News linked to both this project and an event.
According to The Wall Street Journal, data analytics software company Databricks is completing a $3 billion funding round led by Coatue Management, with the company's valuation reaching $188 billion. Compared to the $134 billion valuation in December 2025, this represents an increase of approximately 40%. The report indicated that the artificial intelligence boom has driven growth in market demand for Databricks' data analytics software.
Strategy's newly launched Bitcoin Banking Adoption Index shows Fidelity leading at 71%, followed by BNY at 46% in second place, and Goldman Sachs at 45% in third. JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup each stand at 43%. The index evaluates the adoption of Bitcoin-related services across trading, custody, digital asset products, financing, and corporate participation among 25 major global institutions, with an overall adoption rate of 32%.The remaining institutions scored between 13% and 38%, with Wells Fargo at 38%, Banco Santander and Société Générale both at 35%, Charles Schwab and TD Bank both at 32%, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Crédit Agricole, and UBS each at 30%, Bank of America, Barclays, and Standard Chartered each at 28%, State Street at 27%, Mizuho and Deutsche Bank both at 22%, MUFG at 18%, Lloyd’s at 17%, and SMBC and Royal Bank of Canada both at 13% (Bitcoin.com News).
According to Fortune, DeFi asset management and risk analysis company Gauntlet completed a $125 million financing round, exclusively invested by Japanese financial group SBI Holdings. The financing was completed in June this year, and the specific valuation was not disclosed. This is Gauntlet's largest financing round since its establishment in 2018, far exceeding its $24 million Series B round in 2022 led by Ribbit Capital at a $1 billion valuation. Gauntlet was founded by former Wall Street quantitative trader Tarun Chitra. It initially focused on providing stress testing and vulnerability analysis services for DeFi protocols. Later, as the DAO governance model waned, it gradually transitioned to a "treasury curation" business—assessing yield strategy risks through quantitative analysis to help institutional investors manage digital asset allocation. Currently, its clients include asset management giant Apollo, Coinbase, and stablecoin issuer Circle.
Jeremy Grantham, renowned investor, co-founder, and chief investment strategist at GMO, stated that the market might look back on the SpaceX listing in 50 years with a sense of "mockery," calling it "the most outrageous IPO in human history."Grantham believes that SpaceX’s grand vision of "making humanity a multi-planetary species," coupled with the market’s current strong enthusiasm for the company, could be viewed by investors in the future as excessive optimism. "Everyone is lining up to tell you to buy the most outrageous IPO in human history. 50 years from now, people will quote paragraphs from the prospectus and laugh about it," he said.Since SpaceX joined the Nasdaq-100, it has garnered significant institutional attention, but its stock price has faced pressure recently. Currently, SpaceX’s stock is down about 7% from its one-month high, hovering around $150, only slightly above its IPO target price of $135.Wall Street institutions are divided on SpaceX’s future valuation. Morgan Stanley reportedly has given it a $300 price target, while Goldman Sachs analysts estimate a target of around $205. JPMorgan Chase believes that Elon Musk’s goal of achieving $1 trillion in revenue by 2031 is "theoretically achievable" but would require extremely strong execution capabilities.Grantham also pointed out that one of SpaceX’s biggest risks is its heavy reliance on Musk’s personal leadership. He noted that Musk holds approximately 82% of the voting control, which serves as both a key driver of SpaceX’s culture and innovation capability, and a source of risk related to governance structure and leadership changes.However, Grantham acknowledged that SpaceX’s inclusion in the Nasdaq index could generate additional buying pressure. He said that as a large amount of funds tracking the Nasdaq index are forced to allocate to SpaceX stock, market demand may exceed supply, thereby pushing the stock price up.Nevertheless, he believes that in the long run, SpaceX still faces significant challenges. If the valuation logic for the company ultimately holds, the future world could undergo drastic changes driven by the development of artificial intelligence and automation technologies. Conversely, if expectations fail to materialize, this IPO would also become a landmark event in financial history. (Fortune)
as the 25-day quiet period following SpaceX's (SPCX) June IPO comes to an end, Wall Street analysts have begun releasing formal research reports. Multiple major brokerages have issued favorable ratings, indicating institutional investors remain optimistic about the company's long-term growth potential.As IPO underwriters, both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have assigned buy-equivalent ratings to SpaceX. Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan set a price target of $205, while Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas gave a target of $300. Additionally, institutions such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, and UBS have also initiated coverage with buy or equivalent ratings. Among them, Raymond James Financial provided the most optimistic forecast; analyst Brian Gesuale initiated coverage of SpaceX with a "Strong Buy" rating and a price target as high as $800, believing SpaceX will become "one of the most representative industrial infrastructure companies of the 21st century."Analysis suggests that market optimism towards SpaceX is primarily based on its布局 (layout/foundation) in areas such as rocket launches, Starlink satellite internet, and government contracts. At the same time, the company's communications business can provide a sustainable source of revenue and support future expansion of launch scale.As of March 31, 2026, SpaceX holds 18,712 Bitcoins. Wall Street believes that the concentrated coverage following the end of the IPO quiet period provides a window for institutional investors to conduct their first systematic assessment of SpaceX's valuation. The fact that nearly all major institutions simultaneously issued positive ratings is relatively rare for large-scale IPOs. (CoinDesk)
Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald stated that the key to Strategy restarting its capital expansion cycle lies in restoring its preferred stock STRC back to the $100 par value level. The bank pointed out that repairing the STRC price is a core prerequisite for restarting the company's Bitcoin accumulation "capital engine" and will help stabilize the overall capital structure.After a meeting with Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, Cantor Fitzgerald expressed increased confidence in management's plans to stabilize the balance sheet and restore financing capabilities. In the current market, STRC is trading at approximately $87.79, Strategy's stock price fell 3.4% to $97.34, while Bitcoin is trading around $61,800.Cantor believes that STRC is the foundational tool of Strategy's financing system, and its repair will drive benefits for both preferred and common shares, further enhancing the company's ability to continue accumulating Bitcoin. Currently, Strategy has raised approximately $216 million through Bitcoin sales to fund preferred stock dividends and is expected to continue increasing its cash reserves to support dividend stability. (CoinDesk)
Odaily reports: AI chip startup Etched has completed a roughly $800 million funding round, with investors including quantitative trading giant Jane Street and a venture capital firm affiliated with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The company is currently testing its AI inference chip product and plans to begin shipping to select customers this summer. It has also signed sales contracts totaling approximately $1 billion, though specific customers were not disclosed.Founded in 2022, the company positions itself as a potential competitor to NVIDIA in the field of AI computing chips, focusing on designing customized chip architectures for large model inference scenarios. It is collaborating with TSMC to develop "low-voltage inference" technology aimed at reducing energy consumption and heat dissipation pressure.This funding round, previously reported to have a valuation of around $500 million, includes participation from Stripes, funds associated with Peter Thiel, and several quantitative firms. Jane Street is said to have invested over $100 million in total, with subsequent additional contributions. (Bloomberg)
Odaily Wall Street investment bank TD Cowen has lowered its price target for Bitcoin treasury company Strategy (STRC) from $400 to $260, a reduction of approximately 35%, while maintaining a "Buy" rating. The firm noted that the company's newly launched digital credit capital framework is constructive, with continuous improvements in credit transparency and capital flexibility.Analysts explained that this valuation adjustment is unrelated to the new capital framework, but is primarily driven by lowered Bitcoin price expectations: the BTC price forecast for end-2026 has been reduced from $140,000 to $100,000, and the end-2027 forecast from $190,000 to $135,000. Even after the adjustment, the $260 price target still implies over 200% upside from the closing price of $92.68. The investment bank also acknowledged that this valuation differential appears relatively high.On the capital front, Strategy has rebuilt $2.55 billion in USD reserves. Last week's issuance of 12 million common shares was not used to increase Bitcoin holdings. Existing cash can cover more than 17 months of interest and preferred stock dividends, and combined with BTC monetization capacity, can cover 26 months of expenses. The company has received approval for $1 billion in common stock buybacks and $1 billion in preferred stock buybacks, marking a shift from one-way equity issuance to proactive capital structure optimization. The $1.25 billion in Bitcoin monetization proceeds will replenish cash reserves, while the preferred stock dividend rate has been raised from 11.5% to 12%, alleviating the previously significant 26% discount issue. (TheBlock)
According to The Wall Street Journal, Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle and video-sharing platform, plans to list in Hong Kong as early as the end of this year. Its major investors are seeking a valuation of over $70 billion, following recent private secondary-market transactions in which the company’s valuation exceeded $50 billion.
John Wang, Head of Crypto Business at prediction market platform Kalshi, stated on X that it is widely believed Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was a "top-tier venture capitalist" who successfully invested in star projects like Anthropic and Cursor. However, Wang argued this narrative is inaccurate. The real "core figure" driving these investment strategies and early resource allocation was actually "AI stock guru" Leopold Aschenbrenner, not SBF himself.Analysis suggests that this remark has sparked discussion within the crypto and venture capital circles, once again bringing the attribution of SBF's influence on early-stage investments in Silicon Valley and the crypto industry into the spotlight. It is reported that the AI fund Situational Awareness, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has grown to over $20 billion in scale, with quantitative giant Jane Street making a rare capital injection. Situational Awareness has achieved a year-to-date return rate of 270% and cumulative returns exceeding 1,000% since its inception. Equity bets on Anthropic have contributed the most successful returns, accounting for one-fifth of its assets. Beyond public markets, Situational Awareness also co-led an investment round in AI chip company MatX with Jane Street and participated in the latest funding round of AI cloud computing provider Fluidstack.
According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, Chinese AI large-model company StepFun is expected to file its IPO application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as early as June 8, with a valuation of approximately $12 billion assigned by its major investors. The IPO aims to raise roughly $500 million, and the company has already begun consultations with multiple financial advisors regarding the listing. Previously, StepFun had initiated the dismantling of its offshore VIE structure to pave the way for its Hong Kong listing.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Morgan Stanley predicted in a research report distributed to top-tier investors that SpaceX—owned by Elon Musk—could generate $3.4 trillion in revenue by 2040, setting a $1.77 trillion valuation target for its IPO. The report notes that banking professionals are presenting this valuation rationale to investors based on SpaceX’s long-term growth prospects.
According to the Wall Street Journal, AlphaSense, an AI-powered market intelligence platform, has raised $350 million in funding, achieving a new valuation of $7.5 billion—marking a significant increase from its previous round in 2024, which valued the company at $4 billion. Investors in this round include Accenture and the asset management division of JPMorgan Chase. Jack Kokko, CEO of AlphaSense, stated that the company may pursue an initial public offering (IPO) in the future.
: VanEck's tokenized U.S. Treasury fund, VBILL, has officially launched on the DeFi lending protocol Euler. The fund is issued and tokenized by Securitize. Investors can now use tokenized Treasury bonds as collateral for on-chain lending and liquidity operations, while meeting compliance restrictions.This move reflects that DeFi protocols are accelerating their transition towards institutionalization and compliance to attract traditional financial capital into the on-chain market. Data shows that the market size of tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds has surpassed $15 billion, growing approximately 150% over the past year. Traditional asset management giants such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Janus Henderson have all launched on-chain treasury or money market products.Euler has previously integrated Securitize's DS Protocol to support the inclusion of tokenized securities with investor qualification restrictions and transfer rules into its lending market. DeFi protocols like Aave are also expanding into institutional-grade RWA businesses.Institutions estimate that the market size for asset tokenization could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033. A Securitize executive stated that as traditional financial institutions enter the crypto space, DeFi protocols must find a balance between openness and compliance requirements. (CoinDesk)
Guy Wuollet, General Partner at a16z Crypto, wrote that the financial industry is undergoing a “digital migration” analogous to the cloud computing era—and blockchain is emerging as the core infrastructure driving this transformation. Wall Street’s adoption of blockchain is not motivated by the ideology of “decentralization,” but rather by practical needs: mitigating counterparty risk, improving settlement efficiency, and ensuring fair ordering mechanisms. “Digital assets,” in essence, represent the migration of the financial system’s underlying architecture onto blockchains—akin to how enterprise IT systems shifted from on-premises deployments to cloud services. When financial assets run on programmable, shared infrastructure, they unlock “composability”—a defining advantage enabling assets to be freely combined and extended like software. This significantly reduces development costs and boosts overall innovation efficiency across the financial system. This trend will propel traditional finance from “closed reconciliation systems” toward “on-chain coordination networks,” and blockchain technology will gradually become a standard component of the financial infrastructure layer.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Anthropic disclosed to investors that its revenue for Q2 2026 is expected to surge 130% year-on-year to $10.9 billion, marking its first-ever operational profitability. These figures were released as part of the company’s ongoing new funding round; upon completion, Anthropic’s valuation is poised to surpass that of OpenAI. Analysts note that this earnings outlook challenges the widespread skepticism about AI companies’ ability to achieve short-term profitability amid substantial expenditures.
According to CoinDesk, cryptocurrency custody firm Copper is seeking to sell the company at a valuation of approximately $500 million and has engaged Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald to assist with the transaction. Copper’s core asset is its ClearLoop custody-based settlement system, which enables institutional clients to execute delivery versus payment (DvP) transactions without moving assets on-chain, effectively eliminating settlement risk. The company currently boasts over 1,000 active counterparties and processes over $50 billion in notional trading volume monthly. Copper had previously considered an IPO, but the broader crypto IPO market has entered a wait-and-see phase amid sluggish Bitcoin prices and the capital-attracting effect of the AI sector.
Moment, an AI fintech company founded by former Citadel Securities quantitative traders and researchers, has announced the completion of a $78 million funding round, led by Index Ventures with participation from existing investors including a16z and Avra. Moment has established partnerships with institutions such as Edward Jones, LPL Financial Holdings, and Hightower Advisors, primarily providing AI automation infrastructure for fixed income and equity trading. The new capital will be used to accelerate the deployment and product expansion of AI in Wall Street trading systems. (Bloomberg)
According to The Block, three Wall Street firms—Benchmark, TD Cowen, and Mizuho—maintained “Buy” ratings on four crypto-related companies—Bitdeer, DeFi Technologies, Strive, and Gemini—on Monday, noting that the market continues to value these platforms, which have pivoted toward AI infrastructure, capital markets tools, and structured financial products, using trading-business valuation multiples. Benchmark analysts reiterated their “Buy” rating on Bitdeer and $27 price target, highlighting its global power asset portfolio of approximately 3.0 GW and the growth of its AI cloud business’s annual recurring revenue—from roughly $10 million at the end of January to approximately $69 million by the end of April. TD Cowen raised its price target for Strive to $30, forecasting a 26.1% Bitcoin yield for the company in 2026. Mizuho maintained its “Outperform” rating on Gemini but lowered its price target from $12 to $10, noting that although Q1 trading volume declined by over 50%, trading revenue remained largely flat—reflecting higher fee rates and an optimized revenue mix.
SpaceX plans to proceed with its initial public offering (IPO) next month. If successfully listed, it could unlock an equity return opportunity of approximately $20 billion for D1 Capital Partners, a Wall Street institution founded by Dan Sundheim. The estimate is reportedly based on assumptions of SpaceX’s latest valuation, reflecting its high ownership concentration in the private market and potential paper gains for institutional investors. (Financial Times)