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Italy's largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo will increase its holdings related to crypto assets from approximately $100 million at the end of 2025 to about $235 million in the first quarter of 2026. Among these, the bank has increased its holdings in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and BlackRock's IBIT, and for the first time allocated Ethereum assets through BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, while also adding approximately $26 million in Grayscale XRP Trust ETF holdings.In addition, Intesa has established a bullish options position in IBIT for the first time and added 165,600 shares of BitGo stock, while completely liquidating its positions related to Bitmine. Its related holdings in Solana have been significantly reduced, with Bitwise Solana Staking ETF holdings decreasing from 266,300 shares to 2,817 shares. Reports indicate that Intesa has previously confirmed that the related crypto assets are primarily used for proprietary trading. Last month, Ripple also announced that it would provide digital asset custody services for the bank.

According to Cointelegraph, Italy's largest bank, UniCredit, has just disclosed that it increased its cryptocurrency exposure to $231 million in the first quarter.

According to Cryptopolitan, U.S. Senator Lummis stated in an interview with CNBC that large banks are trying to block the advancement of clear cryptocurrency regulatory legislation because they cannot compete with the crypto industry.She emphasized that the popularity of Bitcoin is unstoppable, "this will become the financial system of the future."

According to Jin Shi reports, Carol Kong, a foreign exchange strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, stated that the inflation data released this week will not be welcomed by FOMC officials, including the incoming Federal Reserve Chairman Waller. The U.S. Senate has approved Waller to serve as the Federal Reserve Chairman. Kong expects that the FOMC will have to enter a rate hike cycle starting in December this year, with three rate increases expected during this cycle.

The founder of the AI agency platform Bankr, deployer, tweeted that he has raised about $100,000 to provide free LLM inference services for Bankr ecosystem projects. Projects currently being built in the Bankr ecosystem will soon be able to access free inference credits. However, before officially starting the distribution, the team will first launch a new feature that "the entire industry will love," with specific details to be announced later.

According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, the Clarity Act has passed the U.S. Senate Banking Committee with a vote of 15 in favor and 9 against, with Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks voting in favor. The next step for the bill is to be submitted to the full Senate for a vote.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is currently holding a key hearing on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (referred to as the Clarity Act), where the committee will discuss and vote on dozens of amendments and decide whether to advance the bill to the full Senate for consideration. The bill aims to clarify the regulatory authority of the SEC and CFTC over digital assets and establish a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market structure.During the meeting, Senator Cynthia Lummis stated that the Clarity Act is "one of the most challenging pieces of legislation" she has participated in, noting that the bill has undergone long-term bipartisan negotiations and involves issues such as stablecoin yields, anti-money laundering, and enforcement authority. Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand, stated that the bill is "not ready" and criticized it for having loopholes in anti-money laundering and sanctions enforcement. Additionally, the committee passed an amendment regarding an AI regulatory sandbox by a vote of 15 to 9, while Warren's proposed amendment concerning the sanctions authority over mixers like Tornado Cash was not passed, with a vote of 11 to 13.In the market, Bitcoin briefly surpassed $81,000 during the meeting, and the S&P 500 index also reached a historic high.

According to CoinDesk, Los Angeles-based stablecoin-driven digital bank Fasset announced the completion of a $51 million Series B financing round, with investors including Japan's SBI Group, Investcorp, and Turkish asset management company Arz Portföy. The valuation for this round has not been disclosed.Fasset covers over 50 payment channels across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East through stablecoin technology, serving over 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in 125 countries, with an annual transaction volume exceeding $32 billion. The company plans to use the funds from this round to expand into new markets, develop loan and trade financing products, and expand its proprietary stablecoin payment and custody infrastructure "Own Network." Additionally, Fasset has recently partnered with Tether, the issuer of USDT, to launch a gold-backed digital bank card.

According to The Block, Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, has reached a partnership with Grupo Salinas, controlled by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, to provide a USD stablecoin payment rail to optimize cross-border USD settlements.Grupo Salinas will integrate Anchorage's stablecoin infrastructure into its cross-border payment processes through its crypto business Coinpro, aiming to shorten settlement cycles and introduce programmable, real-time settlement capabilities.Grupo Salinas also controls Banco Azteca, and Salinas himself has long supported Bitcoin. Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley stated that stablecoins are evolving from trading tools into core financial infrastructure. Previously, Western Union also announced that it would launch a USD stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital on Solana.

According to Decrypt, Bank of England Executive Director Sasha Mills stated that the Bank of England views stablecoins as "a new form of currency" and will not "pick winners" between tokenized deposits and stablecoins. Mills mentioned that the Bank of England will open applications for "systemic stablecoins" by the end of the year, which are widely used for payments and may pose risks to financial stability, and will be regulated by the central bank.Matthew Long, Director of Payments and Digital Assets at the Financial Conduct Authority, stated that other stablecoins are regulated by the FCA, and there is still room for pound-denominated stablecoins to play a role. Mills also pointed out that 99% of stablecoins globally are dollar-denominated and do not comply with the U.S. GENIUS Act, and the UK is aligned with the U.S. on the timeline.

SoftBank Group stated that as of the end of March, the accumulated book profit from its investment in OpenAI was $45 billion. By April 2026, a total of $20 billion in loans had been utilized, primarily for investing in OpenAI, of which $2.5 billion was repaid in that month.

Since BIT (formerly Matrixport) launched its U.S. stock business in February 2026, the user asset scale (AUM) has exceeded $200 million. According to the platform's records over the past 12 weeks, 98% of the capital inflow comes from stablecoin deposits (without card deposits).BIT builds a compliant path through licensed brokers, eliminating the cumbersome process of opening bank cards, allowing users to open a U.S. stock account in just 5 minutes and buy real U.S. stocks on the same day.Elio Cui, head of BIT's brokerage business, stated, "AI has made U.S. stocks the strongest asset for global wealth effects once again. Thanks to over 7 years of institutional service experience and the accumulation of compliance licenses, BIT has successfully bridged the gap between digital assets and traditional finance, helping investors quickly seize investment opportunities. Global asset allocation and capital deployment capabilities are becoming a fundamental skill for every investor. Those lacking this capability may be excluded from core asset opportunities."

According to Times Brasil, the decision-making committee of the administrative sanctions procedure under the Central Bank of Brazil imposed a fine of approximately $3.15 million on Banco Topázio and prohibited it from conducting over-the-counter foreign exchange business for virtual asset trading for the next two years.Regulators stated that Banco Topázio had deficiencies in customer qualification review, customer registration, and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls while handling approximately $1.7 billion in related business from October 2020 to September 2021, and failed to report unusual transactions to Coaf. Officials from the Central Bank of Brazil indicated that similar restrictions may also apply to other institutions involved in cryptocurrency business in the future.

Sota Watanabe, CEO of Japanese Web3 infrastructure company Startale, stated that the world's first bank-backed yen stablecoin, JPYSC, will be launched within a few months. The goal is to use the yen as the lowest-cost financing currency to invest in high-growth assets on-chain, such as U.S. stocks.In March of this year, Startale Labs announced the completion of a $63 million Series A funding round, led by Sony Innovation Fund, with participation from Asian industry and financial giants such as Samsung Next, UOB Venture Management, and SBI Holdings.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett disclosed on the X platform that since last Friday, members of the American Bankers Association have sent over 8,000 letters to Senate offices urging lawmakers to amend the stablecoin revenue compromise proposal. Sources say this does not include additional phone lobbying activities.

According to Jinshi reports, ECB board member Nagel stated that the possibility of the European Central Bank raising interest rates is continuously increasing.

According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve's Goolsbee stated that without the independence of the central bank, inflation will return.