Optimism will operate Ink’s production infrastructure under a multi-year agreement, allowing the Ink Foundation to focus on growing the ecosystem and developing new financial products. Optimism said the setup is among the first cases of a major Layer 2 handing infrastructure operations to a managed provider.

Payward, the parent of Kraken, says it will roll out a way for Kraken users and selected xStocks partners to access tokenized allocations of U.S.-listed IPOs at the offering price in the coming weeks. Users will be able to submit a pre-listing indication of interest, then receive tokenized shares on listing day, with the tokens backed 1:1 by the underlying stock.

VanEck launched the VanEck BNB ETF (VBNB) on Thursday, positioning it as the first U.S. exchange-traded product intended to track BNB's spot price moves. The prospectus says the Nasdaq-listed shares are physically backed by BNB held in cold storage with Anchorage Digital Bank and charge a 0.39% sponsor fee. VanEck first filed for a BNB ETF in May 2025, while Grayscale is also pursuing approval for a spot BNB ETF; both filings exclude staking at launch but include conditional staking language.

Circle Technology Services said Wednesday it has partnered with cross-border payments platform Nium to connect USDC-based settlement with "last-mile" global payouts. The deal brings Nium into the Circle Payments Network, giving financial institutions a single integration to reach payouts across more than 190 countries and 100 currencies, including delivery to accounts, wallets and cards.

Bitmine Immersion, chaired by Tom Lee, reported Monday that it acquired 26,659 ETH since its May 4 update, lifting its holdings to 5,206,790 ETH. The company put its total crypto and cash position at $13.4 billion and said its ETH stake represents about 4.3% of Ethereum's circulating supply. Lee said Bitmine is reducing its weekly accumulation rate from above 100,000 ETH.

The UK government announced new sanctions on Thursday targeting Xinbi, a Chinese-language marketplace it says provides crypto-based services that support scam networks, alongside people linked to Cambodia's "#8 Park" compound. The package also names Legend Innovation Co., its director Eang Soklim and individuals tied to the Prince Group's financial network, and includes freezing several London properties as authorities seek to curb illicit financial flows and the trade in stolen data.

Analysts said Circle's roughly 20% stock drop is being misread, arguing proposed stablecoin-yield limits would weigh more on distributors than issuers. Bhutan moved 519.7 BTC (about $37 million) to two wallets, while Bitmine bought 67,111 ETH worth about $145 million from Kraken and reported holdings of roughly 4.66 million ETH.

Sens. Adam Schiff and John Curtis introduced a bipartisan bill that would bar CFTC-registered venues, including Kalshi and Polymarket's U.S. platform, from listing prediction contracts linked to sports or casino-style games. Separately, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan and Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour have reportedly backed a new $35 million venture fund aimed at prediction-market startups. The roundup also notes ETH-related moves, including Bitmine's purchase of 65,341 ETH and an early investor sale of 15,002 ETH worth about $31 million.

Bitmine Immersion, chaired by Tom Lee, reported Monday that it added 65,341 ETH since its March 16 update, lifting holdings to 4,660,903 ETH and putting total crypto and cash at $11 billion. The company said its ETH position is about 3.86% of circulating supply, while Lee argued ETH is in the final phase of a "mini-crypto winter" after recent outperformance.