Finance
Taiwan-based crypto venture capital firm Sora Ventures has unveiled plans for a $1 billion fund dedicated to investing in Asian companies adopting bitcoin as a treasury asset. The firm has already secured $200 million in initial commitments from regional partners and investors, with the goal of reaching the full amount
Markets
Digital asset infrastructure firm Fireblocks has launched a new payment network designed to streamline cross-border stablecoin transactions for financial institutions. The platform, announced this week, connects more than 40 providers across 100 countries, offering standardized interfaces that integrate multiple payment rails, blockchains, and compliance systems. TokenizationUtilize Fireblocks end to end
Markets
Lead Bank, a nearly century-old Missouri lender that has reinvented itself as a partner for fintech and crypto firms, has raised $70 million in a Series B funding round. The new capital pushes the bank’s valuation to $1.47 billion, marking a milestone in its transformation from a regional
Markets
The launch of World Liberty Financial’s (WLFI) token has turned into a flashpoint for controversy, as developers froze wallets linked to prominent investor Justin Sun, sending shockwaves through the crypto market. The move triggered a sharp sell-off, with WLFI’s price briefly dropping by half before regaining some ground.
Blockchain
Stripe and Paradigm have unveiled Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain designed to handle high-volume financial services applications. The project, now in private testnet, represents Stripe’s most significant move yet into blockchain and digital payments. Stripe CEO Patrick Collison announced the initiative on X, describing Tempo as “the payments-oriented L1, optimized
AI
Switzerland has released Apertus, a large language model (LLM) built entirely on open principles, making every aspect of its design, training data, and documentation publicly accessible. Developed by EPFL, ETH Zurich, and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), Apertus is designed to serve as a foundation for research, education, and
Markets
A long-inactive bitcoin wallet suddenly roared back to life this week, transferring tens of millions of dollars worth of BTC after sitting untouched for nearly 13 years. On Thursday morning, blockchain data showed that a wallet holding 479.69 BTC (about $53.2 million) initiated its first transactions since November
AI
Artificial intelligence is moving fast, but the infrastructure behind it hasn’t always kept up. As one recent CIO.com analysis put it, “The infrastructure that powers AI today won’t sustain tomorrow’s demands.” For organizations chasing the promise of AI, speed is now the dividing line between falling
Ethereum is the backbone of decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3, but anyone who has tried using it during peak hours knows the pain: slow transactions and sky-high fees. Optimism (OP) is one of the most prominent Layer 2 solutions designed to fix that problem, and it’s quickly evolving into
AI
The European Union has a chance to shape how the world approaches artificial intelligence—and trust may be its greatest competitive edge. That’s the view of Resham Kotecha, Global Head of Policy at the Open Data Institute (ODI), who argues that Europe can prove rights protection and innovation don’
Markets
BitMine Immersion Tech has deepened its bet on Ethereum, acquiring nearly $65 million worth of ETH through crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, according to on-chain data. Blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence reported that BitMine received 14,665 ETH in six separate transactions on Wednesday. The transfers were routed through Galaxy’
Security
Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new tactic where hackers are using Ethereum smart contracts to conceal and distribute malware, allowing them to bypass traditional security scans. Ethereum smart contracts used to push malicious code on npm | ReversingLabsRL discovered how the contracts were abused — and how this incident is part of