
Coindesk
Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, reported that its Arc token presale raised $222 million at a fully diluted valuation of $3 billion. The raise was led by a16z crypto, with participants including BlackRock, Bullish and ARK Invest. Circle announced the raise alongside its Q1 results, reporting that it exceeded earnings estimates with a 20% revenue increase, while USDC onchain transaction volume surged over 260% to reach $21.5 trillion.
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Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, purchased $9.2 million worth of BitMine Immersion Technologies shares, totaling $260 million across its ETFs. Wood lowered her 2030 Bitcoin price target to $1.2 million due to stablecoin popularity.

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Strategy's new Perpetual Stream Preferred Stock (STRE) is set to raise $715 million by being listed on the Euro MTF Luxembourg exchange, targeting international investors. The stock offers a fixed 10% dividend and will fund Bitcoin acquisitions, with Strategy holding over 641,000 Bitcoin.

Decrypt
U.S. Bitcoin ETFs saw a turnaround with $240 million in net inflows after a week of heavy outflows, led by BlackRock, Fidelity, and Ark 21Shares. The inflows provided a brief reprieve following a week of significant redemptions, signaling renewed institutional interest.

Decrypt
Japan's financial regulator has approved a stablecoin pilot involving the country's three largest banks: MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., and Mizuho Bank. The banks plan to issue yen-pegged stablecoins for intracompany and intercompany payments, with a potential dollar-pegged stablecoin in the future.

news.bloomberglaw.com
Kazakhstan plans to build a national crypto reserve of between $500 million and $1 billion, funded using assets seized and repatriated from abroad. The Kazakh central bank's governor Timur Suleimenov said that the fund would also include ETFs and shares of digital asset firms.

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Tether recently purchased 961 BTC worth $97.18 million during a market dip, following its policy of allocating 15% of net profits to Bitcoin. With a portfolio of 87,296 BTC valued at $8.84 billion, Tether remains bullish on Bitcoin's long-term fundamentals.

Decrypt
A joint operation involving authorities from the US, Germany, and Brazil utilized blockchain intelligence to arrest the alleged administrator of a major child sexual abuse material network in Brazil. The operation led to the seizure of dark web platforms serving over 350,000 users worldwide.

Coindesk
IREN reported a significant increase in net income and total revenue for the fiscal first quarter, driven by expansion into AI cloud computing and a surge in revenue from bitcoin mining. The company also secured a $9.7 billion AI cloud contract with Microsoft.

Coindesk
Citi analysts suggest that bitcoin's recent slump below its 55-day moving average could weaken the equity market's risk-adjusted returns due to tightening liquidity conditions. The U.S. Treasury's cash balance rebuilding and declining bank reserves have drained liquidity, impacting both bitcoin and stocks.

Coindesk
Following shareholder approval of a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk, new memecoins like "TRILLIONS" and "MUSK" flooded decentralized exchanges on various blockchains. Some tokens surged up to 190% in 24 hours, but many quickly lost value due to liquidity pulls, resembling past trends tied to Musk's influence in the crypto market.