talks

According to reports from Wu Shuo, Coinbase is in talks with Bybit regarding investment and cooperation agreements, as Bybit hopes to enter the compliant market in the United States.The report states that earlier, ICE invested in the offshore exchange OKX with an estimated valuation of about $25 billion, and the market expects Bybit's valuation to be similar to that of OKX.

According to Jinshi reports, Iran has denied reports that its intelligence ministry has contacted the United States to discuss ending the Middle East war.The New York Times previously reported that Iranian agents indirectly contacted the CIA on Sunday to discuss the terms for ending the conflict. According to semi-official Tasnim News Agency, sources from the Iranian intelligence ministry stated that the report is "pure lies and psychological warfare."Following this denial, oil prices briefly rose but then quickly fell back as traders shifted their focus to the U.S. Navy's plans to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.Since the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on Saturday triggered the war, traffic through this critical chokepoint has sharply decreased. In public statements, both Iran and the United States have vowed to continue fighting, increasing the likelihood of a prolonged conflict in the Middle East. So far, the conflict has resulted in over 1,000 deaths (mainly within Iran).

According to market news, Russia is considering suspending peace talks unless Ukraine relinquishes some territory.

The cryptocurrency advocacy organization stated that the meeting held by the White House on Monday regarding "how to define stablecoin yields" is "an important step" and represents "the progress needed" to advance cryptocurrency legislation amid repeated fluctuations in the legislative process. However, the formation of relevant compromise solutions may not be smooth.Representatives from Coinbase, major cryptocurrency industry associations, and banking organizations gathered in Washington, D.C., to discuss the regulatory approach to stablecoin yields and whether third parties, including Coinbase, should be allowed to offer such yields. The meeting was chaired by Patrick Witt, a member of the President's Advisory Council on Digital Assets.Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association, stated in a statement: "Today's meeting at the White House is an important step in seeking to advance bipartisan support for legislative solutions regarding the market structure of digital assets. We appreciate the leadership shown by Patrick Witt and the government in bringing together various stakeholders to collaboratively address one of the key unresolved issues: stablecoin yields."

Cryptocurrency custody service provider Copper is in preliminary talks for a potential public listing. According to insiders, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank may be involved in the listing process, with the final decision depending on the

According to The Information, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon are in talks to invest up to $60 billion in OpenAI. Microsoft plans to invest less than $10 billion in OpenAI, Amazon plans to invest over $10 billion, and Nvidia plans to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI. Before this round of financing, OpenAI's valuation could reach $730 billion.

tøny tweeted that Cosmos Labs co-CEO magmar recently revealed in a Telegram chat that his team has been in discussions with Circle regarding the issuance of native USDC.

At the BitMine shareholders' meeting, Chairman Tom Lee explained in detail the reasons for BitMine's $200 million investment in Beast Industries, owned by the famous YouTuber MrBeast: MrBeast is the most-watched creator globally, and his values align closely with those of the BitMine team at both the corporate and personal levels; BitMine becomes the company's largest corporate and strategic investor; this investment is seen as part of a long-term vision related to Ethereum, DeFi, and tokenization.

According to Bloomberg, AI infrastructure company Nscale is negotiating a new round of financing of about $2 billion, collaborating with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to advance the deal.Nscale was spun off from a cryptocurrency mining company in 2024 and provides AI computing infrastructure. The company raised over $1.5 billion in September-October 2025 and previously announced partnerships with NVIDIA and OpenAI.Microsoft is building a $10 billion data center in Portugal with Nscale and local partners, and plans to lease Nscale's data center capacity in Norway and the UK.

According to Bloomberg, British fintech giant Revolut is in acquisition talks with Turkish digital bank Fups, aiming to accelerate its entry into the Turkish financial market.Fups holds a full digital banking license under Turkey's branchless banking framework launched in 2022, with an initial capital of approximately $81 million and currently around 60 employees. For Revolut, the appeal of this acquisition lies primarily in Fups' regulatory status rather than its customer base or technology.

In Gokhshtein Media's "The Breakdown" program, Strategy founder Michael Saylor expressed his stance on the controversial Bitcoin Ordinals. Saylor acknowledged that Ordinals are a contentious topic but emphasized that the stability of the Bitcoin protocol is its core value. He stated that he supports users' freedom to utilize the Bitcoin network, including inscribing Ordinals, but firmly opposes modifying the underlying protocol or adding new features for this purpose.Saylor neither supports the censorship of Ordinals nor will he advocate for protocol changes to facilitate it, believing that the fundamental value of Bitcoin lies in monetary integrity rather than additional features. He argues for allowing the market to naturally determine the direction of development, where good ideas will prevail and bad ones will fail, and emphasizes that the Bitcoin network should be inclusive of all types of users, from government entities to individual investors.

According to Bloomberg, sources have revealed that the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), is in talks to participate in a funding round for cryptocurrency payment company MoonPay Inc., which is nearing completion of this financing round with a target valuation of approximately $5 billion. ICE did not immediately comment on the negotiations, and MoonPay also declined to comment.MoonPay was founded in 2019, and its software helps users more easily convert between fiat currency and cryptocurrency. At the end of 2021, as the cryptocurrency bull market was nearing its peak, the company's previous funding round valued it at $3.4 billion.

In the Bitget "User First" live broadcast, the Chinese head, Xie Jiayin, explained the upgrade of the VIP system and the service experience concerns of users. He stated that lower fees are just the starting point for VIP upgrades; what truly determines long-term value is whether the service can continuously match the users' ever-changing professional needs.Regarding the comprehensive upgrade of the VIP system, he further elaborated on the new service philosophy of "lowest fees, most substantial benefits." Xie Jiayin pointed out that the core of the VIP system is not a single discount, but rather a continuous reduction of users' trading and management costs through a more stable trading experience, more efficient service response, and a support system that is closer to actual usage scenarios, allowing professional decisions to focus more on investment itself.

Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski participated in a podcast interview with The Chopping Block today.In response to questions related to tokens, Vladimir stated: "From an expectation management perspective, this is a marathon, not a sprint. The team and early community do not actually expect a 'takeoff on the first day'; a more realistic expectation is to start from a relatively healthy position, and then, with continuous product development, the overall trend will gradually move upwards.Our goal is clearly not to maximize value on the first day, but to maintain it in a healthy state within the current market environment, and then iterate continuously on that basis. We have seen too many tokens launch with a big spike, only to decline afterwards."

According to Forbes, informed sources revealed that the startup Vast, dedicated to building the world's first commercial space station, is negotiating a round of $300 million in financing, which values the company at $2 billion.The source stated that this round of financing will be led by Balerion Space Ventures and noted that negotiations are still ongoing, and the figures may change. So far, the company has primarily been funded by Jed McCaleb. McCaleb is the founder of the crypto companies Ripple and Stellar, from which he earned billions of dollars. He has expressed a willingness to invest up to $1 billion of his personal wealth.Vast plans to launch its first space station prototype "Haven - 1" in 2026 and will begin sending components for its next space station "Haven - 2" in 2028, which is intended to replace NASA's International Space Station.Earlier this March, Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb shared his space station company's Vast multi-billion dollar space station plans.

Binance CEO He Yi stated in the "Bonnie Blockchain" podcast that CZ actively invited He Yi to be an advisor for Binance during the ICO period, which led to He Yi's involvement in the revision and writing of the BNB white paper.After the completion of the BNB ICO, CZ invited He Yi to join again the day before the BNB launch, saying, "Tomorrow BNB is going to launch, and if BNB increases tenfold after it goes live, I won't be able to make you this offer. So you either agree today, or we can only renegotiate later." This conversation ultimately led to He Yi's decision to join Binance before the BNB launch.

According to The Block, Tim Scott, chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, stated that "substantial progress" is being made in pushing a large-scale cryptocurrency bill into law. On Thursday, Scott met with Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, Jane Fraser of Citigroup, and Charlie Scharf of Wells Fargo to discuss this landmark legislation.The bill aims to establish rules for the entire digital asset industry and grant regulatory powers to agencies such as the SEC and CFTC. This week, the three bank CEOs are expected to meet with senators to discuss the cryptocurrency legislative proposal. The meetings are reportedly held separately, one with Democrats and the other with Republicans, and both meetings had a "cordial atmosphere." Sources revealed that the discussions covered topics such as yields, decentralized finance, and anti-money laundering.The banking association believes there are gaps that need to be filled for the GENIUS bill to become law this summer. They stated that the issue lies in the law's insufficient restrictions on stablecoin issuers paying interest to holders, which could make these assets more attractive as a store of value and credit mechanism, rather than just a means of payment, thus creating "distorted market incentives" for the banking industry. Additionally, banking groups argue that the restrictions imposed by the GENIUS bill could easily be circumvented by exchanges, brokers, and other related parties.