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According to PRNewswire, institutional-grade digital asset options and derivatives trading infrastructure provider SignalPlus has completed a $50 million Series B1 financing round, with a post-investment valuation of $500 million. This round was led by HashKey Capital, with follow-on investments from BlockBooster and AppWorks, and Goldman Sachs served as the exclusive financial advisor.It is reported that SignalPlus is headquartered in Hong Kong and is dedicated to building institutional-grade derivatives trading infrastructure for the converging capital markets. Its platform provides professional options analysis, real-time risk management, and trading execution tools for hedge funds, market makers, proprietary trading teams, and asset management institutions, covering both digital assets and traditional financial markets.

HashKey Capital's fund announced the completion of a $40 million strategic investment in the options trading platform SignalPlus, which includes a $20 million cash contribution from HashKey Group.It is reported that SignalPlus focuses on options trading systems, automated market making, and structured product solutions, and is a leading institutional-grade crypto derivatives platform in Asia, holding a significant share in the mainstream options market. This round of investment is a continued commitment from HashKey Capital since SignalPlus's seed round financing, and both parties will deepen their strategic cooperation to jointly promote product innovation and global institutional business expansion.

According to BBX data, yesterday the layout of traditional payment institutions in the cryptocurrency infrastructure showed divergence, with institutions having clear differences in their views on ETH and the altcoin sector. The core dynamics are as follows:Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: $MA) signed an acquisition agreement for the UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK on March 17 for a maximum of $1.8 billion (including $300 million in performance-based payments), which directly led Mastercard to abandon its previously pursued strategic investment plan in Zerohash (a privately held company). According to CoinDesk on May 19, Mastercard exited negotiations with Zerohash after the completion of the BVNK acquisition, and Zerohash is currently seeking to initiate a new financing round with a valuation of over $1.5 billion (higher than the $1 billion valuation established during the D-2 round of financing of $104 million in September 2025); the strategic logic behind Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK is that BVNK has a stablecoin payment infrastructure covering over 130 countries and a difficult-to-replicate combination of multi-country payment licenses; Mastercard's Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert stated that the goal is to integrate stablecoins into the core network of Mastercard Move cross-border payments, rather than treating them as a peripheral experiment.JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: $JPM) analysts cited by CoinDesk on May 19 released the latest research report indicating that in the current market environment, Ethereum and the broader altcoin sector will continue to lag behind Bitcoin, primarily due to three structural weaknesses: weak network activity, stagnation in DeFi ecosystem growth (Solana's TVL has dropped from a peak of $13.1 billion in 2025 to about $5.5 billion), and limited real-world adoption scenarios; analysts believe that for the altcoin sector to catch up with Bitcoin's performance, a "significant network activity explosion" is a prerequisite, and this condition currently lacks visible short-term catalysts.

Mastercard has abandoned its investment plan for the cryptocurrency infrastructure company Zerohash, which had previously agreed in March to acquire the UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for $1.8 billion. Mastercard had considered a strategic investment in Chicago-based Zerohash in January of this year. At that time, Zerohash was seeking to raise $250 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion, while the company is currently advancing a new funding round at a higher valuation. Founded in 2017, Zerohash primarily provides APIs and developer tools for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized products.Meanwhile, recent transactions involving Kraken's parent company Payward and Bullish indicate that consolidation in the digital asset infrastructure sector is ongoing. In terms of stablecoin payment arrangements, Mastercard has acquired BVNK for $1.8 billion and may pay an additional $300 million in performance-based compensation. BVNK currently serves payment and payroll platforms like Worldpay and Deel for cross-border payments, fund settlement, and financial management.Mastercard plans to integrate BVNK's technology into its Mastercard Move network to support 24/7 stablecoin settlement for payment institutions and merchant acquirers, and to explore adding stablecoin checkout functionality in payment gateways. Analysts believe that this transaction will further intensify the competition between Mastercard and Visa in the networked strategy of payment networks and accelerate the evolution of traditional cross-border clearing systems towards stablecoin settlement models.

According to CoinDesk, after Mastercard abandoned its investment plans, crypto infrastructure company Zerohash is raising a new round of funding at a valuation of over $1.5 billion. Mastercard had previously considered making a strategic investment in the company but later acquired BVNK for $1.8 billion, abandoning the original plan. Zerohash is raising new funds at a valuation higher than the $1.5 billion discussed at the beginning of the year.Founded in 2017, the company provides APIs and embedded development tools for financial institutions and fintech companies, serving over 5 million users across 190 countries. Clients include Morgan Stanley, Interactive Brokers, Stripe, BlackRock's BUIDL fund, Franklin Templeton, and DraftKings. Zerohash completed a $104 million D-2 round of financing at a $1 billion valuation in September 2025, led by Interactive Brokers.

Ionic Digital released an unaudited mining and operational update report for April 2026, disclosing that 20.45 bitcoins (BTC) were mined in April, a decrease of 27.1% compared to the previous month. The average daily hash rate was 1.51 EH/s, a month-on-month decrease of 26.2%, mainly due to the complete shutdown of its hosting facility in GXD, Oklahoma, which is currently out of operation.Currently, the company has only four mining sites in Midland still operating, which contributed all 20.45 BTC output in April. During the same period, global network hash rate decreased by 2.1%, but block output remained basically stable, with a month-on-month increase of 0.5%. In terms of finances, Ionic Digital maintained a zero-debt status, having not sold any BTC in April. As of April 30, the company held 2,836.4 BTC, an increase of approximately 19.9 BTC compared to the previous month.

Cryptocurrency infrastructure service provider Zerohash Europe has obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license issued by the Dutch central bank, becoming the first company to hold both the EU MiCA cryptocurrency license and full EMI qualifications.Zerohash previously obtained the MiCA license from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets in October 2025, allowing it to provide cryptocurrency asset services across the EU. With the acquisition of the EMI license, the company will be able to handle both cryptocurrency asset services and traditional electronic money circulation, particularly suitable for stablecoin-related payment and settlement scenarios.The European Banking Authority has previously clarified that some stablecoin fund flows may be considered electronic money business, thus requiring relevant institutions to obtain an additional EMI license. Zerohash stated that the dual-license structure will enable it to provide compliant infrastructure for banks, brokerages, fintech companies, payment service providers, and enterprise platforms in the European market.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin commented on the issue of Ethereum state storage, stating that even if users store data themselves, the blockchain only stores hashes, and transactions only include proofs, it still requires storage and updating of the data used to verify the proofs, and this data ultimately becomes almost as large as the state itself; Vitalik mentioned that there are solutions to the relevant issues, but they involve a large number of components and require trade-offs compared to the current Ethereum.Previously, DeFi content writer marilyn100x.eth stated that Ethereum has a state storage problem, where developers pay a one-time fee to write data, while nodes bear the long-term storage costs. However, EIP-8037 does not involve time-weighted rent or ongoing fees, but significantly increases the upfront gas costs for new contracts, accounts, and storage slots to control state growth during the scaling process.

According to GMGN data, the market capitalization of the ETH chain ecosystem token HASH has risen to over 8 million USD, currently reported at about 6 million USD, with an intraday increase of more than 11 times.ChainCatcher reminds users that the price of this token is highly volatile, and investors should be aware of the risks.

According to The Block, the cryptocurrency venture capital firm Hashed has obtained a financial services license issued by the Abu Dhabi Global Market. With this license, Hashed plans to collaborate with institutional investors in the Middle East in a regulated environment.

VanEck analysts Matthew Sigel and Patrick Bush wrote an analysis stating that Bitcoin has shown two historically bullish signals: negative funding rates and a decline in hash rate concentration, while volatility has cooled down.As tensions between the U.S. and Iran eased, Bitcoin's realized volatility dropped from 56% to 41%, while the 7-day average funding rate turned negative to -1.8%, marking the lowest level since 2023.Historically, negative funding rates typically indicate strong future returns: since 2020, the average 30-day return for Bitcoin during periods of negative funding rates has been +11.5%, compared to an overall return of +4.5%, with a hit rate as high as 77%. Funding rates below -5% have brought a +19.4% return over a 30-day period.Additionally, hash rate has fallen to the 16th percentile in the past 30 days, marking the most concentrated decline since the mining ban in 2021. In the last 7 instances of hash rate decline, Bitcoin's price increased 6 times after 90 days, with a median increase of +37.7%.

The Web3 asset data platform RootData has outlined the Web3 business partners of Zero Hash, whose partners cover key areas such as asset management institutions, payment channels, public chain infrastructure, and stablecoin systems, and are building a cooperative network centered on **compliance clearing** and **asset access**. Structurally, Zero Hash is committed to becoming a B-end crypto financial infrastructure provider, offering institutions a one-stop capability of "**fiat currency → crypto assets → multi-chain circulation → stablecoin settlement**": Upstream, it connects asset management and financial platforms such as Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, and Republic; on the funding entry side, it interfaces with payment and fiat channels like Stripe, Ramp, and Transak; at the infrastructure level, it covers multi-chain infrastructures such as Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, and Aptos; at the same time, it connects with stablecoin systems like Circle, Tether, Paxos, as well as PYUSD and RLUSD, completing clearing and settlement support. In addition, Zero Hash, as one of the few infrastructure providers holding money transmission licenses (MTL) in multiple U.S. states and possessing complete regulatory framework adaptation capabilities, has a very clear common characteristic among its partners: funding entry (banks/payments), asset carriers (stablecoins/public chains), or distribution platforms (financial products/applications). Related collection 【[Zero Hash Web3 Partner Network Collection (Continuously Updated)](https://cn.rootdata.com/Archives/detail/zerohash%20Crypto%20Business%20Partner?k=NDc1NzIy)】 Crypto projects actively showcasing their partner networks has become a key way to enhance transparency and market trust. It is reported that RootData welcomes Web3 project parties to [claim data](https://www.rootdata.com/Projects/submit?ft=claimApply) and continues to track and open more project business relationship disclosure channels. The platform has continuously released multiple versions of the crypto project ecosystem map, nominating Web3 ecological partners for upstream clients such as Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase. **If you wish to nominate your project in future ecosystem maps, please fill out the 【[RootData 2026 Industry Ecosystem Mapping](https://forms.gle/tWArmXcpSfZJkh1r8)】 form to supplement your important clients and partners.**

ChainCatcher live report, HashKey RWA CEO Anna Liu delivered a keynote speech at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. She introduced that Hashkey Chain has deployed 11 tokenized products, with the total value of on-chain RWA assets reaching 2 billion Hong Kong dollars. The exchange has launched seven tokenized products, including Hong Kong's first tokenized gold ETF.She addressed the four major challenges of RWA: first, the authenticity of underlying assets; blockchain cannot guarantee the authenticity of data before it is on-chain, and the oracle problem is a core issue; second, the lack of a commercial closed loop; many projects go on-chain just for the sake of going on-chain, and new value must be created that traditional methods cannot achieve; third, the liquidity dilemma; even compliant STO exchanges in the U.S. often have daily trading volumes of only a few tens of thousands of dollars, requiring high-quality assets, licensed distribution channels, and secondary market infrastructure to be in place simultaneously; fourth, the complexity of cross-border compliance, suggesting that resource planning should be included from day one.She proposed that asset tokenization should first ask three questions: Can it be done? Is it suitable? Why tokenize? She cited data indicating that in the first quarter of this year, the global tokenized RWA market size has approached 30 billion dollars, growing over 260% in the past year, with the IMF characterizing it this month as "a fundamental restructuring of the financial architecture."

South Korean crypto venture capital firm Hashed Ventures announced that it has secured an investment of 3 billion KRW (2.2 million USD), with participation from Hecto Innovation and Hecto Financial under the Hecto Group. The new funds will be injected into Hashed Ventures' "Hashed Venture Investment Fund No. 3," focusing on supporting new businesses such as digital asset wallets and stablecoin payment settlements.

ChainCatcher reported live that Ru Haiyang, CEO of HashKey Exchange Group, delivered a keynote speech at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival, focusing on three key themes: RWA, payments, and Asian connectivity. He announced that HashKey Exchange officially launched Hong Kong's first physical gold ETF that day, fully compliant with trading and custody regulations in Hong Kong. He also revealed that HashKey has received approval from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to jointly issue Asia's first true co-branded credit card with Shanghai Commercial Bank.Regarding industry trends, he pointed out that DTCC has received a no-action letter from the U.S. SEC to intervene in the custody and settlement of tokenized assets, Kraken has become the first cryptocurrency institution to connect to the Federal Reserve's FedWire, and Mastercard has acquired the UK blockchain payment company BVNK at an $1.8 billion valuation, indicating that traditional payment institutions have recognized the irreversible trend.In terms of expansion in Asia, he announced that HashKey officially announced its investment in the Vietnamese market on April 10, planning to jointly invest in VPBank, one of Vietnam's largest commercial banks, to help it become one of the first licensed exchanges. HashKey has also signed memorandums of understanding with leading Asian institutions such as Coins.ph in the Philippines, Indodex in Indonesia, Hata in Malaysia, and Bitazza in Thailand to explore cooperation in liquidity integration, cross-border payments, stablecoins, and asset tokenization distribution.

HashKey Chain announced a strategic cooperation with the compliance brokerage infrastructure platform HabitTrade. The two parties will collaborate on the on-chain integration of quality assets and on-chain financial infrastructure, promoting the issuance and circulation of compliant assets.As the first tangible progress, HSKSwap has integrated the open-source securities tokenization protocol Stove Protocol under HabitTrade, supporting on-chain tokenized trading of assets including U.S. stocks.HashKey Chain stated that this cooperation will continuously introduce compliant assets backed by real assets, further improving the on-chain financial infrastructure. In the future, both parties will expand into more asset categories and explore cross-market circulation and on-chain financial application scenarios, promoting the integration of traditional capital markets and the on-chain ecosystem.

Senior Business Manager YuYi from HashKey Chain confirmed attendance at the "Crypto 2026: From Cryptocurrency to Smart Economy" themed forum to be held in Hong Kong on April 19, and will participate in a roundtable discussion. This event is co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData and is one of the important peripheral activities of the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival Conference.HashKey Chain is a Layer 2 blockchain developed by HashKey Group, utilizing OP-Stack technology, aimed at providing high-speed, low-cost, and developer-friendly blockchain solutions. It bridges Web2 and Web3, supporting innovative applications such as BTCFi, RWA, stablecoins, and PayFi. This forum will focus on the paradigm shift under the deep integration of AI technology and the cryptocurrency network, engaging in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge tracks such as AI Agent economy, smart payments, RWA, and cryptocurrency infrastructure. At the intersection of technological leaps and economic restructuring, this themed forum not only provides insights into the current state of the industry but also offers a forward-looking reflection on the future smart economic system.Event registration: https://luma.com/18v6vwpf

According to CoinDesk, OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital have invested in the Vietnamese cryptocurrency exchange CAEX (Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange) and become its strategic partners.This financing raises CAEX's capital scale to approximately $380 million, reaching the entry threshold of the Vietnamese government's pilot program. This program is launched based on Resolution 05/2025, aiming to provide compliance licenses for local cryptocurrency trading platforms and guide trading activities back to the domestic market.It is reported that OKX and HashKey will provide CAEX with infrastructure, security, compliance, and liquidity support. Vietnam has previously officially recognized cryptocurrency assets and established a regulatory framework through the Digital Technology Industry Law, while strengthening anti-money laundering requirements to promote the compliant development of the industry.