News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News: First Digital is a Hong Kong-based digital asset company and the issuer of FDUSD. The company has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Nasdaq-listed CSLM Digital Asset Acquisition Corp III, with a pre-transaction valuation of $250 million. Upon completion of the transaction, the two parties are expected to form a new holding company and list on Nasdaq, with completion anticipated in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. As of June 30, 2026, FDUSD's cumulative trading volume has exceeded $4.7 trillion. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, First Digital generated approximately $87 million in revenue. First Digital stated that FDUSD's reserve assets consist of cash and cash equivalents held in segregated accounts, with monthly attestations conducted by independent firms. The company's Finance District platform has launched 4 products to date but has not yet generated significant revenue.
Noah has announced the completion of a $38 million seed funding round, with participation from Endeit Capital, FJ Labs, LocalGlobe, Felix Capital, and several angel investors. The project's main business is providing stablecoin-based cross-border payment services for enterprises and individuals. The new funds will be used to expand its international remittance business, broaden its regulatory footprint, and more.
former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti pointed out that the SEC's crypto asset FAQ, published on September 25 and updated on September 28, is merely non-binding staff guidance that can serve as a reference but is not a "protective charm." The FAQ, issued by the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance, addresses topics including staking receipt tokens, decentralized network buyback programs, and how marketing communications fit into the Howey test, but it does not name any specific assets or protocols and only provides principle-based statements. Mariotti stated that the FAQ only reflects the views of SEC staff, has not been formally approved by the Commission, and carries no legal force; since the rule proposed on August 18 has not yet been finalized and the Clarity Act is stalled in Congress, industry participants still need to rely on staff commentary to make their own judgments regarding disclosure and token design.
According to FinanceWire, Finland-based AI M&A analysis platform Comparables.ai has announced the completion of a $6 million seed round, led by Pragmatech and Araya Ventures, with participation from Purple Ventures, Gorilla Capital, hi5 Ventures, Somersault Ventures, and other investors.
According to TechInAsia, Singapore-based fintech IPID announced the completion of a $16 million Series A financing round led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Citigroup, HSBC, and existing investors QED Investors, Monk's Hill Ventures, and Quona Capital. The new capital will be used to optimize its global payment intelligence network and expand and build out U.S. payment rails, stablecoins, and digital asset markets.
According to Reuters, Revolut has become Europe's most valuable startup, with a current private market valuation of $115 billion, surpassing UK-based Barclays and France's Société Générale. In 2025, it recorded a pre-tax profit of £1.7 billion (around $2.2 billion), reflecting rapid year-on-year growth. The company currently serves 80 million customers and is actively expanding into markets such as Mexico and Australia while continuously securing new licenses. However, Revolut continues to face several challenges: revenue per customer remains well below that of traditional banks, and its lending portfolio is comparatively small (with a loan-to-deposit ratio of just 6%, far below HSBC's 55%); it faces stiff competition in the United States; moreover, it was previously penalized by Lithuanian authorities for anti-money laundering violations and recently suffered a customer data breach. Analysts emphasize that boosting primary account usage and scaling its lending business will be the central focus for Revolut's next phase.
Odaily reports: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the second and third reviews of El Salvador's 40-month Extended Fund Facility, approving an immediate disbursement of approximately $138 million under the $1.4 billion financing program. Despite some performance criteria not being met, the IMF granted waivers based on corrective measures and recommitments.The IMF stated that El Salvador will continue to reduce state involvement in Bitcoin-related activities, strengthen crypto asset regulation, governance, and transparency of public sector crypto asset holdings, and will not accumulate additional Bitcoin beyond already recorded donations. The majority stake and operational control of the government's Chivo Bitcoin wallet have been transferred to a private operator. (Cointelegraph)
Ansem believes pump.fun is gradually becoming L1-like underlying infrastructure, allowing other token launch platforms to build on top of it, and PUMP may eventually command a valuation logic similar to that of an L1.
Odaily News: Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated that based on market valuations disclosed by mutual funds holding Anthropic, Anthropic's valuation has grown 22x since June 2024, roughly 10 times the increase of the Nasdaq 100 Index and Nvidia. Fidelity has the largest exposure to Anthropic, followed by CapGrp and BLK; due to the relatively low weighting of these holdings, mutual funds have only benefited marginally from Anthropic's valuation growth.
Michael Saylor posted on X platform stating that Strategy and Strive conduct business based on the shared capital foundation of Bitcoin. Although the two parties differ in securities products, decisions, and target audiences, they can compete while jointly expanding long-term opportunities. He believes that more well-managed Bitcoin-backed digital credit issuers can help enhance investor awareness, liquidity, and institutional research coverage for this category, and may improve the financing environment for eligible issuers. Saylor also mentioned that Strive disclosed the purchase of $50 million worth of STRC on March 11, 2026.
Odaily News: UK-based Bitcoin treasury company The Smarter Web Company has received shareholder approval to launch MORE, the UK's first Bitcoin-backed preferred stock. In addition, the company expects to raise $20 million to $33 million through an IPO to purchase more Bitcoin and fund cash-flow-generating operating businesses. (Bitcoin Treasuries)
According to CoinDesk, Hong Kong-based stablecoin payment company RedotPay announced on Monday that it has completed its financial audit and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing compliance review, both conducted by Big Four accounting firms, as a necessary preparatory step for applying to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.
Odaily News: Blockworks analyst Shaunda Devens posted on X that Polymarket's current FDV valuation of approximately $1.5 billion for Variational is somewhat overly optimistic. This pricing directly applies Hyperliquid and Lighter-level valuation-to-revenue multiples to a platform that still relies on points subsidies. By comparison, the median first-day "FDV / annualized revenue" ratio for recently launched Perp DEX tokens is only 6.3x (Variational is currently around 57x), and within the first month after TGE, trading volume typically drops sharply by a median of 54%.Shaunda added that if conservative assumptions based on historical precedents are adopted (using the median first-day "FDV/annualized revenue" ratio of 6.3x), Variational's fair valuation would be only $167 million, corresponding to a points price of $4.8–$5.4. Even using the highest recent ratio precedent (Lighter's approximately 21.1x), its valuation would still only be about $558 million, corresponding to a points price of $16–$18.However, Shaunda also explained: "To be clear, given that current market risk appetite is clearly in a Risk-on state, we do not believe Variational's valuation at TGE will fall to the extremely conservative range mentioned above. These historical multiples are listed to illustrate that current pre-market OTC pricing may be overly optimistic."
Odaily Report: Michael Saylor published a long article titled "Prescriptions for Prosperity in the Digital Economy," stating that artificial intelligence will greatly enhance the productive capacity of individuals and enterprises, thus requiring greater freedom to create, finance, own, and trade assets. He proposed establishing a "Digital Bill of Rights" for digital assets, the core of which is to grant individuals and enterprises the rights to Create, Issue, Custody, Transfer, and Use digital assets, and to provide foundational protections in financial privacy, asset ownership, and market access.Saylor believes that digital intelligence will drive the birth of a large number of new enterprises, and that the cost, complexity, and time required for financing should be reduced, while capital formation efficiency should be improved through means such as digital tokens. He proposed aiming to enable 10 million new businesses to access financing, while establishing clear issuance rules and risk-matched information disclosure requirements.Regarding the digital dollar, Saylor advocates allowing banks, fintech companies, and technology platforms to compete more fully in digital dollar products, and permitting issuers to compete on yield. He believes that the United States can further expand the global reach of the dollar by allowing enterprises to develop more competitive digital dollar products.As for Bitcoin, Saylor defines it as "Digital Capital," advocating that banks be allowed to custody Bitcoin under clear rules and provide credit using it as collateral, while establishing a viable path for insurance companies to include digital capital in their balance sheets and product design. He specifically mentioned that the Basel Accord applies a 1250% risk weight to certain crypto asset exposures, and believes that regulators should reassess relevant capital requirements based on the actual risks of digital assets and specific business activities.
According to The Block, New York-based stablecoin payment and tokenized asset company HIFI has announced the completion of a $37 million Series A financing round led by Left Lane Capital. Proceeds from the funding will be used to expand its tokenized capital market infrastructure and product lines. HIFI provides API infrastructure that integrates fund flows, compliance, and settlement capabilities, currently processing over $7 billion annually across 87 countries. Prior to this round, HIFI participated in a tokenized securities production trade co-hosted by DTCC, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Nasdaq in July. Later this month, it partnered with Visa to extend its stablecoin settlement platform to remittance and card payment scenarios, initially supporting stablecoin settlements for more than 4 billion Visa cards globally.
Odaily reports: AI startup Island announced the completion of a $400 million Series F funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from existing investors Prysm Capital, Sequoia Capital, Coatue Management, Cyberstarts, Insight Partners, and JP Morgan Growth Equity Partners. The company's valuation reached $6.4 billion.The Dallas-based company primarily develops enterprise security tools. Island stated that the new funding will drive the company into its next phase of growth and innovation, helping enterprises scale the adoption of AI agents and modernize the way they work. (Reuters)
According to FinTech Global, Chicago-based AI startup Go.AI has completed an $85 million Series A funding round led by Updata Partners, with existing investors GFT Ventures and LAUNCH participating, bringing the company's total funding to $90 million. The company provides on-premise, auditable AI infrastructure for regulated entities such as banks. The new capital will be used to expand the engineering team and increase marketing efforts, driving the company's expansion from its core regulated industries to a broader range of compliance-oriented institutions.
Cryptocurrency venture capital firm Hashed has become the anchor investor in Thoro Capital Management’s newly launched digital asset private credit fund. Targeting $300 million, the fund will settle USD-denominated loans via stablecoins and utilize a “covenant-based” underwriting model evaluated against borrowers’ financials, cash flows, and operational performance to provide financing to digital asset institutions.
Odaily News: The fund was founded by Abu Dhabi-based investor and Further Ventures co-founder Mohamed Hamdy, with Thoro Capital Management serving as the manager and Mohamed Hamdy as Managing Partner. Thoro Capital Management will settle in USD via stablecoins and lend directly to digital asset institutions, with Hashed as the anchor investor. The fund employs a covenant-based underwriting approach, assessing borrowers' financial condition, cash flow, and management performance, aiming to alleviate the financing issues caused by traditional banks' regulated capital requirements and crypto lenders' reliance on asset-collateralized underwriting. Tokenized private credit has become the largest real-world asset (RWA) category by cumulative on-chain lending volume, with total loans exceeding $14 billion, while the traditional private credit market exceeds $3 trillion. Previously, Hashed obtained a financial services permission from the Abu Dhabi Global Market and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office.
Odaily reports: AI model developer Typesafe AI has announced the opening of its System One model Jev, removing the waitlist and giving each new user $5 in credits. The project has been developed in stealth for two years and has raised $40 million in cumulative funding.Jev does not support chat; it only accepts facts and closed-ended questions, returning probabilistic results within 70 to 500 milliseconds. Input pricing is $0.042 per million tokens, and output is free. It can answer questions such as buy or sell, yes or no.In a Bitcoin price prediction test, Jev estimated a 55% probability that Binance's one-minute K-line would reach $85,000 before 2027, with probabilities of 48% and 34% for reaching $90,000 and $100,000, respectively; the corresponding Polymarket market probability for $85,000 was 81%.On September 16, Monad Chief AI Engineer Jarrod Watts connected Jev to price data and built a trading bot that submits limit orders to the Kuru on-chain order book approximately every 300 milliseconds. The bot can decide whether to buy or sell based on Jev's judgments and has been open-sourced on GitHub as jarrodwatts/jev-trader. (Bitcoin.com News)