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Bank of America opens a credit facility ahead of OpenAI’s IPO, as the company’s valuation is expected to exceed 1 trillion USD.
Bank of America has just provided a credit facility worth 520 million USD to OpenAI, as the ChatGPT developer prepares to go public through an initial public offering (IPO) of shares. The move brings one of Wall Street’s biggest financial institutions deeper into AI-sector financing, while giving the bank a stake in a deal that could become one of the largest listings ever.

KFTC first approved a Korean financial subsidiary’s acquisition of a crypto asset exchange. Mirae Asset spent 133.4 billion won to acquire 92.06% of Korbit.
On July 9, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) officially approved the deal in which Mirae Asset Consulting will acquire a 92.06% stake in the crypto asset trading platform Korbit, marking the first time that a subsidiary within the ecosystem of a major financial institution in South Korea has been allowed to own a licensed crypto asset exchange.

Sony Bank established Connectia Trust with $40 million in capital, and is expected to issue a USD stablecoin starting in 2027 after receiving conditional approval from the OCC.
Sony Bank has successfully completed the first federal evaluation and received conditional preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to issue a USD-pegged stablecoin, marking a noteworthy event as a global entertainment technology group officially steps into the digital currency space previously mainly led by specialized crypto asset companies such as Circle, Ripple, and Paxos. The group was the first to be granted a trust license last December.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issues a decree exempting taxes on crypto assets, paving the way for cross-border stablecoins and using associated gas to mine crypto assets.
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has just signed a new decree aimed at building a more systematically regulated crypto asset market, marking this Central Asian country’s latest move in its efforts to strengthen its position as one of the world’s leading crypto asset hubs.

Reuters: India’s RBI proposes banning financial institutions from holding crypto assets, while only 25% of 645,000 tax filers have declared them.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reiterated its stance in favor of a restrictive approach to crypto assets, according to government documents reviewed and published by Reuters on Wednesday. Specifically, the regulator said banks and financial institutions should be barred from holding, trading, or having any degree of exposure to crypto assets, as part of efforts to keep crypto assets outside the purview of the country’s officially regulated financial system.

Malaysia reports 629 arrests, seizing more than 75,000 cryptocurrency-mining machines in over 3,000 raids.
Malaysia’s authorities seized more than 75,000 cryptocurrency mining machines as part of over 3,000 raids carried out nationwide from 2022 to May 2026, according to information announced in parliament on Wednesday by Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, as relayed by the state news agency Bernama.

Paradigm announces its fourth fund worth $1.2 billion, expanding from digital assets into AI, robotics, and deep-tech.
Paradigm, a venture capital firm specializing in digital assets headquartered in San Francisco, has just announced the successful fundraising of its fourth fund with a size of $1.2 billion, marking a significant expansion milestone in the company’s investment strategy.
Although digital assets remain at the core, the new fund will redirect capital flows to other emerging technology areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and autonomous hardware, while still maintaining the research-led, conviction-driven investment approach that has characterized the firm to date.

Strike rolls out a new Bitcoin mortgage lending product that eliminates mandatory liquidation, with an APR ranging from 10.7%-14.2% and a maximum LTV of 45%.
Strike, a fintech company operated by Jack Mallers, has just launched a new lending program that allows customers to borrow money based on the amount of Bitcoin they hold, without having to face the risk of liquidation of their collateral when the market declines sharply. This is a key difference from the typical model of crypto-asset collateralized lending, which often triggers a margin call or forced liquidation when the collateral value falls below a safety threshold.

JPMorgan, Bank of America and many other large banks are in preliminary talks to buy the STAR and Accel networks from fintech company Fiserv in order to circumvent the Durbin fee cap.
A group of leading U.S. financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and PNC Financial Services Group, is considering the possibility of acquiring a debit card payment network—an action that could allow these banks to charge higher transaction fees while also avoiding existing federal regulatory limits.

The European Parliament approves a report proposing a reassessment of MiCA, highlighting supervisory gaps in DeFi, RWA, and NFTs.
The European Parliament has just approved a report titled “Digital Assets: Challenges to the Competitiveness and Integrity of the EU Financial System” during a plenary session, marking the latest step in efforts to reshape the block’s crypto asset regulatory policy.

Vanguard, a $12 trillion asset management company, is hiring a Digital Assets Chief, reversing its stance after Bitcoin ETFs attracted more than $113 billion.
Vanguard, a $12 trillion asset management company, posted a job listing on Monday for a Managing Director position overseeing Digital Assets in the U.S., marking the company’s first formal effort in many years to build a deeper strategy for participating in the crypto assets market. According to the job description, the successful candidate will lead the strategy, roadmap, and enterprise-level deployment of crypto assets within Vanguard Personal Wealth, while also serving as the company’s senior expert on crypto assets across the entire division.

Germany will scrap tax-free holding of crypto assets for more than 12 months, expected to raise 1 billion euros per year, as part of the 6.2 billion euro fiscal consolidation package.
The German federal government is planning to raise at least one billion euros per year from domestic cryptocurrency asset investors by abolishing the tax exemption mechanism for long-term cryptocurrency asset investments.
Under the draft federal budget for 2027 and the financial plan through 2030 prepared by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) and approved by the cabinet of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the measure “against financial and tax crimes, while also introducing a tax on crypto assets” is expected to contribute 1 billion euros to the state treasury as early as next year.

Dune: USDT settles $9.5 billion in commercial payments in the first half of 2026, while USDC handles $2.6 trillion in DeFi transactions on Base.
Data from Dune’s Digital Asset Newsletter shows that the two largest stablecoins in the world, Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC, are gradually becoming blockchain-specific financial products, playing distinct roles within the crypto asset ecosystem rather than competing head-on the way the traditional understanding goes.

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, won a $22 million arbitration award against Mazars, following the controversial withdrawal during Choke Point 2.0.
Payward, the parent company of the Kraken exchange, has just won an important legal victory against Mazars USA, which suddenly withdrew from an audit that was close to completion at the peak moment of the 2022 Choke Point 2.0 operation.

The CFTC sues a North Carolina man and the Argent Capital company for defrauding 60 investors of $14 million through a purported commodities and crypto asset fund.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has officially charged a man in North Carolina and his company after the agency determined he defrauded about 60 investors with a total amount of up to $14 million through a fake commodities fund, trading in multiple asset classes, including crypto assets.

The Kenya Capital Markets Authority wants to monitor more than 20 blockchains in order to trace $1.9 billion in transactions involving crypto assets and enforce new virtual asset regulations that are now in effect.
The Kenya Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is seeking a blockchain monitoring system to help manage the country's rapidly growing market for crypto assets, as the agency prepares to license and oversee virtual asset firms under a new regulatory framework.

Tether injects $20 million into Mercado Bitcoin, an entity that has tokenized more than $387 million in assets and serves 4.5 million users in Brazil.
Tether, the issuer of the stablecoin USDT, on Tuesday announced a strategic investment of $20 million in Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil’s leading crypto asset exchange, as both companies work to expand blockchain-based financial services across Latin America.

Market capitalization of 8 euro stablecoins complying with MiCA reaches $673.9 million, up 128%, while the market still accounts for only about 1% globally.
The euro-denominated stablecoin market in the European Union has recorded remarkable growth over the past year, according to the 2026 Euro Stablecoin Trends Report.
The total market capitalization of eight euro stablecoins fully compliant with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation increased from $295.6 million to $673.9 million, representing a 128% rise over 12 months, with a peak of $704.9 million in the week ending June 8. Average daily trading volume also climbed to $67.3 million, having surpassed the $202 million mark earlier this year.