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Tether has partnered with digital banking and investment platform Fasset to launch the world's first neobanking Visa credit and debit card linked to gold assets. The card allows users to earn up to 6% of their purchase amount back in Tether's gold-backed token, Tether Gold (XAU₮), subject to certain conditions. When a user makes a purchase, Tether Gold in their wallet is automatically converted into Tether's stablecoin (USD₮) and then into the local fiat currency for settlement within seconds. The card also offers a feature that automatically collects spare change from transactions and reinvests it into Tether Gold.

A new Political Action Committee (PAC) named Defend Devs has been launched to protect cryptocurrency developers, according to a report from Eleanor Terrett. The PAC plans to provide financial and political support to lawmakers who advocate for including developer protection provisions in the Clarity Act as it is being negotiated.

U.S. Silicon Valley-based crypto venture capital firm Variant has completed fundraising for a new $222 million fund, dubbed Variant 4, to invest in the convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain, Fortune reported. The firm plans to invest in very early-stage technology companies in sectors including DeFi (decentralized finance), cryptocurrency, and AI agents.

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, is set to launch a stock token service allowing retail investors worldwide to subscribe to U.S. initial public offerings (IPOs) at the same price as institutional investors, The Block reported. Payward announced that the new financial product, built on its proprietary xStocks asset token framework, will officially launch within the coming weeks. Under the new system, once the final share allocation is confirmed on the listing day, the physical shares will be deposited on a one-to-one basis with a regulated custodian. Stock tokens backed by these shares will then be issued and immediately distributed to investors' Kraken accounts.

Bitcoin may be poised for a significant rebound as its Power Law Oscillator, a long-term technical valuation model, has dropped to 4.4%, CoinDesk reported. This level of decline is exceptionally rare in the asset's history. A 4.4% reading on the oscillator signifies that the current price is cheaper than 95.6% of its long-term trendline. Historically, such low levels have only been reached during the COVID-19 crash in March 2020 and the FTX collapse in November 2022, making the current period the third most attractive dip-buying opportunity on record. While there is no absolute guarantee that this support level will hold, the outlet noted that long-term mathematical regression analysis suggests downside pressure is extremely limited.

Crypto neobank Revolut plans to establish a U.S. bank branch this year to offer FDIC-insured accounts, stablecoins, multi-currency deposits, and cryptocurrency trading services, CoinDesk reported.

All eleven candidates backed by Fairshake, a Super PAC funded by the cryptocurrency industry, won their U.S. primary elections in June, CoinDesk reported. The group has shifted its strategy from previously backing a few established pro-crypto Republicans to a new bipartisan approach of actively supporting moderate Democrats. This change is aimed at mitigating regulatory risks regardless of which party controls Congress. Ten of the eleven winning candidates were Democrats.

Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard are nearing the launch of a new, unified stablecoin platform, CoinDesk reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. The sources said that final preparations for the launch are underway. Additionally, Coinbase is reportedly considering joining the coalition platform through an equity stake and partnership.

Zcash has conducted an emergency hard fork, NU 6.2, five days after discovering a flaw in its zero-knowledge proof circuit that could have caused double-spending, BlockBeats reported. The upgrade reactivated the temporarily suspended Orchard privacy pool with a patched circuit, permanently removing the vulnerability.

BlackRock has deposited 6,005.46 BTC, worth approximately $400 million, to Coinbase Prime, according to Onchain Lens.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes is now touting Worldcoin (WLD), sharing a chart on X and stating a price target of $10 for the token. WLD has risen approximately 22% over the past 24 hours and 45% over the past seven days. It is currently trading at $0.5161.

Binance has acquired a stake in Alpaca, a key infrastructure company that controls approximately 94% of the U.S. stock token and ETF custody market, SpotOnChain reported. Beyond a simple equity investment, Binance has also entered into an exclusive revenue-sharing agreement. The deal secures Binance 50% of the fees from Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and 65% of the residual profits generated by Alpaca's user stock lending services. SpotOnChain commented that this move marks Binance's entry into the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization space. The analytics firm added that by establishing a revenue-sharing structure with a dominant company in the stock token custody market, Binance has secured a direct pipeline to global RWA trading liquidity.

Mastercard is introducing stablecoins into its settlement system, a core component of its traditional credit card payment network, Cointelegraph reported. The company officially announced it will expand its payment infrastructure to allow card issuers and acquirers to use stablecoins for settling transactions. This will enable global payment settlements, previously restricted to banking business days, to be processed in real-time around the clock, including on weekends and holidays.

Binance is shutting down its centralized NFT service and will offer a one-month grace period for user withdrawals, Unfolded reported.

Unregistered crypto exchange BTCC has resumed a service allowing users to purchase overseas stablecoins with Korean won through domestic bank accounts, the Seoul Economic Daily reported. The deposit screen on the BTCC app lists personal accounts at South Korean banks, including IBK Industrial Bank, Jeonbuk Bank, and Toss Bank, as destinations for won deposits. When South Korean users transfer won to these accounts, their exchange wallets are credited with Tether (USDT).

Strive, a Bitcoin strategic accumulation firm and asset manager, plans to purchase 175,000 BTC through an additional issuance of its SATA shares, Odaily reported. The model for SATA is similar to that of MicroStrategy's (MSTR) preferred stock, STRC, where new shares are issued to buy BTC whenever the price exceeds its $100 par value. Strive CEO Jeff Walton said the company is raising an average of $8.1 million per day.

Helius CEO Mert stated that the Zcash network is not down. He explained that some block explorers are connected to unstable nodes, which is causing them to display incorrect results.

Hardware wallet maker Ledger has discovered a chip flaw in competitor Trezor's latest device, an issue Trezor has transparently disclosed to the public, CoinDesk reported. Trezor officially announced that a vulnerability was found in a specific security chip used in its newest hardware wallet model, the Trezor Safe 7. However, the company explained that the flaw poses no risk to user assets and that no action is required from users.

Prominent Bitcoin skeptic and gold bull Peter Schiff has warned that Bitcoin could see a rapid plunge to below $20,000 the moment it loses the $50,000 support level. He argued that there is too much complacency among Bitcoin investors who believe the market is near its bottom, claiming the real bottom is still a long way off.

WTI and Brent crude prices fell sharply by $1 per barrel following a statement from U.S. President Donald Trump. He announced that a deal with Iran is in progress, adding that the country has agreed not to possess nuclear weapons.

Whale Alert reported that 250 million USDC has been minted at the USDC Treasury.

The Zcash network is down, InfinityHedge reported. No blocks have been produced in the past four hours.

Executives from global asset management firms and traditional banks have highlighted the security vulnerabilities of decentralized finance (DeFi) at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris, CoinDesk reported. While they acknowledged DeFi's potential to revolutionize the back-office infrastructure of global banking beyond speculative trading, they warned that large-scale institutional capital will never enter the space unless its significant hacking risks are resolved. In April alone, hacking incidents or vulnerability exposures occurred on as many as 27 days. Ben Nadereski, co-founder of Solstice, criticized that many DeFi developers are overly focused on coding while neglecting the core financial responsibilities of capital management and defense.

The American Bankers Association (ABA), a powerful lobbying group for the U.S. banking industry, is pressuring Congress to ban interest payments on stablecoins, releasing a public opinion poll to support its case. According to CoinDesk, a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults by polling firm Morning Consult found that 57% of respondents opposed paying interest on stablecoins, and 61% called for a cautious approach. In a statement, ABA President Rob Nichols said that as lawmakers create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, they should remember that Americans do not want rules that would harm local lending and economic growth, effectively calling for a ban on interest-bearing stablecoins. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is currently working to pass an amendment to the Clarity Act through a bipartisan compromise and merge it with a bill from the Senate Agriculture Committee. The current draft prohibits crypto platforms from giving customers direct interest or deposit-like returns for simply holding stablecoins.

Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson stated that traditional financial institutions are reluctant to adopt public blockchains because the technology threatens their existing revenue models. She added that if smart contracts can process payments instantly, the transaction fee income that large banks have received as intermediaries could disappear. Johnson noted that Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund, Benji, operates on the Stellar blockchain. While the legacy system cost $1.30 per 50,000 transactions, the cost on Stellar was just $1.13. She suggested that the current roles of banks and custodians could continue, as retail investors still prefer regulated entities. However, Johnson concluded that the cost-saving effects of blockchain demonstrate its potential to replace traditional financial infrastructure.