News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily Planet Daily reported that Lorenzo Valente, Head of Digital Asset Research at investment firm ARK Invest, stated that Hyperliquid is in discussions with the CFTC and SEC to facilitate the offering of perpetual futures on its public chain by U.S.-regulated companies. He suggested that Hyperliquid acquire Gemini to position it as a U.S.-regulated HIP-3/4 deployer. He noted that Gemini's current market value is approximately $450 million, representing a decline of over 85% from its $3.3 billion valuation at the time of its 2025 IPO. Hyperliquid could obtain Gemini's entire U.S. regulatory infrastructure—including the NYDFS Trust Charter, DCM, DCO, FCM, MTLs, and Broker-dealer—for approximately $450 million.He further proposed that Hyperliquid could use approximately 7.9 million HYPE tokens from its community reserve, valued at around $550 million at $70 per token, to complete the acquisition at a premium of roughly 20% over Gemini's current market value. Following the transaction, Gemini would handle KYC, custody, fiat on/off ramps, brokerage, clearing, and compliance for the U.S. market, while Hyperliquid L1 would provide the underlying market infrastructure, liquidity, and on-chain settlement. He cited Polymarket's acquisition of QCEX as a similar precedent for re-entering the U.S. market, and stated that the core of this potential deal is not acquiring an exchange, but rather securing the regulatory bridge for HIP-3/4 to enter the U.S. market.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, SpaceX approached AI programming startup Cognition to discuss a potential acquisition, but Cognition CEO Scott Wu explicitly stated that the company "will not sell and is not engaged in related negotiations." Sources familiar with the matter revealed that both parties are still discussing collaboration, including the possibility of Cognition using SpaceX's compute resources. Cognition achieved a valuation of $26 billion in a funding round this May and is currently seeking a new round of funding at a valuation of at least $40 billion.
According to TechFlow Research, Morgan Stanley's August 16 research report noted that Reuters reported PE giant Silver Lake is in talks to acquire Workday, driving a collective surge in the software sector last Friday. Workday has a market cap of approximately $50 billion. If acquired at a 30% to 40% premium, the valuation would be approximately 5x 2027 P/S ratio and 16x 2027 free cash flow, both below historical averages. Morgan Stanley believes this indicates software stocks may have become cheap enough to entice PE firms to re-enter the market; if the deal materializes, it will boost sector valuations. The report also noted that while open-source models suppress token prices, hyperscalers can still maintain 20% to 60% ROIC on their proprietary compute. Investor surveys show 52% expect increased divergence within software stocks, with bulls numbering approximately twice that of bears. Morgan Stanley expects Cursor's annualized ARR to reach $8 billion by year-end and $33 billion by 2030, maintaining an Underweight rating on Netcompany. PE returning to acquisitions, cost layering of open-source models, and investor confidence repair—these three signals indicate software sector valuations have been compressed to a critical point.
: Fintech company Stripe is in exclusive acquisition negotiations with AI model aggregation platform OpenRouter, with a transaction valuation of approximately $10 billion. If completed, this would become one of Stripe's significant moves in the AI sector in recent years. Stripe has primarily focused on payment infrastructure, financial services, and enterprise software, and acquiring OpenRouter could further drive its expansion into AI developer infrastructure.According to sources familiar with the matter, OpenRouter has previously received acquisition interest from multiple major tech companies, but Stripe has now entered the exclusive negotiation phase. The deal has not been finalized yet, and specific terms may still change. Founded in 2023, OpenRouter positions itself as an AI infrastructure platform connecting users with various large language models, allowing developers to access AI models from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google through a unified interface, and select different models based on performance, price, and availability. (The Information)
citing sources familiar with the matter, that Stripe is in talks to acquire OpenRouter. OpenRouter is a popular startup that helps developers choose between various AI models. According to insiders, a deal could be announced soon, but there is also the possibility that negotiations could collapse or other bidders could emerge. The specific price under discussion is not yet clear, but sources suggest the company may be valued at around $10 billion in a sale. The sources added that several other major tech companies have previously explored opportunities to acquire OpenRouter. Founded in 2023, OpenRouter sells software that allows clients to easily access AI models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as "open-weight" models that anyone can download and run for free. Acquiring OpenRouter would enable Stripe to capture a hot growth area in the AI market. (Jin Shi)
According to Reuters, payment company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have jointly submitted an acquisition offer to PayPal Holdings (PYPL.O), bidding $60.50 per share for a total valuation exceeding $53 billion, a premium of approximately 28% over PayPal's closing price on Tuesday. The offer is supported by approximately $50 billion in committed bank financing, with both parties planning to hold 50% equity each and not break up the company. The acquisition proposal was submitted earlier this month, following initial contact between the parties in early April. No response has been received from PayPal so far, and Stripe and Advent hope to reach an agreement by the end of the month. Whether the deal will ultimately close remains uncertain.
According to Southern Metropolitan Daily, Tencent is negotiating to become the largest shareholder of general AI Agent company Manus. A consortium of Chinese capital led by Tencent plans to repurchase all equity of Manus from Meta at a valuation of approximately 2 billion USD. However, sources familiar with the matter revealed that upon completion of the transaction, Tencent will still maintain a minority shareholder status and will not hold a controlling stake. Manus is an AI Agent product launched by Butterfly Effect Company. It went viral overnight in China in March 2025, and its annualized revenue has exceeded 100 million USD. Previously, Meta announced the acquisition of Manus, but due to the intervention of the Ministry of Commerce and the foreign investment security review mechanism, the acquisition was legally prohibited and required to be revoked in April 2026. This repurchase by Chinese capital marks the subsequent progress following the halt of the acquisition.
Figure Technology Solutions, a Nasdaq-listed blockchain financial platform, announced plans to issue senior secured notes to qualified institutional investors to raise $600 million, subject to market conditions. The proceeds from this financing will be primarily used for the cash consideration to acquire Kiavi, as well as for general corporate purposes and related issuance expenses. (Globenewswire)
Odaily reports, Nasdaq-listed Forward Industries has confirmed that it submitted a non-binding proposal to the board of directors of Helius Medical Technologies (HSDT), the parent company of Solana Company, for an all-stock business combination. The HSDT board voted on June 12 to reject the offer and stated that it would not engage in further discussions regarding the transaction.Forward Industries expressed that it is "disappointed and surprised" by this decision, adding that it believes initiating dialogue is in the best interests of both companies and their shareholders. The proposal is indicative in nature, with specific valuation, exchange ratio, and subsequent plans yet to be disclosed.
According to CoinDesk, Belgian digital asset services firm Keyrock plans to acquire bankrupt crypto trading and lending company BlockFills for $3.25 million. Keyrock has already been designated the “successful bidder” by the court, and final approval of the deal is pending at a hearing scheduled for June 16, 2026. BlockFills filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March this year under its parent company, Reliz Ltd., reporting liabilities between $100 million and $500 million, while holding assets valued at only $50 million to $100 million. This acquisition would grant Keyrock access to BlockFills’ institutional client network—including hedge funds, asset management firms, market makers, and mining companies—as well as its proprietary technology and intellectual property. BlockFills processed over $60 billion in trading volume in 2025 and served approximately 2,000 institutional clients. Keyrock previously completed its Series C funding round, led by SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank, achieving a valuation of $1.1 billion.
OnRe Finance has completed a $5 million funding round, co-led by Forward (Solana's largest treasury management firm) and Rockaway. The capital will be used to accelerate the development of on-chain reinsurance business on Solana. Forward plans to deploy up to $25 million into OnRe's ONyc token to gain exposure to tokenized reinsurance yields.