SuperCryptoNews

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its Class A common stock. This move confirms earlier reports from February indicating the Winklevoss twins’ intent to take the company public, citing favorable shifts in the U.S. regulatory landscape.

The confidential filing, announced on June 6, signifies a significant step for Gemini towards becoming a publicly traded entity. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the IPO will be determined after the SEC completes its review and market conditions are deemed suitable. Gemini will now work to address SEC comments, update financial statements, and finalize offer terms before marketing shares to investors.

Gemini’s confidential filing comes just days after stablecoin issuer Circle made a blockbuster debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on June 5. Circle’s shares, trading under the ticker CRCL, were initially priced at $31 but quickly surged. After opening at $69, CRCL closed its first session at $83.23 and continued its upward trajectory on June 6, reaching an all-time high of $123.52 before settling around $119.21 at press time, Crypto Slate said in a report.

Industry observers, including Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz and Moonrock Capital CEO Simon Dedic, have highlighted Circle’s success as a clear signal of Wall Street’s increasing appetite for revenue-generating crypto platforms. Bitwise senior investment strategist Juan Leon further noted that Circle’s first-day return ranks among the top 10 U.S. IPOs over the past year.

X, Elon Musk’s social media platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Polymarket, a leading decentralized prediction market platform. This collaboration marks X’s most direct foray into the cryptocurrency space since Musk’s acquisition and aims to revolutionize public forecasting by blending prediction markets with real-time insights.

The alliance will integrate Polymarket’s decentralized infrastructure with X’s AI model, Grok. Polymarket will supply forecast data on real-world events, while Grok will provide contextual analysis and annotated insights from trending posts on X. This powerful combination is expected to transform public access to verified and data-driven predictions. Both companies are committing significant engineering resources to the initiative, with further integration features planned for future updates.

X views this partnership as a move to support transparent information dissemination, while Polymarket anticipates reaching a significantly broader audience. The collaboration is positioned as a gateway for mainstream users to access decentralized, incentive-based forecasting.

Polymarket, a decentralized hub for forecasting real-world events using cryptocurrency, has seen steady growth since its inception. The platform created over 7,000 prediction markets in April, with user activity reaching 450,000 in January.

This collaboration underscores Elon Musk’s increasing interest in decentralized and AI-driven platforms for information distribution. His AI company, xAI, is also reportedly working with Kalshi to enhance forecasting through event-based AI analysis. These developments suggest a broader strategy to leverage technology to reshape how public expectations are measured and shared.

The X and Polymarket integration represents a significant step towards direct involvement in blockchain-based infrastructure for X. Analysts are closely watching this partnership, as it could also signal future crypto integrations within X Money, the platform’s upcoming service for peer-to-peer and digital wallet payments. With Musk’s influence and X’s vast user base, Polymarket is poised for substantial adoption, as the companies aim to deliver live, verified predictions directly tied to real-time news and public discourse.

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, USDT, announced a strategic investment in Shiga Digital, a startup focused on delivering blockchain-based financial solutions across Africa. While the financial terms of the investment were not disclosed, Tether stated that the collaboration aims to address long-standing financial hurdles for African businesses, particularly in cross-border payments and accessing global liquidity.

Shiga Digital’s platform offers “pan-African access to blockchain-based financial solutions,” including virtual accounts, OTC services, treasury management, and foreign exchange (FX) services, according to Tether’s statement. This partnership will leverage USDT to enable a seamless, blockchain-powered financial infrastructure. Tether also noted that this will support treasury and FX management for traditional industries like oil and gas, both within and outside Africa.

This move underscores Tether’s growing interest in the African market. Earlier this year, the company collaborated with African cryptocurrency exchange Quidax. Tether has also initiated a Bitcoin mining program and invested in MANSA, a cross-border payment services firm with African clientele.

“Africa’s digital asset landscape is rapidly evolving,” Tether said, citing developments like Morocco’s central bank preparing cryptocurrency regulations as a sign of the continent’s readiness for blockchain innovation and a growing interest in digital assets.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino commented on the investment, stating, “By collaborating with innovators like Shiga Digital, we aim to deliver financial access and efficiency to African enterprises. Together, we are not just imagining a future powered by blockchain technology, we are building it.”

Shiga Digital, with a small social media presence and fewer than 10 employees, is based in Abu Dhabi, according to its LinkedIn profile.

Uber is actively exploring the use of dollar-pegged stablecoins to streamline fund transfers across its vast global network, according to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Speaking at the Bloomberg Tech conference today, Khosrowshahi highlighted the potential for blockchain-based tokens to accelerate payment settlements and significantly reduce foreign exchange fees compared to traditional banking channels.

Khosrowshahi emphasized the “practical benefit” of stablecoins beyond speculative value, noting their ability to offer near-instant settlement in dollar-denominated tokens. This could particularly benefit regions where local banking infrastructure is either expensive or slow. The company, which boasted 171 million monthly active platform consumers as of December 31, 2024, believes this initiative could lead to substantial cost compression.

The Uber chief stressed that this exploratory phase does not involve holding cryptocurrency on the company’s balance sheet, and any future deployment would strictly adhere to existing consumer protection regulations.

This latest revelation builds upon Khosrowshahi’s remarks in August 2024, when he indicated that Uber would “definitely” integrate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment options once regulatory clarity and technical integration challenges were resolved. At that time, he framed the move as a customer-choice initiative, aiming to extend the same payment flexibility offered by credit cards, PayPal, Venmo, and Apple Pay, without exposing the company to digital asset price volatility. He explicitly ruled out speculative treasury investments in crypto.

Sources familiar with the effort indicate that Uber’s product teams have since been exploring the development of a dedicated crypto wallet within the Uber app and consulting external specialists on compliance screening and transaction security.

For now, Uber remains in an exploratory phase. Khosrowshahi concluded his keynote by reiterating the company’s commitment to evaluating stablecoins and refining its broader crypto payment plans, contingent on clear guidelines from lawmakers and regulators.

Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd., a London-listed gold exploration company with significant operations across Asia, today announced a groundbreaking shift in its treasury management strategy, opting to integrate Bitcoin (BTC) as a core component of its capital allocation. This move marks a notable departure from conventional financial models within the UK mining sector.

The company revealed its plans in a post on X (formerly Twitter), stating its intention to channel revenue from its gold mining projects directly into BTC. Bluebird believes that combining income from physical gold with a digital asset like Bitcoin offers a “forward-thinking approach to capital preservation and growth,” while also aiming to maintain lean corporate overhead for enhanced efficiency.

To spearhead this strategic pivot, Bluebird confirmed it is actively seeking a new CEO with specialized expertise in digital assets.

Aidan Bishop, Bluebird’s interim CEO, characterized the strategy as a direct response to “significant shifts in global finance.” He lauded Bitcoin as a “transformative force,” emphasizing the powerful potential of merging traditional and digital stores of value.

Following the announcement, Bluebird Mining Ventures saw a significant uplift in its market performance. According to Google Finance data, the company’s share price surged by approximately 60% to 0.39.

“Gold’s position as a store of value has been under threat due to the rising global adoption of Bitcoin, which some commentators have described as ‘digital gold’ and many have even cited its superiority over gold as a store of value,” the firm stated.

Bluebird also pointed to escalating concerns over inflation, high national debt levels, and increasing geopolitical risks as key drivers behind Bitcoin’s ascendance. These macro-economic factors have prompted a growing number of companies to hold the bellwether digital asset in their treasuries, often leading to heightened investor attention and substantial premiums over traditional asset valuations.

Bitcoin mining company Cango announced that it generated nearly $100.5 million worth of Bitcoin in the two months following its complete transition to crypto mining.

The company mined a total of 954.5 Bitcoin (BTC) since going all-in on mining in early April. Of this impressive haul, 470 BTC were mined in April, with an additional 484.5 BTC mined in May. This significant production comes after Cango sold its legacy China operations to an entity associated with Bitmain, in a strategic move to exclusively focus on Bitcoin mining.

Earlier in May, Cango reported robust first-quarter results for 2025, having mined 1,541 BTC, valued at approximately $162 million at the time of publication.

Cango’s accelerated mining output is supported by its rapidly expanding operations. The company reported operating at an average hashrate of nearly 30 exahashes per second (EH/s) during April and May. Hashrate is a critical metric in Bitcoin mining, representing the number of cryptographic hashes a miner can compute per second. A higher hashrate directly increases the probability of solving a block and earning newly issued BTC under the proof-of-work consensus system.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has issued a stark warning, suggesting that Bitcoin could emerge as the world’s next reserve currency if the U.S. Congress fails to swiftly address the nation’s escalating $37 trillion debt.

“I love Bitcoin, but a strong America is also super important for the world,” Armstrong tweeted on Tuesday, underscoring the urgency for the U.S. to “get our finances under control.”

Armstrong’s concerns follow the recent passage of a Trump-backed bill by House Republicans in May. This legislation, described by proponents as a “big, beautiful bill,” is set to extend tax cuts, increase military spending, and implement cuts to Medicaid, food aid, and clean energy programs.

“When it comes to stockpiling Bitcoin, U.S. states aren’t just racing against each other,” New Hampshire Rep. Keith Ammon told Decrypt last month. “They’re competing against a federal government that will be forced to print money to deal with its debt.” Ammon elaborated that the federal government’s current fiscal approach jeopardizes the long-term value of the dollar, suggesting Bitcoin could offer a safeguard for state finances against further erosion, Decrypt said in a report.

The controversial bill has drawn sharp criticism from economic experts. Six Nobel Prize-winning economists, including Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, stated in a June letter that the bill’s structural design is projected to increase inequality and contribute over $3 trillion to the public debt, a figure that could climb even higher if its provisions become permanent. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also publicly condemned the measure on Tuesday, labeling it a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill” and a “disgusting abomination.”

The Senate’s upcoming deliberations on the bill carry implications that extend beyond just fiscal policy. Critics are arguing that the legislation could inadvertently accelerate global efforts to de-dollarize the world economy.

The already burgeoning market for spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) could see a politically charged addition, as NYSE Arca has formally submitted a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed Truth Social Bitcoin ETF. The filing, made on June 3, was on behalf of Yorkville America Digital, the asset manager behind the proposed fund and a partner of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social and fintech platform Truth.Fi.

The proposed ETF aims to track the price of Bitcoin and, if approved, would trade on NYSE Arca. While the initial filing did not disclose a ticker symbol or management fee, it did name Foris DAX Trust Company, Crypto.com’s asset custodian, as the intended custodian for the ETF.

The SEC now has a 45-day window to issue a decision on the filing or delay it. Under current regulations, the agency has the authority to extend the decision timeline up to 240 days, with the latest possible final verdict date set for January 29, 2026. Prior to approval, Yorkville America Digital will also need to submit an S-1 registration statement, which will provide comprehensive details on the ETF’s structure, potential risk factors, and how the proceeds will be utilized.

This potential new offering enters an already competitive market, joining 11 other approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock’s IBIT, which currently manages nearly $69 billion in assets. However, a product affiliated with the Trump brand could potentially attract a distinct, politically motivated investor base, and may also ignite further discussions regarding potential conflicts of interest.

According to the filing, “The Trust seeks to reflect the performance of the price of bitcoin, before payment of the Trust’s expenses and liabilities.”

This ETF represents a further expansion of TMTG’s ambitions in the cryptocurrency space. In April, the company announced a partnership with Crypto.com and Yorkville specifically to develop “Made in America” crypto ETFs, committing up to $250 million from its reserves to fund these ventures. Last week, TMTG also successfully raised $2.4 billion with the intention of building a Bitcoin treasury.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is soliciting public feedback on a proposed rule change that would allow WisdomTree’s Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) to facilitate in-kind creations and redemptions. This request for comment, outlined in a Monday release from the agency, marks another instance of the SEC seeking input on such mechanisms for cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), The Block reported.

The move follows previous delays and requests for feedback concerning in-kind creation and redemption rule-making decisions for other prominent cryptocurrency ETFs, including BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the VanEck Bitcoin Trust, and the VanEck Ethereum Trust, as reported by The Block.

The SEC is inviting individuals to submit written data, views, or arguments on whether the proposed rule change for the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund should be approved or disapproved. The deadline for submissions is within 21 days of the announcement.

“Institution of proceedings is appropriate at this time in view of the legal and policy issues raised by the proposed rule change,” the SEC stated. The agency emphasized that initiating these proceedings does not imply any pre-determined conclusions, but rather aims to gather comprehensive public input on the proposed rule change.

The WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) is a spot Bitcoin ETF that received initial approval in January 2024. In-kind redemptions would allow investors to redeem their shares in the fund by receiving the underlying asset, Bitcoin, directly, rather than receiving cash.

Researchers at crypto investment firm Paradigm believe they’ve found a breakthrough for more efficient stablecoin trading with their new proposal, “Orbital.” The innovative automated market maker (AMM) is specifically engineered to handle pools of numerous stablecoins, potentially ranging from a handful to “10,000 stablecoins,” according to the researchers.

Dubbed a solution that “unlocks capital efficiency by bringing concentrated liquidity to higher dimensions,” Orbital aims to overcome the limitations of current decentralized trading platforms. This new design would enable liquidity providers to customize their exposure within multi-asset pools, a significant departure from existing solutions like Uniswap V3, which is confined to two-asset pools, and Curve, which offers multi-asset support but restricts liquidity provider participation.

“Today, Orbital is just a design, but we’re excited to see how it might change the stablecoin liquidity landscape,” shared Paradigm researcher Dave White on X. White, along with fellow researchers Dan Robinson and Ciamac Moallemi, outlined the proposal in a blog post on Monday.

The Orbital proposal emerges at a time of heightened interest in stablecoins across both traditional finance and decentralized sectors. Tech giants like Meta are reportedly exploring stablecoin integration to reduce international money transfer costs, while major banks are actively vying for influence in shaping stablecoin regulations. The stablecoin sector is also attracting significant venture capital, with predictions that the first crypto startup to achieve unicorn status in 2025 could be a stablecoin firm, Atticus.

Adding to the momentum, the stablecoin market capitalization recently surpassed $250 billion for the first time on June 2, a milestone partly attributed to renewed interest in decentralized finance (DeFi), as previously reported by The Block.

While Orbital proposes designs for thousands of stablecoins, the market remains heavily dominated by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, which together account for nearly 90% of the total stablecoin supply.

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the notorious darknet marketplace Silk Road, has received a donation of 300 Bitcoin (BTC), currently valued at approximately $31.4 million, from an undisclosed wallet, according to data from Arkham Intelligence. This significant influx of funds comes after Ulbricht was granted a full and unconditional pardon by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 21, 2025, leading to his release from prison after serving 12 years of a life sentence.

Blockchain data reveals that Ulbricht subsequently transferred the majority of these funds on June 1, sending roughly $31.29 million to one address and $10,000 to another.

This latest donation far surpasses previous contributions to Ulbricht since his release. The “Free Ross” campaign’s wallet reportedly received around $270,000 worth of Bitcoin in the days immediately following his freedom, intended to assist his “transition into his new life.”

The recent transactions coincide with an ongoing auction of Ulbricht’s personal items, which has already generated $1.8 million. The auction, being held on the Bitcoin-only marketplace Scarce City until June 2, features items from before his arrest and from his time in prison, including a sleeping bag, backpack, prison ID cards, and paintings he created.

In a note on Scarce City, Ulbricht stated, “I’ve decided to auction some personal items from before my arrest and during my time in prison. I don’t need the reminders, and I’m sure some of you will love to have them.”

A Manhattan grand jury has formally indicted William Duplessie, 32, one of two men accused in the weeks-long kidnapping and torture of an Italian cryptocurrency investor. Duplessie faces charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and weapons possession in connection with a plot to extort Bitcoin from the unnamed victim.

Duplessie, along with John Woeltz, 37, allegedly lured the 28-year-old Italian businessman to a Soho townhouse on May 6 by threatening his family. Authorities allege the victim was held captive for 17 days and subjected to brutal torture, including electric shocks, physical beatings, and threats with a firearm. Reports indicate the victim was also forced to smoke cocaine from a crack pipe and, at one point, dangled from a five-story staircase.

The victim’s ordeal ended on May 23. After allegedly being pistol-whipped, he feigned agreement to surrender his password. While his captors retrieved a laptop, the victim managed to escape, rushing downstairs and fleeing to the street, where he sought help from a traffic enforcement officer.

Following the escape, police searching the townhouse reportedly discovered a saw, cocaine, chicken wire, body armor, night-vision goggles, ballistic helmets, and ammunition. Polaroid photos of the victim with a gun to his head and shirts showing him with a cocaine pipe were also found.

Duplessie surrendered to Manhattan police last Tuesday and was denied a $1 million bail request due to the severity of the charges. Woeltz was formally charged last week and denied bail after requesting release on a $2 million bond. His attorney cited his client’s lack of criminal record, philosophy degree, and professional accomplishments in arguing for his release.

A third individual, Beatrice Folchi, was also arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment but has since been released pending further investigation.

Indictments for Duplessie and Woeltz are expected to remain sealed until their arraignment on June 11.

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., the operator of the social media platform Truth Social, the streaming platform Truth+, and the FinTech brand Truth.Fi, announced today the successful closing of its previously announced private placement offering. The offering, which attracted approximately 50 institutional investors, secured an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.44 billion.

The comprehensive offering consisted of two key components. The sale of 55,857,181 shares of the Company’s common stock at a price of $25.72 per share, generating gross proceeds of approximately $1.44 billion. And, the issuance of 0.00% convertible senior secured notes due 2028 in the principal amount of $1.00 billion, with a conversion price of $34.72 per share.

Trump Media stated it will allocate the approximately $2.32 billion in net proceeds from the offering to establish a substantial Bitcoin treasury, in addition to funding general corporate purposes and working capital.

This strategic move positions Trump Media to become one of the top Bitcoin holders among publicly-traded U.S. firms, demonstrating one of the most comprehensive Bitcoin treasury strategies. This initiative marks one of the largest Bitcoin treasury deals for any public company to date.

Devin Nunes, CEO and Chairman of Trump Media, highlighted the significance of the offering, stating, “Trump Media is focused on acquiring great assets, and this deal will give us the financial freedom to implement the rest of our strategies. It means the Company will have more than $3 billion in liquid assets and our shareholders will have exposure to Bitcoin. The deal positions Trump Media for the kind of rapid expansion we’ve always envisioned, and we look forward to advancing even further throughout the America First economy.”

The inclusion of Bitcoin on Trump Media’s balance sheet will complement the company’s existing cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, which totaled $759.0 million as of the end of the first quarter of 2025.

To facilitate its new Bitcoin treasury, Trump Media has partnered with leading digital asset custodians Crypto.com and Anchorage Digital for the secure custody of its Bitcoin holdings.

In a step towards restoring confidence and operations in the Sui ecosystem, validators representing nearly 91% of total Sui stake have overwhelmingly approved an on-chain proposal to release approximately $162 million in funds frozen during last week’s Cetus exploit. This decision allows Cetus, a leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on Sui, to begin the process of reimbursing users and restoring full functionality to its platform.

The 48-hour referendum, which concluded on May 29, saw more than two-thirds of the network’s validators endorse the measure, signaling a strong community commitment to addressing the aftermath of the attack.

The approved transaction provides the crucial mechanism for recovery, instructing validators to transfer the frozen tokens to a secure multi-signature wallet. This wallet will be jointly controlled by Cetus, the blockchain security auditing firm OtterSec, and the Sui Foundation, ensuring a multi-party oversight for the funds.

The Sui Foundation has officially confirmed the successful outcome of the vote, stating that the funds will remain in trust until Cetus fully executes its repayment plan. In a message to stakers and node operators, the foundation underscored the importance of community involvement, noting, “Protocol governance is only possible through your active participation,” and commending them for the swift conclusion of the vote.

This decisive action effectively resolves a key uncertainty that has lingered since the May 22 attack, which initially drained an estimated $223 million in liquidity from the Cetus protocol. While attackers managed to bridge roughly $61 million to the Ethereum blockchain before validators successfully halted the associated addresses, a substantial $162 million remained stranded on the Sui network.

Cetus had previously informed its users on May 27 that it possessed the necessary reserves and had secured a short-term loan from the Sui Foundation to cover the funds bridged to Ethereum. However, the critical step of unlocking the frozen balance on Sui required the explicit consent of the community.

With the funds now accessible, Cetus has laid out an ambitious eight-step recovery schedule, aiming for a complete relaunch of its platform within one week. The initial phase will involve validators executing the necessary protocol upgrade to facilitate the transfer of the locked assets into the tri-party controlled wallet.

The subsequent steps in Cetus’s recovery plan include restoring comprehensive pool data, meticulously calculating individual liquidity deficits for affected users, and then converting the retrieved tokens back to their original composition.

French football powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) revealed that the club now holds Bitcoin (BTC) on its balance sheet. This strategic move, confirmed during a spokesperson’s address at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, signifies a deeper dive into the digital asset space for the Ligue 1 champions.

According to the spokesperson, PSG made the decision to convert a portion of its cash reserves into Bitcoin in 2024 and continues to hold that position. This makes PSG one of the pioneering professional sports franchises to publicly declare a Bitcoin treasury position, differentiating its approach from many others in the sports world that primarily engage with crypto through sponsorships, fan tokens, or NFT collectibles.

Beyond simply holding Bitcoin, PSG also unveiled plans to significantly expand its innovation arm, PSG Labs, to actively support companies building on the Bitcoin network. Described as “the Innovation Hub of Paris Saint-Germain,” PSG Labs’ official website highlights a wide array of crypto-related initiatives it aims to foster. These include, but are not limited to, tokenization, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), stablecoins, advanced custody solutions, and on-chain gaming.

The club’s spokesperson further detailed that PSG will provide both funding and crucial “go-to-market” assistance to Bitcoin-focused startups. This support will manifest through pilot programs on the club’s extensive digital channels, offering unparalleled exposure to PSG’s more than 500 million global fans. The initiative underscores PSG’s ambition to leverage its massive brand infrastructure to accelerate the growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formally requested a federal judge to dismiss its sweeping civil complaint against leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its influential founder, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao. The motion, contained within a four-page filing submitted on May 29 to the District Court docket, marks a potential inflection point in the regulatory landscape for digital assets.

This development follows a strategic 60-day pause in the case, imposed by Judge Amy Berman Jackson in February. That temporary halt was initiated after both the SEC and Binance informed the court that a newly formed SEC crypto task force, spearheaded by Commissioner Hester Peirce, could potentially “impact and facilitate” a resolution to the complex litigation. The reprieve allowed the task force to meticulously review the applicability of existing securities regulations to digital-asset trading venues.

The news was met with immediate enthusiasm from Binance, which declared the dismissal a “huge win for crypto” in a statement shared via X. The company publicly thanked “Chairman Atkins & the Trump team for pushing back against regulation by enforcement,” asserting that “U.S. innovation is back on track – and it’s just the beginning.” This strong reaction underscores the perceived implications of the SEC’s decision for the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem, which has often criticized the agency’s “regulation by enforcement” approach.

A proposed integration of xAI’s Grok AI into Telegram applications has hit a snag, with Elon Musk publicly denying any formal agreement just hours after Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced a one-year partnership.

Durov had initially posted that Grok would roll out across all Telegram apps this summer, a move he claimed would enhance the platform’s financial standing and bring AI capabilities to its billion-plus users. The news initially sent Toncoin (TON), closely tied to Telegram’s blockchain ecosystem, surging over 10% to $3.45.

However, at 22:29 UTC, Musk directly refuted the claim on X, stating, “No deal has been signed.” This swift denial triggered a sharp reversal in TON’s price, which quickly dropped from $3.45 to $3.27 within 30 minutes, though it remains up 8% on the day.

The conflicting messages have left investors unsettled, raising concerns about communication and credibility between the two tech leaders. Neither Telegram nor xAI has offered further clarification.

New York Mayor Eric Adams intensified his efforts to establish New York City as a leading cryptocurrency hub on Wednesday, advocating for a city-issued Bitcoin Bond and the elimination of the state’s contentious BitLicense requirement.

Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, Adams declared, “New York is the Empire State. We don’t break empires—we build empires. We’re saying to you: come back home.” He added, “Let’s get rid of the Bitcoin license and allow us to have the free flow of Bitcoin in our city.”

This push follows the inaugural New York Crypto Summit last week, where Mayor Adams announced a digital assets advisory council aimed at attracting jobs and investment to the city.

The BitLicense, introduced in 2015, is a legal requirement for businesses dealing in cryptocurrency within New York, designed to regulate the industry and protect consumers. Critics argue its strict compliance standards and high costs (ranging from $5,000 to over $100,000) deter crypto firms.

Adams, who famously received his first mayoral paychecks in Bitcoin and Ethereum, reiterated his commitment to fostering innovation and making New York a thriving environment for crypto investors and developers. He urged the crypto community to engage with lawmakers and actively defend the industry, envisioning Bitcoin and blockchain used for birth certificates, fine payments, and taxes in the city.

Sui-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Cetus announced on May 27 that it can fully reimburse all users affected by its May 22 exploit, a recovery contingent on an upcoming on-chain vote by Sui token holders to unfreeze locked funds.

The protocol, which suffered the ninth-largest crypto hack in history according to Rekt News, stated that a combination of its own cash and token reserves, along with a secured loan from the Sui Foundation, is sufficient to cover the $61 million in assets bridged to Ethereum by the attacker.

The Sui Foundation confirmed the loan, characterizing it as an “extraordinary measure” to ensure user balances are restored beyond what Cetus could manage independently. Crucially, this loan specifically addresses the funds transferred off the Sui network, not the remaining $162 million that Sui validators have already frozen on the blockchain.

An imminent community vote will determine whether these frozen tokens are unlocked. Cetus has urged the Sui community for “full support” to facilitate the complete restoration of user funds. The DEX also committed to publishing a step-by-step repayment plan, regardless of the vote’s outcome.

The Cetus exploit, which occurred on May 22, stemmed from a flaw in the protocol’s pricing logic. On-chain data revealed that the breach resulted in a total of $223 million worth of tokens being affected, with $61 million successfully bridged to Ethereum and the remaining $162 million halted by Sui validators.

Cetus attempted to negotiate with the exploiter through on-chain messages, offering a $6 million bounty for the return of the funds bridged to Ethereum, but received no response.

Project developers have expressed deep regret for the impact of the exploit and stated they would “begin recovery immediately” once the reimbursement distribution mechanics are finalized. Cetus emphasized that rebuilding user trust is its top priority and pledged to provide regular progress updates. However, the protocol has not yet disclosed a timeline for code fixes or the resumption of trading.

Chris Giancarlo, widely known as “Crypto Dad” for his pro-innovation stance on digital assets, has joined crypto banking group Sygnum as a Senior Policy Advisor, the company announced Tuesday.

Giancarlo, who served as Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2017 to 2019, has been a vocal advocate for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. His appointment comes as Sygnum, a regulated digital asset bank with operations in Switzerland and Singapore, aims to further navigate the evolving global regulatory landscape.

Sygnum indicated that recent market reforms and regulatory developments in the U.S. are poised to bring significant shifts to crypto asset markets worldwide. The bank plans to leverage Giancarlo’s extensive experience and network to “explore collaboration, M&A, and other strategic growth opportunities with global industry players.”

“I am excited to join Sygnum as Senior Policy Advisor as the global digital asset industry approaches an inflection point in institutional adoption,” Giancarlo stated.

Mathias Imbach, co-founder and Group CEO of Sygnum, emphasized the value Giancarlo brings to the firm. “His deep understanding of the regulatory landscape, financial market infrastructure, and public policy, as well as his extensive network — particularly in the U.S. — will be invaluable as we continue our growth journey,” Imbach said.

This strategic hire follows Sygnum’s successful strategic funding round in January, which secured $58 million and propelled its post-money valuation past $1 billion, granting it unicorn status.