News
Weekly Crypto News Summary (May 27 – June 2)

QUICK OVERVIEW
- FTX Digital Markets co-CEO sentenced to 7.5 years in prison
- PayPal launches PYUSD on Solana
- Circle, issuer of USDC, partners with Latin America’s largest investment bank
- Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol to merge on June 13
- Mastercard introduces new P2P crypto payment option
- Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol raises $70 million
- Tether invests $100 million in mining company Bitdeer
- Japanese crypto broker DMM Bitcoin hacked, loss exceeds $300 million
- 11 companies in Hong Kong receive virtual asset management licenses
US Legislation
The US Treasury’s new risk assessment on illegal financing deemed NFTs highly vulnerable to fraud and scams and greatly exposed to theft. NFT platforms lack proper controls to combat money laundering and sanctions evasion, prompting the proposal of additional regulations.
President Joe Biden vetoed a bill that would have repealed SEC Accounting Bulletin 121, which pertains to the custody of crypto transactions by companies.
Financial Institutions and Crypto Brokers
MoonPay announced the launch of its Web3 Tools platform to help brands provide a smoother web3 experience for consumers. This platform enables companies to build web3 communities, foster loyalty, and unlock new revenue streams.
PayPal has launched its Paxos-issued stablecoin, PayPal USD, on the Solana blockchain. Users of Solana, now the third most widespread blockchain in the world, can use PYUSD for cross-border transactions in addition to Ethereum.
Circle, the issuer of USDC, announced partnerships with Latin America’s largest investment bank BTG Pactual and neobank Nubank to expand access and use of its USDC stablecoin in Brazil.
Mastercard announced the launch of its first Mastercard Crypto Credential P2P pilot transaction, allowing crypto brokerage users to send and receive crypto assets through the service. The pilot phase includes users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Uruguay, enabling cross-border and domestic transfers in multiple currencies and blockchains.
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced that a total of 11 platforms, including HKbitEX, PantherTrade, Accumulus, DFX Labs, Bixincom, xWhale, YAX, Bullish, Cryptocom, WhaleFin, and Matrixport HK, officially applied for virtual asset management licenses. Among the major and well-known crypto brokers, only Cryptocom received a license, while others withdrew due to requirements restricting Chinese users globally, a condition offshore brokers were unwilling to meet.
Project Investments
The GaiaNet AI infrastructure project, aimed at decentralizing generative AI tools networks, raised $10 million in a seed funding round with participants such as EVM Capital, Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund, and Generative Ventures Lex Sokolin.
Fortunafi, a platform for tokenizing real-world assets (RWA), announced that it raised $9.51 million in its third closed funding round. Investors included Shima Capital, Manifold, Jordan Fish (alias Cobie), and Ari Litan from LayerZero Labs. The project also introduced its new stablecoin protocol called Reservoir.
Talos, a unicorn crypto trading software provider backed by Citibank and Andreessen Horowitz, acquired Skolem to expand DeFi service options for its institutional clients. This acquisition, Talos’ third in 12 months, will be fully integrated into the company.
The Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon raised $70 million in fresh funding led by Paradigm, with support from Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital, Hashkey Capital, Mantle, Galaxy, and Hack VC. This funding aims to accelerate making Bitcoin the security backbone of PoS systems.
Bitcoin miner Bitdeer entered a subscription agreement to privately place 18,587,360 Class A common shares with stablecoin issuer Tether, generating nearly $100 million in revenue for the company. The agreement also provides an option to call for an additional 5 million shares at $10 each, potentially raising another $50 million.
Blockchain Developments, Partnerships, Web3, and DeFi
Solana blockchain validators approved the Solana Improvement Document (SIMD)-0096 with 77% support, which sends all transaction priority fees to validators for the blocks they produce, instead of the previous 50%. This innovation aims to support network security and improve incentives within the validation system.
The game platform Sandbox announced the launch of its decentralized autonomous organization (The Sandbox DAO). This initiative allows SAND holders and virtual LAND NFT owners to vote on projects and propose improvements through Sandbox Improvement Proposals (SIPs).
Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol, three AI-focused web3 protocols, announced the merger of their crypto assets on June 13. The tokens will unite under Fetch.ai and continue under the name Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI). Users can swap FET for ASI starting June 11, followed by SingularityNET (AGIX) and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) tokens two days later.
Regulatory Actions and Hacker Attacks
Former FTX Digital Markets executive Ryan Salame was sentenced to 90 months in prison after pleading guilty last September to unlawful political donations and operating an unlicensed money transmission business. Besides the prison sentence, $6 million was confiscated from him, and he was ordered to pay more than $5 million in restitution.
Japanese crypto broker DMM Bitcoin suffered a hacker attack, losing 48 billion yen ($305 million) worth of approximately 4,502.9 BTC. The company immediately halted payouts and assured users that affected customers would be compensated with the support of group companies.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao began serving a 4-month sentence in a low-security federal prison in Lompoc, California. Zhao was sentenced in April after pleading guilty to facilitating money laundering on his crypto trading platform.
Velocore, a decentralized financial exchange on zkSync and Linea, confirmed a hack that resulted in the theft of most of its liquidity, amounting to around $10 million.