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SC Ventures, the fintech investment arm of Standard Chartered, has made a strategic investment in the crypto market maker GSR, becoming the company's first external strategic shareholder since its establishment in 2013. This transaction values GSR at $1 billion. SC Ventures stated that the investment aims to deepen cooperation between the two parties in the areas of tokenized assets and institutional-level digital asset infrastructure.GSR CEO Song Xin pointed out that the institutional-level digital asset market is rapidly maturing, and this collaboration will combine Standard Chartered's capital market expertise with GSR's experience in crypto liquidity management, focusing on tokenization scenarios. It is reported that this equity investment is built on previous cooperation. Last month, GSR led an investment in the tokenization platform Libeara launched by SC Ventures. SC Ventures CEO Alex Manson emphasized that as the digital asset market evolves, building compliant and scalable liquidity infrastructure has become a key focus for traditional financial institutions. Recently, Standard Chartered has been active in the digital asset space. In addition to investing in GSR, SC Ventures has also participated in an investment in another crypto market maker, Keyrock, and plans to launch a digital asset fund of up to $250 million.

According to official news, Coinbase announced a partnership with the crypto derivatives OEMS (Order and Execution Management System) and PMS (Portfolio Management System) provider Kemet.Through this collaboration, Coinbase Exchange, Coinbase Derivatives Exchange, Coinbase International Exchange, and Deribit will be integrated into the Kemet platform, allowing institutional clients to access Coinbase's trading venues through a single interface, routing order executions between spot, futures, and options.As part of the partnership, Coinbase Ventures will make a strategic investment in Kemet to support long-term collaboration aimed at achieving the goal of supporting large-scale advanced trading. Kemet's platform supports advanced multi-leg options strategies, smart order routing, automated Delta hedging, and spread trading algorithms, all of which are capabilities required for institutional trading desks to execute complex derivatives strategies at scale.Coinbase stated that its goal is to become the most trusted and comprehensive trading platform, continuously expanding the types of assets customers can trade and the ways to execute complex derivatives strategies. Kemet, as an open multi-broker platform, enables institutions trading across multiple venues to seamlessly access and prioritize Coinbase markets.

According to Bloomberg, Haun Ventures, a crypto venture capital firm founded by former a16z partner Katie Haun, has successfully raised approximately $1 billion for a new fund, expanding its investment scope from blockchain infrastructure to the field of AI Agents. This fundraising scale is particularly notable against the backdrop of a general contraction in the crypto VC space.According to SEC disclosure documents obtained by Fortune magazine, by 2025, the management scale of leading firms such as Paradigm, Pantera, and a16z crypto will have shrunk across the board, while Haun Ventures is the only fund to achieve counter-cyclical growth, with its assets under management increasing from the initial $1 billion to $2.5 billion.Katie Haun served as a federal prosecutor for over a decade and created the first cryptocurrency task force for the U.S. government, later becoming the first female partner at a16z. Her unique compliance and policy background allows Haun Ventures to focus more on B2B solutions that are compatible with traditional finance in its investment strategy.The fund has successfully positioned itself in the payments sector, with its lead investments in Bridge and BVNK being acquired, with valuations rising from $200 million and $750 million to over $1.1 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively. The new fund will continue its strategic focus on the intersection of crypto technology and emerging technologies, with AI agents becoming the latest key direction.

According to CoinDesk, Kraken's parent company Payward submitted a second amended complaint to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, suing former custody partner Etana Custody and its CEO Dion Brandon Russell, accusing them of misappropriating over $25 million in customer funds and operating a "Ponzi scheme."Payward claims that Etana mixed custodial assets with its own funds to pay for operational expenses and high-risk investments, and covered up the funding gap with false account reports.In April 2025, when Kraken attempted to withdraw about $25 million in reserve funds, Etana delayed the process citing false reconciliation issues and relied on new deposits to fill the gap. Among these, at least $16 million was invested in a promissory note from Seabury Trade Capital, which later defaulted.Colorado regulators subsequently issued a cease and desist order against Etana, which entered liquidation proceedings in November 2025 and is currently managed by a court-appointed receiver. Kraken is seeking at least $25 million in damages and triple civil theft damages.

According to GlobeNewswire, Bitcoin mining hosting and cloud services company Applied Digital announced that it has secured a $300 million senior secured bridge loan led by Goldman Sachs to advance its AI data center project construction.This financing is secured by project assets, can be repaid early without penalty, and will seek additional long-term financing in the future to support the development and construction of the AI data center.

According to GlobeNewswire, Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin treasury company K Wave Media announced the launch of a series of strategic transformation initiatives, including securing up to $485 million in capital support for building an AI infrastructure platform, focusing on data center investments, GPU computing power leasing, and mergers and collaborations in key AI infrastructure.In addition, the company has approved the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary Play Co., Ltd. to the original shareholders, a transaction expected to reduce debt by approximately $48 million, which still requires shareholder approval at the annual meeting in July 2026.

According to Jinshi reports, Morgan Stanley strategists stated that strong U.S. corporate earnings, particularly in the booming technology sector, have overshadowed concerns about the potential pressure the Middle East conflict may place on the stock market.The team led by Michael Wilson wrote in a report that over the past month, earnings expectations for the S&P 500 index have been revised upward across multiple time frames. Earnings expectations for the second quarter have been raised by 2%, while expectations for the full year of 2026 and the next 12 months have been increased by 3% and 4%, respectively.

According to Jinshi reports, U.S. stocks of Chinese concept stocks rose broadly before the market opened, with NIO (NIO.N) up 3%, Alibaba (BABA.N) up 2%, and Li Auto (LI.O) up 1%.

According to The Block, Kraken's parent company Payward has announced the completion of its acquisition of Bitnomial, marking its official compliance qualifications to provide cryptocurrency derivatives services in the United States.After the transaction is completed, Payward will hold a complete licensing system issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including futures commission merchant (FCM), designated contract market (DCM), and derivatives clearing organization (DCO), allowing it to offer spot margin, perpetual contracts, and options trading services to eligible U.S. customers. Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the company will prioritize launching spot margin products on the Kraken platform, followed by a gradual rollout of perpetual contracts and options products.Bitnomial, headquartered in Chicago, is one of the few platforms in the U.S. with a complete cryptocurrency derivatives licensing system. After the acquisition, it will retain its original licenses and business structure and serve as the core vehicle for Payward's U.S. derivatives strategy.Additionally, Payward stated that this transaction will provide new access channels to the U.S. cryptocurrency derivatives market for partners such as banks, brokerages, and payment institutions. Previously, the company also received a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse Group and has submitted a confidential listing application to the SEC.

Bitcoin reserve company Capital B announced the completion of a €1.1 million financing, with the funds subscribed by Blockstream CEO Adam Back for the BSA 2026-02 equity warrant.At the same time, the company has lowered the conversion price of the OCA B-04 convertible bonds from €5.174 per share to €2.59, and added a two-year equity warrant (BSA OC) for each converted bond. This move aims to optimize the capital structure and accelerate the advancement of the Bitcoin reserve strategy.

According to Jinshi reports, the USD/JPY short-term plummeted, breaking below 156, with an intraday decline of 0.68%.

According to the Korea Herald, South Korean financial giant KB Financial Group has announced a strategic partnership with American crypto venture capital firm Pantera Capital, aiming to expand its digital asset strategy, enhance blockchain financial competitiveness, and accelerate the development of new businesses. Previously, KB Financial had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bank of Korea regarding the "Project Han River" and established a partnership with stablecoin issuer Circle.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, as BTC continues to rise and breaks through $78,000, the value of the short position held by the whale pension-usdt.eth, worth over $78 million, has further expanded its unrealized loss, which is currently about $10 million. The average opening price of this short position is $67,992, with a liquidation price of $100,667.6. It has been held for 1 month since it was opened on April 2, during which no operations have been conducted. In addition, this whale also has a short position in ETH worth about $46 million, with an unrealized loss of approximately $3.4 million.

Bitcoin News posted on the X platform that after AMD expanded its capacity at the Rockdale site in Texas, Riot Platforms' stock price rose by 8%, highlighting Riot's transition from Bitcoin mining to AI data centers.

Members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee announced a compromise text on the "Clarity Act" on Friday, which allows cryptocurrency companies to continue implementing stablecoin reward programs but prohibits them from offering stablecoin yields equivalent to bank deposit functions or economic benefits.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has passed a plan allowing publicly traded companies to reduce the frequency of financial report disclosures from quarterly to semi-annually, which has further moved closer to implementation after passing White House review. According to information from the U.S. government website, this review was completed earlier this week, allowing the SEC to officially announce the plan and seek public opinion.After receiving feedback, the commissioners will need to vote on the final version for it to take effect. Voting typically occurs several months later. Since President Trump called for changing quarterly reports to semi-annual reports last year, the SEC has been advancing this reform of corporate information disclosure requirements. Since 1970, publicly traded companies in the U.S. have been required to disclose financial information quarterly.

According to Jinshi reports, the USD/JPY briefly fell about 40 points to 156.32, and then quickly rebounded to 156.64.

According to Jinshi reports, the panic index VIX has fallen to its lowest level in more than two months, reporting at 16.72.

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.

According to Jinshi reports, the USD/JPY briefly plunged over 100 points before rebounding slightly, currently reported at 156.06.