News linked to both this project and an event.
According to the official announcement, HTX (formerly Huobi) launched the STXX/USDT perpetual contract on June 26, offering up to 10x leverage. Meanwhile, HTX is hosting an STXX Contract Trading Party from June 26 at 15:00 to July 3 at 15:00 (UTC+8), with a total prize pool of $20,000. During the event, users who register and trade the STXX/USDT contract—achieving a cumulative valid trading volume of ≥$1,000—will share the prize pool based on their trading volume ranking. Additionally, new contract users trading STXX/USDT will receive exclusive rewards.
sources familiar with the matter have revealed that xAI is increasing its investment in video and image generation tools, aiming to build a differentiated advantage in multimodal capabilities. In contrast, OpenAI and Anthropic are relatively more restrained in their visual generation capabilities, leaving an entry point for xAI. It is understood that xAI launched an upgraded video model last week, emphasizing its continued progress in the field of visual generation, even as it introduces external collaborations in areas like coding to counter competitors. Sources indicated that xAI is strengthening the user popularity and viral effect of its AI video tools, viewing them as a key lever for the next phase of product competition. Meanwhile, SpaceX has also publicly supported and mentioned that its AI video tools are relatively popular. (The Information)
Ethereum Layer 2 project Taiko has released the latest update on a security incident, stating that this incident will not result in any user fund losses. Currently, bridged assets are under-collateralized, and the team will complete supplementary collateral for all assets before reopening the bridge, ensuring that each user's balance is supported on a 1:1 basis, identical to the state before the incident. Since the security incident occurred, cautious measures have been taken, including controlling the scope of impact, determining the root cause, and collaborating with the board to develop a plan to protect user assets.Furthermore, the CEO of Taiko has submitted a formal report to relevant authorities in Singapore, and the team will fully cooperate in tracing the responsible parties. Users are currently not required to take any action. The completed fix is now being tested, and Taiko will reopen the chain and bridge services as soon as it is deemed safe. Meanwhile, users are reminded to be vigilant against scams. The Taiko team will not proactively message users, and there are no claim or refund websites. Any links offering such services are fraudulent.
Bybit Alpha and Byreal have launched $SNDK trading. $SNDK is a tokenized asset issued jointly by SunriseDeFi and Backpack, representing SanDisk—the world’s leading NAND flash memory manufacturer—on-chain. Meanwhile, Bybit Alpha has also launched its Token Splash trading competition: users can participate in the prize distribution by trading $SNDK.
According to Crypto in America, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs’ Association jointly sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council, expressing strong opposition to Section 604 of the “Clarity Act”—the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA). Law enforcement groups argue that this provision could create regulatory loopholes exploitable by criminals for illicit activities including drug trafficking, fraud, child exploitation, sanctions evasion, and terrorist financing. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency-backed candidates achieved sweeping victories in primary elections across Maryland, New York, and Utah. Fairshake—a pro-crypto super PAC—has collectively spent over $7.6 million supporting these candidates, including $5.5 million backing Adrian Boafo, the candidate for Maryland’s 5th congressional district. Miller Whitehouse-Levine, founder of the Solana Policy Institute, warned that August 7, 2026, may be the final window for Congress to pass cryptocurrency market structure legislation. He stated that the industry is willing to make limited revisions to the BRCA provisions to address law enforcement concerns—but firmly opposes any fundamental changes that would weaken the core protections enshrined in the provision. Additionally, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on “The Future of Payments” the same day.
Gate has announced the launch of a new USD ecosystem and upgrades to its two major product modules, Gate Pay and Exchange, further integrating USD asset management, fund flow, and digital asset usage scenarios. This feature is currently being gradually rolled out to users. After updating the App to version 8.24.0 or higher, users can complete operations such as USD asset management, USD deposits, digital asset trading, USD withdrawals, and fund transfers between accounts within Gate. Through the new USD account, users can hold and manage USD assets and directly use their USD balance to participate in digital asset trading.Meanwhile, Gate Pay has undergone a product design upgrade, optimizing the display of accounts, assets, and fund flow to enhance clarity and operational smoothness in fund management. Both Gate App and Gate Pay now support USD deposit and withdrawal functions. Users can deposit USD via SWIFT bank wire transfer and withdraw USD funds to their personal bank accounts. Additionally, users can directly use their USD balance to purchase cryptocurrencies or sell their held crypto assets with one click to convert them into USD balance, enabling convenient conversion between USD assets and digital assets.This upgrade by Gate aims to integrate USD asset management and digital asset usage processes into a single product system, covering core stages such as deposits, trading, withdrawals, and fund transfers, providing global users with more efficient one-stop USD fund services. In the future, Gate will continue to expand USD asset usage scenarios and fiat service capabilities, persistently offering global users a more convenient and efficient fund management experience.
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong released its “Annual Report 2025–26”, showing significant growth across multiple asset classes in Hong Kong’s capital market over the past year—including investment funds, digital assets, and the equity market. Tokenized investment products accelerated their growth: as of March, the assets under management (AUM) of the 13 SFC-authorized retail tokenized investment products surged nearly sixfold year-on-year to HK$10.8 billion. Meanwhile, the total market capitalization of the 11 SFC-authorized spot virtual asset ETFs reached HK$4.3 billion—up 90% since their launch in 2024—and included Asia’s first Solana spot ETF. Additionally, trading volume on the 12 licensed virtual asset trading platforms rose sharply by 125% year-on-year.
The AI assistant Doubao, developed by ByteDance, has officially launched its Professional Edition service. Based on the newly released Doubao 2.1 series model, the Professional Edition is designed for users in complex office and productivity scenarios, offering higher usage quotas and introducing for the first time an office task mode capable of executing Agent tasks.According to the introduction, with user authorization, the office task mode can directly operate the local computer and browser, assisting with tasks such as document processing, spreadsheets, and data organization. It also supports cross-application automated operations like automatically publishing scheduled Weibo posts. This mode comes with an integrated Office suite, supports multi-round editing and collaboration on online documents, spreadsheets, and PPTs, and provides Skills packages for creative design, data visualization, and financial analysis, while also allowing users to customize their own skills.Additionally, the Doubao Professional Edition supports scheduled tasks, which can automatically generate daily reports and summary information. In application development scenarios, it also supports quickly building online application systems with back-end databases. The related database functionality is currently in gray-scale testing.In terms of pricing, the standard subscription plan for the Professional Edition is 68 RMB per month (continuous monthly billing), accessing the Doubao 2.1 Pro model. The quotas for office tasks and expert mode are increased by more than 5 times compared to the free version. The enhanced subscription plan is 200 RMB per month (continuous monthly billing), with quotas 4 times that of the standard plan. The premium subscription plan is 500 RMB per month (continuous monthly billing), with quotas 10 times that of the standard plan. Free users can still experience the office task mode accessing the Doubao 2.1 Turbo model.Meanwhile, ByteDance is offering an exclusive discount for college students. Verified students can purchase the standard subscription plan at a price of 38 RMB per month (continuous monthly billing). The company will also provide accessibility-friendly pricing options for visually impaired users.
Tech blogger @synthwavedd has stated that several highly anticipated cutting-edge AI models have adjusted their release schedules. Among them, GPT-5.6, originally slated for a near-term release, has been postponed to mid-July, while Google DeepMind has canceled the planned late-June launch of Gemini 3.5 Pro due to dissatisfaction with the model’s current performance.Meanwhile, preparations for the launch of OpenAI’s new-generation bidirectional voice model, Bidi, are progressing on the ChatGPT platform, with availability to users potentially coming as early as this week. Reports indicate that Bidi supports full-duplex voice interaction, allowing users to speak simultaneously with the model and interrupt the conversation at any time, marking a significant upgrade over existing voice modes.Additionally, Anthropic has granted early access to its Claude Sonnet 5 model for select enterprise clients. As the release progress of flagship models Mythos 5 and Fable 5 has slowed, Claude Sonnet 5 is seen as an interim product solution for Anthropic to alleviate competitive pressure.
Sonic Labs announced multiple governance and operational adjustments on the X platform. The Fantom Opera network, originally scheduled to shut down at the end of this month, will now continue to operate at least until the end of 2026. Correspondingly, the cross-chain bridge will also continue to receive funding support during this period. Sonic Labs stated that this decision was made based on community feedback.Meanwhile, the team announced the cancellation of the generic "Contributors" label and revealed a new leadership structure. Matt Visser will serve as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), bringing a background in product management and financial restructuring, having co-founded Squire.Law and led Web3 product strategy. Kosta Kourkoumelis will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO), bringing over 20 years of experience in the financial services and digital asset industry, and has been involved in ecosystem development since the Fantom ICO stage.Previously, Andre Cronje had announced his departure from the Sonic Labs board, stating that he would focus on technology research and development going forward.
CryptoQuant suggests Michael Saylor's Strategy should currently pause further Bitcoin purchases and instead prioritize rebuilding its cash reserves, as its dividend obligations have significantly increased, cash reserves have sharply declined, and unrealized losses on Bitcoin are widening.Julio Moreno, Head of Research at CryptoQuant, pointed out that Strategy's preferred stock, STRC, fell to $82.50 last week, a 17.5% discount from its $100 par value, marking its largest historical discount. This pressure stems from the bearish Bitcoin market environment and the company's diminished cash buffer capacity.The report states that Strategy recently repurchased $1.5 billion of its 0% convertible senior notes due 2029, further reducing the cash buffer available to support STRC dividend payments. Meanwhile, the company's cash reserves have declined by 38% since the beginning of 2026.On the other hand, as Strategy issues more STRC to finance Bitcoin purchases, its annualized dividend obligation has risen from approximately $300 million at the start of the year to roughly $1.2 billion currently—a nearly fourfold increase in less than six months. CryptoQuant believes the company should become more selective in its Bitcoin purchases rather than continuing indiscriminate accumulation amid intensifying cash pressures.
According to Wintermute’s market weekly report, a significant macroeconomic shift occurred during the week ending June 22: The U.S. Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.50%–3.75%, but its statement adopted markedly tighter language—removing all references to accommodative policy. The median dot-plot projection rose from 3.4% to 3.8%, and 17 of the 18 FOMC members assessed inflation risks as skewed upward. The probability of a December rate hike surged from roughly 24% one month earlier to approximately 77%. Meanwhile, the Iran nuclear deal—originally scheduled for signing on June 19—collapsed following Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, prompting Iran to withdraw from negotiations. Qatar is now attempting to extend talks until the end of June. With U.S. equity markets closed for Juneteenth, they failed to react promptly; crypto markets bore the brunt first—BTC peaked near $67,000 midweek before retreating to around $62,000, posting a weekly decline of 3.8%; ETH once again fell below $2,000, dropping into the mid-$1,700 range, down 1.2% for the week; over the weekend, approximately $600 million in long positions were liquidated, while less than $90 million in short positions were cleared—highlighting persistent leverage imbalance. Wintermute noted that the narrative of forced selling by “Strategy” players has dissipated (net BTC purchases totaled 1,587 BTC between June 8–14), yet marginal demand from both ETFs and Strategy participants has clearly weakened compared to prior periods. Capital inflow channels remain unopened, and the market is stabilizing primarily under light positioning and low leverage.
According to a report released by data analytics platform Glassnode (@glassnode), although BTC’s price remains significantly below its all-time high, traders on Hyperliquid are continuously increasing their long positions, buying the dip throughout the entire downward trend—building up growing potential for a short squeeze. Meanwhile, altcoin cycle signals have returned to “Altseason,” with selling pressure on altcoins tapering off; however, BTC remains under downward pressure, and the current market remains BTC-driven.
Odaily Taiko officially posted on X, stating: "We have identified the root cause of the attack and are currently developing a fix patch to restore the blockchain's online operation as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we are working closely with major exchanges and security partners to track and freeze the hacker's assets. The remaining funds in the cross-chain bridge are currently safe, and we will announce the next steps in an upcoming update. To focus on fixing the vulnerability and protecting user assets, we will pause updates for a few hours."Previously, Taiko's cross-chain bridge was attacked, with potential losses reaching up to $1.7 million.
Odaily Odaily: Several former Ethereum Foundation researchers have announced the establishment of the non-profit organization Ethlabs, aimed at propelling Ethereum into its next growth phase and preparing it for institutional adoption. The organization has received support from Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, as well as two major ETH treasury companies, Bitmine Immersion Technologies and SharpLink.Ethlabs stated that as stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds, and autonomous AI business activities migrate on-chain, these demands are converging on Ethereum. Ethlabs' goal is to enhance the performance, trusted interoperability, neutrality, resilience, privacy, and security required for Ethereum to scale and absorb these demands.The organization was co-founded by five former senior researchers from the Ethereum Foundation, who were involved in driving several key upgrades for Ethereum over the past decade. The establishment of Ethlabs signifies that, in addition to the Ethereum Foundation, major ETH holders and core ecosystem contributors are forming new independent organizations to participate in shaping Ethereum's future direction.This move also occurs against the backdrop of recent criticism and personnel changes within the Ethereum Foundation. In recent times, some ETH holders and community members have criticized the foundation for failing to maintain sufficient competitiveness. Meanwhile, the departure of several senior executives and key research team members from the foundation has also raised external concerns regarding its organizational stability and strategic direction.
According to the official announcement, Bybit Spot has launched ARCIUM (ARX/USDT) on its spot market at 12:00 PM UTC on June 22, and deposits are now open. Meanwhile, ARX has been added to Bybit’s Token Splash trading competition, giving eligible users a chance to share in an ARX prize pool worth up to 450,000 tokens. Arcium is a cryptographic computing network built for the Web3 era, with the core objective of enabling trusted computation and collaboration across institutions, applications, and blockchain networks—without exposing raw data.
Strategy founder Michael Saylor posted on X, stating that Strategy has increased its dollar reserves by $300 million to $1.4 billion, and plans to continue replenishing reserves to support the credit quality of its digital credit securities. Meanwhile, Strategy acquired 520 BTC for $35 million, bringing its BTC reserves to 847,363 BTC.
According to the official announcement, HTX (formerly Huobi) has launched the ZHIPU/USDT perpetual contract on June 22, offering up to 10x leverage. Meanwhile, HTX is hosting a ZHIPU Contract Trading Party from 18:00 on June 22 to 18:00 on June 29 (UTC+8), with a total prize pool of up to $20,000. During the event, users who register and trade the ZHIPU/USDT contract—achieving a cumulative valid trading volume of ≥$1,000—will share the prize pool based on their trading volume ranking. Additionally, new contract users trading ZHIPU/USDT will receive exclusive benefits.
According to the official announcement, Bybit Spot has launched Solstice (SLX/USDT) on its spot market at 10:00 AM UTC on June 22, and deposits are now open. Meanwhile, SLX has been added to Bybit’s Token Splash trading competition, where eligible users can compete for a prize pool of up to 1,000,000 SLX tokens. Solstice is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Solana ecosystem, positioned as the “yield layer” on-chain. The project aims to combine institutional-grade yield strategies from traditional finance (TradFi) with blockchain efficiency, enabling everyday users to participate in sophisticated on-chain fund management.
According to Forbes, as the 2026 U.S. primaries advance, political donations from the crypto industry have surged significantly. Protect Progress—a Democratic super PAC backed by the Fairshake network—is continuously channeling funds into candidates across several key districts, sparking controversy over “political narrative packaging.” Disclosures show that in the Maryland House of Delegates race alone, Protect Progress has contributed over $4.9 million to candidate Adrian Boafo; similar funding has also flowed to multiple Democratic candidates in Texas and Georgia. Meanwhile, Congress is advancing the Digital Asset Market Structure Act (the CLARITY Act), and the progress of this legislation further elevates the importance of primary election outcomes. Analysts contend that the crypto industry’s influence within the U.S. political system continues to expand, with several senators and candidates publicly endorsing regulatory frameworks for the crypto industry.