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According to market news, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is in talks for a major data center project in France; the related deal may be announced this month.In addition, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is considering making a multi-billion dollar investment.

According to Catcher Predict monitoring, in the market prediction event on Polymarket "LoL: Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Invictus Gaming (BO3) - LPL Group Stage," the "Yes" option for the sub-market "Both Teams Slay a Dragon" has experienced a drastic fluctuation in win rate, plummeting from 50% an hour ago to the current 30.5% (a fluctuation of 19.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to market news, the actual controller of the recently collapsed European cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto is reportedly hiding in Dubai, and the losses for the exchange's customers may exceed $100 million.Polish media Onet Wiadomości disclosed that the official representative of Zondacrypto is in Dubai with a man nicknamed "Maniek," who is the true controller of the cryptocurrency business, while CEO Przemysław Kral is merely a "front figure." Kral has been missing since the company was revealed to have reserves drop by over 99%, and he was previously thought to have fled to Israel but is now confirmed to be in the UAE. The exchange was formerly known as BitBay, founded in 2014, and was taken over by Kral in 2021 and renamed Zondacrypto, moving its operations to Estonia.Polish media reports that the exchange may be controlled by the Russian Tambov gang, with about 30,000 Poles potentially becoming victims, with preliminary estimates of losses at least 350 million zloty (approximately $97 million), and the actual amount may be higher. Additionally, founder Sylwester Suszek went missing in 2022, and it is claimed that a wallet key containing 4,500 bitcoins that he controlled was never handed over.

The next-generation financial operating system PhotonPay has won three awards at the Mastercard Annual Partner Awards Gala, namely: New Product Launch Award (Physical Card), New Service Launch Award (MDES Digital Empowerment), and New Service Launch Award (Consulting Services). This marks PhotonPay's role as a next-generation financial operating system that is comprehensively reshaping the financial infrastructure landscape for global enterprises.The PhotonPay physical card is issued on the Mastercard network, supporting real-time consumption tracking globally, multi-level limit control, 3D Secure authentication, and significantly reducing cross-border transaction fees. The flexible open API meets the personalized customization needs of enterprises.MDES Digital Empowerment reflects the deep integration of PhotonPay with Mastercard's digital empowerment services, allowing virtual and physical cards to be linked to Apple Pay and Google Pay in seconds, with transaction security ensured throughout by tokenization technology.The Consulting Services Award recognizes the effective collaboration between PhotonPay and the Mastercard expert team, helping PhotonPay create more compliant and competitive card product solutions for global clients.Lewison, founder and CEO of PhotonPay, stated that these honors reflect Mastercard's trust in PhotonPay and PhotonPay's adherence to its own standards. The company remains focused on building financial infrastructure that provides global enterprises with the tools for borderless operation, expansion, and competition.

According to the official blog of Ondo Finance, Ondo Finance (Ondo) has completed its first near-real-time tokenized U.S. Treasury fund cross-border interbank exchange in collaboration with Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, and Ripple.In this pilot project, Ripple exchanged its Ondo short-term U.S. government bonds (OUSG) held on the XRP Ledger. After processing the exchange, Ondo sent fiat payment instructions via the Mastercard Multi-Token Network, with the settlement of funds executed by the blockchain infrastructure of Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, and the U.S. dollar funds delivered to Ripple's bank account in Singapore through its correspondent banking network.This project demonstrates the feasibility of public blockchain infrastructure working in conjunction with interbank settlement systems, establishing a framework for global banks to utilize tokenized assets for 24/7 real-time cross-border settlements.

According to Jinshi reports, the UK's financial regulatory authority has launched an investigation into Mastercard (MA.N), Visa (V.N), and PayPal (PYPL.O) due to suspicions of anti-competitive behavior regarding the flow and use of funds in the PayPal digital wallet.The UK's Financial Conduct Authority stated on Wednesday that it has not yet concluded whether the relevant companies have violated competition law. PayPal disclosed this investigation in a regulatory filing this week. A representative from PayPal stated that the company is cooperating with the FCA investigation but will not comment further as the case is still ongoing.

According to Forbes, the Bitcoin mining company GoMining plans to launch its Bitcoin native payment protocol GoBTC, based on its own block production, at the Consensus conference.The protocol offers users instant authorization and settlement on the Bitcoin mainnet within a few hours, charging merchants a fee rate of 0.2%, which is an order of magnitude lower than the 1.5% to 3.5% rates of Visa and Mastercard.

According to Fortune, the stablecoin infrastructure startup Rain is currently valued at $1.95 billion and has announced a partnership with payment giant Mastercard to issue credit and prepaid cards, as well as explore pathways for using stablecoins for payment settlements.Previously, Rain primarily relied on the Visa network to issue card products, and this collaboration with Mastercard signifies its entry into the "dual card network" layout phase, further expanding its institutional client market. Rain stated that this partnership will focus on serving large institutional clients that are deeply bound to a single payment network, enabling them to introduce stablecoin settlement capabilities without changing their existing payment systems.Meanwhile, the application of stablecoins continues to expand at the industry level, with institutions such as Stripe and Coinbase promoting the integration of stablecoin payments and settlements, indicating that the fusion of traditional finance and crypto payment infrastructure is accelerating. Analysts believe that as the regulatory framework becomes clearer, stablecoins are rapidly shifting from trading tools to enterprise payment and cross-border settlement infrastructure.

According to CoinDesk, Figure Technology Solutions CEO Mike Cagney stated that the company is trying to leverage blockchain to reconstruct the traditional credit market infrastructure and deeply integrate real-world assets (RWA), securitization, and DeFi.Data shows that Figure's loan issuance in March this year exceeded $1 billion for the first time in a single month, with a total lending volume of $2.9 billion in the first quarter, which annualizes to about $12 billion. Cagney stated that the company's goal is to reduce intermediaries in the securitization, lending, and stock lending markets through on-chain processes, lowering costs and enhancing liquidity.Currently, Figure has launched the yield-bearing stablecoin YLDS and has launched on-chain credit vault products on networks like Solana, allowing users to invest in tokenized credit assets or use them as collateral for borrowing. The company also plans to expand into the Ethereum ecosystem and explore stock tokenization and on-chain securities lending.Cagney believes that the true value of blockchain lies not in "putting everything on-chain," but in reconstructing the financial abstraction layer. "Financial assets such as loans, securities, and equity are naturally suited for on-chain processes, and the entire financial infrastructure may be rewritten as a result."

According to The Block, MoonPay has launched the "MoonAgents Card," a stablecoin debit card based on the Mastercard network, designed specifically for AI agents, allowing them to spend directly from on-chain self-custody wallets.This virtual card is issued through Monavate and in collaboration with the Exodus wallet, enabling real-time conversion of stablecoins to fiat for payments to online merchants worldwide that accept Mastercard, without the need to preload funds or move assets off-chain; in case of transaction failure, funds are immediately returned to the wallet, and custody of the wallet always remains unchanged.The CEO of MoonPay stated that this addresses the pain point of AI agents being unable to spend at merchants previously. It is currently available in the UK and Latin America through MoonPay CLI, with the US and EU set to launch soon (subject to KYC completion). This move targets the trend of AI agents increasingly using cryptocurrency for transactions in the future.

Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky has reached a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), agreeing to pay $10 million and being permanently banned from promoting, marketing, or distributing any products and services related to asset deposits, exchanges, investments, or withdrawals.The court also ruled a $4.72 billion monetary judgment, but most of it is temporarily suspended—if Mashinsky is found to have concealed or misrepresented assets in financial disclosures, the judgment will be reinstated immediately. Previously, Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 for commodity fraud and securities fraud.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, reaffirming its exclusive jurisdiction over the U.S. commodity derivatives market (including prediction markets). This case involves Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. KalshiEx LLC (case number SJC-13906).CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig stated that Congress has authorized the CFTC to have sole regulatory authority over the commodity derivatives market and warned that any state attempting to override federal law "will see you in court." The brief details the legislative history and framework of the Commodity Exchange Act, clarifying that the federal regulatory system takes precedence over relevant state laws. Previously, the CFTC has filed lawsuits against Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York, successfully obtaining a temporary restraining order against Arizona to prevent it from exercising state jurisdiction over prediction markets regulated by the CFTC.

According to monitoring by Hyperinsight, in the past half hour, a whale starting with 0x310 opened a 16x leveraged BTC short position, totaling 653 BTC, valued at approximately 50.6 million USD, with an average price of 77,470 USD and a liquidation price of 81,308 USD. This address is currently the TOP 2 BTC holding address on the Hyperliquid platform.It is reported that about ten days ago, this new address and its on-chain associated addresses withdrew a total of 1,351 ETH in spot from the HitBTC trading platform, which were then all sold on Hyperliquid, cashing out approximately 3.18 million USD. After multiple positions were established, as of today, a total profit of 720,000 USD has been accumulated.

KuCoin announced the launch of KuCard in Australia, allowing users to use cryptocurrency assets for daily consumption at merchants worldwide that accept Mastercard, with payment options through Apple Pay and Google Pay. The service initially supports 37 USDC trading pairs, covering mainstream digital assets such as BTC, ETH, and USDT, with real-time conversion to fiat currency during the settlement process. KuCoin stated that this move is an important step in enhancing compliance and transparency in the cryptocurrency payment experience, and it is the latest progress in promoting the real-world application of cryptocurrency assets after completing its registration with AUSTRAC as a digital currency exchange (DCE).

MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay announced today (April 23) that he has officially left Consensys, marking the end of over a decade of building MetaMask. He stated that the reason for his departure is professional burnout and the need to spend more time with his family, and he expressed his best wishes for the future development of the team.Dan Finlay also expressed his satisfaction with the recent official launch of the advanced permission feature (ERC-7715) for MetaMask, believing that this feature fills an important gap in the product that has existed for a long time, and he looks forward to experiencing this feature as an ordinary user in the future.

According to BeInCrypto, Mastercard has joined the Blockchain Security Standards Committee (BSSC) as a charter-level member, collaborating with members such as Coinbase, Fireblocks, Anchorage Digital, and BitGo to develop a security framework for blockchain networks and tokenized assets.Mastercard will also join a working group focused on security and privacy guidelines, with Claire Le Gal from the security solutions department, responsible for fraud prevention, cyber resilience, disputes, and threat intelligence, representing Mastercard on the BSSC board. The executive director of BSSC stated that Mastercard's payment experience is of significant value in establishing robust blockchain security rules. Mastercard has launched multi-token networks and crypto credential products aimed at embedding trust in blockchain and tokenized infrastructure.

According to DL News, a South Korean forgery gang is selling fake official documents to users via Telegram, prioritizing payments in cryptocurrency or digital gift cards. Among them, a counterfeit Yonsei University diploma is priced at about $200, a certificate of enrollment is quoted at about $100, and a fake diploma from overseas universities is priced at about $341.The report points out that the gang also offers forged materials such as driver's licenses, proof of relationship, certificates of no criminal record, and bank loan documents. South Korean police stated that the number of arrests for forgery cases nearly doubled from 2021 to 2023.

In a discussion about the late girl Liv Perrotto's question, she had asked whether her design "ASTEROID" could be used as SpaceX's mascot. In response, Musk said, "Ok."Perhaps stimulated by this news, the Ethereum-based meme coin ASTEROID (which launched in September 2024) briefly surpassed a market value of $160 million, currently reported at $116 million, with a 24-hour increase of over 500% and a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $77 million.It is reported that Liv Perrotto, a 15-year-old girl who passed away from cancer, had the biggest wish to meet Musk and wrote a list of questions she wanted to ask. She had previously participated in designing a zero-gravity indicator toy named "Asteroid"—a Shiba Inu figure. Her mother later publicly wrote to Musk, hoping he would consider making Asteroid the official mascot of SpaceX in accordance with Liv Perrotto's wishes. Musk responded by saying, "I will reply shortly."

According to market news, approximately $5.4 million in cryptocurrency assets has been recovered in a case of cryptocurrency investment fraud that evolved from a "romance scam" involving Florida and Massachusetts. Of this, about $700,000 has been returned to victims in Florida, $1.3 million has been returned to victims in Massachusetts, and the remaining funds will be used to continue combating cryptocurrency fraud.The Florida prosecutor's office stated that the victims of this case are distributed across six counties in the state, with a single victim in Marion County losing over $450,000. The Florida Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit reported that $3.3 million has been recovered in the first quarter of 2026, and over its 2.5 years of existence, it has recovered a total of $7.2 million, with an additional $12.6 million in frozen cryptocurrency assets still in litigation.