetual market worth $61.7 trillion in annual trade volume.
This idea was disclosed by Nate Geraci, president of ETF Store, on X on June 23 as another proof of traditional exchanges adopting market structures initially established by offshore cryptocurrency platforms. Currently, Cboe is offering Bitcoin Continuous Futures (PBT) and Ether Continuous Futures (PET), both being cash-settled derivatives designed to provide long-dated exposure with daily cash settlement replicating a rolling futures mechanism.
Cboe’s continuous futures
In 2022, Cboe entered regulated, CFTC-underwritten crypto derivative markets with continuous contracts for Bitcoin (PBT) and Ether (PET) – offering a cash-settled approach to trading perpetual contracts on a day-and-night basis. While conventional futures traders are obliged to shift positions to the following delivery dates to maintain exposure to their underlying asset, PBT and PET settle daily to spot crypto indices and roll automatically.
Cboe considering converting its btc & eth continuous futures into perpetual futures…
Entrenched tradfi incumbents are now continually forced to react to crypto-native innovations.
Just the beginning.
via @kryshur @Vlajournaliste pic.twitter.com/SKeCUQe4uh
— Nate Geraci (@NateGeraci) June 23, 2026
However, open interest in and volume for Cboe’s PBT and PET, particularly when compared with the CME Bitcoin futures market, is considerably thinner. Cboe hasn’t disclosed how much open interest each continuous product has, but industry sources indicate that they are nowhere near as developed as the CME Bitcoin futures and options products, which each typically carry several billion dollars of open interest against maturities. The contrast highlights CME’s position as the dominant institutional venue for crypto derivatives, while Cboe’s continuous futures stand out as an alternative market structure designed to simplify trading and reduce rollover friction.
Moving from continuous futures to perpetual futures would essentially eliminate expiry, substituting an extended rolling arrangement with an indefinite contract based on the funding rate formula.
Importance for the global crypto market
Perpetual futures contracts are the most traded products in offshore crypto trading venues like Binance, OKX, and Bybit, where the bulk of leverage trading of BTC and ETH takes place. According to market statistics referenced by CryptoQuant, the volume of trades in perpetual futures contracts reached some $61.7 trillion in 2025, reflecting the active turnover of these contracts instead of net market sentiment.
Regulators are starting to respond to the demand. On May 29, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released policy guidance and approvals allowing regulated markets more leeway to offer perpetual-style derivatives. This included the approval of the perpetual-style Bitcoin contract offered by Kalshi, along with interpretative guidance offering exchanges greater leeway to design cryptocurrency derivatives.
Competitive dynamics in regulated
Derivatives exchanges in the United States and hybrid derivatives exchanges are competing with each other by offering varying versions of perpetual exposure with key differences in terms of structure, liquidity, and regulation.
Kalshi provides perpetual exposure to Bitcoin through a regulated event contracts framework, whereas CME Group is continuing to offer traditional Bitcoin futures with monthly and quarterly expirations that serve as institutional benchmarks for pricing and hedging.
Coinbase takes a different approach. Through its derivatives platform and intermediary arrangements, U.S. users can access offshore perpetual futures liquidity under recently clarified regulatory guidance. Rather than listing perpetuals domestically, Coinbase connects traders to markets that already exist abroad.
Cboe occupies a middle ground. Its Bitcoin (PBT) and Ether (PET) continuous futures already feature daily funding-like adjustments and maturities extending up to 120 months. That structure resembles perpetual contracts more closely than CME’s fixed-expiry futures, meaning a shift to true perpetuals would be an evolution of an existing design rather than a wholesale product overhaul.
Regulatory pressure and repositioning of markets
The May 29 policy change by the CFTC prompted quick repricing of the stocks in the U.S. exchanges, as investors began to evaluate the implications of this increased competition in derivatives. According to reports from the market, Cboe shares went down by 9% at the start of June, while CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange followed suit, as perpetual style derivatives were anticipated to squeeze margins and fees out of the business.
On June 18, CME added fuel to the fire by suing the CFTC on the grounds that perpetual futures should be deemed swaps according to the Commodity Exchange Act and that the CFTC had overstepped its boundaries. The CFTC rejected the claim, defending its stance as part of broader market modernization efforts.
What traders and institutions need to watch for
The key determining factor here is whether liquidity will migrate to regulated perpetual-like products. If institutions decide to participate in the regulated perpetual-like product market, then part of the trading volume will transfer from offshore exchanges, where currently cryptocurrency prices are discovered, and trading with leverage takes place.
However, this scenario does not seem likely at the present time. Since the margin requirements, maximum leverage, and maximum positions on the U.S. exchanges will be higher than offshore ones, conditions will be more favorable for risk management, although less favorable for profit-making.
The way the industry will go because of this balance between risk management and profit-making is yet to be seen. Regulation may be an advantage for institutions, while active traders will consider whether regulated perpetuals are better than other things offered by offshore exchanges.
So far, Cboe has not said anything about its plans or submitted any documents for the regulated perpetual. However, since CME is involved in a lawsuit, Coinbase uses offshore exchanges, and Kalshi launched regulated perpetual-like products, the competition remains high in the U.S. derivatives market.
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President Donald Trump signed two executive orders at the White House on June 22, flanked by the presidents of Google and IBM. The two executive orders cement what the administration is calling the most ambitious quantum technology agenda in U.S. history.
One executive order pushes to deliver a scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028. The second one moves the federal post-quantum cryptography deadline from 2035 to December 2031.
The White House posted the signing on X, framing it as a landmark step in the global race against China.
Michael Kratsios expounds on the executive orders
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, laid out the agenda on X shortly after the announcement. According to Kratsios, the Department of Energy will build the first quantum computer powerful enough for scientific discovery by 2028. He also mentioned that the federal agencies will deploy quantum sensors and networks within five years, and the FBI will lead a new effort to shield quantum research and intellectual property from foreign espionage.
“We’re now at the moment where a lot of that research is starting to pay off into commercial applications — and what this Executive Order will do will turbocharge that,”
– Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
The first, Executive Order 14411 titled “Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation,” is an investment and development directive. The EO establishes the Quantum Computer for Application Development and Discovery Science initiative. It also tasks Commerce with expanding federal investment in private quantum firms following the $2 billion in equity stakes announced in May. Finally, the Executive Order also establishes five-year deployment plans for sensing and networking technologies.
The second, Executive Order 14409 titled “Securing the Nation Against Advanced Cryptographic Attacks,” is where the crypto industry’s attention should be concentrated. It accelerates the federal government’s migration to post-quantum cryptography by four years. The EO also moves the deadline from 2035 to December 2031, and directs NIST to complete a pilot migration of federal systems by December 2027.
As per the Executive Orders, agency heads have 30 days to designate a post-quantum cryptography migration lead. Federal contractors also face new procurement rules requiring the use of NIST-standard post-quantum algorithms by the end of 2030.
Bitcoin and Ethereum brace for the quantum era
Bitcoin and most major cryptocurrencies rely on elliptic curve cryptography to prove wallet ownership and authorize transactions. Analysts argue that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could, in principle, derive a private key from a public key already visible on-chain.
Coinbase’s Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain warned earlier this month that approximately 7 million BTC sit in addresses that are already exposed. The board included the Satoshi-era wallets, where public keys are visible. They also flagged currently active cold wallets run by exchanges as part of the addresses already exposed.
Google has set its own internal deadline of 2029 to adopt post-quantum cryptography. Similarly, the federal government just moved its own target to 2031 following President Trump’s executive orders.
As a security measure, Bitcoin developers have already proposed BIP-360 and BIP-361. The first introduces quantum-resistant Bitcoin addresses, while the second would eventually freeze coins held in vulnerable legacy addresses if their owners fail to migrate.
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The Starknet Foundation, in collaboration with RareSkills, has published a free e-book on advanced smart contract development on Starknet using the Cairo programming language.
Most code is written by agents instead of by hand. However, to manage coding agents effectively, developers must
Understand the design space afforded by the Starknet blockchain.
Be able to quickly read code the agents produce.
Write strong testing frameworks to prevent bugs from being introduced
Starknet offers stronger support for features such as account abstraction, batched transactions, and smart contract upgradeability compared to other solutions. Starknet also provides a strong developer tooling with Starknet Foundry.
However, if developers are unaware of the expanded design space Starknet offers, they might unintentionally copy outdated design patterns that they used previously. They might also miss opportunities to significantly improve end-user UX.
AI is a productivity tool, not a substitute for domain knowledge. Thus, the e-book goes beyond code examples and explains what happens “behind the scenes,” helping developers build a cohesive mental model of how their code interacts with the Starknet blockchain. This makes learning more engaging than memorizing a list of features.
“Our team did a fantastic job creating this e-book, which spans over 50,000 words. The team went above and beyond, even turning dry technical diagrams into animated schematics that convey the same information with less burden for the reader. I’m also grateful to the reviewers who built applications based on the provided resource to really tease out any aspects of the book that weren’t completely clear and compelling,” said Jeffrey Scholz, the founder of RareSkills.
“Rareskills did such a good job with their deep dive into Starknet’s technology that at the end, instead of reviewing the content, I ended up learning from it,” said David Barreto a Developer Advocate at the Starknet Foundation
The Starknet Foundation stewards the growth and development of the Starknet ecosystem by providing the tools, resources, and support needed to create transformative solutions that drive the adoption of a reinvented digital world.
RareSkills is a leading education provider for blockchain developers, with a focus on serving senior engineers, smart contract auditors, and CTOs. RareSkills provides numerous free learning resources for blockchain developers, and a coaching program for busy engineering professionals looking to carve out time for effective technical upskilling.
The learning resource can be accessed here: RareSkills.io/cairo-tutorial

Lawmakers have advanced the digital dollar debate into legislation by adding a four-year prohibition on CBDCs to a Senate-passed housing affordability package, despite no active plans for a U.S. virtual currency.
According to legislative summaries and committee releases, the bill would prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing, creating, or indirectly distributing any central bank digital currency “widely available to the general public” until at least December 31, 2030.
Seeking to prevent the U.S. from replicating European and Chinese CBDC frameworks, GOP politicians have mobilized against the concept, branding it an intrusive tool for state surveillance.
They successfully advocated for its inclusion in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which secured overwhelming passage in the Senate Monday night by an 85-5 margin.
Should the House of Representatives vote in favor of the bill and President Donald Trump later approve it, the CBDC provision will be written into federal law.
The CBDC ban would only be temporary if the bill is signed into law
Earlier in January, President Donald Trump had also formally directed his administration not to pursue a CBDC, arguing that it could jeopardize privacy rights and the stability of the U.S. financial system.
Trump’s allies in Congress successfully added an amendment to an unrelated housing package that legally bars the Federal Reserve System from creating a CBDC or any similar digital asset via financial intermediaries. Even if approved, the CBDC ban would remain in effect only until the close of 2030.
The Federal Reserve has maintained that a U.S. digital currency remains in its theoretical research phase, in contrast to Europe and China, where development of these government-backed digital assets is much further along.
Europe is already preparing to test a digital euro next year, ahead of a full launch in 2029, while China has been developing its own digital yuan under the People’s Bank of China.
Before stepping down, former Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that a digital dollar would be issued by private banks, pushing back against Republican fears of a government financial dictatorship. The new Fed Chair, Kevin Warsh, however, stated during his nomination hearing that he does not support a U.S. CBDC, characterizing it as a “bad policy choice.”
Lawmakers in the House are also reportedly looking to accelerate consideration of the housing bill and could approve it as early as Tuesday. If Trump signs it, the CBDC provision would be enacted along with the rest of the legislation.
South Korea and Europe are advancing their CBDC projects
South Korea has been pursuing a CBDC. The Bank of Korea has advanced its central bank digital currency pilot to a second phase focused on integrating deposit tokens into established banking frameworks, moving beyond initial retail-level testing.
It will have participating banks enhance their core banking operations with e-wallets, voucher tools, and blockchain technology that can work alongside existing payment and settlement networks.
Authorities want to test whether central bank-guided digital tokens can process payments and settlements while remaining part of the formal banking infrastructure.
This development pushes the project beyond theoretical testing and toward real-world application. Banks are expected to assess how tokenized funds interact with core banking functions and regulatory controls.
Meanwhile, in February, the European Parliament gave the green light to the Digital Euro, saying it is absolutely necessary to boost monetary independence and smooth retail payments across the region.
The ECB spent March and April doing the heavy technical lifting for both the Digital Euro and the systems that will handle tokenized cash in Europe. It’s moved beyond the design phase and is now focused on implementation planning, though the digital euro’s launch ultimately hinges on new legislation.



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Baillie Gifford, a 118-year-old fund manager overseeing approximately £286 billion, has launched the Enhanced Yield Fund, marketed under the ticker BAGEY. The fund entered into a partnership with custody giant BNY to launch BAGEY, which will run entirely on the blockchain.
The enhanced yield fund is now the UK’s first fully tokenized investment fund, and unlike most “tokenized” products that just slap a digital wrapper on a traditional structure, this one is supposed to live entirely onchain.
The fund is structured as a UK-regulated Open-Ended Investment Company denominated in dollars and invested in an actively managed portfolio of short-term corporate bonds.
According to the fund manager, BNY will handle tokenization and wallet plumbing, while NatWest Trustee and Depositary Services will handle depositary duties. Investors can expect a yield of around 7%. The fund is currently limited to qualified investors in the UK, Switzerland, and the Cayman Islands.
Baillie Gifford fronts BAGEY as the real tokenization
Theo Golden, head of digital assets and tokenization at Baillie Gifford, contrasted the fund with what most of the industry has been calling “tokenization” so far. He argued that digitizing old infrastructure will not, by itself, improve finance. Golden pointed out that BAGEY offers a structurally different approach, as it runs entirely onchain unlike other “tokenized” funds.
Baillie Gifford pointed out that most tokenized funds in the market are wrappers, as they don’t entirely operate onchain as intended.
Unlike most tokenized funds, BAGEY will run entirely onchain, meaning investors hold the fund directly, with the chain doing the legal bookkeeping rather than just mirroring it.
BNY’s Katey Neate called it proof that tokenization has moved from concept to real-world application. She proposed the fund as a template that other UK fund managers could emulate.
FCA plays catch-up in regulation matters
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority authorized the first tokenized UCITS fund under its “Blueprint” model back in January 2025. The FCA then spent 2025 consulting with the industry on how far public blockchains could go inside existing fund rules.
After consultation, the authority came up with PS26/7, a policy statement published in April, confirming that asset managers can use public DLT networks for fund registers. provided they maintain the appropriate controls.
Shortly after the announcement, the $BAGEY token launched on the Solana network and then on Ethereum.
The Solana token trading under the same $BAGEY ticker has no verified connection to Baillie Gifford’s actual regulated product. However, the creators claimed it launched on Ethereum under FCA oversight.
A token tracker shows the Solana-listed $BAGEY trading at essentially zero price and with around 132 holders.
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On Monday, June 22, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission asked markets for feedback on two changes that could reshape energy derivatives trading in the United States: around-the-clock trading for standard futures contracts and perpetual contracts tied to physical energy commodities such as crude oil.
The request marks a major step toward testing crypto-style market structure in energy derivatives, which have traditionally traded under fixed schedules and expiry dates. Both proposals go beyond extended screen time for traders. They carry operational, settlement, and risk-management consequences for firms that use futures to hedge physical commodities.
CFTC asks if energy futures should trade nonstop
The CFTC’s request for comment is divided into two paths, according to the agency’s June 22 announcement.
The first focuses on extending standard energy futures contracts to a 24/7 trading schedule while keeping their existing expiration dates, delivery rules, and settlement arrangements largely unchanged.
The second focuses on perpetual contracts tied to physical energy commodities that can be stored or delivered. Unlike standard futures, perpetual contracts have no fixed expiry date.
“A clear, data-driven record will help the Commission better understand these developments’ implications and impact in the market,” CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said in the announcement. He described the process as an effort to balance innovation with market integrity.
Written comments are due within 30 days after the request is published in the Federal Register.
Oil perpetuals raise risks Bitcoin does not
Perpetual contracts are common on offshore crypto exchanges, where they use funding-rate mechanisms to keep contract prices aligned with spot markets. That model works more naturally for assets such as Bitcoin, which trade globally around the clock and do not involve storage, delivery, or physical settlement.
Crude oil has storage costs, pipeline constraints, delivery obligations, and spot markets that can be thinner during weekends and overnight hours. Those conditions make around-the-clock pricing more complicated than it is for purely digital assets.
A staff advisory accompanying the CFTC’s May perpetual-contract releases warned that contracts settling during non-peak hours of the underlying market can carry higher risks of price distortion and manipulation, according to analysis published in the National Law Review.
That is why physical energy perpetuals raise harder questions than Bitcoin perpetuals. The contract design must account not only for price discovery, but also for how the underlying commodity is stored, delivered, and hedged in real markets.
Bitcoin perps set the regulatory template
In late May, the CFTC allowed the first Bitcoin perpetual futures contract to be listed on a U.S. designated contract market. At the same time, the agency issued a policy statement explaining how perpetual contracts should be reviewed.
That decision created a regulatory template for digital commodity perpetuals. But the CFTC also made clear that perpetual contracts based on other asset classes require closer scrutiny.
For contracts tied to non-digital assets, including physical energy commodities, the agency has pointed to the stricter Regulation 40.3 review process. That means exchanges cannot simply copy the Bitcoin perpetual model and apply it to crude oil or other deliverable commodities.
The June 22 request for comment builds on that distinction. The CFTC is asking whether the market structure developed around digital assets can work in commodities, where delivery, storage, and physical-market liquidity create risks that crypto contracts do not face.
Old commodity rules meet crypto market structure
The CFTC’s authority over derivatives comes from the Commodity Exchange Act, which originally governed agricultural futures. Over time, Congress expanded the agency’s reach to include energy, metals, financial derivatives, and swaps.
After the 2008 financial crisis exposed gaps in derivatives oversight, the Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFTC a larger role in regulating swaps and clearing. Today, the agency oversees futures and options on assets ranging from wheat to West Texas Intermediate crude.
That history matters because the CFTC is now considering whether a trading model popularized by crypto can be adapted to markets built around physical delivery.
The question is not only whether energy contracts can trade 24/7. It is whether exchanges, clearinghouses, brokers, and commercial hedgers can manage margin, liquidity, settlement, and market surveillance when trading no longer stops at the end of the business day.
The comment window becomes the next test
The 30-day comment period is expected to draw responses from exchanges, energy traders, clearinghouses, brokers, commercial hedgers, and crypto market participants.
The crypto industry has supported perpetual contracts as a way to bring offshore trading activity into regulated U.S. markets. On June 12, the CFTC also issued no-action relief giving designated contract markets guidance on converting certain digital commodity perpetual-style futures into perpetual contracts, though that temporary relief expires on June 30.
Energy markets face a different test. The CFTC must decide whether 24/7 trading and perpetual contracts can work for commodities that move through pipelines, storage tanks, and delivery hubs, not only through blockchains.
The outcome could shape how far U.S. derivatives markets move toward always-on trading. If the CFTC proceeds cautiously, Bitcoin perpetuals may remain a special case. If the agency opens the door wider, energy futures could become the next major market to absorb crypto-native trading design.



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On Monday (June 22), TurboFlow, a Hong Kong-based on-chain trading platform that integrates both prediction markets and perpetual futures, raised $6 million in seed funding. The round was led by Pantera Capital and included Susquehanna Crypto and Digital Currency Group.
The fundraising effort comes amid expectations that global prediction market volumes will increase fivefold this year, and an increasing flow of institutional capital toward event-contract platforms.
According to The Block, the funding round was done via a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) and was closed in March. Under an SAFT, an investor provides funding upfront in exchange for a legal promise that the company will deliver digital tokens to them at a later date, usually when the network or platform officially launches.
Tony He, founder of TurboFlow and a former co-founder and partner at Amber Group, did not disclose the startup’s valuation.
TurboFlow bets on Asia’s underserved trading market
This timing is indicative of an overall capital migration trend. The regulated US-based prediction market platform Kalshi raised a Series F of $1 billion in May, valued at $22 billion, as its annualized trade volume rose from $52 billion to $178 billion within six months, per the company.
Institutional trading on Kalshi increased 800% over the same period, according to Reuters. Prediction market volumes reached around $64 billion in 2022, according to data from Artemis via BloomingBit, with projections surpassing $325 billion in 2026.
Perpetual futures, the second part of TurboFlow’s products, are becoming popular as well. According to BloomingBit, crypto perpetual futures trading volume reached $7.24 trillion in January 2026 compared with CoinGecko Research’s $4.14 trillion a year earlier.
TurboFlow banks on the large opportunity in Asia. As Tony He said in an interview with The Block, platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have found a home in the Western world. Still, the market is “largely underdeveloped” in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
“We see a large unfilled gap between Asian users and proper institutional-grade liquidity, and we’re striving to become that bridge,” He said, via The Block.
Pantera sees infrastructure upside in event trading
The lead investor in TurboFlow’s funding round, Pantera Capital, is one of the longest-running investment companies focused on cryptocurrencies. It launched its first Bitcoin fund in 2013. Pantera manages venture, hedge fund, and liquid-token strategies across the digital asset sector.
Paul Veradittakit, a managing partner at Pantera Capital, stated in his January 2026 letter to investors that institutional acceptance of crypto continues to grow and cited examples of blockchain adoption in enterprise products and the creation of sovereign reserves.
“Financial markets function best when participation is broad and access is fair,” Veradittakit said in an interview with BloomingBit. “TurboFlow is advancing a vision of more transparent and inclusive markets through blockchain,” he added.
In recent months, Pantera Capital has invested in trading and infrastructure startups, including an $11.5 million Series A into Based, a trading and payments solution powered by the HyperLiquid platform, according to PANews.
APAC becomes the next on-chain trading battleground
Viewed this way, TurboFlow is aiming for more than launching another decentralized exchange. It is betting that APAC could become the first region where retail traders can access perpetual futures, prediction markets, and self-custodial trading through one integrated platform.
The fresh capital will go toward product development, liquidity infrastructure, and user growth, according to BloomingBit. Beyond financing another exchange launch, however, TurboFlow’s seed round appears to reflect a larger bet on the convergence of derivatives and event-driven speculation.
The idea has already gained traction in Western markets, where platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket helped popularize prediction markets among retail users. Asia, by contrast, remains a fragmented landscape.
Singapore permits regulated derivatives trading but has yet to establish a dedicated framework for retail prediction markets, while jurisdictions including Japan and South Korea maintain stricter limits on speculative products.
That regulatory patchwork could create an opening for companies willing to tailor compliance, liquidity, and product offerings to local markets. If prediction-market volumes reach the projected $1.1 trillion by 2030 and crypto perpetuals continue expanding from their current multi-trillion-dollar base, platforms that combine both products could eventually compete for a slice of a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars in annual trading activity.
For TurboFlow, the bigger challenge may not be building the technology or navigating regulations. It will be proving that retail traders are looking for institutional-grade execution and risk-management tools just as much as they are seeking new ways to speculate.
TurboFlow tests demand with high-velocity event trading
The platform has been running a beta for more than six months, with over 15,000 registered users and cumulative trading volume exceeding $19 billion, according to The Block. Entry sizes start at $2, and the platform describes its model as “high-velocity event trading” focused on short-duration contracts.
TurboFlow employs more than 30 people, most based in Hong Kong, and plans to stay lean, He told The Block. On the question of licensing, He said regulatory frameworks for prediction markets “vary significantly across APAC and are still evolving.” The company is working with advisors on a market-by-market compliance approach.
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Five former Ethereum Foundation researchers have launched Ethlabs, an independent nonprofit research and development firm backed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and major ETH treasury firms.
The launch shows that some Ethereum core research is now moving into independently funded structures outside the Ethereum Foundation. That shift could reshape how the network evolves as institutional capital moves further on-chain.
On June 22, Ethlabs said it plans to prepare Ethereum’s infrastructure for large-scale institutional use, according to PR Newswire. Funding will come from Bitmine Immersion Technologies, SharpLink, Lubin, and other ecosystem backers, including Anchorage, Octant, and SNZ. More than 50 community partners have also pledged support, according to Decrypt.
Ethlabs did not disclose how much money it raised, but the backers show how institutional funding is becoming more involved in Ethereum research. Bitmine has disclosed more than 5.4 million ETH, making it one of the largest publicly known Ether treasury holders. SharpLink is also one of the major publicly traded ETH treasury firms.
Ethereum protocol research gets a new home
Ethlabs was launched by five former Ethereum Foundation researchers: Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma.
The team has worked on major parts of Ethereum’s technical design, including finality, scaling, data availability, the Ethereum Virtual Machine, and protocol economics. These are the components that determine how Ethereum processes transactions, secures activity, and supports applications across the network.
Dietrichs, who will serve as Ethlabs’ executive director, said the organization is launching at a time when blockchain technology is moving toward broader adoption. He said Ethereum is “uniquely positioned to become the shared base layer” of the emerging on-chain economy and described it as “the neutral foundation the broader on-chain ecosystem is built on.”
He said Ethlabs was created to help Ethereum realize that vision.
“As longtime contributors to the core protocol, we are establishing an independent non-profit organization to advance Ethereum’s core technology and the shared standards and infrastructure builders depend on,” Dietrichs said, adding that the team is excited to continue that work “at the moment it matters most.”
Former EF researchers lead the new lab
Ethlabs is launching shortly after Hsiao-Wei Wang, co-executive director at the Ethereum Foundation, stepped down on June 18 after a sabbatical. Wang was the second co-executive director to leave the foundation this year, after Tomasz Stańczak resigned earlier in 2026.
The departures have added to wider questions about the Ethereum Foundation’s leadership, strategy, and research structure. Several senior researchers and executives have left or changed roles over the past year, as Cryptopolitan earlier reported, creating a period of transition for the organization.
Ethlabs represents one answer to those concerns: critical protocol research can continue through an independent structure with its own funding, leadership, and technical mandate.
That does not mean Ethereum research is leaving the Ethereum Foundation entirely. But it does show that the ecosystem is no longer relying on one central foundation to fund and coordinate every major research track.
Ethlabs targets institutional-scale Ethereum
Ethlabs’ early agenda focuses on infrastructure problems that could slow institutional adoption of Ethereum.
According to the press release, the lab will work on faster settlement, native asset issuance, cross-chain transactions, mainnet capacity, and the monetary properties of ETH.
Those areas align with the direction Ethereum is already moving. Stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, on-chain investment portfolios, and AI-driven commercial transactions are becoming more common on Ethereum. All of those use cases need faster settlement, better interoperability, and more predictable infrastructure.
Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine, said the ecosystem needs to “dramatically expand its investment in talent and research” to support expected growth from institutions and AI agents.
SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom framed the launch as “the beginning of an institutional supercycle on Ethereum.”
That language is promotional, but it captures why treasury firms are backing the lab. If Ethereum becomes the main settlement layer for institutional finance, faster finality, larger capacity, and better cross-chain infrastructure would directly support the value of ETH and the companies holding it.
Arm’s-length funding becomes the credibility test
Ethlabs says its funding model is designed to preserve research independence.
Funds will be distributed by an external grants administrator, which will screen, evaluate, and allocate capital. Funders will receive accountability through quarterly reporting and an annual independent audit, but they will not control the research agenda or technical direction. Final decisions will remain with Ethlabs leadership.
That separation matters because some of the backers have large financial exposure to ETH. Bitmine and SharpLink both hold ETH as major treasury assets, giving them a clear interest in Ethereum’s long-term success.
An arm’s-length structure is meant to prevent that financial interest from steering technical research.
The credibility of Ethlabs will depend on whether the lab can maintain that separation in practice. If it does, it could become a model for how open-source blockchain research is funded without giving large capital holders direct control over protocol direction.
The launch widens Ethereum’s governance map
Lubin, who also co-founded Consensys, described Ethlabs as part of Ethereum’s transition toward a wider set of steward nodes that can help evolve and protect the network.
That framing matters because Ethereum remains the dominant settlement layer for DeFi and tokenized assets. Any research that improves settlement speed, cross-chain execution, mainnet capacity, or ETH’s monetary role could have effects well beyond Ethereum itself.
If Ethlabs delivers on faster finality and better interoperability, it could reduce barriers for institutions that still view Ethereum as too slow, too fragmented, or too technically complex for large-scale financial use.
The launch also reflects a broader shift in how open-source blockchain ecosystems fund themselves. Instead of relying only on a central foundation, Ethereum research is spreading across independent organizations with separate missions and funding sources.
The question now is whether that structure will make Ethereum research more resilient or more fragmented. Ethlabs will be one of the first major tests.


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Franklin Templeton has now finalized its purchase of crypto investment firm 250 Digital today, effectively creating a standalone crypto division called Franklin Crypto that will offer actively managed digital asset strategies to pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and other large financial allocators.
The transaction, previously announced in April 2026, will bring 250 Digital’s full investment team along, in addition to the liquid cryptocurrency strategies the group ran while operating under CoinFund, according to Franklin Templeton. The investment firm has said it will deploy capital into those strategies via the new unit.
New division Franklin crypto
Christopher Perkins, co-founder of 250 Digital, will take the top role as head of the new division. Seth Ginns, who previously served as 250 Digital’s chief investment officer, will keep this title in Franklin Crypto. Both of these head figures spent years at CoinFund before liquid strategies arm was spun into 250 Digital in January 2026.
Tony Pecore, a veteran of Franklin Templeton’s existing digital assets group, will co-manage the unit. The division will report to Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton’s head of innovation.
CEO Jenny Johnson has explained that the deal will help to fill a gap in the firm’s crypto capabilities. “Together, their investment talent and differentiated strategies strengthen our capabilities in digital assets and position us among a small group of global asset managers with a dedicated, institutional-grade crypto investment management team,” Johnson said.
Franklin Templeton’s crypto strategy
Franklin Templeton manages roughly $1.78 trillion in assets across more than 35 countries. The firm has been building digital asset infrastructure since 2018, although most of this infrastructure was for tokenization and passive products and not active crypto portfolio management.
In February, the company struck a deal with Binance to allow its institutional clients to use tokenized money market fund shares as trading collateral. A March partnership with Ondo Finance also put tokenized ETFs on blockchain networks.
The 250 Digital acquisition, however, adds a different capability, where a team actively trades liquid crypto markets instead of working with passive fund structures.
Data from RWA.xyz shows how quickly Franklin Templeton’s tokenized asset base has grown. The company’s tokenized holdings rose from about $768 million in June 2025 to more than $2.5 billion a year later. The general market for on-chain RWAs has climbed from about $11.8 billion to $32.2 billion over the same period.
One unusual detail: Franklin Templeton used BENJI tokens in the acquisition process. BENJI tokens are a representation of shares related to the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, a regulated money market product recorded on a public blockchain. This makes this purchase one of the first major financial-services acquisitions settled partly with tokenized fund shares and not only with cash or traditional securities.
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IBM partnered with OpenAI to launch a security solution that uses advanced AI models to detect code vulnerabilities and help companies fix them before they become problems.
The two companies are now working together through OpenAI’s Daybreak Cyber Partner Program. IBM’s consulting infrastructure, added to OpenAI’s frontier AI models, helps business clients uncover security issues faster.
According to an IBM news release, the service provides AI analysis that extends beyond typical scanning solutions for organizations with huge codebases.
IBM’s new security tool scans code for flaws
The new offering runs inside client environments with read-only access to code repositories. It analyzes application code, flags areas with potential flaws, and identifies exploitable paths. Organizations can start with targeted evaluations of individual applications and scale up to continuous monitoring as their code evolves.
IBM Consulting Advantage, the company’s AI platform for delivering consulting engagements, powers the security service.
“Attackers are already using AI to probe, exploit, and scale threats at machine speed. Defenders need the same advantage, with the security and control enterprises require,” said Mark Hughes, IBM Consulting’s global managing partner for cybersecurity services.
“…we are collaborating with AI pioneers like IBM to use frontier models to accelerate defensive security workflows and support enterprises, governments, and other organizations as they identify risks,” said Dane Stuckey, OpenAI’s chief information security officer, in the official press release.
IBM commits $5 billion to secure open source software
The application security service builds on Project Lightwell, an initiative IBM launched last month to secure open source software used across enterprise supply chains. IBM and Red Hat have committed $5 billion to fund the project, which deploys engineers and AI tools to patch, validate, and manage open source code.
OpenAI’s models will work alongside other AI systems within Project Lightwell for code review and remediation tasks. IBM has described the initiative as an enterprise security clearinghouse staffed by a global engineering team.
IBM shares jumped 4.6% in after-hours trading, according to Google Finance. The company holds a market capitalization of about $235.7 billion.
IBM has reported revenue growth of close to 10%, and seven analysts have recently raised their earnings estimates for the upcoming period, according to Investing.com.
The US’s Commerce Department is separately expected to allocate $1 billion to IBM as part of a $2 billion quantum computing grant program, Cryptopolitan reported in May.
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Bank of America (BAC) now expects the Fed to raise interest rates three times this year under new Chair Kevin Warsh, with no cut penciled in until 2028.
That is a hard turn from the bank’s view just days ago, when Cryptopolitan reported that its economists had thought the Fed would sit still and tolerate war-driven price pressure from the Iran conflict.
After Kevin’s first meeting, and after another look at inflation, that call got tossed.
The bank now sees 75 basis points of tightening this year, meaning three quarter-point hikes to the Fed benchmark rate.
The reason is simple and ugly: prices are not cooling fast enough. Bank of America expects this week’s core personal consumption expenditures report, the inflation measure the Fed watches most closely, to run at 3.5% from a year earlier.
Warsh keeps the Fed focused on prices as BofA sees three hikes this year
Aditya Bhave, an economist at Bank of America (BAC), said the inflation picture has turned worse. He wrote, “The Fed’s inflation problem has gotten unambiguously worse.” Aditya said the Fed had been ready to tolerate tariffs for a while, but the latest supply shocks have tested that patience.
In addition, he pointed out that rent and housing expenses were among the factors responsible for keeping inflation low, but that period was coming to an end soon. The other core services are stickies, meaning that prices in most parts of the economy are becoming defiant.
The Federal Reserve desires an inflation of 2%. However, the target has not been achieved for the past five years. The price levels went up in 2021 and hit the 40-year high level. At first, it was described as “transitory.” However, inflation continued to be very loud and persistent.
Kevin used his first meeting as chair to talk again and again about price stability, mentioning it about a dozen times. Markets heard him, and traders now price in at least one Fed hike this year, with September seen as the likely month. According to the CME Group (CME) FedWatch indicator, there is also more than a 50% probability that there will be another rate hike in December.
His words at that time were very unlike those which Kevin had expressed prior to his confirmation to the Senate.
Bank of America still left a few doors open. Aditya said a July hike is possible, but the bank thinks the Fed will probably wait for summer data before acting. The Fed could also wait until after the November midterm elections. Aditya did not rule out more than 75 basis points of hikes, but the bank’s current base case has the Fed holding rates steady in 2027 and cutting only in 2028.
Warsh diminishes Fed guidance as markets abandon the old policy playbook
Previous chairmen of the Federal Reserve usually provided markets with enough signals to be prepared before any decision was made. Kevin appears to share more similarities with his predecessor Alan Greenspan, who served as the chairman from 1987 until 2005.
Alan still helped create parts of the modern Fed communication system. During his time, the central bank began releasing statements after meetings to announce rate decisions. It also began publishing meeting minutes and full transcripts after a five-year delay. Congress pushed for some of those changes.
The first post-meeting statement came on Feb. 4, 1994. The Fed raised its key rate for the first time in five years. Investors were not ready. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.4% that day.
Kevin said a communications task force will review the Fed’s quarterly economic projections. It will also look at newer tools, including press conferences. Ben Bernanke started holding press conferences, but only after every other meeting. Jerome Powell later held them after every meeting.
That is far away from the 1990s, when Alan did not explain Fed decisions to reporters on the record. Kevin could now roll back parts of the system that grew after the 2008 to 2009 global financial crisis.
Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank (DB), said, “This is a big change in how the Fed has conducted itself since the global financial crisis.” Matthew added that the Fed had spent years giving more guidance, more communication, and more transparency, but Kevin has now “put that train in reverse.”
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SpaceX has now lost about $800 billion in market value from its peak, after the stock dropped 16% on Monday and pushed the new public company deeper into its first real selloff.
Now the stock is down by 29% from the peak price, with the past three sessions seeing about 24% of the stock erased.
This has been an astonishing ride for a company which was riding on the back of an immense IPO, debuted with a price tag of $150 per share on June 12, and even seemed to be ready to intimidate its way to the top of the heap.
The shares were first priced at $135 before trading began. Buyers then chased SpaceX hard during its first two full sessions, sending its market cap above Amazon (AMZN) and, for a short time on Tuesday, above Microsoft (MSFT) too.
Then the stock dropped 5% on Wednesday, fell another 3.6% on Thursday, and had no trading on Friday because of the Juneteenth holiday.
SpaceX loses steam as traders cut exposure after the IPO rush
SpaceX became one of the world’s most valuable companies almost immediately after listing, but the market has now started treating the stock with less patience.
The selloff also came with fresh financial details. On Monday, SpaceX said it had $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19. That is a huge cash pile, but traders are also looking at the losses. The company lost $4.9 billion in 2025 and posted another $4.28 billion net loss in the first quarter of this year.
This is the reason why the stock is being pulled on both ends. On one end, some investors are banking on Elon Musk’s ability to transform SpaceX into an earning machine in the years to come. On the other end, others are seeing red in the numbers.
The IPO still created a ridiculous amount of wealth on paper. It made Elon Musk the first person to reach trillionaire status, created thousands of new millionaires, and pushed some shareholder positions above $1 billion.
SpaceX adds bond pressure while insiders line up future share unlocks
SpaceX also confirmed its first bond sale on Monday morning, but did not give the final size of the offering, but Bloomberg reported last week that the sale was being prepared near $20 billion.
In its filing, SpaceX said it “intends to use the net proceeds from the Notes offering to repay the outstanding borrowings under its bridge loan facility in full” and cover related costs. That bridge loan was arranged earlier this year for the February deal in which SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, bought xAI, his artificial intelligence startup.
The bridge financing came from major Wall Street banks. The group included Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Morgan Stanley (MS). Those same banks are expected to handle the notes sale.
The importance of the debt transaction is that when you borrow more, it will create doubts in the minds of stock investors. With more debt comes increased interest expenses. Another concern that could arise from this is that if the company has such a high cash balance, why does it need to borrow additional funds? However, the debt transaction was not entirely unexpected as it happened amidst falling stock prices.
The next issue is the share lock-up schedule. Jeff Jacobson, a strategist at 22V Research, told Yahoo Finance that 20% of insider shares can unlock after SpaceX reports earnings in early to mid-August.
A separate 10% unlock can happen if the stock trades 30% above the IPO price. Another 7% unlock is scheduled around Aug. 21, followed by one more 7% release around Sept. 10.
According to Jeff, the amount of shares that the insiders will be able to sell is estimated at 44% of SpaceX shares in early September. This will cause an increase in the float that is available for trading by about 900%, compared to the present. This is because the existing float is about 4.2%.
If those shares hit the market, SpaceX will have to deal with a much bigger pool of sellers at the same time investors are already watching losses, debt, and a market cap that has fallen hard from its peak.
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Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) stock is still green for 2026, but the trade no longer looks clean from the company that outperformed every other company and country in 2024 and 2025. NND is up about 12% this year, yet they have slipped roughly 3% over the past month.
The gap with the rest of the chip market is hard to ignore. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SMH) has jumped about 84% in 2026 and added 15% in the last month alone. That helped Micron (NASDAQ: MU) and SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) rally nearly 60% each over the past month.
Traders price in weaker demand for Nvidia’s B200 compute
The major stress point here is Nvidia’s B200 GPU. This is Nvidia’s top-end data center chip designed for intensive workload and extensive models’ training. Supposedly, it allows investors to estimate the level of demand by observing the price of computational power leasing because it shows how much people are willing to pay for that access.
The price of B200 compute on May 30 was $6.11 per hour, being the highest in three months, but as of yesterday, it reached the mark of $4.22 per hour.
Kalshi’s market has a contract asks whether the price of Nvidia B200 compute for Q2 ends up above a certain level before June 30. The value is determined by Ornn’s dashboard.
Meanwhile, Polymarket traders give Nvidia only 3% odds of hitting $236, 20% odds of hitting $220, and 35% odds of hitting $216 by June 26. The heavier bets sit lower, with traders pricing a 62% chance of Nvidia crashing to $204 and a 40% chance of falling to $200. At Monday’s close, Nvidia was worth $208.78, down 1.20% in twenty-four hours.
Source: Polymarket
Nvidia is currently trading at 0.5% under its 20-day simple moving average of $211.79. At the same time, the stock is still 0.7% higher than its 50-day simple moving average of $209.31. Therefore, Nvidia shares continue to hold near short-term support levels despite recent pullbacks.
The longer chart continues to look more bullish. Nvidia shares trade at 7.6% above its 100-day simple moving average of $195.77 and about 10.9% higher than its 200-day simple moving average of $189.90. Besides, the 20-day simple moving average continues to be above the 50-day one.
However, when NVDA rises above the MACD signal line, buying interest might become more positive, but once it drops below the line, the price of the stock may remain confined within a narrow range. NVDA resistance lies at $217.00 while its support lies at $209.00.
Analysts keep Buy ratings while chip money rotates elsewhere
The next major date for Nvidia is its expected earnings release on Aug. 26, 2026. Wall Street expects earnings per share of $2.06, compared with $1.04 in the same quarter last year. Revenue is expected to reach $91.70 billion, up from $46.74 billion a year earlier.
Nvidia trades at about 32.3 times trailing earnings. Analysts still carry a Buy consensus on the stock, with an average price target of $323.83. China Renaissance started coverage on June 5 with a Buy rating and a $319 target. Needham repeated its Buy rating on June 2 and kept its $270 target. DA Davidson kept its Buy rating on June 1 with a $300 target.
Meanwhile, in the US stock market on Monday, the S&P 500 index fell by 0.37% to 7,472.79 at close, the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 1.32% to 26,166.60, and the Dow gained 148.01 points, or 0.29%, helped by a nearly 4% rise in Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT).
Chip stock Micron (NASDAQ: MU) rose almost 7% before its quarterly report, which is due Wednesday after the close. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) too gained more than 2%, and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) climbed 5%, continuing what is proving to be a bull run.
Oil also added to the market noise. Brent turned lower Monday after Qatar and Pakistan said U.S. and Iranian officials had agreed on a roadmap for a final deal within 60 days. Prices later traded near session lows after the U.S. Treasury Department allowed Iranian oil sales for 60 days.
August Brent crude fell 3.31% to $77.90 a barrel. July West Texas Intermediate crude lost 2.32% and closed at $74.82.
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The second-largest global money transfer company, MoneyGram, has officially joined the Solana ecosystem, with the intent to expand its core financial services to the Solana blockchain.
In a report on Monday, MoneyGram said it has launched a validator and also joined the Solana Developer Platform (SDP) as an infrastructure partner.
Being a validator allows the global payment leader to stake SOL tokens, process blocks, and directly participate in the network’s security.
MoneyGram now runs a Solana validator
“Running a validator puts MoneyGram inside Solana’s consensus,” said Luke Tuttle, Chief Product and Technology Officer at MoneyGram.
The move will see MoneyGram connect its network of nearly 500,000 retail locations, with over 60 million customers, to Solana’s on-chain infrastructure, according to the announcement.
BREAKING: @MoneyGram has joined Solana Developer Platform (SDP) as an infrastructure partner and is now an active validator on Solana. pic.twitter.com/cHQ1b0pzAl
— Solana (@solana) June 22, 2026
The firm said joining the Solana ecosystem comes as a natural extension of its commitment to integrating crypto into its core global payments platform over the last five years.
In 2019, MoneyGram partnered with RippleNet and processed billions of transactions using XRP-based On-Demand Liquidity products. However, the partnership was shelved following the Ripple-SEC ordeal in 2021.
By joining and running a Solana validator, Tuttle said the idea is that MoneyGram helps “run the rails we move money on.”
Solana now counts as the third network where the global payment giant operates a validator.
In May, MoneyGram became one of the select groups of institutions designated to run a validator for remittance transactions on the Tempo network.
MoneyGram is also among the early node operators of the Midnight network, launched in March 2026 by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.
MoneyGram CEO says Solana was the next step
MoneyGram’s move to Solana comes less than one month after it launched its stablecoin on Stellar, MGUSD, Cryptopolitan reported.
MGUSD is a US dollar-backed stablecoin, currently available only to US customers on its mobile app.
“MoneyGram has spent the past several years integrating blockchain into our payment infrastructure, and everything we are building now leverages this foundation,” said Anthony Soohoo, Chairman and CEO, MoneyGram. “Engaging with Solana is the next step in that journey.”
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The Ethereum Foundation has clarified that it will not reshape itself around community popularity. It argues that its purpose does not include chasing approval from the broader ecosystem.
The Ethereum Foundation is facing a turbulent year after facing an exodus of several staff members. A contributor to the Foundation has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to explain to the community what it stands for, following much debate.
Another director gone from the Ethereum Foundation?
On June 22, the Ethereum Foundation experienced its second departure from the top role in just five months when Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down as co-executive director and board member. Tomasz Stańczak was the first to leave back in February, leaving Bastian Aue as the sole interim director.
At least eight senior figures have left since January, including researchers and coordinators like Josh Stark, Trent Van Epps, Tim Beiko, and Barnabé Monnot.
So far, there are varied reasons behind the departures including personal choice, disagreements with company strategies and the company has even claimed that the departures were a deliberate organizational shift.
Hsiao-Wei Wang, who spent eight years at the Foundation, said a recent break from work helped her realize it was “the right time to step back.”
However, former researcher Dankrad Feist argued that the departing contributors are leaving due to management issues. Coinbase’s head of engineering, Yuga Cohler, expressed sadness over the “dysfunction at the Ethereum Foundation.”
The Foundation’s interim co-executive director Bastian Aue, who posts as Aerugo on X, stressed that the Foundation will not discuss individual personnel matters publicly but will clarify policy or factual issues if necessary to avoid misleading the public.
The statement explicitly states that the Foundation will not restructure itself for popularity in the ecosystem and it goes on to clarify that the Foundation is not trying to please short-term speculators or promote every app on Ethereum.
The company’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined a new, tighter mandate focusing on Censorship Resistance, Capture Resistance, Openness, Privacy, and Security (CROPS).
Is Ethereum’s development in danger?
The Foundation paid teams to build and maintain the core software clients in a four-year Client Incentive Program (CIP), but that expired earlier this year in April.
The Foundation’s former contributor Trent Van Epps has warned that this creates a “slow-burning funding crisis” for core development because maintaining the more than ten client teams, as well as research and coordination efforts, costs roughly $30 million per year.
The Foundation cannot afford that without new funding. He estimates the gap will be felt within three to nine months, leading to a loss of talent and stalled progress on critical upgrades.
Critics, like Marc Zeller of Aave Chan Initiative, argue the Foundation could have staked its reserves long ago to fund operations indefinitely and called its financial stewardship “incompetent.”
Keyring Network founder Alex McPharlane estimated the Foundation holds between $500 million and $900 million in liquid assets.
To fill the gap, the ecosystem is looking to alternatives like Protocol Guild, which has an independent collective that pools donations and token distributions for Ethereum contributors. It has distributed roughly $38 million since 2022. However, it relies on voluntary contributions rather than a predictable budget.
The “programmable charity lottery” launched by Megapot, which aims to direct 100% of its referral fees to Protocol Guild, has also been taken into consideration.
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